Students Play Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall: The words alone hold so much meaning.
On May 27, I had the opportunity to perform at the prestigious concert hall as a member of the Orange County High School of the Arts Symphony Orchestra.
I noticed an immediate increase of maturity as well as excitement within our group when we found out that the honor had been bestowed upon us. The students wanted to live up to the expectations that came along with performing in such a famous venue.
When we arrived for our performance, you could sense an excited anxiety among the students. The posters along the backstage hallways of the famous musicians that had graced the stage were breathtaking.
When our time finally came to play, I thought some of the students might burst from excitement. The seats seemed to rise up for as far as the eye could see.
However, when we began to play, the hall had a very intimate sound. It was magnificent. After our performance, we knew that it was, as our conductor Christopher Russell had put it earlier in the day, “an experience that no one can take away from you.”
Tchaikovsky had conducted at the grand opening of the hall, on that very stage where I now stood. I got down on my knees and kissed the stage. It was a kiss I will never forget.
Alice McWilliams
(Williams, 17, of Irvine, has completed her junior year at OCHSA and will continue her education at Chapman University.)
To perform at Carnegie Hall is an experience like no other. Tchaikovsky, Prokofiev and Mahler performed there. So has every major orchestra, the Beatles, Teddy Roosevelt and Winston Churchill.
My dressing room had what appeared to be original letters by other great composers: Brahms, Grieg and Saint-Saens.
It is, without question, the “big leagues.”
I always knew the OCHSA Symphony Orchestra would perform extremely well there. They do that consistently in other locations so to have them perform at their highest level at Carnegie Hall was among the least of my worries for our New York trip.
The orchestra indeed performed brilliantly on varied and difficult repertoire. I also got a chance to hear them in the audience as James Melton from Vanguard University conducted them and about a 300-voice international choir.
I heard many great compliments about the orchestra from other conductors and a member of the New York Philharmonic.
I was very proud of the symphony and would not want to have made my Carnegie Hall debut conducting anyone else.
Christopher Russell
(Russell is OCHSA’s Symphony Orchestra Conductor.)
Al Gore
Hey Al, are things warm enough for you? You were right about exiting Iraq and you are right about global warming.
The burning question now is: Are you ready to be the next president of the U.S.?
Don’t be concerned about Hillary Clinton or the other potential candidates. No one has your credentials to run for president.
You not only won the popular vote in 2000, your political resume would make even George Bush “The Senior” blush.
If there is a deficit in your background, it’s your cautious, consensus-building approach to solving problems. That is an admirable trait in a president, but not a candidate for the presidency.
One way to be bold is to announce your vice presidential running mate the same day you announce your candidacy. No one has ever done this before.
A second way to be bold is to pick a woman to be on the ticket with you. While you won’t be the first to do so, you will be breaking ground with a new generation of voters who were in diapers when Walter Mondale picked Geraldine Ferraro in 1984.
A third way to be bold is to announce your picks for secretary of state, defense and treasury. Imagine the positive impression: You not only have a plan to take the party and the nation in another direction, you have the confidence to tell the voters who will help you make good on your promises.
It must be frustrating looking in the mirror each morning, wondering what could have been. It’s time to take another long look and ask yourself, “If not me, then who?”
Denny Freidenrich
First Strategies LLC
Laguna Beach
