Scottsdale student festival and honor orchestras to perform Feb. 8

Approximately 125 children from fourth through eighth grades will perform in the Scottsdale Unified School District Festival and Honor Orchestra Concerts at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 8, in the auditorium at Desert Mountain High School, 12575 E. Via Linda, Scottsdale.

Two separate orchestras — elementary school and middle school — will perform music of the highest caliber and difficulty. Advanced fourth, fifth and sixth grade students will perform in the Festival Orchestra Concert and advanced sixth, seventh and eighth grade students will perform in the Honor Orchestra Concert.

The Festival Orchestra will perform "Charming Snake", "Jupiter, The Bringer of Joy" and "Dragon Dances". The Honor Orchestra will perform "American Heartland", "Waltz from Sleeping Beauty" and "Dance of Iscariot".

For this free public event, Dr. Marg Schmidt, Music Education professor at Arizona State University and supervisor for the ASU Arizona String Project, will conduct the Festival Orchestra. Lew Felton, associate conductor of Mesa Youth Symphony and an Orchestra teacher in the Mesa School District, will conduct the Honor Orchestra.

Editor’s note: Students can be photographed at this event.

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