Last weekend on November 6th the South band and orchestra put on their first indoor performance in two years. Though the annual Pops and Pastries looked a little different this year, it still drew out a pretty big crowd.
Band director Chris Takis mentioned that although Pops and Pastries was missing the Pastries that are typically on sale, the audience was still eager to hear the band perform.
“Normally we have the room set up a little differently, and everyone enjoys some desserts while the band plays,” Takis said. “Now, we can’t serve food this year because of covid restrictions, but the crowd was huge. I’m pretty impressed with the turn out.”
Takis says getting ready for this performance was difficult for the program. With everyone on high alert for covid precautions, rehearsals were sometimes missing kids.
“Our main goal is to keep everyone safe, so if that means kids are going to miss rehearsal, then that just means we have to maximize the time we were rehearsing together and work extra hard and I think the students really did that this year,” Takis said.
The students were excited to showcase their hard work to their friends and family who came to watch the performance. Member of the orchestra, Charles Logan ‘22, said he was most excited to play Rimsky Korsakov’s Piano Concerto.
“That piece in particular I believe is above anything I’ve ever played, not necessarily difficulty wise but quality wise, I think the orchestra sounds great,” Logan said.
Just like the orchestra, the band has been working hard to prepare for their first show of the year. Band member Louis Kidder ‘23 said the band is organized differently this year which gave them a bigger sound than in previous years.
“This year we have concert band and symphony band combined, but it’s cool because we are a lot bigger than we usually are, which I think makes us sound a lot better,” Kidder said.
Despite the differences between this year and past year’s Pops and Pastries shows, Takis said the show went off without a hitch.
“I know the show looked different but we were just excited to get the kids on stage and perform again. Our ticket sales were good and even with the rust from a year without performing they really sounded phenomenal,” Takis said.