Around the Schools
Roosevelt High School earns top honors at Northwest Orchestra Festival
Musical groups from Seattle’s Roosevelt High School took top honors Saturday in three divisions at the 40th Annual Northwest Orchestra Festival hosted by Mount Hood Community College.
Roosevelt was recognized for outstanding performances in the Small Ensemble Division, the String Symphony Division and the Large Orchestra Division.
The orchestras, under the direction of Anna Edwards, involve more than 90 students in grades 9-12. The groups performed works by Ludvig von Beethoven, Antonin Dvorak and Joseph Suk.
Throughout the daylong festival, Roosevelt musicians turned in outstanding performances. Omari Abdul-Alim (violin) performed a dynamic solo in Suk’s Serenade for Strings and freshman violinist Josephine Cheung impressed the adjudicators with her solo in the freshman orchestra’s performance of Vivaldi’s L’estro Armonico. Concertmistress Bronwyn Early and flute soloist Evan Pengra-Sult provided key leadership and outstanding performances for the Symphony Orchestra.
The Roosevelt Quintet took top honors in the small ensemble category against stiff competition from as far away as Boise, Idaho. The ensemble, comprised of Omari Abdul-Alim (violin), Bronwyn Early (violin), Amy Dong (viola), Nick Loucks (cello) and Will Langlie-Miletich (bass), performed Dvorak’s Bass Quintet.
In an unusual twist, the Roosevelt Symphony Orchestra performed in the finals competition under the baton of a student conductor. Director Edwards explained to the audience that a family emergency – the death of her father – had caused her to miss 10 days of school in the weeks leading up to the festival.
Edwards commended the musicians for their hard work in her absence, and in recognition of that dedication, invited student conductor – bassist Will Langlie-Miletich – to conduct the orchestra in its finals performance of the fourth Movement of Beethoven’s 5th Symphony.
The Roosevelt performance took top honors, Kamiak High School from Mukilteo, Wash. placed second and Seattle’s Garfield Symphony Orchestra was third.
Photo by Barry Wong
Photo above is Roosevelt High School's string section with Bronwyn Early, co-concertmaster.