Electrify Your Strings!
The LHS Orchestra will perform a rock concert on Jan. 6 with world renowned violinist Mark Wood!
This Saturday, Jan. 6, the LHS orchestra, along with the North and South Middle Schools’ eighth grade orchestras, will be performing a rock concert alongside the world-renowned violinist and composer Mark Wood. Mark Wood is the co-founder and original member of the multi-platinum-selling Trans-Siberian Orchestra and creator of the revolutionary Viper electric violin. Wood is bringing his groundbreaking music education program Electrify Your Strings! to LHS. Cally Issidoridis, a violinist in the LHS orchestra, says, “Mark Wood can help to unify us as an orchestra and teach us a different style of music we were never exposed to.”
We are thrilled to bring [Wood’s] exciting and one-of-a-kind opportunity to LHS. The students have been working really hard, and I cannot wait to see how their dedication and commitment pays off. — Orchestra Teacher Alyssa White
This exciting event will transform the student musicians into a full-fledged Rock Orchestra. Wood will be performing with the students on his handcrafted seven-string fretted electric Viper violin as part of the 2017 Electrify Your Strings! “No Limits Tour” on Saturday at 7:00 p.m. The audience will be entertained by Wood’s original material, as well as his exciting arrangements of music by ACDC, Michael Jackson, The Beatles, and more.
Wood and his team have been working directly with Orchestra Director Alyssa White and middle school Orchestra Director Jason Melecio to tailor-design a rock orchestra makeover complete with a public performance at the end of the experience. Alyssa White shared her thoughts on the event, and said, “We are thrilled to bring [Wood’s] exciting and one-of-a-kind opportunity to LHS. The students have been working really hard, and I cannot wait to see how their dedication and commitment pays off.”
Another violinist in the LHS orchestra, Sam Cohen, says, “Electrify your strings has been a refreshing and genuinely fun experience. The music is really exciting to play, and integrating rock into our mostly classical repertoire has really helped all of us to become more well-rounded, enthusiastic musicians.”
