Last Wednesday, both the Concert Band and Stage Band perform jolly Christmas tunes for this year’s Christmas Concert, but decided to switch things up a bit

If there is anything that really guarantees a time for joy and remembrance, it’s to keep our favorite Christmas carols alive, but is there room for anything other than snow, bells, and a certain plump, white-bearded man shimmying down the chimney during the holiday season? If your answer is no, then you are right. If your answer is yes, then you have just threatened to thwart December out of existence, but this year’s Christmas Concert might have proven both answers right.

The Concert Band, conducted by Mr. Keith Alcius, performed a variety of traditional Christmas carols like Twelve Days of Christmas and Silent Night but branched out by starting off with House of the Rising Sun by Georgia Turner and concluding their segment with Whatsername, popularly attributed to Green Day, but originally composed by Billie Joe Armstrong. For some honorable mentions, a trio of talented musicians, Gavin Quinones with his Alto Sax, John Ricci with a xylophone, and Isaac Garcia on piano performed Twelve Days of Christmas; and the Concert Band’s very own soloist, George Phillips, performed Silent Night on guitar (because of the concert band’s large size, the full list of performances is recorded at the end of this article).

Gallery • 4 Photos

Seton’s incomparable Stage Band, accompanied and conducted by Mr. Scott O’Dell brought the groove in jolly with Miles Davis’ All Blues and delivered an amazing improvisational skit, in which Ashton McAnn lay down a beat on the drums, and the rest played along. Devin Thain on the keyboards, Benjamin Kindle on guitar, Gavin Quinones on his Alto Sax, and with Mr. O’Dell himself on bass, the Stage Band, along with the Concert Band, managed to remain within Christmas tradition without veering off completely; just enough to keep their audience from dozing off to the same old songs that every radio station plays in an endless loop. This time along, however, the Stage Band introduced their vocals for the very first time: Sophomore, Sarah Fiaco. And the night couldn’t have ended better than with her singing Winter Wonderland to wrap up the concert. Adding vocals to their usual instrumentally focused track was definitely a bold decision, but one that proved to be the perfect cherry on top for distributing the holiday cheer. Sarah Fiaco’s performance was both graceful in not being intimidated by her background of upperclassmen, whose main focus is predominantly hard-jazz, and surprisingly humble as she clearly won over the crowd.

Gallery • 4 Photos

Stage Band Performs

It is always so gratifying to see Seton’s music program demonstrate their hard work and fine-tuned skills in both their beginner and expert musicians, please give a big congratulations to all who participated in this year’s Christmas Concert!

Concert Band Personnel: Conducted by Mr. Keith Alcius 

Alto Sax – Gavin Quinones

Bass Guitar – Colin Patterson 

Double Bass – Mason Gault 

Drum Set – Gunner Argiro

Euphonium – Gilbert Cole 

Guitar – Liam Murtaugh, Caitlin Patterson, Colin Place 

Percussion – John Ricci, Kevin Zhong 

Piano – Isaac Garcia, Maggie Navarez 

Stage Manager – Natalie Pirich 

Performances (Concert Band)

House of the Rising Sun (Turner) 

Twelve Days of Christmas (Austin)

Silent Night (Mohr)

God Rest You Merry, Gentlemen (Traditional)

Christmas Eve/Sarajevo 12/24 (Kinkel, O’Neill, Oliva)

Whatsername (Armstrong)

Performances (Stage Band)

Giant Steps (Coltrane)

My Favorite Things (Rodgers, Hammerstein)

Improvisational Music

All Blues (M. Davis)

Winter Wonderland (Bernard Smith)