[ot-caption title=”The Dartmouth Glee Club wows the audience with their pitch perfect harmonies. (via Ava Goldstone, Freshman)” url=”https://pcpawprint.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/Darthmouth-Glee-Club.png”]

Culture throughout the fine arts department plays a huge role in the Pine Crest experience. Not only does the student body get the opportunity to watch and support their peers performing in the school-wide ensembles, but they have the privilege to witness performances from out-of-school groups as well.

This past week, on Wednesday, December 3rd, the Dartmouth Glee Club stopped by our school on their South Florida Tour and wowed the students with their chilling soprano and astounding bass vocals. Initially intended to perform in Cuba for a concert, much of their set was comprised of Spanish music. With the huge success of the Dartmouth choir, the director, Louis G. Burkot Jr., discussed the challenges of teaching such an intellectual group of students. He noted, “It’s an incredible challenge. The most difficult and crucial part is trying to get them to express themselves using emotion rather than their brains.” And whether it was the incredible guitar solo or perfect folk harmonies, the Glee Club surely proved they are more than just a group of book-smart students.

[ot-caption title=”Pine Crest’s select orchestra ensemble performs incredible holiday melodies. (via Ava Goldstone, Freshman)” url=”https://pcpawprint.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/orchestra.png”]

The following day, on Thursday, December 4th, the student body was filled with more melodies and tunes, but mostly from the holiday genre; the select ensembles from our own fine arts department took the stage and left the whole school amazed with the talent that surrounds them everyday. The entire crowd smiled, full of holiday cheer, as the chorus sang the Nordic Norwegian track from the Disney hit Frozen. The orchestra soon joined in with a featured solo from Senior Jordana Brody; her powerful voice filled the entire auditorium while the strings added depth to the Latin piece. As the concert progressed, more seniors were featured in invigorating solo performances as well. The senior students in the audience went wild as their peers Julia Sabra, Izzy Ercan, Carson Poltorack, Marrisa Radensky, and Kyle Ockerman performed “Bugler’s Holiday” by Leroy Anderson. The jazz band closed out the concert with a series of grand numbers, proving to the audience again why their reputation remains so high. A series of soloists rotated to the front of the stage, showing off their supreme talent. With a combination of familiar classics and new pieces, their set was constantly exciting. Even though the PC honor jazz band, orchestra, and chorus just make up a smaller portion of the overall music featured at school, students and faculty also had the opportunity to witness all of the different groups perform in a larger performance on Wednesday night in the Annual Winter Concert.

On both Wednesday and Thursday, the student body listened to two great performances. In addition to inspiring the students with music, the concerts allowed the entire school to just hit pause for a moment during the school day. With hectic classes before exams, there’s really no better way to unplug for an hour.