Symphony Orchestra

Symphony Orchestra is an auditioned orchestra comprised of 9th-12th grade students. Symphony Orchestra is one of two orchestras in the program that performs during part of the school year as a full orchestra with woodwind, brass, and percussion students. Symphony Orchestra performs grade 5-6 music and performs many professional orchestra standard repertoire. Students in Symphony Orchestra further develop mastery of 3-octave scales, shifting in upper positions, complex rhythmic ideas, and advanced bow techniques. Symphony Orchestra performs at the Fall Concert, Winter Concert, ISSMA State Qualifications, and Spring Concert.

The Symphony Orchestra has been named Indiana State School Music Association’s Concert Orchestra State Champion 18 times, most recently in 2016. The orchestra has toured and performed all over the world including places such as Alice Tully Hall; Carnegie Hall; St. Petersburg, Russia; Vienna, Austria; and Orlando, Florida. Symphony Orchestra has professionally recorded and produced five full-length symphonies of Tchaikovsky, Beethoven, and Dvorak, which have been released on CD and on iTunes. Symphony Orchestra has been selected to perform at The Midwest Clinic in 2009, 2014, and most recently in 2019.

Symphony Orchestra students maintain a rigorous rehearsal schedule: the full orchestra meets after school and in the evenings for an additional four hours each week, in addition to meeting 90 minutes every other day as a string class.