On Thursday, May 28th, the Cherry Hill West Music Program’s Spring Instrumental Concert took place in the Cherry Hill West auditorium at 7 pm. This concert featured pieces performed by Lab Band, Jazz Ensemble, Orchestra, Flute Ensemble, String Ensemble, and Wind Ensemble.
To start off the concert, Lab Band performed a piece entitled “Shufflin’ the Blues Away”, a blues chart composed by Mike Carubia. Afterwards, the Jazz Ensemble performed two pieces, which included “Accidentally in Love” by Counting Crows, arranged by Jazz Ensemble member Christian Creek, and “Caravan”, composed by Duke Ellington, Irving Mills, and Juan Tizol, arranged by John Watson. These pieces, performed by both Lab Band and Jazz Ensemble, included a variety of soloists.
The Flute Ensemble performed a piece entitled “Mr. Sandman”, a rendition of the song of the same title performed by The Chordettes, composed by Pat Ballard. String Ensemble followed with a performance of an arrangement called “Chinese Folk Song Suite”. The arrangement included three movements: “Fengyang Song”, “The Flowing Stream”, and “Mayila”. It was arranged by Chen Yi. String Ensemble also performed “Howl’s Moving Castle,” composed by Joe Hisaishi and arranged by Jiyoung Um, and “Echoes of Valor,” composed by Adrian Gordan.
The Orchestra performed four pieces. These included “Perpetuoso” composed by Brian Holmes, “A Silent Promise” composed by Aaron Soltis, “Vanishing Pointe” composed by Richard Meyer, and “Irish Legend” composed by Soon Hee Newbold.
After the Orchestra, the Wind Ensemble performed four pieces. Wind Ensemble is an ensemble composed of all the bands, which includes the Jazz Ensemble and Lab Band, with students who take the Wind Ensemble class. Their four pieces included “Halcyon Hearts” composed by Katahj Copley, “Kirkpatrick Fanfare” composed by Andrew Boysen, Jr., “Amber Waves of Grain” composed by James Curnow, and “Groovitude” composed by Randall Strandridge. It is worth noting that “Amber Waves of Grain” is a rhapsody of “America the Beautiful”.
Before the last piece, director Ryan Sagedy took the time to individually recognize each one of the seniors in the bands and orchestra. Seniors filled out a Google Form beforehand and answered some simple questions: First and last name, ensembles participated in at West, plans for next year, and favorite music memory. This was a sentimental moment for not only the seniors but for their families and other students as well.
The last piece was a combined piece of all the instrumental groups. The piece was a composition of selections from the beloved musical “Phantom of the Opera” composed by Andrew Lloyd Webber. This particular composition was arranged by Calvin Custer.
This was the last concert of the 2025-2026 school year for the instrumental program. However, there is one last performance for the seniors on June 3rd during Senior Solo Night. Be sure to check it out to see the seniors perform one last time at West before venturing to college!