Complete symphony performed at orchestra festival

BY PAT FARNELLI

The 2014 Northeast Regional Orchestra Festival was held Friday, Feb. 28, at the Easton Area High School and featured a full performance of Tchaikovsky’s final completed symphony, Pathétique.

“The program consisted of separate pieces at the beginning, then an intermission, then a whole symphony,” Betsy Sprout, choral director for the Tunkhannock Area School District, said.

The first pieces in the program included Wagner’s “Rienzi Overture,” “Serenade for Strings (Opus 20),” by Edward Elgar, and “Prelude for Orchestra,” by Noah Klaus.

Montrose Band Director Suzanne Bennici said, “It was really an amazing opportunity to be able to play an entire symphony. That single piece, which is performed by many professional orchestras, took 45 minutes to play, and it was an intense experience for high school musicians. They were engaged.”

Gary White served as the festival’s guest conductor. He has been the director for 16 years of the Philadelphia Symphonia Association, a premier youth orchestra of the Delaware Valley.

Students from PMEA District 9 and 10 auditioned at the district level for a seat in the regional orchestra; and at the regional festival, the musicians auditioned vied for a seat in the All-State Orchestra.

Montrose senior Samantha Bennici will move on to the All-State Festival. Bennici, a French horn, earned the first chair placement at regionals.

Of the 20 first violinists in the regional orchestra, only the top eight moved on to All-State. Elk Lake violinist Christian Sprout also participated in the Northeast Regional Orchestra Festival, but will not move on to states.

Keegan Ficarro of Mountain View High School, bassoon; and Felicia Quinn of Montrose, French horn, also participated in the Regional Orchestra.

PMEA District 9 President Nino Bennici said this process of elimination demonstrates the fierce competition among high school musicians throughout the state, “especially in the stringed instrument sections.”

PMEA District 9, in which Susquehanna County is included, has only 11 school districts with string programs, according to Bennici.

For the regional festival, “60 percent of the string players come from District 10, and 40 from District 9,” he said.