Monta Vista Orchestra holds opening night of ‘Beyond the Planets’ concert

Showcasing the music of Gustav Holst, the concert also included the first solo performance of Beethoven’s “Piano Concerto No. 2” by a freshman

Junior cellist Elspeth Luu and senior cellist Robin Yoon hold their bows up, signifying the end of a piece. Photo | Angela Poon

Angela Poon and Aletheia Ju

MVHS Orchestra held its “Beyond the Planets” concert in the auditorium on Thursday, March 6, at 7 p.m. The opening night, centering around Gustav Holst’s compositions, ranged from pieces such as String Orchestra’s “Brook Green Suite” to Chamber’s “Saint Paul’s Suite,” ending with the Philharmonic Orchestra’s rendition of “The Planets.”

Senior Robin Yoon plays the cello. Photo | Angela Poon

After playing her part as the principal second violinist in String Orchestra, freshman and piano soloist Emily Dong played Beethoven’s “Piano Concerto No. 2” with Chamber Orchestra. She had been practicing the piece since last year since it was originally intended for her other piano competitions in the Bay Area.

“For my concerto, I rehearsed with the orchestra two times this week,” Dong said. “I paid a lot of attention to details and orchestra rehearsal this week. I went through a lot of difficult passages, drilled a lot of tough spots, did slow practice, and at the end, I just ran through the whole thing.”

The orchestra, conducted by Instrumental Music Director John Gilchrist, received professional adjudicator feedback on “Saint Paul’s Suite” at the Homestead Orchestra Festival before Thursday’s performance. While Gilchrist says the concert went well despite not having had much time to practice, he believes that there is still much to work on.

Senior and concertmaster Iris Shi plays “Saint Paul’s Suite” by Gustav Holst on the violin. Photo | Angela Poon

“It’s just a process of performing, refining, performing and refining,” Gilchrist said. “There’s an infinite amount of improvements that we could make. Not saying that we did poorly by any means, but there’s always something to improve upon.”

According to Gilchrist, the final goal behind this refining is for the MVHS orchestra to perform this set of pieces at the California Music Educators Association festival. To him, a highlight of this concert was the piano solo by Dong, who was also the first freshman to play a solo concerto with the orchestra at a concert.

“I’m also extremely proud of Emily,” Gilchrist said. “It’s such a challenging piece, but she played really marvelously. It just blows my mind.”