A Musical Night to Remember - Music Banquet

Written By: Tia Smith

Photos by: Mr. Alchesi

The Music Banquet, held on June 15th, 2022, was a great success as students from all grades who were musically involved in school activities this year were finally able to get recognition for their talents. These last two years have been very difficult for many people so being able to start up extra curricular activities again is something that will not go unappreciated.

All students in music classes or extra curricular groups were invited to attend the banquet which was held in the cafeteria. Guests enjoyed a pot-luck dinner, and of course, music was playing throughout. The attendees were thankful to the parents and teachers who organized the dinner and also helped sanitize to keep everyone safe.

Here are the award winners from this year’s music banquet:

Symphonic band: Claire Anderson-Ieurllo, Stefan Antic and Curran White

Jazz band: Ethan Chan, Nigel Peesker and Lucas Komljenovic

Wind ensemble: Hannah Shi, William Blenkhorne and Yizhen Chen

Strings: Ethan Chernitzky

Vocal ensemble: Rachel Silva

Junior leadership: TL Sutherland

Senior leadership: Hellen Han

As a lovely gesture, students surprised Ms. Barry and Ms. Abbot with bouquets of flowers after awards were handed out.

When asked about the event and what it meant to be able to make music again after the last few years, Ms. Barry said “Amy [Ms. Abbot] and I were definitely apprehensive about starting up again. There were so many rules and restrictions for so long that it was difficult to feel comfortable and confident doing what we do best.

When restrictions were initially lifted, we were meeting in the studio theatre with as much space between us as possible. That made it difficult to blend and balance, but it was better than nothing.

Then eventually everything was lifted and we could go full tilt - so we did! We threw tough music at the students, and they rose to the occasion.”

Ms. Abbot said that her favourite part of the event “...is that the Grade 12s take a photo together each year along the brick wall outside of the caf. I’m lucky to have a few copies of previous years grads in my office and I reflect on them often! The last time we were able to have this event was when the current Grade 12s were in Grade 9! Some of them won the same awards then and have maintained their amazing status within the music program.”

Thank you to everyone who made this event a success, and congratulations to all the award winners!