Tuesday, February 26, 2019, the Osceola County School for the Arts held its annual Orchestra Pre-MPA concert.

The Pre-MPA concert is a practice for the District High School Orchestra Music Performance Assessment that students will be participating in next week. The concert allowed high school orchestra and symphony students to
“put everything out there and get a practice,” according to Mr. Justin Cusick, Co-Director of the High School Symphony Orchestra. The night’s performances also allowed students to learn what they should expect at the real assessment as well as how to deal with nerves before going on stage.

Mr. Rueff Frazao, Director of High School Orchestras, along with Mr. Cusick, invited guest adjudicators to act as judges of each ensemble’s performances. This not only helped the students feel what it was like to play for experienced judges, but it also allowed them to get tips and prospective ratings for each piece.

After each ensemble performed, guest judge Mr. Michael Simpson went on stage, having a clinic in which he gave notes and tips for students to try out in front of him. This allowed students to learn new tricks that can help them next week.

When the event concluded, Mr. Cusick stated that although there were many great things that came out of the show, there were “a lot of things revealed that need to be worked on.” Because of this, he believes that the show was incredibly beneficial in preparing students.

In addition to preparing students, the Pre-MPA concert served as a fundraiser for the upcoming Symphony Orchestra trip to Carnegie Hall in New York City. Any funds raised in the myriad fundraisers held by the Orchestra Department at OCSA will go directly toward offsetting student travel costs for the trip.