Trinity College School’s Senior School musicians were thrilled to present their first official performance of the academic year at the Winter Concert, held the evening of November 24th in the Dick and Jane LeVan Theatre.
Grade 11 student Eric Jin opened the show with Frederic Chopin’s Ballade No. 3 in Ab Major. This was Eric’s debut on the TCS stage and he performed this challenging piece beautifully.
Trinity Winds, conducted by Mrs. Nicola Lee, took the stage next, performing a medley of songs from the hit film Encanto, arranged by Paul Murtha. This piece includes many changes of speed and feel, with lots of percussion parts to add flavour. In addition to great ensemble work, the performance featured several solos: Emily Hartleib on flute, and Asseel Abdalla and Lily Wright on alto sax.
The musicians of Trinity Strings requested this term to tackle the music of Swedish supergroup ABBA, and conductor Chip Mihailescu assented. After performing Mozart’s Eine Kleine Nachtmusik, the group presented the Best of ABBA medley, arranged by Ted Ricketts, with solid performances by all ensemble members including a cello solo by Eric Jin.
Students in the Grade 10 Instrumental Music course had great fun presenting two selections, starting with Richard Saucedo’s arrangement of the standard, What a Wonderful World, with an alto sax feature by Hannah Obomighie. This was followed by a crowd favourite, Johnny Vinson’s arrangement of the Neil Diamond hit Sweet Caroline. The Grade 10 Band comprises a small group of 10 students, meaning one player per part, demonstrating students’ commitment to skill development since September.
The members of the Grade 12 Band showcased their abilities as musicians and arrangers with their presentation of Matt Bianco’s Yeh Yeh, with students arranging and learning the piece by listening to the original track. The ’80s Brit pop and Latin fusion piece is a favourite of conductor, Mrs. Lee, who was delighted to hear the class perform it so well, including great vocals and trumpet solo by Bria Chalovich.
Next up, Jazz@4 took the stage for a trio of songs. Inspired by their Thanksgiving Break trip to New York City, several group members wanted to play On Broadway, arranged by Michael Sweeney. The performance included solos by Wesley Hoo. A student-created quartet of Jazz@4 members then took on Thelonius Monk’s Blue Monk, with each member taking turns playing solos: Allen Tang on alto sax, Robin Xu on bass, Darren Du on drums and Michael Moreau on trumpet. The full ensemble then finished with Paul Clark’s Dance Like No One’s Watching, featuring solos by Wesley Hoo and Matthew Lambert. This was a student request and a fun chart to play. It was a hit when the group performed at the recent Casino Night event.
Everlife, a rock band comprising Darren Du (vocals and guitar), Aidan Reid (guitar), Jerry Chen (keyboard) and Mrs. Lee (bass) performed Everglow by Coldplay and Jay Chou’s You Are The Firework I Missed.
The evening concluded with two rock ensembles that work with Mr. Jeff Biggar in the School’s co-curricular arts program. Rehearsing throughout the week since September, the students brainstorm the charts they want to play and how they are going to put them together. “Last Minute” – featuring Barry Zhao on bass, Alex Chin on drums, Viana Biscoe on guitar, Jessica Bridges on vocals, and with Mr. Biggar sitting in on guitar – played Declan McKenna’s Brazil and Island in the Sun by Weezer.
Then, “Marco Polo” played three songs. The group includes Allen Tang (guitar, vocals and alto sax), Darren Du (drums), Robin Xu (bass), Aidan Reid (guitar) and Barry Zhao (guitar). They opened with John Mayer’s Rosie, flew through High & Dry by Radiohead and wrapped up the concert with the Arctic Monkeys’ 505, with Phillip Whan Tong making his TCS debut on vocals.
The evening was a wonderful celebration of music, and a showcase of our students’ talents and artistry. Many of the groups rehearse as full ensembles just once per week, making the level of performance all the more admirable. A highlight of the event was hearing so much music that had our students’ particular stamp on it: tunes selected by the students, student arrangements and solos, and student-created ensembles. Our student-musicians were a true driving force in the success of the concert.
Special thanks to Mr. Joel Wesley for audio/tech support at the show and managing the live stream, and to Mr. Christian McFadden for help with rehearsals and set-up. Jazz@4 was introduced with baseball walk-up songs after the 7th inning stretch, Blue Jays style; thanks to Mr. Wesley for his expertise bringing the ensemble onto the stage with such a presence! Kudos as well to Ben Semmler and Emily Hartleib for their work as emcees. Finally, thank you to the audience for its appreciation and support of the arts at TCS!
