Packed House for Annual Middle and High School Holiday Concert

The musicians of Hasbrouck Heights Middle and High School transformed the auditorium into a concert hall Wednesday night as the band and choir performed their annual holiday concert for an audience of parents, family members and friends.

It was just about standing room only as the jazz ensemble conducted by Joseph Ascolese, the music director, completed its performance with a handful of selections including the familar holiday class "Joy to the World," "Nutcracker Rock" and "And the Angels Swing!"

Next the symphonic band which is made up of sixth and seventh graders, conducted by Carron Moroney, performed "Believe" from the movie "Polar Express" which was followed by "Dance of the Reed Flutes" and "Christmas Swings."

The concert choir took their place on the dias beginning with "Carol, Singers, Carol" which choir director Danielle Kastner described as the chatting of a bunch of different Christmas carols. The choir sang "Shalom" a Hanukkah song with the message of "peace to you my friend wherever you are."

Ascolese returned to the stage with the concert band to close out the night. The concert band performed the selections "New Age Christmas," "Gesu Bambino," "Celtic Ritual" and "Angelic Festival." The choir returned to the stage joining the band for the final selection"Christmas Pop Sing-a-Long" in which the audience was invited to sing along. The voices of the choir and the audience members could be heard singing along to "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" and "Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer."

This is the music department's first performance of the year. Moroney announced the annual Pops Concert will take place March 7 and the spring concert will take place May 23.

Almost every seat was taken in the auditorium as parents and family members flocked to the high school Wednesday night to witness the annual holiday concert performed by the middle school and high school band and choir.