After weeks of preparation, Archer’s honor musicians joined students from schools across Southern California on Feb. 7-8 to participate in the California Association of Independent School’s (CAIS) Honor Music Festival.

With only one day of rehearsal as an interscholastic group, the musicians gathered on Viewpoint School’s stage to perform a variety of different songs in different languages, styles and genres.

Archer’s representatives in the choral and orchestral performances Audrey Koh ’17, Lulu Cerone ’17, Carly Feldman ’17, Claire Sulzer ’17, Anna Allgeyer ’18 and Julia Hallin ’18 performed with over 100 students from schools as far as La Jolla Country Day School.

The chorus performed four songs — one of which, titled Big Sky and composed by Seth Houston, described the beauty of nature and the sadness of global warming.

Another song titled “Tsen Brider” was dedicated to spreading awareness of the suffering at World War II camps.

“[‘Tsen Brider’ tells] a story that would have never made it if it weren’t for music,” Allgeyer said over email.

Although Archer students did not perform in the band, they played pieces of college level difficulty. One piece written by Eric Whitacre, who is generally a choral composer, created a sound that resembled a train.

The orchestra, conducted by composer Soon Hee Newbold, performed five pieces, all written by Newbold. Each piece evoked the style and genre of a different culture.

Koh represented Archer by first playing the violin, then soloing multiple times. Feldman played the cello. Both girls performed in a concert that illustrated the universality of music.

“[It] was a lot of fun to play with people from schools all around California,” Feldman said over email.

“[Music] gives a viewpoint into different cultures, showcasing their beauty and faults in an emotional way,” Allgeyer said. 

Click on an image below to see photos from the festival.