Both the symphony orchestra and philharmonic orchestra debuted their UIL pieces at the pre-UIL concert last Wednesday. These orchestras combine both string orchestra students and band students to create a full orchestra ensemble.

The Philharmonic Orchestra played three pieces including American Landscape, Millennium and Dance of the Tumblers. 

“Millennium is Star Wars themed, and it’s probably my favorite piece out of the three,” sophomore Ian D’Souza said. “American landscape it’s basically just a train ride and it’s a lot of eighth notes. Dance of the Tumblers is very bright and joyous and it’s kind of fun to play. We have the melody in a few of the areas. (Millenium) is my favorite because the melody sounds good and I like the theme of it.” 

The Symphony Orchestra played three pieces: Symphony 8 by Antonin Dvorak, Prelude 49th by Parallel R. Vaughan Williams, and Festive Overture by Dimitri Shostakovich. 

“Full orchestra is a lot more fun than just playing in a regular orchestra because it’s cool to play with the wind instruments, my favorite piece that we are playing is Dvorak Symphony #8 because all of the instruments seem to blend really well together,” freshman Trevin Harris said. “Playing in the viola section for the symphony full orchestra is extremely fun because we get to play some of the melodies as well as play the same notes with other wind instruments which adds better sound.”