LHS feeder schools – Oak Grove, Highland and Rondout – perform in the festival by playing “The Bonsai Tree” and “Rocketship!” “Bonsai Tree” incorporated a soft and calm tone throughout the piece, whereas “Rocketship!” kept a high energy and strong bass section with the occasional woodwind melody.
On Nov. 16, 2023, students from each LHS band as well as the LHS’s feeder school took part in an all day band festival with a performance in the evening. The songs performed included “The Bonsai Tree,” “Rocketship!,” “Drums of Maria,” “Swashbuckler,” “Patiala Pulse,” “Across the Halfpipe,” Solo Una Volta!,” “(not) Alone” and lastly “Seminole Snake Dance.” This is the 48th year that the Festival of Bands has been held. Each year a guest conductor is brought in to conduct the mass band; this year it was Steven Gooden, current Conductor of the Merit Philharmonic Orchestra. In the past he held the position of Assistant Conductor of the Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra as well as Symphonic Band Director of the Merit School of Music.
![Senior Sam Foster, who plays the alto saxophone on the Jazz Lab Band, waves at the audience after their final piece. “[Jazz is] just something that I enjoy personally, and I wanted to do,” Foster said.](https://www.lhsdoi.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/USE4-1200x800.jpg)
![For the final piece, a combination of Symphony Orchestra and Wind Ensemble played an extravagant song by Paul Hindemist. Flute soloist Dakota Olson had her moment highlighted within this song. “[My solo] was definitely challenging but it was fun too,” Olson said.](https://www.lhsdoi.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/amy-and-joey-shot-1200x800.jpg)
![The Bel Canto choir, the junior choir, performs “Ex-Wives” from “SIX.” “We started [preparing], pretty much right after the Holiday concert,” junior Delaney Rybicki said. Caption by Ash Magalhaes](https://www.lhsdoi.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/IMG_7696-1200x800.jpg)
