By Doug Boyle
Staff Writer
On Thursday, December 6, Westford Academy’s Performing Arts Center will be the set of the annual Winter Classic performance. The show will feature three consecutive performances from the band, orchestra, and choir.
The band which features 117 WA students, including twenty seniors and over 75 underclassmen, will be performing a wide variety of music. They will perform pieces varying from traditional marches and Hollywood music. The band includes members of jazz, marching, and tap.
“I’m excited to have all the students perform at the same time,” said George Arsenault, band conductor,“I like watching all the students be focused at the same time on the same thing.”
The orchestra is conducted by Kenneth Culver who has been a teacher and conductor at Westford for eight years. His orchestra is divided into a group of 51 freshmen and sophomores and another group of 27 juniors and seniors, who are a part of the honors orchestra class. However, both will be performing in harmony on Thursday night for the big fall event.
“I think it’s a really balanced program,” said Culver, “it’s a really good mix of pieces.”
The honors orchestra performs around eight shows a year, not always featuring the regular orchestra as well. On this past Sunday, the orchestra had two performances in Concord and just a few weeks ago a select few orchestra members performed the music for the school musical, Evita.
The choir, led by Karen St. George, features many of WA students including a wide variety of seniors, juniors and underclassmen. Senior Tia Ryder is a member of the honors choir and has worked hard with her peers in order to create the best performance possible.
“This concert is something that the whole music department has been preparing for since the beginning of the year and it would be wonderful to see a lot of people there to support the hard work that we have done to learn the pieces being performed by the band, orchestra, and both concert choir and honors choir,” said Ryder.
The three music groups, band orchestra and choir, have been practicing for the event since the beginning of the school year in September. The three groups, all together do only two performances with one another in the entire school year. They must help one another during the performances and establish a sense of unity.
“The hardest thing is the set changes and getting the stage put together nicely for each group,” said Culver.
The performance on Thursday is at 6pm in the Performing Arts Center. Tickets are five dollars for students and seven for adults.