Date: Fri 31-May-1996

Publication: Bee

Author: CAROLK

Quick Words:

NHS-orchestra-Prague-Czech

Full Text:

SCHOOLS: NHS ORCHESTRA SUCCESSFULLY COMPLETES EUROPEAN CONCERT TOUR

with photos....

B Y M OLLY D OROZENSKI

When members of the Newtown High School Chamber Orchestra boarded the plane

for our flight to Prague, none of us really knew what to expect. We had

rehearsed for long hours on our chamber music program, which was a selection

of popular and classical pieces for our intimate ensemble, and we had grown

musically sensitive and confident. However, the months of our rehearsals

seemed to be over sooner than any of us expected.

Just a day later, we found ourselves wandering the cobblestone streets of Old

Town Prague, or Praha as it is written in the Czech Republic. Our lack of a

good night's sleep didn't prevent us from feeling the excitement of the

architecture, the shopping and simple strangeness of hearing dozens of

different languages spoken around us.

What followed in the next week was a whirlwind of sightseeing and playing.

"What I really loved," commented Becca (Rebecca Timmel), "was the closeness of

the group. Living together and playing together really brought us all

together." The closeness definitely showed in the playing of our five

concerts. We played in Austria, Hungary and the Czech Republic in churches,

schools and senior citizens homes to enthusiastic and emotional European

audiences. All our hard work seemed to come together in the moments of our

first concert, and at every concert we performed encores.

Alyssa LaCouture performed a violin solo on the song "Ashokan Farewell," and

Anna O'Sullivan sang the Andrew Lloyd Webber melody "Memory," accompanied by

the orchestra. Both solos were well received by the audiences, and the

soloists were able to explore the performance experience thousands of miles

from home.

The concerts were not without their challenges. Every playing environment was

different acoustically, and we often knew nothing about the hall we were

playing in until the performance. Meghan Tomasko commented that, "The most

challenging performance was when we performed in a stone church at a

temperature below zero. My hands were so frozen that I could barely move my

fingers, and it was a real effort to keep up my concentration." After each

challenge our ensemble emerged stronger and more determined to do well, and we

enjoyed every minute of every performance.

Days after the trip, when we all compared pictures, we saw ourselves in places

that most Americans never get to see. We saw the famous astronomical clock in

the center of Prague, beautiful churches from every period and in every style,

Viennese cafes, moonlit castles, the Moldau River, the Kodaly Institute of

Music, palaces, courtyards and gardens. We found ourselves on the streets of

Vienna serenaded by street musicians, in snowy and summery weather, and on a

boat ride down the Danube on our last night in Budapest. We even survived the

experience of being stranded on a curb with all our luggage while watching our

temperamental bus steam and smoke. Josef, our bus driver, didn't seem to

understand there was a problem with the bus. In fact, he didn't seem to

understand very much English at all.

We performed at a language school in Hungary where we met people our own age

and exchanged addresses. We spend every minute living as much as possible,

rising early and returning late, not wanting to miss any experiences. Jenny

Stewart said, "I never overcame my awe of the experience. By the time I

realized where we were, we were home again." Kim Minnock says her favorite

experiences were, "the moonlit boat ride down the Danube, and touring all of

the castles."

While everyone disagrees on their favorite experience, Nate Askue said, "There

are two things that all of us agree on. One, is that trip was way too short.

The other is that the reason it was so wonderful was Miss Hiscavich. We

couldn't ask for a better teacher. She was always there for us, and she really

made us want to achieve."

Even now,I can almost close my eyes and hear the echo of the street musicians,

or the smell of the night air from the river. We boarded the plane as

musicians, and we came back and ensemble.

Molly Dorozensi is an NHS senior and principal cellist.