Christmas Concerts Ring in the Season

On Saturday, December 4, festive and joyous music echoed through the gym and CPAC here at LuHi. Our Christmas concerts returned for the first time since December 2019, and our students were thrilled to have the chance to perform live for their families. Here are some thoughts about the concert from our program directors and some of their students.

Band: Mr. John Rodis leads our Concert and Symphonic bands. He was so excited to come together as a community to celebrate Advent and Christmas. He shared, “This is an extraordinary group of students who have worked so hard to come together to put on this performance. There are some new faces this year in our band who have had little to no experience with an instrument, and many who are on the path to becoming great musicians. I am extremely proud of the hard work everyone has put in to make this a beautiful performance.” Kira ‘22 reflected on what the band concerts mean to her: “I’m really grateful to have live concerts this year. Being able to have our family watching us in person, especially as a senior, is really special. I loved performing The Polar Express because hearing the music makes me remember watching the movie when I was younger.” 

Orchestra: Dr. Kageki Nagao leads our String Orchestras and Chamber Ensembles. He shared, “There are so many Christmas events/concerts still cancelled this year [at other schools] so we feel very grateful that we are able to perform and have a live audience in person.” The string classes have worked very hard for this concert, and the chamber ensembles (co-curricular groups that meet after school) are groups that he is very proud of. Cassandra ‘22 shared the following: “The piece I loved playing is My Spirit be Joyful by J. S. Bach. I first learned this piece in my freshman year and was able to perform it, and this year being able to perform it again truly brings my LuHi Orchestra journey to full circle. In my performance of this piece, I can express Dr. Nagao’s impact on my violin playing journey.”

Choir: Dr. Jimmy-Lee Brown leads our choirs, including the Middle School Choir, Concert Choir, Choral Performance Troupe, and Men’s Choir. He shared, “This year, singers were excited to present, in a live concert, the music repertoire that they studied as a group. Last year, only a small group represented the choir during the Christmas season in a virtual concert. Our 4 separate choral groups presented a diverse mix of Christmas songs to usher in the Christmas spirit.”