The Orchestra is for all intents and purposes, a community orchestra - or as others would have it, a civic orchestra. It is therefore not comprised of skilled professionals; instead, it is made-up of ordinary people who have bravely decided to pursue the dream of learning and playing an "orchestral" instrument non-professionally.
The Orchestra exists to develop a better individual - musically, aesthetically, behaviourally, morally, and spiritualy - through the process of studying and making excellent music together as a family.
The Orchestra seeks to one day grow into a full-sized symphony orchestra with both nationwide and international concert tours, encouraging people of all ages to pick up an instrument, get together with friends, and experience the joy of making music together.
The Orchestra began in October of 2004 when founder Eigen Ignacio, a newly-hired music teacher with ZPMI assigned to International Christian Academy, realized that at the end of the year, his 30+ students might just have to perform Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star one at a time.
Unwilling to sit through such a debacle, he quickly grouped all of his students, Grade 5 and up, into a rudimentary string ensemble with himself as the sole cellist, and began guiding them through arrangements of the Allegro from Vivaldi's Spring, Jay Ungar's Ashokan Farewell, Edgar Meyer's Short Trip Home and even Iris by the GooGoo Dolls, much to the delight of not only the audience, but of the musicians themselves.
What began as an interesting experiment very quickly snowballed in popularity among the students, with each performance raising the bar in terms of the quality of the performance as well as the difficulty of the pieces. With its innovative mix of both classical and contemporary orchestral music, as well as the beginner-friendly, non- judgemental, non-competitive atmosphere, The Orchestra was soon attracting interested individuals outside the school walls.
Last March, The Orchestra staged its 5th Anniversary Concert entitled, "Songs of Fire, Songs of Light", performing 13 pieces ranging from well-loved movie themes all the way to Handel's celebrated Hallelujah Chorus. It's rendition of a medley of themes from Pirates of the Caribbean prompted one concert-goer to proclaim, "All it lacks is water!"
Today, as The Orchestra looks forward to the 2009-2010 Concert Season, there is no doubt that it will continue to expand its borders and grow in skill and number - and with such growth, astound.