WAMS Spring Instrumental Concert

The Waterbury Arts Magnet School (WAMS) Music Department presented their eleventh annual Spring Instrumental Concert on Wednesday at the Palace Theater. As parents and friends handed their tickets to the Palace ushers, some students were singing in the lobby. Music teacher John Mobilio welcomed the audience to the evening of music.

The school’s string orchestra is made up of students in grades six through 12 and includes first and second violins, three violas, cellos and three bass players. Mary Case is the orchestra teacher/conductor. The Waterbury Symphony Orchestra provides two coaches to WAMS. The coach for violin and violas is Amy Jones and Kathy Schiano coaches the cello and bass players.

The orchestra opened with “1812 Overture” by Pytor Tchaikovsky arranged by Carrie Lane Gruselle, followed by Mozart’s “Symphony #10 in G Minor (IV Finale) arranged by Sandra Dackow. Handel’s “Telemann Viola Concerto” featured the three viola players backed by the other strings.

The Chamber Orchestra Group played two selections, “Jupiter from The Planets” by Holst and “Yellow” by Cold Play. The group includes Katherine Ross on violin 1, Jessy Jeremus on violin II, Gillian Greene on cello and Thomas Vaughn on viola. Ms. Greene had invited people to come see the WSO string and wind coaches in action with the students. ”I’m in the orchestra program myself, and I can say we have planned an amazing, fun show and have worked hard alongside Ms. Amy Jones (viola) and Ms. Kathy Sciano (cello) to develop the best sounds we can.”

The entire orchestra then played Leroy Anderson’s “Fiddle Faddle,” arranged by William Zinn. “Themes from the Moldau” was performed by the high school orchestra students. The orchestra came together again to end with “Slavonic Dance (Opus 46, No.8) by Antonin Svorak arranged by Robert McCasland and the quick “Postcards from Russia,” Russian Folks Tunes arranged by Carrie Lane Gruselle.

At the conclusion, conductor Ms. Case told the audience how proud she is of the progress that her students have made. One of the coaches then presented the teacher on a cart with a rolling cart tied with red ribbons that she could use to transport her sheet music and other materials from class to class.

The Concert Band filled the Palace stage for the second half of the program. Philip Sterling is the band teacher and he conducted the students clad in white shirts and black pants/ long skirts for most of their numbers. “To the Ends of the Earth” by Timothy Johnson opened the set. In the middle of “Amazing Grace” arranged by Jay Dawson, Mr. Terence Manning entered the stage to play the hymn on the bagpipes. “DaVinci Sketches” by Erik Morales was next, followed by an “Earth, Wind and Fire Dance Medley” arranged by Paul Murtha that was a highlight of the evening.

Mr. Sterling recognized the members of the band who are seniors, as well as the band assistants and section leaders.
The band closed the concert with “Uptown Funk” arranged by Jay Bocook conducted by senior Celina Caetano, who is a band assistant and section leader of the alto saxes.

Photos by Nancy Sasso Janis