Musicians warming up in the music department, parents chatting amongst themselves, and music students nervously running around making sure everything is ready for the night: these are some of the things you can expect to see and hear the night of May 16th, the night of the last Mayo band concert for the 2017-2018 school year. The concert will be held in the Smith auditorium at 7 o’clock, the doors open at 6:50.

One of the reasons this is a special concert because it will be the first time that pieces from Mayo’s first concerto competition will be featured. During this competition, which was much held like an audition, individual musicians could show their strengths by performing a concerto, a solo accompanied by the band. The winners are the featured musicians in the May band concert. The second reason is because it will be the first appearance of the Mayo Percussion ensemble, a student ensemble that is under the direction of Mr. Cole and Mr. Higano. It is also the first appearance of the first Jazz combo that has been formed at Mayo, which is also under the direction of Mr. Cole. Finally, this will be the last chance that you get to see your senior friends performing at Mayo High School. At the end of the concert, after the seniors are recognized, they will be showing a senior slideshow that contains senior pictures and baby pictures of current seniors.

The first group to play will be the Mayo Percussion ensemble. They will be playing Mozambique by Chris Brooks. The first piece played by Symphonic Winds ensemble is the clarinet concerto composed by Mozart, an exciting fast paced piece, with the soloist being Elijah Schouten. The second piece is a concerto for tuba and band composed by Frank Bencriscutto. The feature performer for the tuba concerta will be Greta Van Loon. The last song that will be performed that night will be the 3rd movement of the Korean Folksongs From Jeju Island, which is a piece written by Frank Ticheli.

It is really important to the musicians that all of their friends and family come to support and watch them perform. Take a few hours out of your schedule to come listen to some of the best music in Rochester.