On Wednesday, May 13, the Pascack Hills Music Department, run by choir director Margarita Elkin and band director Ryan Dore held its annual spring concert. There, graduating seniors were honored with their final full-length concert before leaving Hills.
Performance Program
Band director Ryan Dore led the Jazz Band, the Concert Band, and the Honors Concert Band.
The Jazz Band started off the concert by performing “Honk” by Jeff Jarvis and “Hey, Elephant!” by Drew Zaremba. Later in the evening, after intermission, the Concert Band performed “Illumination” by David Maslanka, “Fearless” by Carol Britten Chambers, the consortium premiere performance of “Abbagoochie” by Jess Langston Turner, “The White Rose” by John Philip Sousa (conducted by TA Michael McKay) and “Who’s That Masked Man” arranged by Jay Bocook. The Honors Band, a pilot class of a select group from the Concert Band, performed “Joy” by Frank Ticheli and “Americans We” by Henry Fillmore. Only one student was assigned for each part in the Honors Band.
Choir director Margarita Elkin led the Chamber Choir, the Concert Choir, the “Unaccompanied Minors” a cappella group, the “Arpeggibros” men’s choir, and the “Acouschicks” women’s choir.
The Chamber Choir performed “Let the River Run” by Carly Simon and arranged by Graig Hella Johnson, “Berusa Er!” By Sten Kallman, “Be Thou My Vision” arranged by Connor Smith, the traditional spiritual “I Don’t Feel No Ways Tired” arranged by Stacey V. Gibbs, “Light of a Clear Blue Morning” by Dolly Parton and arranged by Craig Hella Johnson, and “Bohemian Rhapsody” by Queen and arranged by Mark Brymer. The Concert Choir performed “Cantate Domino” by Mark Hayes and “Beethoven’s Fifth” by Ludwig van Beethoven and arranged by Tom Anderson.
The “Unaccompanied Minors” a cappella group performed “Time” by Jennifer Lucy Cook and “Day of Fire and Sun” by Sara Teasdale and Kate Crellin. The “Arpeggibros” male choir performed “Mr. Sandman” by Pat Ballard and arranged by Miles Jackson. The “Acouschicks” female choir performed “Landslide” by Stevie Nicks and arranged by Maryanne Mugila and “From the Start” by Laufey and Spencer Stewart.
Both groups concluded the night with the combined piece “Andrew Lloyd Webber: A Concert Celebration.” The piece was arranged for the choir by Mark Brymer and was arranged for the band by Calvin Custer.’
Senior Recognition
Both the choir and band feature many seniors who were sad to have this performance mark their last night: Ayan Swain, Carla Monaco, Megan Li, Ettie Eggers, Melania Bui, Michael McKay, Owen Lenger, Jason Schwartz, Jupiter Tamagny, Kate Glass, Elijah Chen, Miriam Rozman, Camilla Ambrocio, Colin Barry, Caitlin Buckley, Eva Friedman, Christian Le, Nicholas Madaio, Alexander McKay, Anderson Moss, and Aaron Walker.
At the end of the performance, each senior was honored with a rose. Mr. Dore and Mrs. Elkin spoke about each unique student they will miss—many of which were in the music program for all four years of high school. The students additionally thanked the directors by giving gifts for all their dedication and hard work towards the Music groups.
While the students felt a sense of melancholy during their final concert, the groups have one final performance left: both the band and choir will be performing at this year’s high school graduation as their final goodbye to Hills and the music department that has supported them.
Check out the concert program and itinerary below!
