Seniors play a farewell song

FALLS VILLAGE — Seniors at Housatonic Valley Regional High School (HVRHS) were in the last concert of their high school careers at the HVRHS Spring Concert on Wednesday, May 30. 

Before the performances began, the night opened with special recognition for the senior music students, who sang and played in their last concert before graduation later this June. 

The show included performances by all seven sections of the HVRHS music department. The seven sections, in order of performance, were: Heartbreakers, which is a male a capella group, Night Choir, Sweethearts, which is a female a capella group, jazz band, concert choir, chamber orchestra and concert band. 

The Heartbreakers opened the first half of the concert by performing two songs, with solos from Marco DePascali Pepe and Dean Saccardi. Next, Night Choir performed three songs, including the pop hit “Build Me Up, Buttercup,” written by Mike d’Abo and Tony McCauley. There were also solos from Benjamin Upson and Micah Matsudaira. 

After Night Choir, the Sweethearts performed three pieces, finishing with “A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square,” written by Eric Maschwitz and Manning Sherwin. The first half finished with jazz band, featuring two songs and solos from Ken Zeng and Cameron Foley on trumpets, Marijke Stiffler on vibraphone, Eliana Calhoun on tenor sax and Joshua Shakeshaft on drums.

The second half of the show opened with concert choir, who performed five songs, featuring many solos on three of the songs. The soloists included Abigail Adam, Benjamin Upson, Miri Rinehart, Daniel Saed, Lauren Murtagh, Sarah Cattelan, Marco DePascali Pepe, Anujit Kongsaari, Nicholas Suby-Brown, Rebekah Larson, Katya Winsser, Taylor Hosier, Emily Abbott and Joshua Brinson. 

The chamber orchestra then took to the stage with the concert choir and performed the song “Controlled Burn,” by Dessa and Jocelyn Hagen, with Eliana Calhoun conducting the piece. 

The night of music concluded with the concert band, which performed four pieces.