It is a year of change. Plus Periods, two lunches, new classes and new faces, and a completely new orchestra department.

Andrew Goins, Katie McInturf, and Felix Torres are three incredibly talented musicians who have come to AHS to continue the legacy of the winning orchestra. All three have years of experience both as players and as directors.

“Last year, I was at Key, Foster, and Swift Elementary teaching beginning strings to 5th and 6th graders,” Torres said. “The prior four years, I was a graduate teaching assistant at TCU and also the regis conductor of the symphony orchestra.”

All conductors were hired easily due to their impressive resumes and obvious motivation to take the AHS Orchestra program into good hands.

“I was contacted by Cliff Evans, who is the orchestra director at UT Arlington who was brought in by the district to help them find the right person to take over this program because it is such a storied program and so important to the district,” Goins said. “He called me, even though I wasn’t actually looking, and just kept expecting me to just tell him no, and I kept calling him with questions, and I just decided it was the right fit.”

The directors plan to connect with all of the orchestra players no matter what, and to establish an alliance that is incredibly strong to keep everyone happy and exceeding their skill levels as much as possible.

“Mr. Goins really agrees with us getting to know all the kids, and that was one of the things the officers brought up the first day we met together,” McInturf said. “I didn’t really have the opportunities that [high school students today] have now, so just getting to do so much more as part of a school orchestra and being in region and all that, that’s really important to me.”

AHS Orchestra continues to keep its legacy as an amazing program that strives for perfection and greatness for every young musician who participates. Though the new directors recognize the eminence that this program contains, they also plan to make some changes to benefit it.

“This program is such an exceptional program, incredibly storied in its tradition, and very strong,” Goins said. “There is a level that it has the potential to be at that is unrealized. So some of the things that we are bringing with us are geared to the program reaching that full potential, and leveling up.”

The new AHS Orchestra directors plan to be open to music suggestions from the students, whilst also keeping the school’s orchestral choices classic to what has been played in the past, and choosing music that corresponds with each orchestra’s playing level.

“The driving factor behind music that we choose is impertinent to what we’re teaching in class, and is it helping the students grow in their own playing,” Torres said.

The new regime will bring the orchestra to the stage in October.