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Winter Concert Continues Dedication Theme The annual winter concert featuring K-Gr. 12 instrumental ensembles was especially meaningful this year, occurring only an hour or so after the conclusion of the memorial service for Howard Nichols. Audience members, many of whom attended both events, were treated to performances by orchestras from all three campuses, the US Jazz Band and Bel Canto, an US vocal ensemble. Catherine Snider, director of Bel Canto, began the evening with a dedication to Nichols, explaining the gratitude performing artists feel to be working in an educational environment so supportive of the arts. She cited Nichols, who loved the arts, as the one who set this precedent at Harker. In honor of Nichols all the performers wore ribbons of maroon, Nichols’ favorite color. And then the music began!
house with a Tito Puente number and two pieces by George Gershwin, featuring vocalist Frankie Nagle, Gr. 10. Bel Canto followed close behind, showing off their versatility with the pop classic “What a Wonderful World,” a Latin liturgical piece and an AfricanAmerican spiritual that got the audience stomping. The evening culminated in the US Orchestra’s mammoth undertaking of Dvorák’s “Symphony No. 8,” performed in its entirety. This four˘ movement piece, lasting about 30 minutes, demonstrated the increasing skill of this fine ensemble and the high standard Florio is setting for them. The US performers travel to New York next month to participate in an orchestra contest at Lincoln Center.
Louis Hoffman’s Bucknall Orchestra impressed the crowd with their classical repertoire, which included Mozart, Haydn, Tchaikovsky and Liszt. Chris Florio followed with his Gr. 6 Orchestra, Combined MS Orchestra and Gr. 7/8 Orchestra, who continued the theme of the great Romantic composers with Beethoven, Bizet and the ambitious “Overture 1812” by Tchaikovsky (sans cannons, however). After a brief intermission, the Jazz Band took the stage and rocked the
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Harker News — February 09