The orchestra travelled to Austria, Germany for the American Celebration of Music from Dec. 29 to Jan. 3. Orchestra students performed a variety of pieces for an audience in Vienna.

Orchestra teacher Mike Arbucci said he had visited Austria with his wife, and noting all of the historical elements in Austria pertaining to music, he thought it would be the perfect location to take an orchestra and seized the opportunity when it came up.

“I hoped that students would gain an appreciation for classical music on a real life level,” Arbucci said. “I hoped they would see the context of Mozart while playing Mozart, and that they would visit the places where the Haydn quartets that they’re playing in class were originally performed.”

Senior Aiswariya Ramaswamy said the orchestra students traveling to Austria had rehearsals before and after school to practice the music they played there. She said they performed a variety of pieces, including some Austrian and classical European music, so their audiences would be able to listen to familiar songs.

However, Ramaswamy said since they performed as part of the American Celebration of Music, the orchestra played American-style music as well, such as the John WIlliams trilogy, a combination of themes from Star Wars, Jurassic Park and Raider’s March along with some Frozen songs.

Junior Isaac Champa said in addition to film music, the orchestra performed classical pieces, such as Mozart’s Symphony no. 25 in G minor.

Arbucci said performing in front of an Austrian audience was an incredible yet scary experience because of the familiarity Austrian people have with classical music.

“Venice is the seat of classical music and many audience members are more than familiar with the literature we were performing,” Arbucci said. “Anything that we played incorrectly would be noticed, so there was a pressure to not make mistakes. But the kids played very well, so I think the audience was very appreciative.”

Champa said he originally thought the Austrian audiences would enjoy the classical pieces the most, but after the orchestra’s performance, he said he felt as though they enjoyed the orchestra’s performance of the songs from Frozen had the best audience reaction.

“I think [the Austrian audience was] almost shocked because we were in a really old Austrian church, very traditional, classical music thing,” Champa said. “To play an American film score, I think that’s a risky move, but they loved it because it was something different. They don’t hear a lot of American music, even for a really popular movie like Frozen…so I think it was really shocking, but it turned out well.”

Prior to the trip, Champa said he looked forward to playing in a place where classical music is more popular. After performing, however, Champa said although playing in front of an enthusiastic Austrian audience was a good experience, he enjoyed the reaction of the orchestra members themselves.

“One of the things that I noticed after playing in Austria is not that I enjoyed the audience, but I enjoyed seeing the people in our orchestra who I know aren’t usually enthusiastic about music,” Champa said. “It was really rewarding to see them enjoying music in a way they never have before.”

In addition to playing for audiences with high respect for classical music, Champa previously said he hoped to gain experience for a career in a professional orchestra by traveling with an orchestra. Although the orchestra only got to play one concert rather than the anticipated two due to a flight cancellation, Champa said he still gained valuable experience travelling with an orchestra.

“It was a really cool experience just traveling with the orchestra and with my friends,” Champa said. “I felt like we kept it pretty professional. We were travelling with an orchestra to play. It wasn’t a vacation, it was a performance tour, and that was the thing we had to keep focused on.”

Senior Susie Song said it was different traveling with an orchestra because of the activities they did during the trip. Song said the orchestra visited a lot of places in Austria relating to Mozart, like his house and museum, because they played many of Mozart’s pieces. Song said they also visited where Haydn composed and learned about his history because the BVNW Chamber Orchestra played a lot of his music.

After returning from Austria, Song said she gained many memorable experiences from the trip, including the New Year’s Eve celebration, which met her expectations.

“Putting our love locks on the bridge in Salzburg was really  great,” Song said. “And on New Year’s Eve, watching the countdown screen. The entire city was going off in fireworks. It was really beautiful.”

Champa said he felt a cultural barrier between Europeans and Americans, like he had anticipated prior to the trip. Champa said although the orchestra tried to blend into the European atmosphere, it seemed obvious that they were the foreigners. However, Champa said music,  as a universal language, allowed the Austrian people and the orchestra to communicate, just without words.

“The experience of going to another country and not speaking their language, communicating with music without having to speak,” Champa said. “Even though we didn’t speak the same language, we understood music and I think that was the impact that we had.”