An appreciative crowd in the Perry Performing Arts Center was treated Monday to the sounds — both instrumental and vocal — of the holidays at the Perry High School Winter Concert.
The 87-member Perry Symphonic Band, under the direction of Brandon Weeks, performed “Celtic Bell Carol” and “Red Balloon” before capping their show with “Yuletide Festival.”
Weeks noted the many accomplishments of the band and several of the individual members while also noting the tremendous success the Blue Brigade, a.k.a. PHS Marching Band, achieved this year.
Weeks thanked band members for “literally hundreds of hours of work” and noted the support given the program by school administrators and the helping hand of volunteers “too numerous to mention by name.”
Vocal Music Director Jenn Nelson introduced the Select Choir, which sang arrangements of “Good King Wenceslas” and “Jingle Bells.” Guest conductors were Iowa State University Practicum students Kylie Erickson and Christopher Culver.
An a capella performance of “What Child Is This?” from the four-member Chorale followed, with the full 104-member Concert Choir bringing smiles to faces with “Deck the Halls” and “Carol of the Bells.”
The concert concluded with the house lights off for the Combined Choir’s moving rendition of “Silent Night.”
Too bad there was little coverage yesterday (Monday) about this event anywhere locally, here or on the radio, as I forgot that it was taking place and would have gone if there had been a reminder.