Two years ago, then-sophomore Sarang Narasimhan and four of his friends formed a quintet and took the opportunity to audition in the Saratoga High Chamber Festival, a springtime tradition hosted by SHS. In winning this competition, they secured a chance to perform at the end-of-year concert in May that year. This became the start of the Domine String Quintet.
The quintet features seniors Sarang Narasimhan and Brandon Wang on the violin, senior David Kim on the viola, junior Nolan Woo on the cello and senior Ian Kim on the bass. The group has played chamber music at several gigs and performances this year.
Aside from all being in the same orchestra class, Saratoga Strings, the five shared close connections through the California Philharmonic Youth Orchestra, which is based in Saratoga. According to Narasimhan, the idea of forming a quintet to perform chamber music came naturally — most of the members had known each other since middle school and already had good chemistry playing together.
In the quintet’s second year, the same students banded together again to perform at the end-of-year concert. The group mostly began performing gigs at the start of this past fall and has performed at more than four different events, including at the dinner celebrating the 50th anniversary of SHS Music Boosters.
Most of the opportunities are communicated to them through music program directors Michael Boitz and Jason Shuian, who are familiar with how the students play and often ask them to play at events in need of a chamber music group. However, Narasimhan hoped to take this a step forward. He reached out and contacted One World One Family Foundation, a global organization that gives healthcare opportunities to people living in rural areas worldwide.
Hoping to support the foundation, Narasimhan decided to organize a fun concert at the Joan Pisani Community Center and play for a few hours. Bearing in mind the cause he was supporting, he felt that this performance was their most impactful and by the end of the evening on Aug. 25, the group had raised over $5,000.
Most recently, the quintet was invited to play with the Coastal Honors Choir at Santa Clara University on Nov. 9-10, with only one day of rehearsal leading up to the performance. The choral directors requested several accompaniment parts for the singers, and junior Gonzalo Fernandez De Ponte filled in for Woo on the cello. Narasimhan said that they received “really positive feedback,” citing several music directors in the audience who reached out to them following the performance and wanted to keep in touch, inviting them to perform at future events.
Through these rehearsals and shared experiences, Narasimhan also feels like the group members have tightened bonds and grown closer to each other.
“All those sessions are filled with fun moments, and it’s a really good learning opportunity. We all learned stuff about each other that we didn’t know before in terms of music knowledge,” Narasimhan said. “Everyone has their own expertise in different things, but we’re all connected through this one theme of music.”
Narasimhan said he has seen a lot of rising potential in many of the underclassmen and maintains high hopes for the continuation of chamber music at Saratoga High in the near future, believing that the experience of playing in a chamber music group is extremely valuable.
“I want more people to be more comfortable playing together because that develops a sense of community,” Narasimhan said. “With chamber music, you really get to work with people, learn a lot and have a lot of fun, no matter what skill level you are at. It’s just a good time for everyone.”
