Last month during January, students all over Arizona auditioned for regional orchestra, band, and choir. This month is the time to shine for DV students. Regionals take place on February 17 and February 18. The northcentral region is the one Desert Vista is participating in, and over 30 students made the orchestra. Region will be held at Camelback High School in northeast downtown Phoenix. Around 20 high schools participated in auditions.

“I’ve been practicing my scales and excerpts extra hard since fall,” said violinist Alex Min. “The time has finally come where we as a team can perform and represent Desert Vista. It’s going to be such a fun and exciting experience to learn more about my friends and about music.”

The pieces for region orchestra are “Dusk” by Steven Bryant (2008), “West Side Story” by Leonard Bernstein (1956), and “Mein vaterland” by Friedrich Smetana (1879).

“There’s a nice mix of music,” French Horn player Nathan Zhang said. “Dusk is very beautiful and slow paced, while West Side Story is more on the free yet melodic side. Mein Vaterland however, is a very old and amazing song, every part in the symphony is very difficult. I think we could definitely pull it off by Saturday evening.”

The orchestra will be led by Mr.Ajay Patel. Band will be led by Dr.Robert Hunter. Choir will be led by Dr.Craig Peterson. The concert will take place at 3 pm at Camelback High School.