On November 28, the Upper Division music program joined together for the Winter Concert in the Lykes Center for the Arts.

The Symphonic Orchestra, which practices once a week and features members of the faculty, Upper Division and Middle Division, started off the night with beautiful holiday songs such as “A Holiday Celebration.” The act was followed by the Upper Division String Orchestra, who played “Sleigh Bells Jingling” and “Twas in the Moon of Wintertime.” Their performance completed the strings portion of the night, and the Mello Divas took the stage to sing “Christmas (Baby, Please Come Home).” The energetic A cappella performance was followed by the Upper Division Wind Ensemble, who played seasonal staples like “Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer.” The last song before intermission featured the band and choral ensembles in a beautiful rendition of “Believe” from the movie, Polar Express.

After intermission, the holiday celebration continued with a performance from the Berkeley Jazz Ensemble. Afterward, the Beatitones sang their traditional holiday staple, “Rudolf the Rednosed Reindeer,” complete with red noses and choreographed dance moves. Then, the Pipe and Drum Corps entered the stage with traditional Scottish songs like “Ghillie Callum” and classic Christmas songs like “We Wish You a Merry Christmas.” The choirs ended the night with respective performances from Cantabella and the Berkeley Singers. Together, the combined choirs performed songs that they sang at Disney’s Candlelight Processional such as “Shout for Joy” and “Joy to the World.” This ended an amazing showcase of Berkeley’s musical talent. Let’s just say that you had to be there. A special thanks to musical directors Brian J. Panetta, Patrick Fisher, Ron Dillard and Carrie Dietsch for their hard work!