MADISON ORCHESTRA NEWS

The Madison Orchestra students have been busy leading up to the holidays

On November 12 and 13, 2004, Robert Wang ('05, violin), Todd Lotterer
('06, bass) and Anya Abashian ('07, viola) performed in the Senior
Regional Orchestra event. These three students are also eligible to
audition for the All-State Orchestra event, which takes place in early
April, 2005. Those auditions will be held in February. Congratulations
to Rob,Todd and Anya.

On November 15, 2004, auditions were held for the Senior District 12
Orchestra event. The auditions were extremely competitive and when the
judging was done, Madison had placed 25 students in the 82-member
orchestra, taking principal chair on every instrument! The following
students were selected to participate:

Violin:

Nick Fitzgerald (concertmaster)
Kyle Green
Nora Jameson
Christina Preville
Julie Shepherd
Rebecca Bellotto
Victoria Chang
Meghan Brown
Charlotte Heppner
Roxanne Splitt
Emily Choi
Laura Jacobs
Melinda Fraser
Maureen Reed
Jeannine Lowe

Viola:

Charlotte Diggs (principal)
Khai Phan
Rachel Stevenson

Cello:

Julia Perez (principal)
Erin Bacon
Hannah Skop
Sara Diggs
Alex Harper
Dan Stevenson

Bass:

Mike Bronez (principal)
Charlie Fraser

Congratulations to these students and everyone who auditioned. You are
a very talented group of musicians. The District Orchestra event will
be held on January 14 and 15, 2005 at South Lakes High School.

On Thursday, December 9, 2004, the Madison Concert Orchestra performed
their holiday concert. The students performed Antique Dances and Airs
(Respighi/Alshin), Fantasy On "Sleepers, Wake" (Bach;Leidig),
Meditation (Stephan), Three Chinese Scenes (Alshin) and Mother Ginger
from "Nutcracker Suite" (Tschaikowsky/Dackow). The performance was
wonderful--the perfect beginning to the holiday season.

The Symphonic Orchestra performed their holiday concert on Monday,
December 13, 2004. The pieces included Gigue Fugue (Bach/Doan) and
Serenade in C Major (Tschaikowsky). In addition, the students played
Bach's Concerto for Two Violins in d minor, with Nicholas Fitzgerald and
Robert Wang as soloists. The grande finale was Ununthu Botho, a piece
that was specially commissioned for the Madison High School Orchestras
and composed by Bruce Carter, who was director of Orchestras at South
Lakes High School and is now a first year student for a Doctor of Music
Education at Northwestern University. This performance too was
magnificent.

The Madison Orchestra wishes the entire Madison Community a wonderful
holiday season and a Happy New Year! See you in 2005!