NASHUA – The first Catholic School Orchestra in New Hampshire performed together at Bishop Guertin High School on March 26.

The fine arts department at Bishop Guertin presented “A Celebration of Music in Our Catholic Schools” at the Collignon Gymnasium.

Bishop Guertin band director Brian Starck collaborated with music directors Leon Grande, of St. Patrick Catholic School in Pelham, and David and Alison Bailey, of St. Christopher School in Nashua, throughout the school year to determine the format and select the musical pieces to have students present. Students in each of the schools then practiced the pieces to prepare for the event.

The event included performances by the St. Christopher School band and fiddle squads, the Bishop Guertin honors choir and band, and the St. Patrick Catholic School band.

“Celebration” began with a performance by the Bishop Guertin honors choir of “The Shadow of your Smile” and “Cry Me a River,” featuring soloist Bella Baker-Villarreal.

St. Christopher School began its portion of the program with performances by its beginning and advanced fiddle squads directed by Alison Bailey. The beginning squad played “Have You Been to Ireland?” and the advanced squad performed “Far from Home/Big John McNeil.”

The St. Christopher School beginning band, led by David Bailey, performed “Eagle Summit March” and the advanced band performed “Highlights from the Star Wars Saga.” Bailey then combined the St. Christopher bands to perform the “St. Christopher School March.” This is a musical piece that Bailey composed and dedicated to former longtime St. Christopher School Principal Sister Joan Messier in honor of all her work into building St. Christopher into a thriving Catholic school.

The St. Patrick Catholic School band program was conceived and built by Grande three years ago. SPCS currently has 14 students in its band program, which is offered to students in grades 5-8. Students performed three pieces: “This Land is Uur Land”, “All Though the Night” and Michael Jackson’s “Man in the Mirror.”

For a young band program, SPCS has already produced two alumni, Brigid Nale and Theron Zajchowski, who have gone on to the Bishop Guertin concert band. The March 26 performance marked the first out-of-school performance by the SPCS band.

After beautiful performances by the young band programs at St. Christopher and St. Patrick, the audience was treated to music from the older and more polished Bishop Guertin concert band. They offered these younger students a glimpse into what their work at the middle and grammar school levels will eventually produce.

Bishop Guertin performed “Marche des Parachutistes Belges” and the challenging piece “Fate of the Gods.”

To conclude the evening, the SPCS band, the St. Christopher band, the St. Christopher fiddle squad, the Bishop Guertin honors choir and the BG concert band formed an ensemble, the first Catholic school orchestra in New Hampshire, performing “What a Wonderful World.” The younger St. Christopher and St. Patrick students were seated with older BG students who played the same instrument.

For more information about St. Patrick Catholic School, visit saintpatrickschool.net.

For more information about St. Christopher School, visit stchrisschoolnh.org.

The Bishop Guertin marching band will hold its Cardinal-For-A-Day program in the fall. Middle school instrumental students interested in playing with the band at a varsity football game in the fall should email Starck at starckb@bghs.org.

For more information about Bishop Guertin, visit bghs.org.