A day after being awarded a silver for their performance at the London Celebration Music Festival, Cerritos High School Wind Symphony music director praised his students on a job well done.
"The performance was excellent," Trost told Patch from London. "The kids were absolutely fantastic and they proudly represented our city."
One of five groups to perform at an adjudicated concert at Central Hall Westminster in Central London on Friday, July 27, the ensemble was the only group of musicians from the United States invited to participate in the festivities. Other musicial groups who took part in the event, included performers from: Surrey, England; Beijing, China; Saipan, Northern Mariana Islands; and a choral group from Benicia, California.
Already dealing with the pressure of being the only U.S. based musicians to perform, the wind symphony also opened the concert and in the end earned a silver for their performance.
"We performed first and they did really well," said trip chaperone, Stella Marin, whose son Christopher is also on the wind symphony. "It was very exciting, and for a lot of the kids, it was their first really big performance as part of the wind symphony."
"The event was well attended and they were all so well received," she told Patch.
Trost said that attendees also shared positive remarks about the Cerritos students, "Many people at the festival were complimentary about how well Cerritos performed."
After the concert, the performers were invited to a gala buffet during which they viewed the Summer Olympics opening ceremonies on a large screen. The group then did some sightseeing, walking around London and visiting landmarks such as Westminster Abbey and Big Ben, Marin said.
"We're all having such a wonderful time," she added.
On Saturday evening, the students will be performing at the main bandstand inside Olympic Park in London. And on Sunday morning, the group will officially open Olympic Park to the public, leading the procession of attendees through the park into the venues.
The students will be returning to Los Angeles on Sunday night.
Editor's Note: Cerritos-Artesia Patch will be posting musician profiles and providing updates from the during the London Olympics.
Click here for complete coverage on the CHS Wind Symphony's once in a lifetime opportunity to represent the city of Cerritos and the country on the world's biggest stage.
_____________________________________________________________________________
* Keep up-to-date on all Cerritos-Artesia news, alerts and events by “liking” us on Facebook and following us on Twitter.
_____________________________________________________________________________
