Five hundred and seventy students came together Sunday afternoon in the field house for a whole-district orchestral concert, featuring a special composition’s debut.

Every two years, the district’s orchestras come together in one festival to play in a shared concert. The fourth grade, fifth grade, middle school, and high school orchestras each played individual pieces to showcase their skills before coming together to play ‘October Gallop,’ a song composed specifically for this performance.

“They did it great!” Carrie Lane Gruselle, composer of “October Galop,” said. “It was so exciting to hear it. Having worked with it only on my computer and only having heard it from my playback, it was an absolute thrill to hear them play it with actual instruments. Each group did so well, and it’s amazing that they held it together as well as they did for [570] kids in a gym on one rehearsal together.”

The assorted orchestras gathered together for the first time at noon, three hours before their concert to practice playing as one group.

“I feel like it was really fun for all the grades, but it could have gone a little bit better. I don’t think we were as connected as we could have been, but it was fun anyways, and we ended together,” Olivia Reiff, sophomore violinist, said. “If we had more time to practice as a giant group, then it would have gone better.”

In spite of this, she still enjoyed herself, Reiff said.

“[My favorite part] was hearing everybody else play,” Reiff said. “I remember playing all of the different songs [when I was younger]. It was fun.”

Each level played their own selection of pieces to showcase their work, often pieces played at past concerts, such as the high school’s “Russian Sailor’s Dance.” But the concert’s culmination united all levels into one, coherent group.

“It was so much fun! I really enjoyed it,” Nathan Sackschewsky, high school orchestra director, said. “It’s a great way to bring in all of our orchestra students. It’s not every day you get to have over 570 string players in one room and playing the same piece. It’s really a fantastic afternoon.”