Writer: Sarah
Editor: Mariah
Visual: Maria
In the past couple of weeks, ISM has been exposed to the beauty of live music through the Celebration of Sounds concerts featuring choir, strings, and band. This is the first live concert since the pandemic and many students, parents, faculty, and staff flocked to the FAT to enjoy the wide array of sounds their fellow students were creating.
The first concert on November 16 was the All Choirs Concert, featuring both middle and high school students. Each class performed two to three pieces, each invoking a different emotion in the audience. “After so many years of being apart, the energy that is created when we all sing together has been electrifying. We are singing many more songs together, of a more difficult caliber, and the choir is sounding fantastic,” says choir teacher Ms. Anne Provencher, who conducted all classes from grades 5 to 12 with an hour of beautiful songs sung by immensely talented voices. The audience is left feeling a sense of awakening, as described by the finale song of the concert, which talks about waking from a state of dim hibernation into a world of music and light. “My hope is that the audience can connect personally to every song in the performance, whether it is a song that is familiar to them or one that they have never heard before. This can make them laugh, cry, or dance in their seats, depending on the song!” Ms. Provencher describes.
The second concert on November 22 was the All Strings Concert, also featuring students from middle and high school. Each class stunned the audience with their pieces: a beautiful rendition of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons performed by Orchestra Strings, an exceptional performance of the movie “Incredibles” theme song performed by middle school, and an amazing finale of “Greater Than”, conducted by John Christopher Joya. The astounding number of audience members that attended the strings concert was in part to the equally astounding number of students on stage but also to the expectation of talent that Mr. Joya gladly fulfilled..
The last installment of the Celebration of Sounds concert, the All Band Concert, will be happening on November 29. There is a lot of excitement for this concert, as the student performers will take the audience on a ride through the intense and diverse sound they will produce.This performance will be conducted by MS and HS band teacher Tom Nazareno, who hopes for “. “Quote”.
The Celebration of Sounds concerts are not only great for enjoying the sounds produced by student musicians, but also for students both listening and performing. According to Ms. Provencher, “Singing in a choir builds friendships, teamwork, and trust among all the students in the choir.” Additionally, music connects people.. Music is a unifying force that so many people depend on music because it can be an uplifting, lively, and overall powerful experience to witness and perform. Being able to experience a live show is also beneficial to the audience and performers because they get the opportunity to listen to the power of live voices around them. The joy students feel when they get to showcase their talent and hardwork in front of people is also hugely important for their confidence, mood, and self esteem, among other things.