Winter Concerts Usher in Holiday Season

Students across all three campuses celebrated winter with a series of concerts this December. From jazz music, to orchestral music, to Thai folk songs, the performances ran the gamut and ensured a festive send off for the holidays.

Middle School Winterfest

Middle School musicians dazzled the crowd Wednesday night at the annual Winterfest concert.  The Chamber Ensembles, Chorus, and Jazz Band, led by directors Chris Dwyer, Katherine Geller, and Pandelis Karayorgis respectively, performed a variety of numbers from classical to modern.  While the Chamber groups performed pieces such as Three Fantastic Dances and Quartet in g minor K.478, Allegro the Chorus entertained the audience with Here Comes the Sun and Empire State of Mind. The Jazz Band rounded out the concert with their renditions of Stolen Moments and News for Lulu.

Morse Building Sing-Along

Morse Building students gathered in the Lower School gymnasium on Tuesday for their annual Sing-Along, celebrating 17 years of spreading holiday cheer. Abandoning all rules, students were allowed to sit in the audience with their parents, and parents were allowed to sit on the mat up front with their children, creating a sense of cohesiveness as everyone in the room celebrated the upcoming holidays.

Each student had personally decorated their own songbook, which they shared with their parents, to ensure that everyone could join in the singing!

Led by music teacher Ada Park Snider, and accompanied by Music Chair Debbie Slade on autoharp, PE teacher Libby Kenney on harmonica, and Kindergarten teacher Ben Goldhaber, and librarian Heather Lee on guitar, song requests were taken and the students’ voices did not disappoint. Crowd favorites such as Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, Frosty the Snowman, and The Dreidel Song were followed up with many other Lower School specialties. The grand finale was Feliz Navidad, which had everyone in the room singing and left all in the holiday spirit.

Lower School New Wing Concert

The annual New Wing Winter Concert showcased BB&N musical talent as students welcomed the holiday season with song. Parents were treated to grade three’s Hawaiian lullaby, Pupu Hinuhinu; grade four’s Winter is Coming; and grade two’s Spanish version of Frosty the Snowman (complete with sign language!). The concert closed with everyone singing Together We Can Change the World.

Special performers included William Keating ’20 on the drums, soloist singers Julie Klingenstein ’20, Olivia Knight ’20, and Aaron Rasin ’20, and the Lower School orchestra.

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Lower School Brick Building Concert

Fifth and sixth graders crafted some winter magic of their own at the Brick Building Winter Concert.

Under the guiding hand of music chair Debbie Slade, this show featured an impressive orchestra performance of Mozart’s Menuetto from Symphony No. 25 in G minor, followed by the Chamber String Group’s note-for-note rendition of Rondeau (Masterpiece Theme).

The Brick Building Chorus then wowed the audience with a complicated singing arrangement of She Shall Have Music. Other highlights included a percussion ensemble, a Thai folk tale by the fifth grade featuring acting and singing, and various other songs by the Brick Building Chorus.

Upper School Jazz Concert

Thirty-one students channeled their inner-Miles Davis this December at the Upper School winter jazz concert. Three different groups performed compositions by classic jazz greats such as Charles Mingus, Sun Ra, and Duke Ellington among others. Featuring an assortment of talented soloists, the performances had toes tapping long after the music ended.