[ccfic caption-text format="plaintext"]
By Laura Drinan
Hometown Weekly Reporter
On December 12, Thurston Middle School and Westwood High School joined forces to deliver an outstanding winter orchestra concert. The two schools, performing separately and together on Westwood High’s stage, brought a perfect blend of songs together, with several holiday songs in the mix for those celebrating this month.
Beginning with the Westwood High School’s orchestra, music teacher and orchestra director David Dyson conducted the group’s performance of a medley from Disney’s “The Nightmare Before Christmas.” The song brought a mixture of spookiness and holiday cheer as it aroused memories of the famous skeleton’s adventures in “Christmas Town.”
Thurston Middle School took to the stage at Westwood High to perform at the winter orchestra concert.
The high school orchestra, comprised of 11 strings players, continued their performance with “Night on Bald Mountain” and “Greensleeves.” For their next song, “Danse Macabre,” Dyson explained that one of the violins was tuned down a half step, and challenged the audience to listen for it.
For “Christmas Eve/Sarajevo,” pianist Justin O’Dwyer, guitarist Connor Powers, bassist Adeline Vamenta, and percussionist Matt Kutzer joined the orchestra’s performance before welcoming several of the middle school students, along with Thurston Middle’s band and music teacher, Alicia Winslow, joined the high school students on stage to perform “Brandenburg Concerto #3.”
The remainder of Thurston’s orchestra students took the stage for the middle school performance, which featured several holiday songs. The middle school orchestra, made up of three violin groups, three cellists, a bassist, and two pianists, proved to be skilled musicians throughout the concert. With pun-filled introductions to each song from two of the middle school students, the orchestra performed the Irish “Gap of Dunloe,” the seasonal classic, “Winter Wonderland,” and the Hanukkah song, “Dreidl Adventure.”
Westwood High School orchestra director David Dyson introduces the orchestra’s performance of an unexpected Disney song at the winter concert.
Winslow also felt inspired to incorporate a “Nightmare Before Christmas” song into the orchestra performance. He gave the audience another taste of one of Danny Elfman’s compositions with “This is Halloween,” before finishing the middle school performance with “Autumn Vows.”
The high school students returned to the stage as both orchestras powerfully performed “Radioactive” and “Momentium,” drawing rounds of applause from the impressed audience members.
In the wake of a packed house at Westwood High’s chorus concert earlier in December, the Westwood Performing Arts Department once again proved with the winter orchestra concert that there is no short supply of musical talent in town.
Accompanied by Diana Legere, the Westwood High School orchestra performs at the annual winter concert.
