Orchestra students are traveling today to their performances for News 6’s Sounds of the Season at their studio in Orlando to be aired on TV on Christmas day.

“It was actually Ms. Bishop, our wonderful strings consultant [who told us about Sounds of the Season],” orchestra director Melanie Richardson said. “This is a program that she did with her orchestras when she was teaching in Seminole [County], and she passed the information along to me because they had kept her information and I then reached out and I was able to secure [a] spot.”

The orchestra will be taking all 69 students on this trip, with one performance group for Chamber orchestra, and another group for Concert and Symphonic orchestras combined.

“I definitely picked challenging pieces, so there’s definitely a lot of work, but I have no doubt that both groups are going to pull it through, put in the time and effort it needs, and I think it’s going to be a really great performance once it’s all said and done,” Richardson said.

They raised the money for this field trip by hosting a fundraiser, selling 6 flavors of sauce from Black Box Sauce Company. This is the orchestra’s second year hosting this fundraiser.

“As of right now, we’re over $5,000 [raised] and that’s between sauce sales, but also any parents or families who wanted to give donations,” Richardson said.

Many orchestra students are excited to perform their pieces on TV.

“I think it’s an amazing chance the West Shore orchestra has been given to exhibit our talents to everyone in the state,” Freshman Joseph Konathapally said.

Richardson said she didn’t expect this to happen this year, but is happy that they are doing it.

“I try really hard to give you all as many dates as possible so you and your families are prepared for when we have All-County auditions, what those dates are for those who make it, Solo and Ensemble, MPA, our concerts, so this was definitely something that was unexpected and I didn’t take into consideration when planning my own budget for orchestra for the year,” Richardson said. “I’m very glad and thankful that we’re having this experience, but it’s also going to be one of those things that I’m going to see how it goes and what the product and the outcome is.”

By Daniel Mirell