WV String Day 2010 in the Eastern Panhandle
This year the Berkeley County Orchestra Program hosted WV String Day in Martinsburg/ Inwood. 140 7th to 10th grade string students made the trip to the event and enjoyed a day of meeting new friends, intense rehearsals, lunch and dinner together as a group and a wonderful concert at the end of the day. Participants came from the following programs:
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Washington Irving Middle School, Charleston, director: Tricia Price
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Robert C. Byrd High School, Charleston, director: Tricia Price
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South Charleston High School, South Charleston, director: Colleen Tan
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Bridgeport High School , Bridgeport, director: Frank Dzielski
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Bridgeport Middle School, Bridgeport, director: Frank Dzielski
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Horace Mann Middle School, Charleston, Director: Ian Jessee
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George Washington HS, Charleston, director: Darrell Murray, spons. by
I. Jessee
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Capital High School, Charleston, director: Colleen Tan
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South Charleston Middle School, director: Livin Dobrota, sponsored by
C. Tan
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Berkeley County Orchestra Program, Eva Price, Chris Cushwa, David Funderburk
Dr. Mark McCoy, Shepherd University, kindly donated his conducting skills to the large orchestra and united the string musicians in just a few hours into an impressive ensemble. Concert pieces were chosen from the following selections:
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La Gazza Ladra, Ch. Rossini, arr. B. Monday
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Sheep May Safely Graze, J. S. Bach, arr. R. England
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Tango Espressivo, Turner
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Three Slavonic Dances, A. Dvorak, arr. M. Isaac
A special thank you goes to the sectional coaches who prepared the string
students to play their
orchestra part as well possible:
Violin 1: Heather Austin-Stone, Maryland Symphony Orchestra, Hagerstown,
MD
Violin 2: Margarete Cooper, WV Symphony Orchestra, Charleston
Viola: Collen Tan, WV Symphony Orchestra
Cello: Stephen Czarkowski, Shepherd University, Landon School
Bass: Dr. Donavan Stokes, Shenandoah University
The 6 pm concert in the auditorium of Musselman High School was enjoyed by many parents, members of the community and the participating string teachers. Even the local press noted the event and there was a picture of the orchestra on stage on the front page of “The Martinsburg Journal”.
As the Berkeley County Orchestra program is celebrating its 15th anniversary this year everyone enjoyed a slice of birthday cake after the concert. Hopefully we will meet all these talented string musicians at WV High School Honors Orchestra and/or WV All-State Orchestra in the future! - submitted by Eva Price
String Day Rehearsal led by Dr. Mark McCoy of Shepherd University