On Dec. 17, State High held its annual Winter Pops Concert. The 10-12th-grade ensembles performed songs like “Carol of the Bells,” “New York, New York,” and “Sleigh Ride” to a packed auditorium of about 800 guests. This concert featured the orchestra, band, and choir playing on stage at the same time, making it the biggest concert State High has put on since 2019.
The show incorporated a script, previewing and giving background on each piece, which Principal Laura Tobias read, “I loved it, I was a little nervous, but they did a great job with the script, and just watching our students perform is exhilarating and so exciting, I could’ve listened to them all night.”
Band director, Paul Leskowicz, shared his thoughts on this new element, “We reached out to Mrs. Tobias… as busy as she was, we thought, ‘well, let’s just see if she can do it.’ And she could, so we were like ‘yay, all right.’ Things are falling into place. It was exciting.”
The show started with the Treble Makers singing “Psallite.” Next was “Nutcracker Suite” and “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year,” performed by the combined bands and directed by Leskowicz.
Euphonium player, junior, Ella Caldwell, had a unique experience of playing the “Nutcracker Suite.” She said, “[The song] has a special place in my heart, because I’ve been dancing the Nutcracker since I was three, so it’s so different to play it rather than dance to it.”
The chamber orchestra then played “Carol of the Bells,” followed by the combined choirs who sang “Good King Wenceslas,” “Ocho Kandelikas,” “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas,” “All I Want for Christmas is You,” and “New York, New York.”
“I really like singing Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas, just because it’s such a sentimental [song],” junior Teagan Smith said.
The concert also showcased songs in Latin, Yiddish and Ladino.
Junior Ryder Cunningham reflected on singing in different languages: “It’s such a unique experience, because you get to see the world through a different lens just for that song. … It’s a different style of singing when you’re singing in another language. So [we’re fortunate] being able to practice that with our wonderful director, Mr. Clayton, he’s an expert at helping us really learn different languages and sing with that.”
“We do it a lot, and it’s great to do a variety of music,” choir director Erik Clayton added. “I think all the kids are just so happy with how it went.”
The Brass Sextet then performed “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas,” followed by the combined orchestra, which played “Somewhere in My Memory,” and the Chamber Singers, who sang “Chanukah, O Chanukah.”
Finally, they ended the night with the choir, orchestra and band uniting on stage to perform “Sleigh Ride,” with the audience invited to sing along.
“We’ve never done a combined concert with band, choir, and orchestra. So it really turned out awesome,” junior choir member Penny Geuther said.
“I believe it was 2019, right before COVID, they did a combined pops concert,” orchestra director Emma Van Allen explained, “But then it was trickier during covid years, so this was the first year back into it. So it was so much fun for students all through the music wing to come together.”
“The most surreal part was standing up there doing Sleigh Ride at the end. With my orchestra counterpart, Mrs. Van Allen, standing next to me, conducting the orchestra side of things, and me conducting the band things, and Mr. Clayton conducting the choir things, and hearing everyone sing along,” Leskowicz said.
“It’s so nice to hear them come together,” junior Laurel Sanchez added. “We hadn’t rehearsed with the band or the orchestra, so it was really extra special to hear.”
This finale received a standing ovation from the audience.
“It was really beautiful to see tonight that everyone came together collectively as…one ensemble and performed,” Cunningham said.
“What I loved is that they combined,” Tobias said. “For the community, the parents, and just the spirit of having all the students together was amazing.”
