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Joe Weber

Both senior and junior soloists were featured in the concert. These kids had the opportunity to play in front of a large crowd when they visited the Kennedy Center as well as the smaller audience at the home concert. "The soloists played very well, all their hard work paid off, and that was clear during the concert," junior Joe Weber says.

The high school auditorium was resonating with the sounds of a symphony. The Concert Wind Symphony played their spring concert on April 17, which showcased all their work leading up to this point.

The group played music they have been working on throughout the school year. Recently, the group visited Washington D.C. and got a chance to play their pieces in the John F. Kennedy Center. This experience helped the group feel more comfortable with playing for a big audience.

“The John F Kennedy Center was the biggest place we have ever played that, which I think helped our class prepare for the concert,” junior Joe Weber said.

At the Kennedy Center the band played for an audience of over 1,000 people.  This was the largest audience that they have ever played for. The performance then became more real for the students and they felt more pressure to play their best.

“We got very nervous in the practice rooms before the concert when we saw everyone,” sophomore Maya Yokanovich said.

The students felt like performing in such a large and different place than usual helped them be more comfortable on stage at their final home concert. This new experience was very beneficial to them because the Kennedy Center brought them both nerves and new opportunities.

“I think being able to perform in a place like that helped the band play more naturally when it was time to play at the home concert because we were more used to our own stage and performing for a smaller audience,” Weber said.

This concert was the end goal after a long year of hard work.  All the work they have put in since day one of the school year has been leading up to this concert. Every thing they have learned and improved on was used at that concert so that they could have their best performance.

“I felt we really grew as a band together this year and through our trip together; I look forward to preforming next year,” Weber said.

The audience also agreed when it came to the stunning performance of the students. The music program has evidently helped some talented kids grow throughout this year and the audience recognized that. The audience seemed happy with the concert and the music they heard.

“It was cool to see kids in my class on stage playing so well, I was shocked at how good they were. The music was all played very well and professional,” junior Linnea Rustad said.

Many students were featured soloists in the concert including, but not limited to, senior Kristen Diedrichs, junior Charlie Skaret, junior Beatrice Lawrence, and senior Ben Alcorn. These students had a chance to show of their hard work and talent in front of both large audiences in Washington D.C. and in Stillwater.

“The soloists did a great job, they all seemed very confident and professional and they preformed the solos very well,” Rustad said.

This concert was one of the last of this school year and the band thought they performed well.  It featured soloists and a wide range of music that showed of the band’s different talents.

“Overall I think this concert went very well, as a band we played one of our best performances and I think we were all pretty happy about that,” Yokanovich said.