It was familiar music provided by familiar faces.
The Ruben A. Cirillo High School band and chorus was on the stage Monday morning at Eastview Mall, providing holiday music for shoppers and a delighted audience.
The band struck its first note at 11 a.m. with “Winter On Emerald Bay” followed by an arrangement of the classic “Fairytale of New York,” a song made popular by the Irish band The Pogues in the 1980s. “Sleigh Ride,” a h0liday classic set the stage for the mighty finale of “Christmas Eve/Sarajevo 12/24” that let the low brass have a lot of fun.
Soloists during the band performance included Brody Oleksyn (tenor sax), Cadence Strausser (trumpet), Reese Davis (euphonium), Andrew Pitolaj (trumpet), Seth Campbell (whip) and Ian Guthrie (temple blocks).
After the band, Paige Van Alstyne’s solo of “Grown Up Christmas List” drew loud cheers and set up the AcaPanthers, who performed “A Festive Madrigal” and “Jingle Bells.”
Closing the hour-long show was the senior high chorus with “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas,” “It Feels New,” “Sleigh Ride,” “O Holy Night” and “Carol of the Bells.”
Soloists for the chorus portion included Logan Potter, Mimi Esparza, Cadence Strauss and Amber Harms.”
If you missed this performance, you can catch two upcoming concerts with these ensembles where they will perform this music and more.
The instrumental concert is Thursday at 7 pm and the vocal concert is Tuesday (Dec. 19) at 7 pm. Both concerts are at the high school and the choir is hoping to have plenty of Gananda voice alumni join the current chorus in performing the final two numbers.