On Tuesday night, June 4th, the Corona del Mar instrumental music program put on their annual Summer Concert. This event was held in the high school’s very own Blackbox theater.

This concert featured all of the string groups in the music program, including the string orchestra, which is the advanced group, and the Academy Strings, which is the beginning group.

Before the actual concert began, all performers met for a quick dress rehearsal in the theater at 5:30 pm. After doing a quick run through and fixing some minor details, the performers waited backstage while the theater was opened to the parents and other audience members.

The scheduled program began at 6:30 pm. To start off the concert, students from various groups in the music department came on stage, one by one, to perform solo pieces that they had prepared independently. Once they had finished, the Academy Strings group went on and performed. After their performance, there was another period of time for the other half of the soloists to perform. The last solo performance was followed by a quick 15 minute intermission.

After getting refreshments and getting up to stretch, the audience found their seats again and waited for the last group to perform.

The second half of the concert was entirely devoted to the string orchestra. In addition to the orchestra’s repertoire, each senior had their own feature to perform, whether it be a solo moment in one of the orchestra’s pieces or their own concerto.

In the middle of their set, Val Jamora, the music director of the instrumental program, took time to show his annual “senior embarrassment slideshow”, in which he digs deep into his photo library for old pictures of each graduating student. After this emotional period, the program went on and finished with the last few solos.

When asked for a recap on the year, Wesley Davis, a senior said, “I’m definitely sad to leave the music program. It’s been such a large part of my life for the past six years. This concert was a really good wrap up on the entire year. I’m so grateful for everything Mr. Jamora has done for me all these years.”

Wonderful concert CdM instrumental department and so long seniors!