Schools
MHS Musings: Musicians Close Year on High Note
The high school choruses and orchestras end the school year with their spring concert.
The choral and orchestral ensembles from Millburn High School performed their Spring Concert on Thursday night to a full house. Each ensemble made fantastic music and received standing ovations from the crowd throughout the concert.
This concert, under the direction of Karen Conrad (orchestras) and Jonathan Flowers (choruses), was Flowers' final concert as director of choruses at Millburn High School. He is relocating across the country over the summer and will be missed by all the members of his many choruses. Through the concert, both Flowers and Conrad made it clear they have put in countless hours of rehearsals with their ensembles.
The concert opened with the Cantica Nova, the freshman chorus. The Cantica Nova holds daily rehearsal during fourth period with Flowers and student conductor, senior Teresa Wittleder. The Cantica Nova opened with an a cappella version of the Star Spangled Banner. Then, they sang "Bonse Aba," a traditional Zambian upbeat song featuring Clarissa D'Alessio, Anthony Joo, Tim Cosgrove, Panya Gupta, Medha Tandon, Josh Bain, Peter Schott, Ethan Seletsky and Mac Novich.
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The Cantica Nova continued their program with Emma Lou Diemer's "Three Madrigals." These three madrigals—"O Mistress Mine," "Take O Take," and "Sigh No More Ladies"—are based off the text of William Shakespeare. Next, they sang "The Spark of Creation," a song by Stephen Schwartz from the Broadway musical "Children of Eden," conducted by Wittleder. The chorus closed with another Broadway song, "Sit Down You're Rockin' the Boat" from "Guys and Dolls," featuring soloists Jack Goldberg, Victoria Nachevnik, Tali Zusman and myself. Piano accompaniment for the Cantica Nova was provided by Brian Cao and James Harvey.
The MHS chorale was next to sing. The chorale is a select ensemble of upperclassman singers who spend hours every Tuesday night rehearsing with Flowers. They presented four songs: "Sing Me To Heaven," "Mule Rendera," the classic patriotic standard "America the Beautiful" and Irvin Berlin's "Blue Skies," featuring Ethan Lipkind on trombone.
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The chorale consists of sopranos Kathryn Raskin and Teresa Wittleder; altos Hannah Berg, Marisa Blackburn, Maria Maclay, Lois Ng, Shayna Rose and Anne Salorio; tenors Jeremy Bergman, Ezra Dantowitz, Joe Juhase and Rei Otake; and basses Michael Davis, Eric Frank, Ethan Lipkind and Jonathan Wang. Chorale piano accompaniment is provided by Brian Cao.
The Chamber Orchestra was next to take the stage. They presented a 20-minute long piece in three movements entitled "Simple Symphony." The three movements were called "Boisterous Bouree," "Playful Pizzicato," and "Frolicsome Finale." The Chamber Orchestra is a select string ensemble that rehearses with Conrad weekly at night for hours apiece.
The Chamber Orchestra then assisted in a Mozart concerto performed by violin concertmaster Juliana Brunini and viola principal Hannah Berg. The concerto was incredibly performed and received a rousing ovation by the crowd.
After a brief intermission the Symphony Orchestra, directed by Conrad, played their set of songs. They included "The Marriage of Figaro (Overture)," "Concerto in D Major" featuring piccolo Heuikon Kim, and "Danse Bacchanale."
During the Symphony Orchestra's performance, Conrad honored the service and dedication of Schools Supt. Richard Brodow, who is retiring later this month.
Next was the Miller Chorus, consisting of all upperclassman singers. They opened with the song based on John F. Kennedy's famous speech, "The Best Road to Progress is Freedom's Road." They followed with a Mendelssohn selection, "Verleih uns Frieden." Then they sang the traditional American folk song "Buffalo Gals" followed by John Lennon and Paul McCartney's "The Long and Winding Road." The Miller Chorus closed with "When Johnny Comes Marching Home."
The Cantica Nova and full Symphonic Orchestra then joined the Miller Chorus in "Anvil Chorus" from the Verdi opera "Il Trovadore," conducted by both Flowers and Conrad.
Before closing the concert, both Conrad and Flowers honored the outgoing senior members of the choruses and orchestras.
Additionally, a large number of singers and instrumentalists were selected into NJSMA Region I and NJ All-State ensembles. Victoria Nachevnik and Tim Cosgrove were selected into the NJSMA Region I Jr. High Choir. Victoria Nachevnik, Anthony Joo, myself, Jasia Ries, Ezra Dantowitz and Jonathan Wang were selected into the NJSMA Region I High School Chorus. Additionally, Jasia Ries and Victoria Nachevnik were selected to sing in the NJ All-State Choir. Additionally, French horn player William Krinsman and bassist Austin Gengos were selected into the NJ All-State Orchestra.
