Watchung Hills Regional Holiday Concerts Continue

In keeping with the festive season, Watchung Hills Regional High School’s music students will present Winter Concerts for the enjoyment of parents, friends and community members. Both events (instrumental and choral) will be held in the school’s Performing Arts Center, and are free and open to the public.

The instrumentalists in various groupings, under the baton of David Udell, will perform at 7 p.m. Wednesday.

Brass in Black, conducted by Bonnie Burgdorf, will open the program with three traditional Christmas carols, “Hark, the Herald Angels Sing,” “We Three Kings,” and “Angels We have Heard on High.”

The remainder of the program is under the direction of music instructor David Udell and includes carols old and new and seasonal music from many cultures and many eras. The String Orchestra will perform “Bring a Torch,”  “Concerto Albinoni,” “The Journey of the Magi,” and “Quartet Kochel Nr. 135” of Mozart.

The Concert Band’s repertoire includes “Tidings of Comfort and Joy,” “A Wexford Reverie,” “Ancient Aires & Dances,” and “Aventura.”

The Wind Ensemble will present “Country Gardens,” “Christmas in Poland, I–V” and “The Eighth Candle.”

Among the instrumentalists who will be performing are a number of “stars,” music students whose talents have been honed and/or acknowledged in other venues. For example, Karyn Gallagher and Jane Frank (violin), Natalie Morrison (viola) and Jake Bahr (trombone) performed with the New Jersey Youth Symphony in Vienna, Austria, this past summer.  

Also, in the past summer, junior Michael Parsons was invited to study composition at the Tanglewood Music Festival, and he has received a commission to write an orchestral composition from the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra.

The Hills musicians in various combinations will also be heard at various local events during this  festive holiday season.

Choral students, directed by Angela Di Iorio, a Watchung Hills Regional High School alumna (Class of 2005), will present their program at 7 p.m. Dec. 14.

The choristers will present an ambitious program which includes pieces from many places, many eras.  Among the offerings which will be performed by various groupings, including by the Senior Chorus, the Mixed Chorus, the Advanced Chorus, the Combined Choirs and Select Ensembles, are: “Jingle Bell Rock,” “The Rhythm of Life,” “Let It Snow!,” “Lollipop,” Mozart’s “Dies Irae,” “A Celtic Silent Night,” “Forget About the Boy,” Eric Whitacre’s “Seal Lullaby,” “Thirty-Second  Fa La La,” “Always,” “Look on the Bright Side of Life.”

Among the singers, too, are several who have reached noteworthy heights. Tenzin Tsepel, Rachel Hobble, Daniel Grant, Gabriel Price, and Lauren Panzarino have won places in the highly select statewide All State Choir.

, and will perform on April  7, 2013, in Hartford, Conn., with over 700 of the most musically talented youth in the eastern region of the United States.

Besides allowing the community the opportunity to see how well music students are learning their craft, holiday concerts also provide a welcome respite from the  harried pace of the season.