Sanyukta Ravishankar

The winning ensemble, the Smetana Piano Trio, will be performing at the orchestra’s end-of-year concert.

The sweet blend of three instruments — violin, cello and piano — echoed around the room on a dimly lit Sunday evening as they were played by small groups of talented student musicians. Some audience members swayed gently to the sound, while others closed their eyes to absorb the full expression embedded in the musicians’ vibrato. The performers, winners of the annual Chamber Music Festival, moved in sync as they played the Smetana Piano Trio without a conductor. 

The Tri-M club hosted its annual Chamber Music Festival in M101 on April 26 from 6-9 p.m. The festival featured 13 live ensembles and three pre-recorded ones, with students from the band, orchestra, percussion and choir programs performing. A crowd of about 30 parents and students attended.

Each year, the festival fundraises for a different cause. This year, the organizers selected the San Francisco branch of the Burrito Project as their cause, to which audience members were able to donate directly. The organizers preferred the Burrito Project over other, more traditional charities they had used in previous years, like Doctors Without Borders, since it tackles the local issue of food insecurity. 

“We need to do a bit more to give back to our Bay Area community,” co-organizer senior Mridhula Vudali said. “People feel more incentivized [to donate] if the cause is close to home.”

In addition to being a fundraiser, the festival also acts as a competition among chamber ensembles to win a performing spot at the End-of-Year Concert Series across the music department. Winners were selected by former Homestead High School music director John Burn and Capuchino High School music director Johnathan Su within each division: band, orchestra and choir. 

Based on their performance at the festival, the following ensembles were selected to perform in the upcoming spring concerts: 

• Orchestra: Smetana Piano Trio, Mvmt. 1 performed by sophomore Isaac Choi and juniors Sarah Jiang and Ethan J. Lee; Shostakovich Prelude No. 1 (arr. for two cellos) performed by sophomores Isaac Ho, Allen Huang and Katie Lee.
• Band: “Piazonore” performed by seniors Masha Sotoodehniakorani and Daniel Yu; Koechlin Wind Septet, Mvmts. 3, 4 performed by freshmen Emma Ueng and Lucas Vash-Munoz, sophomores Bryan Han, Matthew Lee and Kevin Zhao, junior Ethan C. Lee and senior Dylan Huang
• Choir & Jazz: “Crabbuckit” performed by sophomore Tania Tang and juniors Sanyukta Ravishankar, Devika Nair and Ria Abraham; “Nineteen” performed by junior Khamila Pacheco and seniors Daniel Yu and Raymond Zheng

The Chamber Music Festival allows students to practice pieces in small groups rather than in the usual large ensembles of band, orchestra or choir. They work together to find a piece, rehearse on their own time, self-conduct and even make cuts to showcase the best parts of the piece. 

“There’s a lot of work that goes into making sure it happens, but the fun part is watching people perform, since you usually get to be in a large ensemble but you don’t get to hear the individual players,” Vudali said. “The most rewarding part is knowing that we can give students an avenue to explore how they can become better players.”