The Simsbury High School Music Department invites the community to attend their December 8 band concert. The concert, “The Gift of Music,” begins at 7 p.m. in the Simsbury High School auditorium and is free and open to the public. It will feature not only ensembles from the high school, but also performers from Henry James Memorial School and the Hartt School, as well as two special guest performers.
The SHS Symphonic Band, the SHS Percussion Ensemble and the SHS Wind Ensemble under the direction of Lisa Abel, along with the SHS Jazz Ensemble under the direction of Ken Fischer, and the HJMS Band under the direction of Aaron Robarge, will entertain the audience with seasonal favorites and exciting percussion pieces. Four percussionists from the Hartt School – Master’s student Daryl Belcher, Bachelor’s student Adam Dipersio, Doctoral student Jianpeng Feng and Elliot Wallace, who is the SHS percussion instructor and recently was awarded a Masters Degree from Hartt, will join the SHS Percussion Ensemble in their performance.
Pieces which will be performed include Falcon Fanfare by Brian Balmages, an exciting and spirited start to the program; Shalom! Suite of Israeli Folk Songs by Philip Sparke, and the instrumental version of the Frank Loesser classic Baby It’s Cold Outside. Audience members will also enjoy traditional Cuban and West African drumming songs, Overture for Winds by Charles Carter and The Seal Lullaby by Eric Whitacre, which is based on a story by Rudyard Kipling’s beautiful tale The White Seal. The concert will conclude with Mannheim Steamroller’s arrangement of Auld Lang Syne.
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SHS will also welcome two special guest performers. Ethan Kyzivat, a 2011 graduate of Simsbury High, 2008 winner of Symphony in Simsbury and currently a senior at Yale University, will be performing on piano. Larry Gareau, who is a faculty member at the Hartt School and CCSU, will perform on flugelhorn. Mr. Gareau has also performed with the HSO, Hartford Pops, FV Symphony, Tony Bennett, Aretha Franklin, Johnny Mathis, Frankie Valli and a host of other celebrated performers.
