On Thursday, March 7th, the Oakmont Music Department hosted its annual Winter concert. This concert included performances by Oakmont’s Concert Choir, Select Choir, Concert Band, Jazz Band, Winter Guard, and Winter Percussion Ensemble. The night started with The Concert Choir where they performed The Beatles classic Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da by John Lennon and Paul McCartney. Then they performed Stars by Eriks Esenvalds and finished their set with Dancing Through Life by Stephen Schwartz from Broadway’s famous musical Wicked.
Next up was Oakmont’s Select Choir. They started with Can’t Help Falling in Love by George David Weiss, Hugo Peretti, and Luigi Creatore and Arranged by Alan Billingsley. Then sang True Colors by Bill Steinberg and Tom Kelly and Arranged by Deke Sharon, which included solos by Sophomore, Lila Mallory, and Junior, Willa Olshan. Finally, they ended the night off right with The Boy From New York City by John Taylor and Arranged by Larry Lapin which included solos from Audrey Lavenski, Keilana Carbonneau, and Allison Flannery. This was a fantastic song to end the choir portion of the night!
The next ensemble up was Oakmont’s Concert Band! The song selection showed off their ability to play all types of music. They started their set off with Explorations by Ed Huckeby. Then they went into Benediction by John Stevens, a piece that showed off their talents in balance, blend, and intonation. Finally, they ended with their high-energy piece, Digital Prisms by Larry Clark. This was a great start in showing off the instrumental side of the music program!
Oakmont’s Jazz band was up next and they blew the crowd away! Starting with Lady Bird by Tadd Dameron and Arranged by Mark Taylor. This piece also included solos by Sophomore, AJ Lasorsa, and senior, Joe Barrows. Their next piece was called A Kiss From You by Benny Carter, Jeffrey Sultanof, and Rob DuBoff. This song was packed with talented solos from excellent musicians, Jonny Currie, Joe Barrows, James Daigle, Nolan Leclair, AJ Lasorsa, and Sam Flannery. Their third and final piece was the fast and challenging BarnBurner by Les Hooper. This piece included solos from Joe Barrows, AJ Lasorsa, Sam Flannery, and Karl Sargent. This group of students has been working on these 3 pieces for the MAJE Central District Festival since September. This festival was on Wednesday, March 6th, the night before the Winter concert. At this festival, the band received a Gold medal and an invitation to compete at the state final level on Saturday, March 16th. Good luck to these Musicians!
For the final two ensembles, the audience headed down to the gym to watch Oakmont’s Winter Guard and Winter Percussion perform. First up was the Guard, with their show “Inside the Heist”, where we get to watch a group of burglars steal the gem. It’s filled with amazing visuals including lasers. The next group up was The Winter Percussion Ensemble performing their show “Pure Imagination”. The show follows the storyline of the original Willy Wonka and The Chocolate Factory. Their show includes some memory-revoking tunes and great dancing. Both ensembles will be competing throughout March and will be competing in their final competition on Sunday, April 7th.
If you missed the concert and want to view it, check it out on AWCM.org. Stay tuned for more articles on the music program this March!
