This years’ winter concert band director Aaron Mirakovits’ surprise appearance as the Grinch left the audience laughing.
On Wednesday, Dec. 18 at 7:00 p.m. Kasdorf Auditorium resonated with holiday cheer and classical music as the Loy Norrix Music Department played and sang their hearts out. Students from the band, choir, and orchestra came together to perform to bring us the 24-25 winter concert.
From the performance by the jazz band to the choir’s cover of Alvin and the Chipmunks’ “Christmas Don’t Be Late,” the night was filled with holiday cheer. Then The Grinch stole the show, as he conducted the band in their performance of “You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch”
(Credit: Lucas Greene)
But all was not lost as the orchestra brought with it a magical atmosphere as they played classical holiday pieces as well as a composition of the famous music of the 1971 musical “Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory”.
(Credit: Lucas Greene)
Since the end of October and the start of November, the choir, band and orchestra have been working towards perfecting musical selections for the winter concert. Marisa Bergh, Aaron Mirakovits and Denis Shebukhov have been pushing their students and practicing songs over and over again.
As the winter concert approached, preparations ramped up and the heads of the music department made final preparations, helping students dial in their sound and tweak any errors.
Senior Dominic Lafuente, a member of master singers, emphasized how important good teachers are when trying to combat the chaos of an impending deadline.
“Everyone is stressed out,” Lafuente said. “Mrs. Berg is especially stressed out. More stressed out than we are. We’re usually pretty middle of the road until the very last day, but she is on hyper just trying to get us on our feet, just get us going”
The band also had to face the extra challenge of constricted class time due to assemblies and other events through the year.
“One of the most challenging parts has been the fact that fifth period loses, of any period, the most class time due to things like half-days, pep-assemblies, testing, you name it,” said Mirakovits.
To combat this loss of time, Mirakovits really had to push the band students further to make sure everyone was on track and ready for the event.
The concert as a whole received a standing ovation. A captivated audience watched as the music department blended together into one cohesive unit of sound.
