The stage at St. Clair Shores Lakeview High School became a testament to the months of hard work as both the Grosse Pointe South Concert and Symphony Orchestras performed at the MSBOA Festival on March 6. This performance came before a sight-reading test that pushed the musicians to perform well under pressure.
Both ensembles were evaluated by judges on their technical proficiency and musicality. Orchestra director Montana Crawford guided the students through the rigorous process.
“Honestly, I just loved our warm-up time and hearing how much we’ve improved in there and how confident everyone is with our music,” Crawford said. “Before we even went on stage, I just felt so much appreciation for everyone, and I feel so lucky to be working with all of my students.”
The road to the festival started right after winter break, requiring the ensembles to master technical pieces. Concertmaster Emilia Koper ’26 reflected on the challenges.
“Since the Clair de Lune is such a well-known piece, it is difficult to accurately convey that specific feeling through a string ensemble,” Koper said. “The tuning is really demanding, and if the intonation isn’t perfect, it makes phrasing hard.”
After their planned performance, the orchestras tackled their next challenge. In this section, the groups had to play a piece they had never seen before while being evaluated by a judge.
“Everybody stayed calm and did well with our preparation for sight reading,” Crawford said. “Our first violins had to shift, which I wasn’t expecting, but we handled it really well, and we ended up getting a one for sight reading.”
Parent Linda Gielniak observed the performance from the audience and noted the orchestra’s overall presence.
“It was awesome to see how much they’ve grown as a group,” Gielniak said. “They were very focused on that stage, and you could tell every student was playing their best.”
As both orchestras ultimately earned the highest possible rating of a one, Crawford noticed the sense of community within the program reached a new peak.
“I hope that the audience sees how community-based our orchestra is and how together we can accomplish really cool things,” Crawford said. “For our festival pieces, we probably grew as musicians a little bit more, and we were able to take them to higher levels than we ever have before.”
