Monroe-Woodbury High School held its annual Prism Concert on Monday, February 10 at 7:00 p.m. The concert opened with a performance of the Star Spangled Banner.

The Chamber Orchestra, Symphonic Orchestra, Wind Ensemble, Voice Ensemble, Symphonic Band, Jazz Ensemble, and Treble Choir performed in this concert.

The Prism Concert differs from other concerts held in that students are given the opportunity to perform in different groups. In this concert, the orchestra, chorus, and band get a chance to perform together.

“It’s my favorite concert of the year. We got to sing fun songs. We sang Buttercup; it was really good” said Kathryn Szynkowski.

Students are also given a chance to perform in small chamber groups, chosen to highlight their instruments or voices. All the groups practiced their music for over a month.

“The Prism Concert was a unique and rewarding experience for both myself and the students,” said Mr. Champlain. “Performing nontraditional repertoire, as well as chamber music is something that not all high school students are afforded the opportunity to do, and I was honored to be a part of the performance with my students.”

The performances took place in different locations of the auditorium, as opposed to the usual concert, where every performance takes place on the stage. This was done in order to give the audience a new and exciting experience.

Since this concert is so reliant on the students and makes timing difficult, it required two rehearsals in order to make sure that everything would go smoothly for the final performance.

“It was pretty organized, everyone got to their spots in time and efficiently. Personally I think it went pretty well and all the pieces were performed by the students to the best of their ability,” said junior Samantha Gargiulo.

This concert removes the issue of having to get a ‘good’ seat since the performances take place in multiple locations around the auditorium, so any seat guarantees a good view of at least a few performances.

“The prism concert is a unique experience for performers and spectators alike,” said Mr. Petrocelli.  “A continuous, non-stop stream of music creates an atmosphere for the listener like no other concert we perform.”

The concert finished with a grand finale of everyone that participated in the concert performing “America the Beautiful.” For this particular song, the performers were placed throughout the entire auditorium, giving the audience a view of them, no matter where they were sitting.