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Winter Concerts Showcase Student Talent

Led by music teacher Joe Horning, the Chorale dazzled the audience at the First Parish Church of Brookline.

Sixteen years ago, art teacher Sharen Bowden and 5th grade students made banners to decorate the Lower School Gymnasium for the Winter Concert. For many winter concerts since then these banners have been hung, promoting the spirit of the season. In an homage to this banner tradition at the Lower School, this year’s Winter Concert reflected one of those themes—JOY—as the performances bore out.  

Under the direction music teachers Debbie Slade and Ada Park Snider, parent spectators were regaled with such tunes as Joy in My Heart (Brick Building Chorus), Gaudeamus Hodie (Brick Building Chorus), the Recorder Club’s take on Dreydl Song and Jingle Bells, and a performance of the The Syncopated Clock by the Grades 2-6 Orchestra.  The performance was highlighted by guest appearances by four of Slade’s orchestra students from the International School of Boston.

The New Wing chorus (Grades 2-4) had their own performance at the start of the new year, performing Here We Come A-Wassailing, a spectacular traditional English New Year Carol as well as Gaudeamus Hodie (We are Joyful Today), and a song sung in both English and Swahili, Amani Utupe (Grant Us Peace, Give Us Courage). The youngest students also enjoyed the annual Morse Building Sing-a-long, in which parents joined their children for a morning of singing.

Starting with the hand made snowflakes glued to each program, and ending with the rollicking Jazz Band performances of Stolen Moments and Do It Now, Middle School Winterfest celebrated the season as usual with its blend of acting, singing, music, and humor.  

“We had a full house of enthusiastic supporters. The concert was preceded by a visual arts display featuring students' works. Each musical number was introduced by the playwriting class with students in some kind of costume and/or using a humorous reference,” said director Chris Dwyer.

“All three Chamber Ensembles, the Chorus, and the Jazz Band performed really well! It was nice to see the groups mature after the many rehearsals and hear the fine results of all the hard work. I know that I can speak for (music teacher) Kathi Gellar and (jazz teacher) Pandelis Karayorgis when I say that the three of us were indeed very proud of everyone.”  

The Upper School Winter Concert held at the First Parish Church of Brookline showcased the sophisticated talent of student vocal and instrumental groups as parents, grandparents, and friends listened to and participated in an evening filled with merriment.

Under the direction of Brian Reasoner, the Upper School Orchestra performed several pieces from Ludwig van Beethoven’s Symphony No. 1 in C Major.  

“I thought the U.S. Winter Concert was great,” Reasoner said. “The orchestra gave an outstanding, spirited performance of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 1 with excellent solos from Elizabeth Wang ’10 (clarinet), Rory Page ’12 (oboe), Lyndia Personnat ’10 and Libby Zhang ’12 (flute), and faculty member Rob Leith (bassoon).   The instrumentalists were very enthusiastic about the piece in rehearsals, and the resulting performance measured up with the best of past years.”

The Upper School Chorale, directed by Joseph Horning, delighted the audience with an interesting song called Mi'kmaq Honour Song, a contemporary piece by a Canadian composer that “incorporates chant and sounds of nature into a very unique antiphonal piece of music,” according to Horning. The Chorale also performed an English folk song Marianne, an African-American spiritual Didn't My Lord Deliver Daniel, and a Finnish folk song about a romantic young couple. The Knightingales and Voices of the Knight then closed the evening with a fabulous selection of close harmony arrangements.