WAMS Spring Choral Concert - My Review

The second Waterbury Arts Magnet School Music Department was presented at the Palace Theater on Wednesday. The Spring Choral Concert was entitled "A Tribute to Great American Composers." Marianna Vagnini Dadamo is the Middle and High School Choral Director and Ostinatos Director and Kim Boonstra is the Middle School Director and High School Accompanist.

The WAMS Middle School Chorus opened the show and it was special to see my former student Dania Fredrick singing on the Palace stage. This group will compete in Music in the Parks at Six Flags on Friday. At this concert they performed "Riversong" by Andy Beck, "Shoshone Love Song" a traditional Native American lyric arranged by Roger Emerson, and "Man in the Mirror" by Glen Ballard and Siedah Garrett with solos by Brandon White and Julia Rocchio. The Sixth Grade Chorus did "We Can Build a Forest" by Jim Papoulis and Mike Greenly; sixth grader Sabrina Santopietro performed a wonderful solo for this piece. I can't wait to see this young lady onstage in the future. What a voice! The finale was a Disney Silly Sing-Along arranged by Alan Billingsley done by all the middle schoolers; the silly songs included "Zippity Doo Dah," "Bippity Boppity Boo," "Hakuna Matata," "Chim Chimney" and of course the Mary Poppins made up word.

For an interlude, Julia Rocchio returned to sing "Edelveis" from Sound of Music.

The Middle School Select Choir took to the Palace stage to perform "What a Wonderful World" by George David Weiss and Bob Thiele with a fine trumpet solo by David Cervellino. "Ho Ho Watanay" was a traditional Iroquois Lullaby arranged by Greg Gilpin conducted by a student Madison Smith. "Over the Rainbow" was the Andy Beck arrangement and Lilly LaChance and Claudia Wilkin had impressive solos. Their finale was "Defying Gravity" from Wicked (Glee version) by Stephen Schwartz and featured a fine solo by a young tenor.

The Ostinatos, a high school a capella group, took to the stage in pink and black. They sang "In These Delightful Pleasant Groves" by H. Purcell, "Lullaby of  Birdland" by G. Weiss and George Shearing (with a bass line played by Phillip Sterling) and "Dynamite" arranged by Alex Phan. The last number had a great solo by the talented Wilmer Gomez and Gerald Mullings.

A second interlude was "A Final Goodbye" composed by 17 year old Jeff Cregeur with words taken from the poetry of Emily Dickinson. It was beautifully performed by senior Emily Pierce, the president of the High School Chorus.

The large High School Chorus closed the program dressed in black and white attire. "The Rhythm of Life" by Coleman and Fields was great. "Shine on Me" a traditional spiritual arranged by Rollo Dilworth featured Miciah Holman on piano and a solo by Mr. Mullings. "Some Nights" was recorded by fun and arranged by Mac Huff. The soloists included Brianna Crespo, Abby Rickevicius, Danielle Orlando, and Lucas Savage and Jeyvi Betances covered the snare drum. "The Earth Song" by Frank Ticheli was dedicated to two teachers leaving WAMS and Mr. Lavallee. The final number was an excellent medley from West Side Story by Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim arranged by Len Thomas. The soloist for the medley were Ron Boulanger, Liam Alldredge and Lucas Savage.

Congratulations to all the students involved in this concert and thank you to the adults who help them shine.