Fall String Concert 2025

On the night of Oct. 17th, the Arcadia Orchestras Fall String Concert was held, signifying the start of a beautiful year of music to come. Alongside Premier, String, Concert, and Symphony orchestras, the concert featured exciting performances from the Dana, First Avenue, and Foothills middle school orchestras.  Read ahead to dive into an amazing showcase of different cultures and musical genres! 

The show opened with Premier Orchestra playing “Ocean Storm,”  “Over the Rainbow,” and “Fantasia on a Theme from Thailand.” Their final piece was a nice introduction to the diverse exposure to come, and the two prior pieces allowed the set to have a sweet, yet still thrilling vibe.  

For Premier Cellist sophomore Michelle Chen, their performance was “a lighthearted opening to a very fun concert,” and it was a great segway into the first middle school performance.  

Following Premier came Dana’s Symphonic Strings, whose set consisted of three fun selections with emphasis on three different cultures.  They began with “Viva Los Conquistadores,” a piece which left the audience at the edge of their seats, and followed it up with “Spartacus” and "Russian Sailors Dance.”  Showcasing music based on Spanish, Roman, and Russian repertoire gave way for a spectacular secondary performance.

Next to take the stage was String Orchestra. Though they were a small ensemble, they played with a big sound.  Their pieces included “Sweet New Moon,” “In the Steppes of Central Asia,” and “Hungarian Dance No. 1,” allowing the theme of diversity to be continuous throughout the show.  Sweet New Moon brought upon a bittersweet and nostalgic feeling, while their final piece was ominous and spontaneous; truly a wow factor for everyone watching.

First Avenue kept the show going with interesting and frequently dissonant pieces, which included “Anagram for String,” exploring many different themes all in one.  They also played “Luminescence” and finished their set with “Mantras,” an exciting piece by the one and only Richard Meyer!  Their performance sprinkled some suspense and tension during the midway point of the concert.

After First Ave, Concert Orchestra brought back the cultural motif with three selections from the Chinese Folk Songs suite and finished off with “The Labyrinth and the Mad King.”  The other two selections, (VI. When Will the Acacia Bloom, and IV. Jasmine Flower), also did not disappoint, with difficult technique and harmonics from each section.

“My favorite was movement VII: A Single Bamboo Can Easily Bend because of the tempo change during the second ending,” said Concert bassist sophomore Liren Wang. 

As the second to last performance, Foothills String Orchestra brought forward a beautiful set of pieces including “Pavane,” “Gabriel’s Oboe,” and “Colors of Home,” all very nostalgic pieces for Foothills graduates.  These three selections, though slightly straying away from the overarching cultural theme, maintained the element of hope and wonder through very colorful musicality, and they amazed the audience nonetheless.  

To conclude the first concert of the school year, Symphony Orchestra “serenaded” the crowd with “Serenade for Strings,” as well as the other five selections from the Chinese Folk Songs suite.  A few of these five included I. Lan Hua Hua, III. The Flowing Stream, and V. A Horseherd’s Mountain Song.  These pieces were at times gloomy, ominous, thrilling, and exciting, but still at times were relaxed and calm, showcasing the flexible talents of Arcadia’s top orchestral ensemble.  

The members of the orchestra, too, were very impressed with their performance, and for Symphony violinist sophomore Ashley Zhang, “Besides getting to watch the middle schoolers play, my favorite part of the concert was getting to be part of the concert’s finale.”

Overall, the Fall String Concert contained a beautiful display of musicality from our Arcadia middle and high schoolers, and the applause that erupted after the final “Yo-Oh!” truly certified the concert as one to remember.