(GALLERY) 5th & 6th Grade Winter Concerts an evening of festive fun

The 2025 Winter Concert Season continued on Wednesday evening, with the Warwick Valley Middle School 5th & 6th grade programs!

The fifth grade ensembles performed at 6:30 pm, followed by the sixth grade ensembles at 7:30 pm. The 5th and 6th grade orchestras were under the direction of Tamara Moser. Ryan Muehlbauer directs the 5th and 6th grade bands, and the 5th and 6th grade chourses are directed by Shane Peters.

_{Use this link to view/download the 2025 WVMS 5th & 6th Grade Winter Concert program.}

The evening opened with the 5th grade orchestra performing the festive classic Jingle Bells (arr. Pierpont), featuring the "Wonderland Crew" of Christy Brown and Caitlin Moser. A highlight of the orchestra's program was The Grotto (Parrish), which showcased a large solo ensemble of current 5th grade and alumni on violin, viola, cello, and bass: Cora Bendykowski, Maeve Conforti, Riley Enderes-Morales, Mckenna Hackbarth, Ella Heller, Fenton Jinks, Quinn Levy-Dahl. Alexi Lewis, Caroline Lyons, Sierra Lustberg, Ella Kimiecik, Zoe Ntukogu, Juliet Pulido, Ayla Redivo, Leah Romig, Lily Szapajzman, Maya Wen, Dahlia White, Violet Xin, John Chavez-Carey, Logan Kempler, Rebecca Nurse, Ashlyn Brown, Hailey Foust, and Madison Buliung.

The orchestra concluded its segment with Into the Midnight Forrest (Rogers), featuring Peter VanDeWater on bass drum.

The 5th grade band then performed an energetic set including their own rendition of Jingle Bells, Queen's rock anthem We Will Rock You, and March of the Rookies (Henderson). The 5th grade chorus rounded out the program with Moment of Truth, featuring soloist Sia Moreno, the Spanish-language piece Vuela (Cordero), and a playful arrangement of The Fox (arr. Richter/Shaeffer).

The 6th grade portion of the evening opened with the orchestra taking the stage with Rock Riffs (Newbold), featuring Charlie Ellsworth on drum set. They continued with Christmas Bits and Pieces, which put a spotlight on the "Lunch Bunch" Chamber Orchestra! The orchestra concluded its set with Celtic Sunrise (Newbold).

The 6th grade band followed, opening with James Swearingen's Song for Peace, which highlighted nine soloists: Madeline Norberg, Maeve McVeigh, Cordelia Ridolfo, Grace Pulido, Amelia Wadeson, June Wetherell-Toro, Hannah Wihry, Elizabeth Crispino, and Simone Beehner. They finished up their segment with the song Robin Hood & the Golden Arrow (Smith).

Closing out the evening was the 6th grade chorus! They opened with the African-inspired Hakuna Mungu Kama Wewe. The students were particularly excited to share a song from Disney's Moana with the audience; We Know the Way featured soloists Simone Beehner, Arianna Mahabir, and Eliza Serafin. The evening ended with the uplifting I Just Wanna Shine.

The entire WVCSD Winter Concert Series represents months of dedication from students and music educators, and is a wonderful opportunity for school families and our Warwick Valley neighbors to enjoy and celebrate these students and the performing arts program in Warwick Valley.

This year's Winter Concert will wrap up next week, with the WVHS Winter Orchestra Concert on Tuesday, December 16, and the WVHS Winter Chorus Concert on Wednesday, December 17.