Ocean Lakes’ orchestra presented their annual fall concert on the evening of Oct. 28,  which opened with “Concerto for Strings in D Major” by Antonio Vivaldi,  followed by “Autumn Harvest” by Chris Thomas, then “October” by Eric Whitacre, and concluded with the piece, “Quartet in D minor” by Joseph Haydn.

Karey Sitzler conducted the concert and welcomed the audience to the orchestra’s prelude, through the revelation as to why this concert was so special: For many freshman and sophomore students, this was their first performance in two years.

“This fall, we saw our juniors and seniors joined by freshmen, who had not performed or even had orchestra classes since the first semester of 7th grade. It was a time for building and beginning to establish ourselves as an ensemble, in the order that we move forward and grow,” said Sitzler.

The section pieces together held an eerie atmosphere that shifted towards cheery with the piece, “October,” which all members of the orchestra collectively worked together to bring the intended colors to the audience.

“I enjoyed playing October because the warm tones throughout each section truly symbolize the season of Autumn that the piece was written about,” said junior Nate Garcia.

Although this was the first-ever performance on stage for some students in orchestra, the collective group was able to start the year off strong.

“I think that it went well despite the fact that many of the players haven’t played in an actual orchestra for months, and for some, even years,” said sophomore Brandon Cheng.