Annual Fall Concert Showcases Six Winsor Courses

Emcees Aarna Sundaram ’29 and Rosalind Yeh ’30 welcomed the whole school to the annual fall concert on Friday, October 10, which was held in the David E. and Stacey L. Goel theater. Barely a month into the school year, students from six different performing arts courses performed for the community exploring all that they’ve learned in just a few short weeks: Lower School Orchestra, Chamber Players, Chorus I/II, Descants, Illumina, and Senior Small. 

Already seated on stage, the Lower School Orchestra played “Mars, the Bringer of War” from The Planets by Gustav Holst to kickoff the annual showcase. Composer Gustav Holst wrote the piece in 1914–1916, and decades later, it inspired John Williams’ “Imperial March” from the 1980s Star Wars classic The Empire Strikes Back. The emcees encouraged the audience to listen for similarities between the two pieces. 

With violins, cello, flute, and piano, the Lower School Chamber Players performed the first movement of Antonio Vivaldi’s Concerto Grosso RV 580 for four violins in B minor, which he wrote for his students at the all-girls school where he taught in Venice. “Listen for the way our soloists pass around melodic themes and how they trade off solo sections with one another,” suggested Aarna. Soloists were Eileen Lee ’28, Sophia Kennedy ’29, Charlotte Liberles ’29, Grette Buttner ’27, and Ava Horton ’29.

Progressing to the choral portion of the program, Chorus I/II performed “A Child of Song” by Andy Beck and Derryl Herring, a joyful jazz round about the wonder of discovering one’s voice, sharing it with others, lifting spirits, and bringing people together through song. Today’s concert was the first for our new Chorus I/II instructor, Destiny Cooper.

Next, Lower School Descants sang “Little Rose on the Heathland” by Franz Schubert with a solo by Anaïs Choumert ’30. The text, translated from its original German, describes a young boy admiring a girl and his unsuccessful attempts to win her attention. 

Illumina performed three pieces, starting with “Da Lipa Ma,” a light-hearted Slovenian folk song arranged by Ambrož Čopi, followed by “Viva!,” composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart as the celebratory finale for his Italian opera The Shepherd King and featuring soloists Ayaka Hatabu ’28 and Isabella Nguyen ’28.

Illumina concluded their performance with a fan favorite: “Disney Medley 5,” a complex compilation of Disney hits that is lovingly arranged by Choral Director Andrew Marshall each fall. Taking in songs including “When Will My Life Begin” from Tangled, “You’ve Got a Friend In Me” from Toy Story, “Kiss the Girl” from The Little Mermaid, “Be Our Guest” from Beauty and the Beast, and “Zero to Hero” from Hercules, the audience relished in the nostalgia the vocals inspired.

Senior Small, which is made up of seniors from Illumina, closed out the annual fall concert with an a capella rendition of “Piano Man” by Billy Joel. Liana Min ’26 started the performance by playing the well-known melody on the harmonica. Then, each senior took turns singing lyrics while the rest of the group provided back-up vocals. The audience showed their support with cell phone flashlights and swaying; the assembly concluded with everyone on their feet, applauding.

Watch the recording.

Congratulations to all of the performers, and a big thank you to students in the Technical Theater course who ran the show.

Lower School Orchestra, directed by Performing Arts Instructor Huiying Ma

Talia Aronson ’31, Claire Ban ’31, Maya Bonatti ’31, Phoebe Bush ’31, Amanda Chen ’30, Claire Cui ’32, Willow Davies ’32, Ellie Ding ’31, Diana Do ’33, Sarah Fu ’31, Addy Gao ’32, Deanna Ge ’31, Lauren Guo ’33, Eve Kuhlmann ’31, Alyssa Liang ’31, Ione Lim ’31, Sophie Lin ’31, Carys Musto ’30, Emily Peng ’30, Nina Rosenberg ’32, Amiya Tanguturi ’31, Ria Vartak ’31, Valerie Vinegoni ’32, Sophie Wang ’30, Juliana Yin ’32, Sophia Zhang ’31

Chamber Players, directed by Choral Director Andrew Marshall

Grette Buttner ’27, Hailey Duan ’28, Ada Horton ’29, Sophia Kennedy ’29, Eileen Lee ’28, Charlotte Liberles ’29, Chloe Lien ’29, Cordelia Song ’29, Sheyree Williams ’28, Esther Zhang ’28

Chorus I/II, directed by Performing Arts Instructor Destiny Cooper, accompanied by Head of Performing Arts Felicia Brady-Lopez

Emma Bhalla ’33, Rene Bisnik ’32, Alessandra Coli ’32, Grace Copper ’32, Mia Copper ’32, Uma Desai ’32, Flora Dong ’32, Salwa El-Nazer ’33, Divya Ghatge ’32, Lillian Jane ’33, Frances Meredith ’33, Izzy Mukhooy ’32, Emelia Nolan ’32, Fabienne Norvin ’32, VV Oldham ’32, Amaya Puigbo ’32, Emma Shi ’33, Katherine Skeffington ’32, Sophie Song  ’32, Lily Tsiklauri ’32, Emma Wang ’32, Avery Wisz ’33, Gracie Woods ’32, TaoTao Wu ’33, Aubrey Yu ’32, Yolanda Yu ’32, Aleena Zia ’32

Descants, directed by Choral Director Andrew Marshall, accompanied by Head of Performing Arts Felicia Brady-Lopez

Emma Alexiev ’31, JonEva Balogun ’30, Jordelys Batista Jaquez ’30, Jane Bellinger ’31, Rianne Chen ’30, Anais Choumert ’30, Heloise Choumert ’30, Mimi Crozier ’30, Sophia Ferrera ’30, Paige Foley ’31, Hannah Frank ’31, Ally Gorman ’30, Kaiya Goud ’30, Olivia Gracia ’31, Sydney Hall ’30, Alexandra Iliopoulou ’30, Jocelyn Ji ’30, Maddie Karczmarek ’30, Quinn Kelly ’30, Willa McGinnis ’30, Nepheli Pantazis ’31, Julia Yeonmi Rubin ’31, Neyla Sagar ’30, Olivia Sagong ’31, Rui Shi ’31, Shreya Swaroop ’31, Eden Tierney ’31, Sophie Xia ’31, Rosalind Yeh ’30

Illumina, directed by Choral Director Andrew Marshall, accompanied by Head of Performing Arts Felicia Brady-Lopez

Hannah Ahn ’28, Sisi Ansari ’28, Maysa Atassi ’29, Layla Bedair ’29, Avaleigh Burns ’29, Hamna Chowdhry ’26*, Siri Erlingsson ’29, Madeline Forry ’28, Annie Frigerio ’26*, Ayaka Hatabu ’28, Helen Huang ’29, Elyse Hychong ’26*, Nia Lawrence ’26*, Annalisa Martinek ’29, Liana Min ’26*, Isabella Nguyen ’28, Leila Pan ’28, Claire Park ’28, Bonnie Shao ’27, Lucy Stevens-Wright ’29, Aarna Sundaram ’29, Eva Thakarar ’29, Aria Wang ’26*  * = Senior Small

Technical Theater, taught by Performing Arts Faculty Andres Puigbo, assisted by Performing Arts Instructor Wynn Graves

Emma Berdik ’29, Bailey Hall ’28, Amina Neff ’27, Charley Perkins ’28, Gabrielle Peskin ’28, Irene Tian ’28