Irvington Middle School students held their annual spring concerts, which featured outstanding performances by the talented members of the band, chorus and orchestra. The middle school band concert was held on May 9, under the direction of band director Paul Scattaretico, and the middle school orchestra and chorus concert was held on May 16, under the direction of orchestra director Shadman Mirza and chorus director Jonathan Faiman.
During the middle school band concert, members of the sixth grade band performed “Above and Beyond,” “Soul Bossa Nova,” “Baby Shark,” “Apache” and “Barbie Girl.” Members of the seventh and eighth grade bands performed “Aggressivo,” “Shape of You,” “New York, New York,” “My Shot,” “The Thunderer” and “Stand By Me.” Members of the middle school jazz band performed “Moondance,” “Living for the City,” “Dance to the Music” and “25 or 6 to 4.”
"It was a wonderful culmination of hard work and dedication for all the groups that performed,” Scattaretico said. “I am so proud of our students and privileged to be their teacher.”
The sixth grade orchestra performed “Shut Up and Dance,” “Velocity,” “All About That Bass,” “Red Pepper” and “Eleanor Rigby.” Sixth grade violinist Harim Lee was featured playing bass on “All About That Bass.”
The seventh and eighth grade chamber orchestra performed Vivaldi's Double Cello Concerto in G minor, movement 1, Allegro, and joined the IMS chorus for their performance of Taylor Swift's “Enchanted” and “Love Story.” Eighth grader Samuel Lee and seventh grader Eleanor Choi performed as cello soloists on the Vivaldi piece. Bella Coughlin, Penelope Gober, Maddie Davis, Audrey Hueston, Ayla Knollmueller, Anjali Mohin, Izzy Newman, Julia Pasternak, Julian Sareil and Sam Weiss were the soloists for the two Taylor Swift songs.
The seventh and eighth grade orchestra performed “Orpheus in the Underworld Finale,” “Mamma Mia,” “Habañera,” “A Rococo Theme,” “Córdoba” and “The Best of Green Day.” Eighth grader Harrison Lorenz was featured as the cello soloist in “A Rococo Theme.” Eighth grade violinist Roland Sadre, seventh grade violinist Elizabeth Chan, eighth grade violists Sofia Montenegro and Isabelle O'Reilly, seventh grade violists Zadie Bloom and Lewis Lau, and eighth grade cellist Harrison Lorenz were all featured soloists in “Córdoba.” Seventh grade guest percussionist Noah Eisenlau was the drummer for “The Best of Green Day.”
The middle school chorus performed “Until I Found You,” a song that went viral on TikTok soon after it was released in the fall of 2021; “Cumbia del Sol,” a song that is based on the Latin American cumbia music that evolved during the late 19th century in Colombia; and “Jai Ho,” which was inspired by the music of Bollywood and served as the students’ way of celebrating May as Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month.
Students Jordyn Alorwu, Sasha Kapilowich, Nitzan Livneh, Ruby Merkin and Norah O’Hagan were opening soloists; and students Petros Anemodouras, Owen Baumkirchner, Caesar Blanco, Adam Dvilyanski, Kavi Manchanda and KJ Mastropietro were descant for “Until I Found You” and “Cumbia del Sol.” Students Charley Adler, Maya Calabrese, Adam Dvilyanski, Penelope Gober, Sophie Katz, Ayla Knollmueller, Julia Pasternak, Anna Shimizu and Gemma Uccellini were soloists for “Jai Ho.”
In addition, the high school orchestra performed on May 16. They performed “America” from “West Side Story,” “Bachianas Brasileiras no. 5,” “Aria,” “Themes from Symphony no. 3,” "Eroica” and “Capriccio Espagnol.” The high school chamber orchestra performed Serenade for Strings, movement 1, moderato, as well as “Pure Imagination” from “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.” Sophomore Aaron Schultz joined the orchestra on percussion for “America,” and senior Jason Ahn played the viola solo. Junior cellist Shaleen Thaker and junior violinist Michelle Zhou performed solos in “Bachianas Brasileiras no. 5.” Juniors Alyssum Wong and Michelle Zhou performed solos in “Capriccio Espagnol.”
