Carol You, member of Symphony Orchestra and sophomore, unpacks her cello for an after school rehearsal. You had already practiced her chamber music in class in order to prepare for the upcoming chamber music concert on Jan. 30 but said she was looking forward to running through it with the band members during rehearsal. “We practice (our chamber music) after school with the percussion, winds, and brass,” You said.

The CHS orchestras will be hosting their chamber music concert on Jan. 30 in room P100. According to director of orchestras Elisabeth Ohly-Davis, Philharmonic, Symphony, and Camerata Orchestra will be participating in this concert, and there are about 30 chamber groups playing.

“(The chamber music concert) will start around 5 or 5:30 (p.m.),” Ohly-Davis said. “It’ll be like a café format where you can come and go, and we’ll have a table of cookies, and we’ll set up a little parquet floor for the stage, and I also think we have some special lighting for this year, so it’s going to be fun. It’ll probably be around four hours long so that everybody gets a chance to play. If you’ve got an hour to hang out and eat some cookies and listen to some great high school students play, it’s definitely worth your time to come out on the 30th.”

Carol You, member of Symphony Orchestra and sophomore, said she and her chamber music group have been working hard to prepare for the concert. “Right now, we’re doing the chamber music unit, so in class, we’ve split into our chamber groups that Mr. Chen assigned for us,” You said. “We practice our chamber music, and everyday, a couple of groups have to do a mock performance in front of the whole class of just an excerpt of their piece so that they’re ready for the real thing.”

Ohly-Davis also said that following the chamber music concert, there will also be auditions for next year’s orchestra placements, which will take place during the first week of February. Students not in Camerata Orchestra, the most advanced orchestra, will have the opportunity to be placed in a higher orchestra next year if they audition. Students not currently in orchestra can also see the orchestra directors if they are interested in auditioning.

“If anyone’s interested in auditioning who’s not in orchestra, they should come see us, and we’ll get them signed up during SRT sometime that week,” said Ohly-Davis. By Wendy Zhu