Holiday season casts a spell upon us, causing people scramble to purchase gifts, hang decorations, and blast music at every corner imaginable. The band, orchestra, and choral programs showcased fantastic performances on December 7th, 14th, and 19th.

The Ridge Concert Band and Wind Ensemble performed a variety of pieces, including “Three Moods of Hanukkah”, “A Talis Prelude”, and “Flourish for Winds”.  The students demonstrated talent by tackling a testing piece, A Longford Legend, and finished their concert with the infamous jazzy tune of “How the Grinch Stole Christmas”. Gillian Begg ‘20 of Concert Band expresses her thoughts on the concert: “I’ve always enjoyed band, especially since I began playing the bassoon this year.  Playing ‘How the Grinch Stole Christmas’ was so much fun!”

The Ridge Chamber and Symphony orchestra combined with a few select band students to perform “Die Fledermaus”, “March of the Toys”, “Festive Sounds of Hanukkah”, and “A Christmas Festival”.  The students began their concert with their most difficult piece, “Die Fledermaus”, filling the auditorium with a lively Italian tune. “March of the Toys” offered a steady marching beat along with a series of brass solos performed with well-timed finesse.  Finally, “Festive Sounds of Hanukkah” and the grand finale, “A Christmas Festival” topped off the glimmering holiday spirit.

The Ridge Choral program filled the PAC with beautiful melodies and underlying harmonies.  Several groups apart of the program performed in order to add new pleasant sounds. All brought holidays songs, including “The Christmas Song” sung by the Chorale with soloist Riley Aviles, “Jingle Bells” and the Pentatonix arrangement of “Mary Did You Know” sung by the A-Cappella Choir, “‘Tis the Time of Yuletide Glee” sung by the Madrigals, and “We Three Kings” sung by the Ridgemen.  “I’ve always liked singing at the Winter Chorus Concert, just because the music is so spirited,” reflects Garrett Balis ‘19. Enjoyment aside, all of the hard work that Ridge’s music programs invested into to their performance this fall absolutely paid off!