Jan 15

Congrats Langley DHO participants!

Congratulations to the following Langley District XII Honors Orchestra students who participated in the 2023 DHO event January 13-14:

  • Michaela Frey, Asst. Principal, Violin II
  • Victoria Wang, Violin I
  • Tano Chun, Violin I
  • Thomas Ye, Violin I
  • Felicia Lee, Violin II
  • Geoffrey Yuan, Violin II
  • Jarod Jiang, Violin II
  • Lily Choi, Violin II
  • Bridget Olson, Viola
  • Caroline Fox, Viola
  • Emily Jao, Viola
  • Anna Chen, Viola
  • Mateo Albolote, Viola
  • Amiliya Smith, Principal Cello
  • Shumvobi Mitra, Cello
  • Riley Seewer, Bass

Langley Orchestra was especially proud as the host school to have the most (16) students from any high school in the district. Senior district orchestra students performed Mikhail Glinka’s “Overture to Ruslan and Lyudmila,” Eric Whitacre’s “A Boy and a Girl,” Johann Strauss’s “On the Beautiful Blue Danube,” and Robert Longfield’s “Rondo in Blue.” Foster Beyers, JMU’s Director of Orchestras, served as the senior district guest conductor.

Langley’s District XII Honors Orchestra participants – January 14, 2023

Langley HS last hosted DHO back in 2020, right before the pandemic, and some traditions started in 2020 had to be renewed:

Jan 04

Performing arts scholarship opportunity

Each year the McLean Community Center hosts the Macdonald Performing Arts Scholarship Competition for high school students who live or go to school in Dranesville District #1A (McLean Community Center’s tax district). The deadline for entry into the 2023 competition is January 27, with the preliminary competition the week of February 6.

There are four categories: Theatre, Dance, Vocal Music, and Instrumental Music. Three prizes are awarded in each category, from $400-1200. There is an application fee of $20 per entry, and students are allowed to enter as many
categories as they like. Further information can be found at this link:
https://mcleancenter.org/macdonald-performing-arts-scholarship/

Dec 07

Whisked off to Scandinavia…

On Tuesday evening December 6th, Dr. Scott McCormick and the Langley Orchestra whisked its concert attendees off to Scandinavia. The “Winter is Coming” concert featured music by Scandinavian composers including Edvard Grieg. Jean Sibelius, Dag Wiren and Ola Gjeilo. Philharmonic Orchestra opened the concert, showcasing members of Langley’s Concert Choir (directed by Caroline Player), and later, members of the Langley Wind Ensemble and Langley sophomore Tristan Yu on the piano. Concert Orchestra started their set with a rousing rendition of Game of Thrones, and concluding with A-ha’s “Take On Me,” arranged by Langley alum Craig Hunter. Symphonic Orchestra performed last in the concert with 3 movements from the Peer Gynt Suite, and closed with a medley of famous ABBA songs including Mamma Mia and Dancing Queen. Thanks to Brian Kaufman’s Technical Theatre team for spicing up the concert with entertaining video clips and visual effects including use of a disco ball.

Prior to the concert, students enjoyed a specially ordered meal of IKEA’s world-famous Swedish meatballs, complete with all the sides, and a hot chocolate bar. An incredible amount of gratitude to Langley Orchestra’s Hospitality chairperson Kim McPherson for planning and executing this incredible meal for our students (IKEA doesn’t cater!) and for organizing the beautiful and delicious spread in Langley Hall for students and concert guests.

A huge shout-out and thank you to our Concert Photographer Rania Razek, who climbed a ladder to take Langley Orchestra group photos in between performances. Rania’s many amazing photos, both orchestra group and candids, are posted to our Shutterfly site. The group photos will be used for the Playbill at Carnegie Hall as well as other publicity purposes.

The concert program can be viewed or downloaded below, and a link to the concert video will be sent out via newsletter in a few days.

Winter-is-Coming Concert ProgramDownload

May you have a safe and wonderful holiday season!