SEAL BEACH, Calif. – Los Alamitos High School Orchestra held a concert at McGaugh Elementary School on Tuesday, Oct. 21, 2025. Many students and parents showed up to watch the live performance and see the musical talents of the orchestra students.
“These kids are just so talented and so confident when they get up on stage,” a parent in the audience said.
The show kicked off at 7 p.m. with The String Orchestra playing “Dark Journey”, followed by “March of the Marionette” and ending with “Pumpkin Round”. The Griffin Quartet, which was made up of orchestra students Noel Rauda-Trout, Claire Claypool, Hana Huynh and Olivia Choi, played “POV” by Ariana Grande and “Golden” by HUNTR/X. After the Griffin Quartet played, an intermission took place where audience members could purchase snacks and vote on their favorite pumpkins that were lined up outside the auditorium.
After the intermission, the Chamber Orchestra performed several songs. Three instrumentals were played from “Suite for Strings” by John Rutter, and following this, they played “Palladio” by Karl Jenkins. Afterward, they played “Sheherazade” by Carrie Lane Gruselle. This one was an entertaining watch for the audience since it not only played wonderful music, but it also told a story about a scary king and a young woman. A story about how this young woman was able to live forever by telling a story every night and leaving him with a cliffhanger before they would go to bed, avoiding execution.
The Chamber Orchestra’s last song was “Waltz from Masquerade Suite” by Lynne Latham. For the show’s last performance, all of the different orchestras came together as one and played “Highlights” from “Harry Potter.” Throughout the whole show, the different groups of orchestra students dressed up in various costumes. One group dressed up as Minions from the “Despicable Me” movies and another as the emotions from “Inside Out 2.”
“My favorite part (of being in the orchestra) is seeing the kids get excited to play music,” Mr. Padilla, the LAHS orchestra teacher and director of the Chamber Orchestra, said.
After the ending remarks were made after the last song, the orchestra team went to Yogurtland to finish off the night. The show was a memorable success; many parents are looking forward to seeing the Orchestra perform their Nutcracker on Dec. 13, 2025, and their other upcoming performances for this school year.
