By Etta Washburn, Editor
On Friday, April 8th, the Bi-Co Orchestra performed their Spring Concert, led by conductor Heidi Jacob. After a challenging past few seasons, the gathering of musicians on stage was a welcome sight for all.
In August 2020, just 2 weeks before the beginning of the school year, Jacob was trying to plan the Orchestra repertoire for the Fall of 2020 when she received the COVID protocols for the 2020-21 Bi-Co semesters. The conditions were less than ideal. All musicians had to be masked and six feet apart at all times, including during performances. The Marshall Auditorium, where they’d played in previous years, wouldn’t allow wind or brass players to perform in order to mitigate COVID spread. Founders Hall at Haverford proved to be too reverberant for live performance, and being outside wasn’t ideal either. The winter was cold, and winds and brass players had to be careful about their instruments cracking or reeds splitting.
“We had to be outside under a tent and it was cold and there’s background noise. Airplanes would go by,” remembers Heidi. “It got really windy. During the first rehearsal there, the music stands were flying around. It rained a couple of times, even at the concert it rained. There were a lot of problems.” Many of the pieces planned for that season had to be cut because of the logistical challenges, and students who were awarded solos in certain pieces lost their chance to be featured.
This year though everything has changed. With loosened COVID restrictions on campus, musicians are able to rehearse inside like normal again and perform together in the Marshall Auditorium. This concert is a rebirth for the Bi-Co Orchestra, which has come together this season with of the largest ensembles in years to play pieces that focus on unity and celebration.
Nature’s Karmic Vengeance was created by Kerwin Young in collaboration with Play on Philly, a Philadelphia-based organization that’s been providing musical education to students in underfunded local public schools for 25 years. The piece drew inspiration directly from the students at Roman Catholic High School, who provided input on the motific concepts. It’s a true fusion, combining the classical riffs of the cello with the staccato percussion of the djembe to create a sound that is as unique and complex as the people who created it.
Mozart’s bright and exuberant Exsultate Jubilate incorporated the entire orchestra and featured Charlotte Park HC ‘23 as the soprano. Park was one of the 2020 Concerto Competition winners, but wasn’t able to perform with the title because she was living off-campus at the time. This year, she was finally given her flowers through her performance of Exsultate, which rounded out the ensemble and demonstrated her vocal expertise.
Fanfare for the Uncommon Woman No. 6, by Joan Tower, is a contemporary composition that references Aaron Copeland’s Fanfare the Uncommon Man. Originally intended for the Fall 2020 semester, Fanfare was moved up to Spring 2021 after COVID restrictions made it impossible for the orchestra to play together. The invigorating composition features the entire orchestra, allowing each section to showcase its talents together under one roof.
The concert ended with Tchaikovsky’s Romeo and Juliet, an accidental reference to the Bi-Co Theater Department’s production of the same name. Speaking on her decision to include this piece, Jacob said “We have something from different eras. There’s Nature’s Karmic Vengeance from earlier this year, and then we have Mozart and a 20th-century work, so I wanted a big Romantic work.” Heartfelt and lush, Romeo and Juliet features a robust percussion section and soaring string arrangements, closing out what has been a successful season for the orchestra.
Despite the difficult last two years, Jacob and her orchestra have come back stronger and more cohesive than ever. “Last year was very tiring for everyone. It’s so wonderful to have music given all of the difficulties in the world right now. We really need music and I get that sense from my students. They really want to play and that’s really wonderful.”
