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High School Orchestra Students Perform Concert With Professional String Quartet

Sergio Bernal conducts the students during their concert
Jeannine Huenemann

The Chamber Music Society of Logan and Mountain West String Academy brought students together from all around Cache Valley, for a chance to play with a professional string quartet and to play in their own small chamber ensembles.

 

“We have students from Cache County School District, and Logan City School District all coming together to play in this big orchestra with a professional quartet. And students today don’t get many experiences like that, to perform onstage, with a professional quartet,” said Patty Bartholomew, director for Mountain West String Academy.

 

Chamber music is a form of instrumental music for small ensembles. In schools, it can often be difficult for students to play in chamber ensembles. This event gives them the opportunity to do so.

 

In September students go through an audition process and then are placed in various ensembles. They are then paired with a coach who meets with them regularly until March. The students also participated in masterclasses with the Weber State Faculty Trio and The Fry Street Quartet. A competition is then held, and all of the winning ensembles get to perform in this final concert. Those who don’t win, still get to perform in the large orchestra along with the Spektral Quartet, a Chicago-based professional chamber group.

 

“Being in a chamber music group is so much different then being in just a regular orchestra where someone is basically telling you all the time what to do," said Rosemary Hatch, director of outreach for the Chamber Music Society of Logan. "Chamber music is totally different. It’s generally three or four of you, and your coach, and you are learning through your coach how to deal with each other, how to make music together, and experience that kind of joy."