Elmsford Schools Celebrate Holidays

Administrators, parents and others delighted in two superb holiday performances Dec. 12 that highlighted the talents of students from the Alice E. Grady School and AHHS in the Elmsford Union Free School District.

The Grady School Band, under the direction of music teacher Allison Shapiro, and the Grady School Chorus, under the direction of music teacher Timothy Brown, performed first in an afternoon concert.

Both performances were held in the high school auditorium, the evening performance drawing a large audience comprised of teachers, administrators and parents.

The Grady School band’s repertoire included “Merry Kisimusi,” which means Merry Christmas in Zimbabwe, “Oh Hanukkah” and “Snow Day.”

Among the songs that students in the Grady choir performed were: “In the Spirit,” “Just One Candle,” “Blitzen’s Boogie” and “Rudolph! (with a Twist!), a perennial favorite that the students perform each year for the Elmsford community.

The AHHS chorus, under the direction of Dana Mancuso, got everyone into the holiday mood with numbers like Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas,” “Let It Snow,” “I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel to Be Free” and others.

The band, under the direction of music teacher Rob Jacoby, performed a number of holiday tunes, including “Santa’s Parade,” “A Celebration of Hanukkah,” as well as a selection of tunes arranged under the title, “Christmas at the Movies.” They included “Overture” from “The Nightmare Before Christmas,” “Somewhere in My Memory” from “Home Alone” and “The Polar Express” from the movie, “The Polar Express.”

Mr. Jacoby said he was very proud of the band’s performance. “They have improved a lot over the last few months. There is a lot going on behind the scenes with mentoring and leadership that isn’t even shown on stage, but it is still so important,” he said.