The Western Wake Orchestra festival is a yearly event, this year taking place at Green Level High School Oct 25. It consisted of four high schools combined on one stage with no prior practice together headed by 3 individual middle schools. “[Western Wake] is very lively” Said Philip Bernath, Junior. “It’s very supportive.”

Every year the festival has the same sort of schedule. Arrive, practice, eat, perform. “It went really well.” Bernath said “Everyone got there when they could, there could have been more space on the stage though.” The players on the stage were very cramped, trying to fit four high schools onto a single mid-sized stage is no easy feat. The cellists were all in the back with almost no space to bow, leading for some being not able to play. “Space or rather lack of space is always a good issue.” said Tara Culbreth, orchestra teacher at Athens.

“I love the Western Wake Orchestra Festival.”,said Culbreth. “It’s a great time for sharing our talents with other schools in the area!”

Culbreth attended the festival as the head of the Athens Drive Orchestra. “The collaborations with the middle schools is a special aspect of [Western Wake]. It’s exciting to share a stage with such a vast range of abilities to create beautiful music in a short amount of time” Culbreth said. “The middle schools that were represented there played various selections before the High Schoolers came onto the stage.”

Overall the Western Wake Orchestra Festival is an educational experience for all of the schools. The performers get a great experience playing with other schools of various skill levels and the audience gets a great show.