Orchestra to perform at Palladium, debut CD

TUNE UP: Part of the symphony orchestra rehearses during school. The symphony orchestra was invited to play at the Palladium as part of the "Tuning the Halls" series.

Jan. 7 concert to serve as tune-up for new Carmel venue, CD to be available same day

By Andy Yang
<ayang@hilite.org>

The Palladium, Carmel’s new music hall which has cost over $150 million, plans to finally open with a week long Grand Opening in late January 2011, but before this, it is holding a preview performance for the community as part of its “Tuning the Hall” series.

According to Kyle Lin, orchestra council president and senior, the CHS symphony orchestra is one of the orchestras invited to play in this event.

“It’s really an incredible opportunity for us because it’s obviously just been built and come in, so the chance for us to play in it in the first few months is actually a really great opportunity,” Lin said.

Orchestra director Soo Han said that the event, which is scheduled for Jan. 7 from 6 to 7 p.m., is to be not only a preview performance for the community, but also a test to allow sound engineers to fix the acoustics of the hall.

“They can make adjustments that they need to the hall and sounding, so it sounds its best when it really opens in late January. The technology that’s in the hall is going to be incredible, for instance if they find that the hall rings too much, there are things they can do to adjust that.”

Tuning the hall

John Hughey, Public Relations Manager at the Center for Performing Arts, said that the hall includes a huge glass acoustical canopy and has been holding about 30 rehearsals planned over three months.

“We expect to have national music critics attend concerts and we know that they’re going to describe the acoustics of the hall and I think that’s the point in time when we’re able to assess what the sound is like and how it rivals other halls.” Hughey said.

Lin said the hall is expected to be one of the best in the Midwest, attracting some of the most sought after acts and performances.

“I got to play at (Alice) Tully Hall in New York and McCormick Place in Chicago as well as Hilbert Circle downtown in my years with the orchestra, but to have a place like this that apparently has almost as great acoustics as the rest of them just five minutes away is absolutely phenomenal,” Lin said. “It’s a dream come true for a lot of people. I’m going to relish it because as seniors, we never thought we were going to have a chance to play there, but now that we do it’s something we’re going to treasure for sure.”

The more the merrier

The performance will be featuring the symphony orchestra only, but Han said he hopes that others will have a chance to play at the Palladium as well.

“Although this invitation was extended just to the symphony orchestra, I hope that all of our orchestra students and maybe even the rest of the performing arts students have an opportunity to perform at such a tremendous hall sometime,” Han said. “I know that years in the past, we’ve taken the entire orchestra, all the orchestra students, and we performed in the Hilbert Circle theatre downtown, which is home to the Indianapolis symphony. Maybe we can do a performance like that again. If not next year, sometime in the very near future.”

The orchestra will be playing two pieces: John Adams’s Chairman Dances and Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 2, according to Han.

“It’s going to be a repeat performance of what we’re doing in December (at the winter concert), and the concert that the symphony orchestra is going to be doing is one of the most demanding repertoire that I’ve ever done with high school kids. Something else that’s really extraordinary that high schools groups don’t do is performing a complete symphony, so they’re going to be presenting the entire Tchaikovsky’s Second Symphony. So the first performance is going to be December, and the repeat is going to be in January because we don’t have much time right after winter break.”

In addition, the symphony orchestra was not the only group from this school to play at the Palladium. The Ambassadors performed there last month as part of the series as well.

According to Ambassador and junior Rachel Lange, the acoustic and organizational aspects of the venue were very impressive.

“The acoustics of the Palladium were very advanced, and the atmosphere was very intimate because the audience was very close to the stage,” Lange said.

Going digital

Han also said the orchestra will be releasing a CD on the day of their performance which will feature the songs that they are playing.

“Ever since I’ve come to Carmel, one of the main goals that I’ve had for the orchestra program is to release their own professionally recorded CD. This is a great year to do it because we’ve had the time,” Han said. “We’re going to be working with sound engineers from Aire Born Studios in Indianapolis, and they do a lot of recording all over the world. We’re working with their sound engineers, and we’re working with the auditorium manager, Tom Harvey; he’s our official producer for the CD.”

Lin said he was proud to have been selected to perform at the Palladium in this event.

“It’s a complete honor to represent Carmel High School. It’s a complete honor to be recognized in that way, and we hope that we can continue to continue the legacy of the Carmel High School orchestra.”