On Friday, March 7th, Elsinore High School’s band, choir, and orchestra programs took a trip to the San Diego Symphony. The trip itinerary included a spare two hours for students to freely roam Seaport Village, before taking another bus to the actual concert hall. My friends and I, like most of the students, bought dinner from the local food vendors, before riding on the historic carousel in the center of the park.

Once we got to the concert hall, we enjoyed complimentary ice water and a pre-concert talk from the program director; here, we got to learn about the many inspirations that influenced the score for the composition, including fairytales such as Sleeping Beauty, Beauty and the Beast, and more. In my opinion, this was my favorite part of the concert, because having tangible ideas to think about and appreciate aside from just the music alone added a valuable layer of depth to the performance.

The concert itself was very moving! My friends and I were lucky enough to be seated very close to the orchestra, and it was an amazing experience to be able to watch the individual instruments create such a unified sound. Being able to attend the San Diego Symphony performance was an honor and an unforgettable experience.