The annual winter orchestra concert, Orchestravaganza, took place last Thursday and Friday. 

While the concert itself is an amazing feat that the students put so much effort into, a lot of  credit also goes to Nate McClendon, the orchestra director who put it all together.

“It’s a long process, I mean I’m dreaming, all the time about what the show is going to be.” McClendon said. 

McClendon works all year on the show, getting ideas for the music and set from all over the place. His job is to find all the pieces to this big puzzle and put them together just right to form a giant, coherent performance.

“The other thing is I’m always searching for really good music to play,” McClendon said, “And so, this fall some new pieces came out that were really good.” 

Not only does he want the students to have fun but he wants to engage with the audience too. He advised everyone in the audience to laugh and have fun. For this year’s show that included things like donkeys and Yoda.

“The donkey masks were from last year’s show,” McClendon said. “Then we brought it back from last year, but I figured if we’re going to make it bigger, how to make that better? I know, more donkeys.”

The idea for the show started when a student hinted at orchestra concerts being boring by asking for a show he could invite his friends to, and the yearly event still continues. It is a lot of work, but McClendon enjoys what he does for the students and the audience. 

“I just never know what’s going to happen,” McClendon said.