Congratulations to Lindsay Szczesny on Conducting the All State Orchestra for Junior High

 OSU Musician Lindsay Szczesny directed the All State Orchestra for Junior High students at Abravanel Hall in Salt Lake City this past weekend. 

Concert Photos:

Lindsay Szczesny's introduction to the music at the concert:

"We just played the American folk song, Crawdad, arranged by William Zinn, a 20th century classical violinist with a big personality who lived a rich musical life amongst all genres—jazz, rock, pop, and fiddle—until he passed away in 2017 at the age of 92.

The next piece is the first classical piece that brought me to tears. At about age 12, I was home alone in the kitchen and listened to Pachelbel’s Canon on our family’s sound system, and I just felt the profundity of the beautiful harmonies. 

After that, you will hear Fire in the Forge, written by the contemporary American Composer, Ted Allen. My hunch is that this piece was influenced by the music of modern heavy metal groups like Metallica. The ostinato in the low strings, more rightly called a hook, acts as a cohesive driving force and melody in its own right. And the violins float above that with a powerful force of their own.

Then we’ll play Welsh Rum and Rarebits, a collection of Welsh folk tunes that musically describe tales of a harp player’s death, a vigorous hunting party in search of a rabbit, hiking the mountains to a secret lake where legend says as a madman or a poet, and men dancing at a wedding in the village of Wrexham, Wales. 


My last name, Szczesny, means “lucky” in Polish. Tonight I feel lucky indeed to be in this tiny crux of time with these 60 students; they came together with expectant faces, tired at times, but willing to work hard—And work hard they did. They gave me so much respect throughout our 13 hours together, and they were prepared for that because of their own music teachers. In an anonymous survey, the students described their music teachers as 

encouraging and kindly correcting
energetic and fun
kind, understanding, and amazing
taking time to connect with and really knows us
loving her job
Helping me feel good at my instrument
developing my critical thinking
Laughing and joking
Pushing us to be better.

I’m stunned with the power of hands reaching to us from the past, obviously through composers, but especially through my private teachers—Sara Penny, Debbie Hafen, Jack Ashton, Ted Ashton, Marjorie Bagley, and Rebecca McFaul—and my conductors—June Thorley, Kevin Call, Sergio Bernal, Xun Sun, David Jordan, Carylee Zwang. These people stand before our ensembles to make us a cohesive body and give us beauty because they give us their perspective, their soul, their wisdom, their preparation, and their vulnerability. They teach us what marcato and subito mean, they teach us how to hold a bow and how to do vibrato, they give us power and strength to see more in ourselves than we would otherwise see, and we are forever changed, for music teaching gives a depth to life that lasts til we die. To be a link in that chain for these students has been a more gorgeous experience than I ever imagined. I’ve enjoyed their eager, excited, and respectful approach at the start of every rehearsal as they’ve come on time ready to improve. Thank you to the organizers of these All-State ensembles for allowing us to collectively express the human spirit with dignity across cultures and time.

And now we join hands with creators of the past, especially Freddie Mercury and the band Queen, to play for you a modern classic, Bohemian Rhapsody."

Rehearsal Photos: