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Arts' Performances Provide Perfect End to First Semester
Fall concerts, musical, dances, and play showcase talent of students in Middle and Upper Schools.
As a prelude to the season of giving, the performing arts musicians, dancers, singers, and actors shared their gifts with the GPS community. Concerts and theatrical performances showcased our students' myriad talents.
The Sounds of Music
This year's Fall Instrumental Concert exuded vibrant energy with many upbeat melodies. The GP/McCallie Wind Ensemble, double its usual size, provided a strong 44-piece sound to open the performance. One of the evening’s highlights was “Bach Double Concerto,” which featured solos by McCallie junior Jacks Pollard and Visions guest artist Dr. Ann Rylands.
“These students are incredible musicians, performing one of the great concertos of all times, which is often performed by professional orchestras,” says Mary Baxter, GPS orchestra director. The orchestras played a variety of Latino rhythms with the “Santana Medley,” the Beatles ballad sound, and the classical masters.
“I’m so proud of the amazing musicality and technicality displayed by my students at the November concert.—especially the Beginning Winds and 6/7 Strings Classes, as they performed complex pieces with confidence,” Baxter adds. GPS/McCallie Honors Orchestra concluded the concert with two selections, the fantastic “Farandole” and a medley from the movie Pirates of the Caribbean.
Dancing with Gratitude
Straying from their typical Thanksgiving concert with one comprehensive theme, this year Terpsichord members choreographed dances to embody general motifs such as nostalgia and balance vs. imbalance. The five-piece program opened with the traditional senior duet featuring President Carson Thatcher and Vice-President Kalli Agudo, followed by three performances, and concluded with the company dance, “Love Revisited,” choreographed by Director Cathie Ault Kasch ’72.
The final dance featured a vignette of each of the group dances that ultimately blended into the company dance, tying together each of the preceding pieces. The finale “helps the audience to see each dance in a different tone and light, so it almost looks like a different movement,” says Kasch.
The company dance always exudes a sense of power from the movement of all dancers on stage together. “It’s fun for the dancers, too, because they get to feel that energy with each other,” Kash adds. “The goal this year was to send the student body off for Thanksgiving break with an upbeat, positive, and grateful perspective.”
Mission accomplished, Terpsichord!
Cupid Sighting in GPS Evans Center
Love was in the air during the first weekend of November as GPS and McCallie Upper School performing arts students set the scene of Shakespeare’s Messina in a rendition of Much Ado About Nothing.
In contrast to Shakespeare’s actors, who were typically all men, thus requiring males to play female roles, the GPS/McCallie performance acted in quite the opposite arrangement as almost all the lead roles, both male and female, were played by GPS students.
“I was incredibly proud of the command, authority, and authenticity these young artists put into the words of Shakespeare’s play,” says Mark Krawczyk, who joined the GPS performing arts department this year. “What surprised me the most was not just the amount of confidence all the actors showed in rehearsals and performance, but the high level of ingenuity they put into the characters to make them their own.”
The 19 cast members exceptionally blended the old-English acts with expression and passion that allowed the modern-day audience member to relate to and “perhaps mistake the play as a modern-day ‘rom com,’” says Krawczyk. “There is much for young people to discover in it. The realistic storytelling speaks to a lot of what is going on in the world today—so much social discord at times about really nothing.”
Frierson Theatre Goes Under the Sea
The GPS community bubbled with anticipation for the Middle School musical production of Disney’s “The Little Mermaid, JR,” and they were nothing short of swept away by the adaptation of the original Broadway play and animated movie.
The casting process for the musical began in August, with middle school students from GPS and McCallie auditioning over a two-week period with voice screenings, script readings, and dance combinations. Students also served backstage, helping with everything from lighting to costumes.
With a cast and crew of more than 60 students, the musical wowed the audiences with each performance, all of which ended with well-deserved rousing standing ovations. The performers were rewarded for all their hard work and efforts with nearly sold-out audiences.
“I was very proud of this multi-talented group of young performers that far exceeded my expectations!” says Mike Lees, GPS Middle School Musical Director.“This Disney adaptation not only featured a beautiful score of memorable songs, but also sent a positive message to young people today, to never give up on their dreams. Anything is possible.”
Winter Choral Concert
“Sounds of Winter,” this year’s Winter Choral Concert, was a coordinate production by GPS and McCallie and celebrated the season with songs from all genres of music from classical to pop.
In the final concert of the semester, GPS Singers, Middle School Girls Chorus, and the GPS/McCallie Middle School Coordinate Choir performed such titles as “Cantate Hodie,” “Sing Noel,” “Under Winter Moon,” “Angels We Have Heard on High,” “Alleluia Canon,” and “Rewrite the Stars,” among others.
“I am especially proud of the Combined Choir—40 voices that ended the concert with a performance of “Let it Go,” from the popular Disney animated musical Frozen,” says Mike Lees, Director of Choirs.
