By: Snigdha Chakravarti
Our Goblet of Fire Homecoming ended last week, but Harry Potter world hasn’t ended yet in the music department! On October 22nd at 7pm in the East Auditorium, our orchestras performed at their first concert of the year, which included themes from Harry Potter!
First on the program was Philharmonic Orchestra, who performed 3 pieces. They began with the famous In the Hall of the Mountain King by Edvard Grieg. Set in the mountainous regions of Norway, this piece introduces Dovregubben, the troll Mountain King, surrounded by his family, children, troll courtiers, gnomes, and goblins. Even if you don’t recognize the name of this piece, you’ll immediately recognize the famous melody at the beginning. Philharmonic also played Ghosts of Bohemia, a composition released in 2025, as well as the iconic theme from Pink Panther.
After Philharmonic came Symphony Orchestra, who performed music from The Goblet of Fire, arranged by Jerry Brubaker. Themes included Voldemort!, The Quidditch World Cup (The Irish), Potter Waltz, Harry in Winter, Foreign Visitors Arrive, Hogwarts’ Hymn, and Hedwig’s Theme! In addition to this, Symphony played music from Psycho, a 1960 horror thrill film produced and directed by Alfred Hitchcock. The dissonant, sharp tones and rhythm depict the murder of Marion Crane, a secretary from Phoenix, Arizona, who flees after stealing $40,000 from her employer. As she drives off, she ends up in the Bates Motel after a torrential rainstorm makes it impossible to drive on. In her motel room, however, Marion is murdered by a silhouetted figure behind the curtain of her shower (hence, this is the famous shower murder scene). Clearly, Psycho set the creepy, eerie atmosphere of Halloween! Symphony also played two movements from Khachaturian’s Masquerade Suite, specifically the dark yet lyrical “Waltz,” and the fast-paced, Polish folk dance “Mazurka.”
The biggest highlight, however, was Tomaso Vittali’s Chaconne in G Minor for solo violin and string orchestra, featuring senior soloist Peter Schmude. Peter not only prepared and practiced his part, but has also arranged the orchestral part! Regarding how he arranged the orchestra part, Peter remarked how he drew a lot of inspiration from other arrangers like Leopold Charlier and Ottorino Respighi.
“I dissected the two arrangements and made a conglomerate of both, with changes to my liking. I also integrated cuts after finishing the whole thing,” he explained.
A culmination of years of training, dedicated practice, and hard work, Peter was very excited to perform, expressing how it’s been a long time since performing in front of an audience.
And Peter wasn’t the only excited one. Cellist Sophia Liu shared how thought it’s “#bittersweet,” she was looking forward to hearing Peter’s solo, especially since “he’s the GOAT.” Similarly, violinist Ben Lliguicota expressed how even though Peter’s piece is “technically challenging, both for the orchestra and for the soloist,” it was definitely the biggest highlight for the concert! Congrats Peter on an amazing performance!