The high school orchestra is fairly large this year, with one of the classes containing over 70 students.

Director Lisa Goldman finds the students hardworking and dedicated.

“It’s interesting to see how each year gets better.  Their interests in music are expanding,” she said.

One of Goldman’s goals this year is to continue to challenge and engage the students, despite the large class sizes.

The orchestra also has a  trip to Italy planned for this year, during which they plan to perform twice, including one performance in Rome. There will be 82 people on the trip , including 14 adults and 68 students. “We’ve been working up to this trip for a long time,” Goldman said.

In addition to their performances in Italy, they also play at a variety of community events. Some students are even playing at the Palace Theatre downtown on Sunday afternoon, Dec. 1^st with the Cleveland Pops Orchestra.

According to  Goldman, the BHS Orchestra has many standout musicians, but she prefers not to single them out individually. In her opinion, “the fact that they’ve done this now for nine years makes them all standouts to me. They are wonderful kids.”

(Photo from Beachcomber archives)