Seven Lakes High School

Orchestras

News

News

Celebrating Excellence: Two Orchestras Earn National Recognition with the Mark of Excellence Award

It is with immense pride and joy that we announce an incredible achievement for several outstanding orchestras, both of which have earned the prestigious Mark of Excellence Award from the Foundation for Music Education. Our 2024 Symphony Orchestra and Symphony Strings were awarded this crowning achievement! This national accolade recognizes the highest levels of performance in school music programs, and being selected is a true testament to the talent, dedication, and passion of our students. The Mark of Excellence is more than just a title—it’s a reflection of countless hours of practice, determination, and unwavering commitment to the art of music. These orchestras are not just ensembles; they are communities of students who have pushed themselves and each other to reach their fullest potential. Every rehearsal, every note played, and every challenging moment overcome has led to this shining moment of recognition.

What makes this achievement so inspiring is the collective effort that went into it. Our student musicians understand that excellence isn’t achieved overnight. It takes time, focus, and perseverance to refine their craft. Each individual player has contributed to the success of these orchestras through tireless practice and personal growth. From the softest string passage to the boldest brass fanfare, every sound was built on hours of dedication.

We are profoundly grateful to our directors, students, and the entire school community for their unwavering support in helping these young musicians reach such an exceptional level. Most of all, we are immensely proud of our students, whose effort, heart, and love for music have shone through every step of the way.

Lyrica Orchestra Earns Commended Winner Accolade through the Foundation of Music Education 

We are proud to announce that our third orchestra, Lyrica, also earned Commended Winner through the Foundation of Music Education. The Citation of Excellence project seeks to recognize and award outstanding achievement in performance by non-varsity high school and middle school bands and orchestras. A unique competitive environment is created which allows ensembles to compare their performance quality to other outstanding non-varsity ensembles. The top 25% of entrants are recognized as Citation Winners, with the second 25% named as Commended Winners.

2024-2025 Audition Results

There were so many outstanding performances that we heard from our new and returning students. The directors were very pleased with the level of preparation and performance.

You may have not made it into the group that you auditioned for, but please know that all audition results are final. All students are auditioned at the end of each school year, so you will have another opportunity to move to another ensemble for the 2025-2026 school year.

Thanks to all of our students who auditioned! Audition results can be viewed here.

Have a wonderful summer!

Segue

SLORK Wars Episode II: Attack of the Violas

Normally each year, the Seven Lakes Orchestras Officer team makes homemade videos that entertain our students, with one of them being the end of year officer skit. This year’s communication team worked with our students all year long to plan and produce a 30 minute long thrilling Star Wars styled movie combining live action with animation like never seen before!

Featuring intense fight scenes, epic space battles, orchestral inside jokes and more, this is something you must check out!

THE AWESOME 2022 SPRING CONCERT!

Our students and audience had a blast at the ambitious, video game themed Spring Concert, full of funny skits such as the concert etiquette video, a mixture of game machinima given life by Derek Chen and his team of talented voice actors and player controllers (see below), interactive performances, like a sing-along of the beloved Minecraft parody song “Fallen Kingdom”, and an amazing end of year Star Wars parody movie shown at our informal banquet!

Our students performed songs from the soundtracks of some of this generation’s favorite games, recordings of which can be seen on our Youtube channel!

The Camerata, Phil 2 and Phil 7 combined orchestras performed the following pieces with interactive elements:

  • The Halo Theme by Martin O’Donnell and Michael Salvatori
  • Korobeiniki (The Tetris Theme), a traditional Russian Folk Song arranged by Timothy Rohwer while faculty and student Jasmine Wang competed against each other on screen
  • Finally, a beloved Minecraft parody of Coldplay’s “Viva la Vida”, Fallen Kingdom, by Jordan Maron and arranged by Adrian Sisso complete with an audience sing-along led by choir student Tanner Scott!

Our Piano and Harp Studio performed the following nostalgic pieces:

  • Sweden, a peaceful track by C418 from the videogame Minecraft accompanied by a video officer Derek Chen created as a love letter to the beloved game
  • The Super Mario Bros. Themes (Konda/Guxholli) accompanied by faculty member Mr. Jacobi playing the game on screen! More amazing than Mr. Jacobi’s epic gameplay was that our pianists Parham Vakili and Daniela Caballero were so synced to the game that every single sound effect could be heard from the piano!
  • Morpheus, a somber piece composed by Cambiata cellist Nikhil Murali and performed by pianists Victor Liu and Melody Yang!

Up next was our Lyrica orchestra with the following video game pieces:

  • The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time Medley (Kondo/Arr. Frias)
  • “Greenpath” from the atmospheric adventure game Hollow Knight by Christopher Larkin and arranged by Lyrica violist Darsh Shah
  • Finally, “Hopes and Dreams” and “SAVE the world”, two iconic finale pieces composed by Toby Fox for the hit RPG Undertale arranged by Andrés Alejandro Rojas!

Our Symphony Strings orchestra decided to focus more on the “Life” aspect of our concert theme with the following pieces:

  • “Never Ending Performance” from the adventure game Genshin Impact by Yu-Peng Chen arranged by student Owen Christian T Capule
  • “Merry-Go-Round of Life”, an iconic waltz from Studio Ghibli’s Howl’s Moving Castle by Joe Hisaishi arranged by Jen Mathers
  • “One Hand, One Heart” from West Side Story (Bernstein/Arr. Naughtin)
  • Finally, “First Time in a Lifetime”, a world premiere by composer Joshua Idio!

The recordings of the pieces can be found on our Youtube channel, and linked below is the hilarious concert etiquette video!

Cadenza

CODA

“A closing passage generally added to the end of a composition to provide a strong conclusion to the work, giving the piece a grander sense of finality”