Mayor Conducts at ARIS Band Concert

Hillsborough Mayor Carl Suraci conducted one of the first pieces of the night at sixth grade spring concert.

Suraci, whose daughter Amy plays trumpet, conducted "March of the Minutemen," composed by John Edmondson.

The concert was a display of four presidential bands, named Madison, Roosevelt, Jefferson and Washington. Each band performed different pieces.

The Washington band performed, “Ghosts, Goblins, and Witches” a three-movement piece that co-director Nancy Ciacciarelli told the audience about how the percussionists were challenged by playing different instruments during different movements.

Ciacciarelli also spoke about how it was the first time a sixth-grade class performed “March of the Hyperion Robots,” composed by Richard L. Saucedo. It was played by the Jefferson band.

The concert had a range of different types of music from marches, to show tunes, to pieces like “El Nino,” to hits such as “Smoke on the Water”.

Ciacciarelli spoke highly of the accomplishments of the students performing the pieces and how challenging they are for sixth graders.

“It had a beautiful feel in the beginning ["Fantasy on an Old English Melody"] and then it became more aggressive … so that’s a great learning feat for us," she said.

Co-music director Wayne Kopf commented on the mayor's performance.

“He’s not a musician himself but he wanted to do it for his daughter,” he said. “We’re grateful to have had him come on and do this for us and his daughter.”