Niles West Orchestra will be performing its annual Festival of Orchestra Spring Concert on Thursday Mar. 13 at 7 p.m. and it will be free to the public.

In the duration of this performance, concert, philharmonic, and symphonic levels will perform pieces separately under the direction of Steven Katz.

“This concert is a challenge for the students because we play some of the hardest, and best music of the year,” Katz said.

Along with the string players, concerto winner, senior Melanie Leftakes, will be singing Chanson Triste by Henri Duparc with the symphonic orchestra.

“It’s going to be a challenge for me because I don’t normally sing in front of large crowds, and I’ve never sang with an orchestra before,” Leftakes said. “The piece is also in French which adds another challenge, but overall I’m ecstatic because not many people can say they were honored with this amazing opportunity.”

Concert orchestra will be performing a piece called Beethoven Fantasy composed by Robert Hirsch, who often subs for orchestra classes when Katz is not present.

“I’m really excited to see the reactions of philharmonics piece, Las Palmas by Bob Lipton, will get because there is an entire clapping portion that adds something out of the ordinary to a regular string concert,” Katz said.