Can you feel the winter chill in the air? Okay, maybe it’s more of a cool breeze, but it still means one thing: the holidays are upon us! You know how else you can tell? Because Benjamin recently held its annual Winter Music Festival on Friday, December 4 at 7:00 p.m.

This was the first year the concert was held at the new Benjamin Hall, as opposed to Palm Beach State College’s Eissey Campus Theater. “We were very excited about working in Benjamin Hall,” said Middle School Choral Director Mr. Andrew Winters. “It is much better than the Eissey theatre – the acoustics and sound are better, [and] it is also more elegant.” The show started with the middle and upper school chorus singing “A Song To You I Sing”. The Middle School Performance Ensemble (seventh and eighth-grade band members) also played a few holiday hits such as “Festive Christmas and “Swing in Holiday.” It was then joined by the concert band (comprised of fifth and sixth graders) to play a Harry Potter medley. Both were conducted by Middle School band Director Mr. Bruce Huber.

The upper school chorus, conducted by Dr. Alexander Nagy, performed “Je Le Vois Diray,” “Hail To Thee,” “It’s Time For Hanukkah,” “Someone To Watch Over Me,” and “On The Day Before Christmas.” In addition, The Dazzlers, the upper school dance team, danced to “New York at Christmas.”

It was a wonderful opportunity for the middle school students to display their talents for the TBS community and perform with their upper school counterparts. “I just like to perform in general,” said eighth-grade chorus member Ben Myers, “and I think we have a great group. Adding the upper school chorus just made us sound that much better.”

“It was fun because I got to play some of my favorite pieces and to me it sounded very good,” added seventh-grade percussionist Julia Kirschenbaum.

However, the performers weren’t the only ones who enjoyed the concert. “I thought our strings, band, and chorus played wonderfully,” said Head of Middle School Mr. Charles Hagy. “I thought especially the strings because they have been working with the Palm Beach Symphony.”