[ot-caption title=” The Upper School Mens’ Chorus performs during their winter concert. (via, Mr. Testa)”]

Spring is here, and along with it is the choir, band, and orchestra Spring Concert.  Students can come to Stacy Auditorium on April 5th at 7 p.m. to support their friends and see the Fine Arts department’s wonderful performance.[spacer height=”20px”]

Recently, the school’s choir won Superiors at MPAs (Music Performance Assessment) at Dillard High School with several other schools also competing. Not only did the general chorus receive such an incredible score, but the individual women’s and men’s choirs were rewarded with straight Superiors. The songs performed were pieces like “Dink’s Song” for the women and “A-Rovin” for the men. Both of these songs required countless of hours of rehearsal. They are currently preparing for the state level MPAs at American Heritage High School, and the concert will be a great opportunity for students to see the pieces that have already achieved so much.[spacer height=”20px”]

“The concert is going to feature all performing ensembles from Upper School: band, chorus, orchestra,” said Mr. Testa, the Upper School choir director. “Then a big finale at the end! It’s not to be missed.”[spacer height=”20px”]

The Pine Crest Symphonic Band earned Superior in Sight Reading and Excellent overall at MPA’s. They will be performing music from Aaron Copland’s Pulitzer Prize Winning Ballet: Appalachian Spring, as well as joining forces with the chorus and orchestra for the grand finale. The Band has been working incredibly hard in order to put on this production, reviewing their songs that got such great scores at the competition. [spacer height=”20px”] 

At MPAs, the Honors Orchestra earned a Superior overall, and the US Orchestra earned the highest possible Excellent, just missing Superior by a hair. Both orchestras impressed the judge that reviewed sight reading. Sight reading is when the musicians have to play or sing piece they have not looked at before.[spacer height=”20px”]

“It was a special thrill for me, since when I was a professional musician,” said Ms. Shapiro, the head of orchestra. “Sight Reading was always the part of the audition process that I dreaded the most.”  [spacer height=”20px”]

In fact, all three Pine Crest orchestras earned Superiors from the sight reading judge, along with very glowing verbal and written comments.[spacer height=”20px”]

Both Dr. Kinne, director of Band, and Ms. Shapiro also stated that they are looking forward to the grand finale when their combined efforts will work together with the chorus, producing a brilliant end to the entire concert.[spacer height=”20px”]

With all of this work being put into one night, who wouldn’t want to witness such a display? Make sure you come on April 5th to watch the Spring concert with all of these highly-ranked pieces being performed![spacer height=”20px”]