Arts & Culture
Lehi and Skyridge musicians perform Mozart at Abravanel Hall
Megan Wallgren | Lehi Free Press
Choir and Orchestra students from Skyridge and Lehi High Schools sang and played at Abravanel Hall on Jan. 29 in Alpine School District’s Masterworks concert. At the annual performance, students from all 10 district high schools performed Requiem by Mozart under the direction of guest conductor Sonja Poulter, director of the Brigham Young University Women’s Chorus.
The Masterworks Concert has been an Alpine School District tradition for over 10 years. This is the first time the free concert was held at Abravanel Hall.
“It was a great experience for the students being able to perform such an iconic piece in the home of the Utah Symphony. Most students won’t have the opportunity again unless they become pro musicians,” said Cassandra Brosvik, Skyridge orchestra director, who prepped the orchestra students from all the schools for the performance.
Students from all 10 high schools made up the 60-member orchestra and 320-member choir.
“There’s a lot of talent across the board. It was really quite amazing to watch how it all came together,” said Kirsten Richards, Skyridge choral director.
The group of performers came together only twice before the concert, but students at each high school had been learning the music individually since September.
“Learning the music was one of the most difficult things,” said Richards. “It was grinding at times, and hard to keep with it, but I think that anything that you work hard for is more rewarding in the end. When the kids finally saw that all their hard work paid off, it was totally worth it.”
Corrine Braley, a Skyridge senior, said it was one of the hardest, but most rewarding things she’s ever done.
“It was really hard music. We’ve been learning it for a while, so getting to perform it was relieving in a way,” she said. “It was a cool accomplishment to perform together as a group. It was awesome to build that relationship not only with our high school choir members but with other high schools as well.”
Skyridge senior Harry Fuller loved getting to perform such a classic piece. “Masterworks was so fascinating this year. I love classical music and have had a dream to study classical music. There were so many moving parts, and I was fascinated by the fact that we were all able to come together and create such a beautiful sound. We performed our hearts out and it was beautiful. I felt really accomplished about what I did and what everyone else did,” he said.
Classical pieces like Requiem are rarely performed by high school students because of their technical difficulty.
“They really loved the music, and that’s important. It makes a big difference,” said Brosvik.
A favorite movement from Requiem among the performers was Dies Irae.
“It’s a famous one that is in a lot of movies, and it was cool when we first started learning it to recognize it. I felt like I was in Star Wars or something singing that music,” Braley said.
Fuller summed up the overall experience for performers and audience alike, saying, “It was genuinely magical.”
