I think I mentioned this in an earlier post that I joined a community orchestra for this upcoming season. It’s a a new activity for the next year (Sep-June), and a decision I’m really happy I made to brush the dust off my cello and get playing again. How exactly I managed to skip the audition process is another story, but more relevantly, this week I went to my first orchestra practice. I didn’t really know what to expect or how it’d go, but I did manage to hack my way through most of the music and not play too badly out of tune!

This practice was a read through of the new music we’ll be playing for our first concert coming up at 3pm on Saturday October 30th (mark your calendars if you want to come!). It’s a Halloween themed concert, titled “Goblins and Fairies”. I didn’t really know what to expect of the music, but was pleasantly surprised by a relatively extensive and fun list of songs.

Here’s the repertoire for the performance and links to some youtube videos if you want a preview of what it will sounds like. Most of the music should be familiar to most people.

Edvard Grieg – Peer Gynt Suite #1 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dRpzxKsSEZg)
Paul Dukas – The Sorcerer’s Apprentice (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=98VVhvfadYw)
John Williams – Harry Potter Symphonic Suite (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AaMqnYvzE2Q)
Antonin Dvorak – The Noon Witch (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-NdI7kjbGk)
Stephen Schwartz – Highlights from WICKED (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ON5ZX7VAoF0)
Sergei Prokofiev – Peter and the Wolf (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wtns6R757i8)

More details on the orchestra can be found here: http://www.rhpo.ca/