By Angelina Tang
As Thanksgiving break draws closer and closer, the East music department students have another date looming over their heads: November 27th, the day of auditions for Winterfest solos and small groups. As per tradition, it is the Monday we return to school post-break.
For those who are new to East—Winterfest is our annual holiday concert. Traditionally, it’s an intense, two-night concert with performances from all of the band, orchestra, and chorus ensembles and an assortment of small groups and solos. Acts are incredibly fast-paced as groups perform from both on stage and within the central walkway of the auditorium. It’s a crazy night filled with energy, excitement, and lots of fun.
This year, Winterfest is going to look a little different, as we are confined to having one night for the concert only—Wednesday, December 20th. This is due to a lower-than-usual turnout in the audience last year, our first real Winterfest post-COVID. As a result, less small groups and especially solos will be admitted into the show this year, although extra acts will be slipped into the assemblies and the Commons before and during the evening show.
Many students have expressed their discontent with this change, as Winterfest has always been a huge part of East’s culture and the music wing. It was the school’s pride and joy for a long time pre-COVID, which shut down attendance. Before the pandemic, we would always have a full house, with many community members joining in—last year, a decent proportion of the seats were empty on both nights. A petition briefly circulated the music wing requesting that administration change it back to two nights, but the success of such an effort is to be determined. “If we want to have a two-night Winterfest again, we need to get more audience members in the seats, watching the show at East. If the aud gets packed with people–so much so that we would barely have any empty seats–it will substantially help us get our traditional two night Winterfest back. The petition showed the district the students’ dissatisfaction, but getting more attendance from the audience will actually prove that having two nights is necessary,” says Armita Rohani, the vice president of the Philharmonic Orchestra and one of the people who organized the petition.
Those who are auditioning should be prepared to play their piece at performance level with all of their group members present (if applicable). Auditions will be held in the music wing throughout the day and after school before a panel consisting of all of the music teachers. All audition pieces must be under four minutes long. As the number of small group slots available has been halved by the reduction of Winterfest from two days to one, expect this process to be much more competitive, but remember that groups will be needed to play in the Commons while people are lining up to enter the auditorium and during intermission. We wish you all the best of luck in your musical endeavors!
