The orchestras had their 19th annual Dick Dennis concert on January 29. The concert is dedicated to Richard F. Dennis who spent his 32 years of retirement teaching music in Washington Township Schools.
Prior to retirement Dennis spent 28 years as a concertmaster for Academy, Golden Globe and Grammy award winning composer Henry Mancini in a touring orchestra. Dennis worked nationally and internationally for various artists, recording movie and commercial soundtracks, performing and conducting.
Because of Dennis’s work in Washington Township, the orchestra community started The Richard Endowment in 2005. Their goal was to provide financial assistance to students who wanted to take private lessons.
After nearly 20 years, the fund has gone to 116 different students. The fund is open for donations to this day.
All seniors in Symphony are eligible and encouraged to compete in a concerto competition which they perform in the concert.
“Students have to complete an audition,“ the director of orchestras Elliot Lentz said. “They have to learn a piece; it’s usually a concerto they are already working on for the ISSMA Solo and Ensemble competition. They have to send in a recording and complete a google form with their information. I have to verify that I can get the music or have the music.”
The soloist is accompanied by the Symphony Orchestra, so it’s necessary that there are the music parts for the other musicians.
“Sometimes I send their recordings out to private teachers, “ Lentz said. “Sometimes I have an audition panel come in and listen to them. Other times it’s just me. I look at the ones that showcase the best level of talent and preparation. I also have to know I will be able to rely on them for their individual preparation.”
The two winners of the competition were seniors Miah Paraskevas and Katharine Hughley.
Throughout the months leading up to Dick Denis concert, the soloists and orchestras rehearsed during their class periods and after school.
The night of the performance, all three orchestras – all-freshman Concert Orchestra, Festival Orchestra and Symphony Orchestra – performed.
After the first two orchestras, Concert and Festival, performed, Symphony Orchestra performed “The Lord of the Rings” composed by Micheal Giacchino and arranged by Paula Murtha. Following their opening piece, Paraskevas played the first of 2 concertos.
“For the concert I played ‘Andante & Rondo Ungrese’ composed by Carl Maria Von Weber,” Paraskevas said. “I’ve been playing the viola for 7 years. I love its rich, beautiful and deep sound.”
Paraskevas chose to audition because she was inspired by a previous stand partner from last school year. Her stand partner won the competition that year.
“My stand partner from my junior year, Ethan Torrijos, is a wonderful and talented musician,” Paraskevas said. “He inspired me to sort of follow in his footsteps and do a senior concerto as well.”
Music has impacted Paraskevas life as a student and as a person.
“Music has impacted me in many ways,” Paraskevas said. “It has helped me gain self discipline and fostered my creativity. It’s part of why I played this piece. It has musical storytelling, going through feelings of sadness and hope and then to a playful and lively sound.”
Following Paraskevas’s performance, Hughley played “Piano Concerto No. 20., K. 466, Mvt. 1” composed by Wolfgang Ammadeus Mozart.
“The piece is overall just very fun to listen to and play, and Mozart in a minor key is always a good option,” Hughley said. “The hardest part of learning it was trying to find a narrative to go along with each section of the piece in order to keep it interesting for both me and the listeners.”
Like Paraskevas, Hughley was impacted by inspiration from other NC orchestra musicians.
“Throughout my three years in Symphony, I have seen other seniors play their concertos,” Hughley said. “I wanted to play a large scale piece with an orchestra. It’s very different from playing a solo piano piece.”
The Dick Dennis concert is the last concert of the school calendar where all three NC orchestras perform. Students in Concert rehearse during period three, Festival during periods six and seven and students in Symphony rehearse during periods four and five. They also have additional rehearsals after school when there are upcoming performances.
Despite preparation, both soloists were nervous prior to taking the stage, but their ways of dealing with that nervousness differed.
“I felt pretty nervous,” Hughley said. “but I kept trying to remind myself to just be in the moment and think of the story the piece is trying to tell. Otherwise I would second guess myself and lose the musicality of the piece”
Paraskevas’s nerves settled slowly throughout the performance.
“Before the performance I was quite nervous since I had never done anything quite like this before,” Peraskevas said. “During the performance I was still nervous, but after a while of playing it went away. It was hard to bring the music to life and differentiate the many emotions throughout the piece but when it finished I felt so accomplished that I have officially played my first concert.”
Through all the nervousness, Lentz was proud of his students.
“I thought both of the soloists did a very nice job with preparing,” Lentz said. “Both pieces were different from each other so it was nice to have differentiation for the ensemble to play and the audience to listen to. Both of them did a really nice job at figuring out how to play with an ensemble. It takes a very different skill to be able to do that. A lot of people have pretty low expectations of what students are able to achieve. So it’s pretty cool to be able to watch a group of students perform and be extremely talented even if they’re only 15 or so years old. ”
Music has become an integral part of students’ lives. For Hughley, it’s impacted her as a student.
“Music gives me a way to take a break from academic stress,” Hughley said. “It has also reminded me that in anything I’m doing, either musical or academic, sometimes the best way to practice or study is to break down large concepts.”
It’s this impact of music and its ability to imprint itself on students’ lives that drew Lentz to the orchestra.
“I think music opens up a lot of channels for connecting with people,” Lentz said. “Being able to work in an ensemble is really important. It forces you to understand you have to do your own level of preparation but then you have to rely on and trust that other people are going to do their roles. There are certain things in life that you can’t do after a certain point in time. You can’t play football when you’re 70 but you’re able to play an instrument at any type of level for however long.”
Lentz aims to teach music in a way that it will stick with his students past their high school years.
“Even if they don’t play past high school my goal for all my students is that they understand and appreciate the art of music,” Lentz said. “I hope that music is something that they can continue to enjoy even if they don’t continue to play or perform. Maybe they go and watch a concert somewhere or they promote an event or they pass it along to friends or family members.”
In addition to conducting and teaching NC orchestras, Lentz works to bring in guest conductors, music groups and teachers into class. Sometimes they play for students and oftentimes they help teach.
“Teaching at NC has been a really great motivator for me,” Lentz said. “The kids are able to experience a lot of opportunities like private lessons and working with private teachers and guest conductors that we bring in, things that I didn’t get when I was their age.”
NC orchestras have begun to prepare for their state competition. Students in all orchestras have the opportunity to compete in a state solo competition.
All three orchestras are required to perform in a school orchestra competition where they will be graded as bronze, silver or gold. As they work on the music they hope to bring home gold.
