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By ABBY SLANKER
Canfield Village Middle School’s fifth- and sixth-grade choirs, under the direction of Tom Scurich, performed the annual spring choir concert on May 21. The students performed to an auditorium packed with family and friends at Canfield High School. Courtney Larson accompanied the choirs on piano.
Scurich welcomed the audience to the concert.
“Good evening and welcome to our fifth- and sixth-grade choral concert. We hope you are ready to listen to the music. We have some fun songs for you tonight. Our students have worked hard and we have a great program this evening. Thank you for being here and thank you for your support,” Scurich said.
The fifth-grade choir opened the show with “Listen to the Music,” by Tom Johnson, arranged by Teena Chinn.
“Our next two selections portray strong messages of listening, consequences and being happy,” Scurich said.
The choir continued with “Two Childhood Songs,” performing “Some One” and “The Echo Child” by Randall Thompson.
Members of the Canfield High School One Octave Higher Ensemble joined the choir for the next selection, “Cerf-volant” from “Les Choristes” by Christopher Barratier and Bruno Coulais. Travis Mills performed a solo during the piece.
The choir continued with “Children Will Listen” from “Into the Woods by Stephen Sondheim, arranged by Mark Brymer.
The fifth-grade choir closed their portion of the concert with “I Want To Be Happy” from “No, No Nanette” by Vincent Youmans, arranged by Jill Gallina. A.J. Helmick accompanied the choir on the piano.
Scurich then introduced fifth-grader Madeline Accordino who performed a piano solo of “Energy Co.” by Nancy Faber. Carson Arfaras then performed a violin solo of “Minuet in G Minor” by J.S. Bach, followed by Anthony Esper performing a piano solo of “Chorus from Judas Maccabaeus” by G.F. Handel.
The Canfield Cambiata, comprised of seventh- and eighth-grade students, then took the stage to perform “Gloria In Excelsis Deo” by Sally K. Albrecht, “If You Can Walk You Can Dance,” a Zimbabwean proverb by Elizabeth Alexander and closed out their performance with “Give My Regards” arranged by Mark Brymer.
Scurich then introduced fifth-grader Amy You to perform a piano solo of “Rainbow Prelude” by Jennifer Lin. Brinkley Bair then performed a solo of “Skeleton Stomp” by Melody Bober, followed by Mia Gaffney performing a solo of “Hedwig’s Theme” by John Williams.
“Thank you soloists. We are delighted you were all willing to share your talents with us tonight,” Scurich said.
The Canfield High School One Octave Higher Ensemble then took the stage to perform “Fair Phyllis” by John Farmer and “Diamonds Are A Girl’s Best Friend” arranged by Mark Hayers. Hannah Thomas performed a solo during this selection.
Three sixth-grade students then performed piano solos. Simon Kovass performed “The Concertino in C Minor,” Timmy Domer performed “The Hornet” by Judy East Wells and Anthony Mazzella performed “Washington Crossing the Delaware” by Catherine Rollin.
Scurich then introduced the sixth-grade choir.
“This group is a fantastic group of singers. They are very talented and they work very hard. Sometimes students come to me with suggestions for music. This year, one of them asked if we could sing some 80s music. So I thought about it and came up with the idea to start in the 1580s and move our way up to the 1980s. So, please enjoy our journey through the 80s,” Scurich said.
The sixth-grade choir began with “Sing Dem Herrn” from the 1580s by Michael Praetorius, arranged by Wallace DePue and continued to the 1680s with “Rise Up Singing” from “King Arthur” by Henry Purcell.
The choir then performed “Sing Gloria!” from the 1780s by William Billings and continued to the 1880s with “Sing With Joy!” by Lowell Mason, arranged by Donald Moore.
“Before we conclude the evening, I would like to thank you very, very much for your support. I don’t have to tell you the importance of the arts and how important they are in a well-rounded education. I am very excited with what this choir has done this year and I am looking forward to next year with them. They are a very talented group,” Scurich said.
The sixth-graders closed their performance with “Awesome 80s,” a medley of 1980s songs, arranged by Mark Brymer.
Student accompanists included fifth-graders Madeline Accordino, Brinkley Bair, Mia Gaffney, Porter Gorham, A.J. Helmick, Zain Jadallah, Lena Wahib and Amy You. Sixth-grade accompanists included Timmy Domer, Simon Kovass, Anthony Mazzella, Mallory Stilson and Aven Thomas. Percussionist Stephen Ley and guitarist D.J. DePanicis also accompanied the choirs.