Orchestra members performing in the "British Invasion" concert
The autumn orchestra concert, “British Invasion,” took place on Nov. 7, 2025. This concert featured pieces such as Elgar’s “Serenade for Strings,” Purcell’s “Rondeau from Abdelzar,” The Beatles and pieces performed with St. Norbert’s Abbey’s organist Devon Atteln.
In an interview with the orchestra’s director, Dr. Taylor Giorgio, explained that she chose “British Invasion” as the theme for this concert because “One of the pieces was Elgar’s 'Serenade for Strings' and it’s one of those standard songs for string orchestra that I’ve been wanting the group to play for a while. I always love when concerts have a theme, and so I thought, well, Elgar is a British composer, and who doesn’t love The Beatles? One thing led to another, and that became a theme.” Prior to showtime, patrons were even invited to enjoy tea and cookies while talking about the different pieces that would be performed.
This show definitely came together, but it could not have done so without challenges along the way. This amazing ensemble is made up of a great cast of people, most of them not being music majors! That is one of the great things about the music program here at SNC, but it also means everyone comes from different backgrounds and experiences. Giorgio voiced this as her hardest challenge when it came to picking the pieces for this concert.
Abigail W., an SNC senior orchestra member, voiced her biggest challenge this concert was, “playing 12 different pieces, because some pieces had a complete and total vibe change, some were going really fast and some were going really slow.” These fast-changing pieces definitely kept the orchestra on its toes.
SNC professor and orchestra member Steve Westergan voiced his biggest challenge as a cello player was a matter of hand movement. Having to play higher pitches for Elgar’s piece, the cellos had to adjust to a hand placement closer to the ground rather than the usual placement.
Despite all these challenges, the string orchestra came together and put on an amazing event with some great pieces. I had the pleasure of lighting this wonderful event, lighting the stage in red and blue to really give audiences the feeling of British takeover, most notably in their performance of “Fantasy on the March of the Women.” Hearing the choir sing with the beautiful undertone of the string ensemble was amazing and it was definitely my favorite piece. Some other favorites include “Rondeau from Abdelzar.” Giorgio enjoyed this piece as she said, “Baroque music has kind of a bad reputation of being boring sometimes. I kind of thought, ‘What if I had them stand up and feel more like they were a chamber ensemble rather than an orchestra?’ Everyone really came into their energy [with that change] and the piece really changed [for the better].” She also was pleasantly surprised by “Playful Pizzicatio” as, “it’s so fast and I was nervous if it was going to come together or not, but it did.”
SNC student Samuel K. said his favorite songs were “Yesterday,” “Come on Eileen,” and “Eleanor Rigby.” He is a Beatles fan and said, “I think ‘Yesterday’ was my favorite, [as] it sounds the most like the original.”
Walton said her favorite piece to perform was, “Come on Eileen” because, “[it] was a great concert closer. We just brought the energy down.” She also liked how all The Beatles songs came together as, “they were very faithful to the adaptation.”
Westergan’s favorite piece to perform and listen to was “Serenade for the Strings” as composed by Elgar because “It’s a really good piece of music and I enjoyed getting to know it. It’s subtle and the first couple of times we played through it I thought, ‘well this is alright, now it’s kinda mellow,’ [I especially liked] when Taylor would point out, ‘in these measures the violas and the cellos are creating the melody together,’ I thought that was very helpful [and] made me appreciate how Elgar put the piece together.”
The orchestra is now busy preparing for The Festival of Christmas, which includes all the ensembles at SNC. Don’t miss out on this amazing event featuring all the spectacular groups that make up the SNC Music department on Friday, Dec. 5 at 7 p.m.