On Wednesday May 26, the ANS Concert Band performed for young students in the ANS Library. This performance was a significant one, as it was the first time in more than a year that the band was able to come together as a whole and perform in front of an audience.
Since the beginning of the coronavirus outbreak in March of 2020, the members of the ANS Concert Band were forced to split apart due to safety regulations, and stripped of any opportunity to do what they do best: perform for an audience. The 2020-2021 school year was a difficult one: with part of the Concert Band class attending class through the DLP model and the other being in person, the band was unable to rehearse with everyone together. This obstacle could have easily caused discouragement, but the young musicians, being led by their teacher, Mr. Spiro, persevered and continued to show their motivation and passion for playing music.
Thanks to their dedication, when the time finally came for the band to deliver a concert again, they did so successfully.
The students who performed on Wednesday were the following: Oliver Castro, Andrew López, Néstor Silva, Carlos Hondoy, Caroline Ketelhohn, Valeria Alfaro, Fátima Martínez, and Jenifer Zou.
The concert opened with a performance of Merry Go Round of Life, the theme song for the critically acclaimed film Howl’s Moving Castle. Following this was an arrangement of the song Sir Duke by Stevie Wonder.
The closing song was Ben E. King’s Stand By Me, a song about standing together in difficult times. Stand By Me is a meaningful song for the students, as it was one of the first they performed together when the ANS Concert Band was initially formed. The band performed it in memory of Nikolaos Argyros, a beloved former Concert Band member who tragically passed away last month.
