Article by G. Breen
Published on January 28, 2019.

On the 3rd of December, the Middle and High School Strings programs performed at Cab Calloway. They were conducted by Ms. Ayers, the program director, and played eleven pieces. The middle school strings students opened with six pieces from a variety of genres, from La Mariposa, a piece in the style of a traditional Cuban mamba, to Gloria in Excelsis Deo, a choral piece by Vivaldi (a composer from the Baroque era of music), to Rosin-Eating Zombies from Outer Space, music parodying the soundtrack of old horror movies. Rosin-Eating Zombies finished the concert and was played beautifully. The performance, complete with special effects played on instruments and live screams from soloists, proved to be a success and generated thunderous applause from the audience.

After the middle school concert, the high school students followed. The high school orchestra managed to play five challenging pieces and played each one with great skill. One piece in particular, Troika, was used for the movie Lieutenant Kije. It was composed by a Russian musician and composer, Sergei Prokofiev. The song had many contrasting dynamics, ranging from the soft pianissimo to the loud fortissimo. Every piece played during the concert brought tremendous success to the Cab Calloway School of the Arts Orchestra.