KHS Winter Concert features nearly 200 students
That’s some ensemble.
The Kauai High School Winter Concert will be held at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday at Kauai War Memorial Convention Hall, 4191 Hardy Street in Lihue, featuring 195 students performing holiday music as the KHS Symphonic Band, Ukulele Band and Chorus.
They are led by KHS Music Director Darryl Miyasato.
“This year, numbers have grown and we cannot fit everyone on stage at the same time,” Miyasato said. “We used to have a grand finale at the end of each concert with every student on stage when we had only 150 students, but this school year, we’ll save it for the Spring Concert and arrange a song for everyone to perform and spread the performers throughout the entire auditorium.”
One concert highlight is the echo effect in the song “Merrily on High.” It features a main choir and a small choir which echoes in the distance.
“This compositional technique called antiphony was used by Vivaldi, Haydn, Mozart and practically every great composer,” Miyasato said.
The Ukulele Orchestra will perform the first movement of “Toy Symphony,” which was originally planned to use children’s toys as solo instruments. It was composed by Leopold Mozart, who was the father of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
“Leopold deserves more credit than he received,” Miyasato said. “In fact, the Toy Symphony was formerly attributed to Joseph Haydn for about two centuries.”
The KHS Chorus will sing with the ukulele band and the jazz band in some of the arrangements. A few of the bravest piano students will perform at the concert.
“There are lots of talented, young musicians currently at Kauai High School,” Miyasato said. “Don’t just take my word for it, come and see for yourself.”
Miyasato is joined by part-time instructor Nina Saraos. Thanks go out to the volunteers, parents and the Kauai High School Band Boosters, a nonprofit organization that supports band programs and its students. Admission is free but donations will be gladly accepted.
“Band Boosters make everything possible,” Miyasato said. “We could not possibly manage to corral 195 high school students alone, and the parents are awesome. It takes a village!”