In this photo, student, Michael Smith, leads the class while director Dr. Michael Alard is interviewed.

Taken by Merrissa Camarena

The Granite Hills Orchestra was fortunate enough to be able to take a trip down to Anaheim last weekend. The musicians played at the Forum Music Festival, where they were judged on an international scale and managed to rake in one of two gold awards given that day at the festival.

The orchestra students arrived at their hotel on Thursday, May 1 and went to Anaheim's Fullerton College on Friday, where the festival was being held.

The orchestra played three songs that day: Strauss' "Emperor Waltz", Susan Day's "Tango", and Gustav Holst's "Jupiter."

After their performance, the musicians were given a gold award by the judges.

"Going in, we didn't know that we would be scored on an international scale. I didn't think it was a given that we were going to get an award," said Dr. Michael Alard, the orchestra's director.

The young musicians had a great time playing, and were even more ecstatic when they found out that they had won a gold award.

“I had a lot of fun. It definitely opened my eyes to realize that our orchestra has the ability to do many things. This is just the beginning,” said Violinist Michael Smith.

The only person more excited about this amazing achievement was Dr. Alard.

"I'm very pleased that our students have worked very hard for not one, but three years to be recognized at a gold standard level in the western states," he said. "It was their finest playing since Carnegie Hall."

On a similar note, Granite Hills' own concert band also attended the week-long festival where they managed to win a silver award.