Samo Orchestra blasts Disney songs throughout Barnum Hall

Walking into Barnum Hall, the entrance is full of colorful costumes, and enticing smells of food and excitement are seen throughout the hall. This fundraiser concert was completely sold out and was Disney-themed. In addition to Disney characters like Mickey, Donald and Cinderella walking around Barnum, the Chamber Orchestra played some Disney tunes outside. Shortly, people started to fill in the concert hall and a costume contest was held with kids and high schoolers participating for a prize of squishy toys. 

The Intermezzo and Sinfonia Orchestras were the first groups to play. They played beautiful renditions of “Encanto,” “Little Mermaid” and “Pirates of the Caribbean,” and each received louder applause than the next. An Intermezzo member, Hoyt Gallagher ('25), describes how he prepared for the class.

"Each instrumental group had sectionals where a teacher focused on the tricky bits and worked on stylistic properties to get a good sound. As an orchestra, we did tone exercises to make sure the orchestra fit in with the music," Gallagher said.

The second group to play was the Philharmonic Orchestra, which featured iconic songs from “Mulan,” “Frozen” and “Enchanted.” Upon finishing, the audience erupted into applause. Maxwell Lin (’25), a member of the Philharmonic Orchestra, states how he felt performing onstage.

"I felt happy and I love showing how cool the music sounds and that we get to play the Disney music because we're inspiring the next generations of musicians," Lin said. 

With the final group being the Symphony Orchestra, they killed their performance. There was a sense of immersion in the performance as they played “The Lion King,” “Fantasmic!” “Disney Classics Overture” and “Aladdin.” As a senior in Symphony, Chamber, and a guest player for the Intermezzo Orchestra, Sebastian Heredia (’23) describes how fun playing onstage is for him.

"It’s always fun performing, looking out into the crowd, and seeing everyone. It’s fun making eye contact across the orchestra too, especially during dope sections when everyone’s feeling it." Heredia said.

At this year's concert, the orchestra program sold out of tickets and they raised a lot of money as well. All five groups performed beautifully and brought a wonderful sense of nostalgia to adults and students alike. Heredia leaves us with his final thoughts. 

"This was a pretty nostalgic concert for me, since the last time I played this concert in Barnum Hall was my freshman year," Heredia said.