Making Music Together After a lonely year and a half, the UCI Symphony Orchestra is reveling in live performances once again By Jill Kato
After being away from the stage
and studio, the students from the UCI Claire Trevor School of the Arts (CTSA) are emerging from the pandemic and into the swing of in-person classes and rehearsals. Nowhere is this more appreciated than by the students in the UCI Symphony Orchestra. While many students within CTSA were able to overcome some of the barriers of the pandemic with the use of cameras and computers, there wasn’t a technological fix for those in the symphony orchestra. Small groups of musicians were able to use software to play together, but this proved impossible for an entire ensemble that has, depending on the composition, between 30 to 60 musicians playing together. “Throughout history, the orchestra has been in person. Music involves precise timing,” says Pedro Sperb, the teaching assistant for the symphony orchestra and an M.F.A. student in instrumental performance. “The internet has a delay, or latency, that made playing together impractical.” 30
While the musicians are ecstatic about playing in-person, this does not come without its challenges. The symphony’s last performance was back in February of 2020. Normally, the turnover of orchestra members occurs gradually. This year, due to the pandemic, the number of returning students is below 10. When classes
