By Brigid Ehrmantraut
On June 2, the Middle and High School music programs under the direction of Pamela Wright and Martin Lund will perform at Orcas Center at 7:00 pm.
The five individual groups who will perform are Middle School Band, Middle School Strings, High School Band, High School Strings, and the combined High School Strings and Band (the Orcas Youth Orchestra — OYO). Select middle schoolers will be joining the OYO.
Director Pamela Wright says,”If you haven’t heard these groups this year, you have missed a lot!”
A noticeable change in the school music program throughout the 2010-11 school year can be attributed to the new directors, Pamela Wright and Martin Lund.
Wright, while not new to Orcas Island Public School music or teaching music in general (she has taught the Elementary programs for years and directs a private youth strings group, the Ceolinas), has recently taken over the Middle and High School Strings. She is also a co-director of the OYO along with Martin Lund. Over the past year, High School Strings has performed with the San Juan Music Educators Senior Honor Orchestra and at a competition at Western Washington University.
Martin Lund started working with the school band program last fall. High School Band attended the Mount Vernon Jazz Festival earlier this year and Middle School Band traveled to Friday Harbor. Some of the pieces that have been played this school year and will be played on June 2nd were arranged by Lund or Wright.
The OYO and possibly some middle schoolers will also be playing for High School graduation on June 11.
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