Solon High School’s Sinfonia Orchestra competed in the annual Ohio Music Education Association (OMEA) State Orchestra Contest on Feb. 24, finishing the day with a perfect score on every piece they performed. Only a select few schools were able to do the same, with the SHS Orchestra retaining their standing as one of the state’s most dominant groups.

The annual contest is adjudicated by some of Ohio’s most renowned music professionals, and is scored on a one-to-five scale, with one being the best. Each orchestra in attendance is required to perform four classical compositions – two from a list given by the judges, one of their choosing, and a final piece that is given to them the day of the competition to test how well the orchestra can play new music, known as sight reading.  

SHS teacher Gerald MacDougall, director of Sinfonia, explained how the group had not even practiced the music for the entire school year, actually starting at the beginning of second semester.

“All of the pieces we performed in the contest we started practicing after our December concert,” MacDougall continued. “We did a piece by Tchaikovsky, which is the pinnacle of what you would call ‘classical’ music, a piece that was commissioned as a project so we could learn about the creative process behind actually making music, and a final, more modernistic piece by American composer Aaron Copland called ‘Hoe Down’.”

Senior Mariella Stephens, a member of Sinfonia and President of the SHS Orchestra, commented that of the music they played, the Tchaikovsky piece in particular, was extremely difficult.

The orchestra had performed the same music the night before the event at their Winter Concert, but wasn’t too happy with the results. However, Stephens said that come contest-time, the group stepped it up.

“We played much better than we did at our concert at the high school, and I know everyone felt really good after our performance.”

Evidently, the judges did too, unanimously awarding Solon as one of the few schools with a rating of one.

MacDougall noted, “out of the approximately 30 different schools competing in the contest, only four schools were able to earn this perfect rating.”

Stephens explained that the most notable part of the group’s performance was how far they’ve come since the beginning of the year.

“The primary difference between our orchestra now and our orchestra at the beginning of the year is the increased level of intensity,” Stephens said.

Fellow senior and Sinfonia Vice President Vishal Sundaram added that the group now plays as more cohesive unit.

“While the beginning of the year is often characterized by the sometimes awkward social atmosphere of a nervous freshman sitting near a more confident senior, those social barriers have by now mostly fallen.”

Despite their growth and success, the group acknowledges that there is room for improvement.

“We could use some improvement in nuanced areas such as intonation, mirroring of bow-usage, and dynamics,” Sundaram noted. “All of the feedback we received was very helpful and will undoubtedly be considered as we try to improve.”

Solon’s orchestra will be in action at SHS for the final time this year on May 3, for their last concert and Senior Recognition Night. The event is free and open to all.