On Tuesday, December 8th, the CdM’s Music Department put on a show in CdM’s very own Black Box Theater. Groups performing included the Academy Strings, which is the beginning string instrumental group, and the Advanced String Orchestra. Scattered throughout the whole night were soloists performing their own prepared repertoire. Soloists were all accompanied by Kevin Weed, who is the accompanist for the all of the vocal concerts. Among those soloists were the Music Department’s very own director and conductor, Mr. Val Jamora, and the string instrumental coach, Jessica Haddy, the principal violinist in the Southern California Philharmonic orchestra, who has been helping coach the string groups at CdM for two years now.

Volunteers from the vocal program and the orchestra decorated the theater before the performance with red and green streamers, Christmas lights, and more to give the atmosphere a more cheery vibe for the audience.

Before the concert, members of the performing groups stayed after school and changed into their concert attire. The instrumental groups were required to wear standard concert clothing, which is concert black. Once everything was set up on the stage, they had a dress rehearsal and run through of the concert to perfect timing and the order of the performers. After all issues were resolved, performers had half an hour to take a break and practice.

The concert itself started at 6:30 PM. Admission was five dollars with an ASB card and ten dollars without. The Academy Strings group performed first. They were followed by the various solo performances. The concert was concluded with the Advanced Orchestra group, which performed a total of pieces: O Magnum Mysterium, My Candles, and Christmas Festival. Before each piece was played, introduction videos prepared by Mr. Jamora were played to give the audience a rundown of the time period and the context in which the piece was written.

At the end of the concert, the audience stood and applauded all of the performers of the night, and the music directors thanked everyone and wished them a merry Christmas.