Welcome to the Orchestra Program @ St. Margaret's.


The Orchestra Program at St. Margaret's Episcopal School encompasses five different ensembles in grades 4-12 for students of all ability levels. Players of violin, viola, cello, and double bass, participate in orchestra ensembles in Lower and Middle School, with the addition of woodwind, brass, and percussion students in Upper School. Private instruction in all orchestra instruments is also available with our applied music staff.
 

Our orchestra classes are focused on bringing your child an experience in the collaborative art form of orchestral performance, supported by technical instruction in a stringed instrument of their choice. As opposed to solo playing, functioning in an orchestra requires unique musical and social skills that are not part of regular private study in instruments like piano or violin. In learning to read music, count rhythms, and interpret the symbols of music together as a unit, students have the opportunity to recognize and appreciate excellence in a performing art, and develop life-long strategies for practice and communication.

Please read about our planned construction of new facilities including a theater, rehearsal rooms, practice rooms, and classroom spaces dedicated to the performing arts: Building on the Promise

 


 

 

 

 

 

About the Orchestra Director.


GENE WIE appears internationally as a conductor, chamber musician, and teacher, dividing his time equally between the classroom and concert stage. His performances on violin, viola, clarinet, and saxophone have taken him across the United States, Canada, Europe, and the South Pacific. Concertizing for five years as first violinist of the Elegie Quartet, he has also performed as principal clarinet of the South Orange County Chamber Orchestra and Blackbird Music Project, and as a viola substitute with the Pacific Symphony. In addition to his work with St. Margaret's he is Music Director of the Community Youth Orchestra of Southern California, teaches chamber music, and lectures an innovative course in Music Technology at the Orange County High School of the Arts where he previously conducted the Junior Conservatory String Orchestra and Senior Conservatory Concert Orchestra. He has served as Assistant Director of Orchestras at University High School in Irvine, and spends his summers teaching and playing chamber music at numerous festivals including ChamberArtsFest (USA/Europe) and The Viola Workout (Colorado). His personal website can be found at: www.genewie.com.