After playing concerts throughout Washington and Oregon, all the Orchies agree: there’s no place like home. On Oct. 30, the St. Olaf Orchestra performed its fall Home Concert after a tour in the Pacific Northwest. The program featured its full tour repertoire, including three student soloists. This concert marks the end of the first tour for new orchestra conductor Chung Park.
Playing a home concert after a tour is a standing tradition of ambassador ensembles at St. Olaf. This gives the ensemble the opportunity to share the music they performed across the country, and sometimes even the world, to the St. Olaf community. For the St. Olaf Orchestra, this means playing music performed at six concerts through Washington and Oregon for its Pacific Northwest tour at Olaf’s own Skoglund Auditorium.
After tuning and a round of applause for Park and co-concertmaster Owen Cromwell ‘23, the concert opened with Joseph Bologone’s “Symphony in G major.” In the fashion of the time period it was composed, the orchestra was led by Cromwell playing from a concertmaster’s podium and Park playing with the orchestra. After a stage layout change, Park introduced the first solo piece, Gustav Holst’s “Double Concerto for Two Violins and Orchestra,” performed by Cromwell and co-concertmaster Grace Alexander ‘23.
The piece featured the solo violinists bouncing melodies between each other, highlighting the performers’ skill separately and together. After well-deserved applause for the Violin Concerto, Katya Jarmulowicz ‘24 took the stage for Richard Strauss’ “Concerto for Horn and Orchestra.” Opening with a powerful horn call, the piece showcased Jarmulowicz’s technical and lyrical ability. Park then took a moment to thank the St. Olaf faculty and staff for their help and support, as well as thanking former Ole Orchestra conductor Steven Amundson, who was in the audience. For its penultimate piece, the orchestra then played “Evening Prayer” and “Dream Pantomime” from Humperdinck’s “Hansel and Gretel.” After the intermission, the orchestra played its final piece on the program, Tchaikovsky’s “Symphony 6.” Following the orchestra’s tradition, Park conducted “Turtledove” to finish the concert.
In addition to its performances in St.Olaf’s Christmas Fest in December, the St. Olaf Orchestra will be performing its Family Concert on Nov. 13 at 3:30 in Skoglund Auditorium.