Taking the stage on Tuesday, April 7, the Wayland High School orchestra program celebrated the last concert of the senior Class of 2026 and America’s 250th anniversary. The concert also marked the end of Fine Arts Director Susan Memoli’s 25th year at WHS.

To celebrate America’s 250th anniversary, the String Orchestra performed “Ellis Island” by Alan Lee Silva and “Point Lookout” by Brian Balmages. The pieces reflected the story of Ellis Island and the Civil War. The concert ended with the Symphony Orchestra performing “Stars and Stripes Forever” by John Philip Sousa, arranged by Merle J. Isaac.

The Honors Sinfonia Orchestra played “Introduction and Allegro for Strings, Op. 47” by Edward Elgar. The 15-minute piece featured solos by senior violinists Eric Zhang and Rachel Lei, senior violist Jeffery Mao and senior cellist Alex Lu.

The concert also featured a senior octet made up of Zhang, Lu, Mao, senior violinists Atticus DeGrenier, Sebastian Rideout and David Ryu, senior violist Kevin Jia and senior cellist Ben Pyhtila, who played “Octet in E-flat Major, Op. 20” by Felix Mendelssohn. The octet approached Memoli about performing a piece they had rehearsed individually for the concert.

“[The seniors] approached me and said ‘We’ve been working on this, could we put it in the concert?” Memoli said. “It was phenomenal.”

The Symphony Orchestra performed the second movement of “Piano Concerto No. 2” by Sergei Rachmaninoff, featuring senior pianist Kira Lai. It then played “Cole Porter Salute” by Cole Porter, arranged by John Whitney, before the final piece.

“It was a mashup of happy and sad,” Lai said. “On one hand I was really happy because I love this piece so much, and I was excited to be able to play it with my sister. But I was also very sad. I won’t be able to play with this orchestra anymore.”

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Credit: Kyle Zhang

Fine Arts Director Susan Memoli keeps time as the Honors Sinfonia Orchestra performs “Introduction and Allegro for Strings, Op. 47” by Edward Elgar.