Performer Details
Performer Bio Synopsis
The Saratoga High School Orchestra program consists of 4 string orchestras, 1 symphony orchestra, and a variety of chamber ensembles. There are currently 168 string players in the program, with several Pianists and several Harpists. All 9th graders enter as part of the Freshman Orchestra and may audition for one of the advanced string ensembles leading into their 10th grade year, or participate in a non-audition ensemble. Additionally, there is a 100% student-run mentoring program, MESH (Music Education with Saratoga High), in which SHS students assist the Saratoga Union School District Orchestra Director, Ms. Isabel McPherson, in working with the younger string players in grade 5-8.
Saratoga Strings is the most advanced of the 4 string orchestra’s at SHS and consists of students in grade 10-12, and occasionally a 9th grader because of instrumentation need. Saratoga Strings has performed at the Midwest International Band and Orchestra Clinic in 2014, 2018 and will again on December 21, 2023. They have performed at regional and state conferences of CMEA, and earned consistent superior ratings at every state, local, and international festival since the inception of the group 22 years ago. In 2013 the Saratoga Strings recorded music for the soundtrack of The Contest (the movie), for Cartoon Network, premiered at the Mill Valley Film Festival on October 11th the same year. In 2011 Saratoga Strings performed in Carnegie Hall as the featured ensemble with guest artists and SHS alumni, Alex Shiozaki and Nana Shih, for the World Projects Carnegie Hall Music Festival. Saratoga Strings have commissioned a number of works, including two world premieres for their 2014 Midwest Clinic performance, two world premieres for their 2018 Midwest Clinic Performance, and will premiere three new works with their December 21, 2023 performance.
As part of various concert tours the past 20+ years, the Saratoga Symphony Orchestra, in tandem with the Saratoga Symphonic Wind Ensemble, has toured Spain, Austria, Switzerland, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, Slovenia, and Australia, including festivals such as the Vienna Youth in Music Festival, the Jungfrau Music Festival in Interlaken, The Mid-Europe Music Festival in 2009, 2017, and 2022 in Austria, the 2017 WASBE in Utrecht, the 2022 WASBE in Prague, the IMAGO Festival in Ljubljana, and Premiering Sydney in Sydney, Australia. These ensembles have been fortunate to perform at notable concert halls such as the Musikverein in Vienna, the Royal Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the Sydney Opera House, the Paulau de la Musica in both Valencia and Barcelona, the Peniscola Castle, and the Kursaal in San Sebastian.
Orchestra in the Saratoga Elementary School District (3 Elementary Schools and Redwood Middle School) is led by SHS Alums, Ms. Isabel McPherson and Mr. Jon Jow, the lead Band Director and Department Chair at Redwood Middle School. Orchestra was not offered at Redwood MS until the 2017-2018 school year, and was previously run entirely outside of the academic school day. Since taking over the program in 2017, the program at Redwood MS has flourished to record enrollment under Ms. Isabel McPherson. The Saratoga Union School District (oddly a separate district from Saratoga HS) consists of 3 elementary and 1 middle school that feed directly into Saratoga HS. While the district has experienced and is expected to experience declining enrollment in the coming years, the Band and Orchestra program are currently living in a renaissance, as are all performing arts, with record-breaking enrollment across the board. Choir is also being offered during the school day for the first time since the 1970’s, whereas it also has existed outside of the school day for the past 40 years.
Saratoga High School Saratoga Strings
Conductor's Bio
Michael Boitz is serving in his 26th year leading the Instrumental Music Program at Saratoga High School, of which he served as Department Chair for the Visual and Performing Arts for 21 years. Mr. Boitz taught in his native Minnesota before arriving to take over the program at Saratoga High School in August 1998. Being the only Instrumental Music Director his first 6 years at SHS, Mr. Boitz has served as Director of Bands 1998-2019, and Director of Orchestra’s 1998-present. Saratoga High School Instrumental Music Ensembles have developed a reputation for excellence at the state, national, and international level under his leadership. Mr. Boitz continues to work with both Bands and Orchestra’s at SHS as he did upon arrival over 25 years ago.
Mr. Boitz has been awarded Teacher-of-the-Year by the Los Gatos-Saratoga Union High School District, the California Music Educators Association Bay Section Gilbert T. Freitas Award for Excellence in Music Education, the California Music Educators Association Richard L. Levin Orchestra Educator of the Year Award, the California Music Educators Association Band Educator of the Year award, the California Music Educators Association Bay Section Music Educator of the Year Award, the University of Chicago Outstanding Educator Award, and has been inducted into the John Phillip Sousa Legion of Honor. Mr. Boitz and his path at Saratoga High School is one of the featured chapters of author and lecturer Scott Lang’s Book, Leader of the Band.
Mr. Boitz has led concert tours to Spain, Austria, Switzerland, Germany, Slovenia, Norway, Finland, the Netherlands, Belgium, and Australia. International festivals have included the WASBE (World Association of Symphonic Bands and Ensembles) Conference in Prague, CZ in 2022, Utrecht, NL in 2017, the World Music Contest in Kerkrade, NL, twice the Mid-Europe Music Festival in Schladming, AT, twice the Jungfrau Music Festival in Interlachen, CH, twice the former Vienna Youth in Music Festival in Vienna, AT, and the IMAGO Music Festival in Ljubljana, SI. Performance venues have included the Musikverein in Vienna, AU, The Royal Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, NL, the Palau de Musica in Barcelona, SE, the Konzertsaal in Lucerne, CH, the Kursaal in Donostia/San Sebastian, SE, the Palau de la Musica in Valencia, SE, the Sydney Opera House in Sydney, AU, and Carnegie Hall in New York.
Under Mr Boitz’s leadership, the SHS Symphonic Wind Ensemble has also performed at multiple state and regional conferences, and has earned consistent Unanimous Superior ratings at all CMEA (California Music Educator Association) festivals since 1999. The advanced orchestra at Saratoga High School, Saratoga Strings, has performed twice at the Midwest International Band and Orchestra Clinic in Chicago (2014, 2018), and in December 2023 will become one of the few High Schools in the U.S. to perform three times at Midwest. The Saratoga High School Marching Band has performed at both the nationally televised Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade (2012), and the internationally televised Tournament of Roses Parade (2016), along with multiple Bands of America Regional Championships, of which Saratoga was the West Coast Regional Champion in 2015.
Mr. Boitz serves regularly as a Guest Conductor for High School and Junior High Regional Honor Bands and Orchestra’s on the West Coast, presented Clinic Sessions for WASBE (World Association of Symphonic Bands and Ensembles) in Hungary and the Czech Republic, presented Clinic Sessions and Rehearsal Labs at the Midwest Clinic, and serves as Adjudicator and Clinician for multiple associations throughout the U.S. He has been honored to conduct All-State Bands and Orchestra’s in California, Nevada, Indiana, and Oregon. Mr. Boitz has personally been awarded Honorary Commendations from the City of Saratoga, as well as the Band Program and Orchestra Program at SHS have been awarded Honorary Commendations from the City of Saratoga.
Mr. Boitz completed undergraduate and graduate studies at Concordia College in Moorhead Minnesota and Northwestern University in Evanston, IL, respectively. His teachers and mentors of greatest influence have included Dr. Mallory Thompson (Northwestern University), Dr. Russell Pesola (Concordia College), Dr. J. Robert Hanson (Concordia College), Dr. Frank Bencriscutto (University of Minnesota/Concordia College), Dr. Lawrence Sutherland (CSU Fresno/UCLA), Dr. Ed Huttlin (Concordia College), Mr. John Burn (Homestead HS), Mr. Norm Dea (Accalanes HS), Mr. John Lace (Anoka HS), Mr. Mike Hiatt (Anoka HS), Mr. Gordon Nilsen (Fred Moore Jr High), and Mr. Peter Dahlstrom (Fred Moore Jr High). Michael Boitz was born and raised in Anoka, MN, and is a proud graduate of Anoka High School.
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