The Bayfield High School Music Department will present its winter concert at 7 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 15 at the Bayfield Performing Arts Center.
The concert will include performances by the BHS Concert Choir and Select Choir. The choirs will open the concert with an African celebration song, "O Sifuni Mungu," featuring soloist senior Tenor Bryce Johnson.
They will be accompanied by the Percussion Ensemble. The choirs will perform traditional holiday songs like "Silent Night" and "Sleigh Ride," during which they will be accompanied by the BHS Jazz Band, known as Outlier. Cammy Lirot, a senior soprano, is prone to exaggeration with her enthusiasm about the program.
"I've been waiting to do 'Sleigh Ride' forever," she enthused. "I've never been happier about anything in my entire life!"
In addition to Johnson and Lirot, other senior members of the choir who were recently honored by the Colorado Choir Directors Select Choir will be featured: Bass Gus Roberts, Tenor Atlee Beam, and All-State Women's Choir selectee Bella Shocklee.
"This concert has such sensitive, melancholy music," Shocklee said of the concert selections. "The audience will be happy and sad all at the same time."
After the choir, Outlier takes the stage with Latin, swing, and ballad selections, including a tribute to David Bowie with a rendition of the late singer/songwriter's "Space Oddity." Junior trombone player Katie Tobias is glad the band is performing the song.
"I'm still mourning David Bowie, 11 months later."
After the Jazz Band performance, the Concert Band, fresh off capturing second place at state marching band competition, will conclude the program. Concert Band will play a Halloween song rather than traditional holiday music, since their marching show focused on Christmas in October.
To conclude the winter program, every year Director Derek C. Smith combines all musicians, numbering approximately 80 between band and choir, for a massed finale performance.
Every other year, the department performs an arrangement of Handel's "Hallelujah Chorus," one of the most significant pieces of Western music ever written.
"We've been working hard on that," said Finlay Marshall, a senior and bass clarinet player. "I hope everyone comes to see it."
Senior flutist and drum major Lenka Doskocil agreed, saying it is "a complicated piece that challenges us, but it is fun." Doskocil, along with seven other Bayfield students, recently auditioned for the Colorado All State Honor Band, which will be held at the end of March.
Results have not yet been released, but other auditioning students from Bayfield include: Nicolas Theobald, senior clarinet; Collin Jackson, junior clarinet; Dylan Hunt, senior trumpet; Katie Tobias, junior trombone; Elisabeth Ortiz, senior euphonium; Jarod Lane, junior tuba; and Zachary Hollingsworth, senior tuba.
"It's nerve wracking, but if you're prepared it can be good experience," Doskocil said of the auditions. Thursday's concert will be held at the Bayfield Performing Arts Center at BHS. Donations for local food banks are being accepted in lieu of admission costs.
