Musicians of varying age and skill level work together to generate living, breathing compositions that radiate the holiday spirit as seemingly all of Grosse Pointe’s young and old pile into the cramped stands in North’s gymnasium– the only noise conquering the commanding power of the students’ melody is the applause that follows it. In a nutshell, this year’s String Extravaganza was one for the ages.
With a tasteful mix of both Christmas classics and lesser-known, yet equally moving, holiday pieces, the concert was a beautiful show of community and teamwork. Many of the concertgoers, including Kelly DeLisi, who was at the concert to watch her son Mario DeLisi ’29 play, had attended the event in the past, and yet they were still taken aback by the magic of the night.
“I always think it’s really neat to see the whole district orchestra coming together to play and especially when they play Twinkle Twinkle Little Star altogether,” DeLisi said.
Mikinzi Allen ’24, who plays violin for South’s orchestra and participated in the event for the last time of her career in the Grosse Pointe Schools System after 8 years, feels good about the future of the event and the Orchestra program as a whole after she leaves South.
“Last year, it was kind of funny because more ensembles were less prepared, but they sounded good this year, so it was nice to know that the orchestra will still have a good future after we graduate,” Allen said.
Although the students were ultimately responsible for the outcome, Allen hopes to make it clear that the event would fundamentally not be possible if not for the aid of the directors and stagehands who worked to train the student musicians and prepare them for an event of such great magnitude.
“(I want to say) thank you to the staff, not just the stagehands but definitely the directors too, Mr. Gross and Noah Zogas,” Allen said.
