Over this past April vacation, the Lexington High School Symphony Orchestra and Concert Band traveled down to New York City to participate in a music festival. In addition, students from the Repertoire Orchestra and the Symphonic Band were invited to attend. This not only gave younger students a chance to participate in a fun event, but also gave them a learning experience to see what kinds of activities higher-level ensembles do.

The New York Trip spanned four days, each containing multiple music-related and leisure events. One of the main events was the pre-festival workshop. The orchestra and band each met up with a guest teacher who provided both ensembles with helpful advice that seemed small, but affected the moods of the entire pieces. As another activity, the students watched the live performance of Wicked on Broadway. 

Afterwards, the orchestra and band attended another workshop focused on playing popular parts from Wicked. The workshop was a wonderful follow up for the students because they had just watched the live performance. Along with the workshops, the two ensembles listened to a jazz band, participated in a music festival, and visited popular locations in New York, such as Times Square, Central Park, and Carnegie Hall. On the topic of the music festival, the two ensembles received superior ratings in the music performances, which was quite the feat. 

After returning to LHS, both ensembles then played in the LHS Pops concert, a spring concert for the music department. Students from the orchestra, band, and choir all performed. Pops spanned over the two days, with some ensembles performing on both days. Due to the vast amount of students and the magnitude of the concert, Pops was most definitely a great way to close out the musical school year.