St Joe's Spring Concert
Posted by: Adam Fuson @ 2008.06.03.0000

A few months ago Katie's high school music director, Mr Janson, asked her to play in his spring orchestra concerts and he invited me, as well. So about a month ago Katie and I packed the astro van with violins and some large items from her dorm and headed to Cleveland. We arrived in Brunswick Sunday morning about 11am, where we picked up her sister, Christine, and drove to West 25th street and St Ignatius. Unfortunately, Katie had an unknown ear infection and an upset stomach and puked a few times before getting to the school. There we found the St Joseph Academy girls orchestra rehearsing for a Sunday evening concert with the St Ignatius boys. There was a women's choir, a men's choir, a freshman boy's choir, various solo and ensemble vocal groups, a bell choir, St Ignatius jazz band and the St Joseph orchestra. Since the St Joseph orchestra is mainly composed of flute and clarinets the director had asked Katie and I to play our violins to help balance the group.

After finding the one of three gymnasiums where the groups were rehearsing, we spent an hour or so rehearsing with them before having dinner with them in their cafeteria and then playing their concert. We played a Leroy Anderson piece, some Holst and a hymn combining all the groups. Afterwards Katie and I returned to Cincinnati arriving about midnight.

A few weeks later Katie and I again returned to Brunswick and then to St Joseph Academy to rehearse with the orchestra on a Tuesday and play a spring concert with them on Thursday. After the Tuesday evening rehearsal we volunteered to help the strings during the following day. So Katie and I woke early and arrived at St Joe's for rehearsal. Katie was completely in control of the sessions, and we played for over an hour before leaving for lunch. That Wednesday evening we had another full orchestra rehearsal before the concert the next day. Thursday morning before the concert Katie and I went for a bicycle ride on the local metro park trails. Katie had some issues with her seat and we had limited time, as we had to drive her dad to get the car from the mechanic, so we only rode a short distance, but it was nice to get outside. When we returned to Katie's house I realized that I had forgotten to bring a dress shirt. Fortunately Katie's dad had a shirt from long ago that still managed to fit me. So we dressed and finally made our way to St Joe's for the spring concert, which included the orchestra, some solos and the bell choir. After the concert Katie and I spent one last night in Brunswick before returning to Cincinnati, where her graduation festivities awaited.

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