On April 10, middle and upper school orchestra ensembles gathered at San Jose’s Mexican Heritage Plaza Theater for the 2015 Spring Orchestra Concert.

Up first was the Grade 6 Orchestra, directed by Dave Hart, which performed Brahms’ “Hungarian Dance No. 5” and the modern folk classic “Ashokan Farewell” by Jay Ungar, finishing with the famous “James Bond Theme” by Monty Norman. The Grades 7-8 Orchestra, also directed by Hart, began with the invigorating theme from “Pirates of the Caribbean” and continued with selections by Brahms, Wagner and Tchaikovsky.

The middle school orchestras then joined forces for a crowd-pleasing performance of “Prelude to Carmen” by Georges Bizet.

Chris Florio directed The Harker School Orchestra, which headlined the evening, starting with Charles-Camille Saint-Saëns’ “Danse Macabre” before performing the entirety of Stravinsky’s “The Firebird.” Two soloists also performed. The first, senior violist Austin Lai, performed Léo Delibes “La Paix,” from the ballet “Coppélia,” while senior violinist Helen Wu, who recently earned a spot on the National Youth Orchestra for the second year in a row, performed the allegro from Samuel Barber’s “Concert for Violin & Orchestra.” The orchestra closed the evening with a spirited version of “Huapango” by renowned Mexican composer José Pablo Moncayo.