This past week, the Pine Crest Band and Orchestra performed their spring concerts.  The band concert, which was held on Tuesday night in Stacy Auditorium, featured students from grades four through twelve.  Thursday night’s orchestra performance featured students from grades six through twelve.

The band concert opened with six songs by the Honors Jazz Ensemble, led by Dr. Christopher Cicconi.  Their first song, “An Ellington Tribute”, was noteworthy, as it featured solos by Justin Bodner, Benjamin Kelsky, Yani Fabre, and Jake Wasserman.  The jazz band’s second song, “Jealousy,” was actually written and arranged entirely by Dr. Cicconi and junior Alexis Kesselman, who also accompanied the band vocally.  Other vocalists also collaborated, including Jordanna Brody and Ryan Graff.  The Jazz Band was followed by the Fourth Grade Band, the Fifth Grade Band, and the Middle School Band, all led by Mrs. Allison Jadvani.  Finally, the Upper School Band ended the night, playing classics by Sousa and Bach. Their final song, “Russian Christmas Music,” was fifteen minutes long and put together in just two weeks!  The thrilled crowd gave the band a standing ovation, inspiring an encore performance of “Hava Nagila”.

The Middle School orchestra opened on Thursday night, playing a creative song that involved the cellos spinning their instruments.  They also wowed the crowd with a medley from Harry Potter.  After, the Honors Orchestra performed a stunning medley from The Phantom of the Opera, which received a standing ovation and brought tears to the eyes of many audience members.  Next, the seniors of the orchestra played a lively rendition of “Sweet Child of Mine,” which featured Trevor Garlinghouse on the electric guitar and Bronsen Bloom on the bass guitar.  Then, the Upper School Orchestra played “Dotonburi Dash,” featuring solos by Izze Ercan and Kyle Ockerman, in addition to a medley of songs from the films of John Williams.  Lastly, the night ended with a performance of “Pirates of the Caribbean,” played together by both the middle and upper school musicians.

Although these were the last concerts by the Band and Orchestra, they were not their last performances of the year!  The Upper School Band and Orchestra will be performing together at graduation on May 21^st at the Broward Center.