Shorewood orchesta to play at Carnegie Hall on April 24

Pre-trip concert on April 14 at 7:30 pm in the Shorewood High School theater.

The old joke asks, “How do you get to Carnegie Hall?” The answer is “Practice!” — and it helps to attend Shorewood High School.

Dan Wing conducting a Shorewood orchestral group

On April 24, the Shorewood High School String Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Dan Wing, will perform for the third time at America’s most famous concert hall.

“Until they get there, the students really have no idea how special it is,” said Wing, who conducted previous Shorewood orchestras at Carnegie in 2003 and 2007. The school’s choir performed at Carnegie Hall in 2009. “They are going to look around during that first rehearsal there and just say, ‘Wow.’ ”

Shorewood will combine three smaller performing groups at the school into one large 85-member ensemble for the trip to New York City April 21 to 25. The school was selected for the concert based on its past performances at Carnegie and tradition of excellence. Shorewood orchestras have won numerous awards at festivals throughout the Northwest.

Wing has taught orchestral music at Shorewood for 23 years. He is currently the president-elect of the Washington Music Educators Association, a member of its Hall of Fame and the 2008 Shoreline Teacher of the Year.

Shorewood orchestra section practice. Photo courtesy SL Schools

 Wing holds a bachelor’s degree in music from Washington State University and a master’s degree in viola performance from Indiana University. Before becoming a teacher, Dan enjoyed a 15-year career as a professional musician, living in Germany and performing throughout Europe with the orchestras of Radio Luxembourg and West German Radio, among others. He has been principal violist for the orchestras of Heidelberg (Germany), the Spoleto Festival (Italy), Sacramento, California, Evansville, Indiana, and Charlotte, North Carolina. He continues to perform at summer music festivals.

Shorewood is sharing the program with other wind ensemble groups from across the United States and will have about a half hour to perform.

Wing chose five pieces for the Carnegie Hall concert: Australian composer Percy Grainger’s “Mock Morris” and “Irish Tune” from County Derry that includes the famous “Danny Boy;” Heinrich Biber’s Baroque “Battalia,” Pietro Mascagni’s Intermezzo from his opera “Cavalleria Rusticana,” and Gustav Holst’s “St. Paul’s Suite.”

“It is a challenging selection of music,” Wing said. “For example, in “Battalia,” to portray various battle scenes, Biber employs many unusual string techniques. To evoke fencing or sword play, battuto (“beating” with the bow) is used. Perhaps the most unusual section occurs where the string bass player is instructed to place a piece of paper between the strings in such a way that the result sounds like a drum, accompanying the solo violin’s ‘fife’ tune.”

For those who can’t make the trip to Carnegie Hall, the Shorewood orchestra will hold a pre-trip concert on April 14 at 7:30 p.m. in the Shorewood High School theater.

--Shoreline Schools