PORT TOWNSEND — Spring break is here, and an ensemble of Port Townsend teenagers are taking a breath. They’ve been through a memorable March that involved “a major complication,” as junior Luna Moloitis, 17, put it.
Following months of rehearsal, the Port Townsend High School symphony orchestra was set to travel to the Central Washington University Orchestra Festival in Ellensburg — the first such trip in two years. Hotel rooms were booked, buses reserved and costs paid in advance for 75 musicians, plus parent chaperones.
Then Daniel Ferland, the orchestra teacher who was to lead the trip, took a home test for COVID-19.
It was positive.
This came as a shock to everyone; Ferland was vaccinated like the rest of his colleagues at school. And though he was only sick for about a day, he couldn’t very well go to Ellensburg.
Instead, the orchestra teacher isolated at home.
“I was devastated,” he said, “and felt horrible for the students. I really felt like I let them down after all their hard work and dedication. They had done everything right.”
Port Townsend High School principal Carrie Ehrhardt sought to keep the travel plan on track, sending teachers Ben and Julie Dow and Port Townsend Music Boosters president Michelle Poore as the impromptu trip leaders. Then retired music teacher Mike McLeron was brought in to conduct the orchestra.
McLeron and the students had only a few practices to put the finishing touches on the ensemble’s program: music from Tchaikovsky’s Second Symphony, Corelli’s Concerto Grosso in G minor, Purcell’s Abdelazer, Soon Hee Newbold’s “Egyptian Legacy.”
Off they all went the morning of March 10, to perform on the Central Washington University stage the following day.
The performance, it turned out, was “a total blast. I’m still in awe that we pulled it off,” said Moloitis, a cellist.
The whole journey, she added, was a challenge to organize — and it was both a bonding experience and an adventure for Moloitis and her fellow musicians.
“I truly believe the bonds we make on each trip shape the way our music sounds,” she said, adding that music is “beautiful, and full of excitement and energy.”
“The students really stepped up to the plate,” said Ferland, adding Port Townsend High was a small-town school sharing the festival stage with institutions four or five times as large.
Immediately preceding the PTHS symphony orchestra at the CWU festival: Hanford High School, with an enrollment of more than 2,000. In contrast, Port Townsend High has about 385 enrolled — while about one in five are involved in music, Ferland said.
McLeron, for his part, said the young musicians’ performance exceeded his expectations; “I’m so proud of our students,” he said afterward.
“This symphony trip was definitely a trip to remember,” Moloitis wrote on Facebook. “To know that we are a small school with an outstanding amount of music students is really empowering. If you have a kid considering doing music, encourage them to see it through!
“Although this trip had some hiccups, we really pulled through … The amount of fun we had is unmatched to anything I’ve ever done before. Thankful to be an orchestra student who has all these possibilities!”
March also brought the end of the statewide masking mandate for school settings. But Ferland and many of his students are choosing to keep on wearing theirs; on a recent morning in his classroom, the orchestra was a mix of masked and unmasked.
At 8:30 a.m., the room was bright with the sound of stringed instruments and messages up on the markerboard. On one side was “We missed you, Ferland! Welcome back.”
In the middle of the board, up high, was a chronology of musical development: the Baroque period was 1600-1750, the Classical period 1750-1825 and the Romantic era 1825-1900. And behind Ferland are the words “Positive mindset.”
The next big deal for the PTHS music program is the spring concert, which will be the seniors’ last performance before graduation on June 10. The concert date is yet to be set, Ferland said.
Amid the many trials of pandemic-era public education, “we have a very strong music program,” he added.
At the festival, “the kids had a great time, and they did a great job representing the orchestra.”
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Jefferson County Senior Reporter Diane Urbani de la Paz can be reached at 360-417-3509 or durbanidelapaz@peninsuladailynews.com.
