Guitar ensemble highlights senior solos

Mr.Minenna’s expectations for the Spring Arts Festival and the Guitar Ensemble was to have  a very nice evening filled with many creative and enjoyable performances by each of the performers. His expectations were fulfilled with all the groups putting in stellar performances. The orchestra’s  big hit was a song from the movie “Pirates of the Caribbean.” “The orchestra enjoyed playing that song and it was their favorite piece of the year,”  said Minenna.

The night was especially  poignant for the seniors who were playing for the last time on the Curtis stage. The seniors in the orchestra are, Christine Hartman, Pabasara Hewawasam, Rezwan Islam, Everett Johnson,  Rangashika Rajakaruna, and John Robinson.  The seniors in the guitar ensemble were Casandra Alayon, Adel Elzanie, Skye Wright, and James Nascimento. The senior song was  “somebody that I used to know”.  “They all played their solos beautifully,” said Minenna. Wright said that they “had a lot of contributions from different groups this year, an orchestra quartet with a vocalist, and a lot of collaborations with and performances from the advanced guitar program too. There’s a tradition in guitar ensemble where the graduating seniors each perform a solo and so in the second half of the show, myself, Adel Elzanie, James Nascimento, and Cassandra Alayon each got to give our final performance as soloists in the ensemble. The four of us also put together a performance of the YouTube hit Somebody that I Used to Know, by walk Off the Earth, featuring sophomore Jared Ofelin as a lead vocalist. In the video all five people play the different parts of the song on one guitar. It was something totally out of our comfort zones and definitely a challenge but the performance exceeded our expectations.”

Wright was the recipient of the  guitar ensemble’s Megan  O’Shaunessy  award and was presented  with a plaque. The plaque said “commemorated in memory of a young woman who brought the classroom into her life and life into the classroom, kicking and screaming.”  Megan O’shaughnessy was a former guitar student  who was killed in a car accident after  her senior year of high school.