The Band and Orchestra Exchange Concert, featuring Cerritos College Concert Band and Orchestra, and Gahr High School Wind Ensemble was held on March 23 at the Cerritos College Student Center.

The instrumental ensembles at Cerritos College consists of a vast array of musicians, ranging in age from 10 to 80. The Special Admit Program at Cerritos College, allows high school students to be part of these ensembles while gaining high school or college credit.

This program has no tuition fee, and almost 30 schools have had students in one of the Cerritos College ensembles in recent years.

Jeff Varney, whose son from middle school performed at this concert, said, “I was invited by a couple of performers to come and watch, and their performance was so intriguing that I want to come again.”

The concert started with the music pieces, Orpheus in Hades Overture by Jacques Offenbach, followed by Mars the Bringer of War by Gustav Hoist, which were performed by Cerritos College Orchestra and conducted by Dr. David Betancourt.

The next part included Explorations by Ed Huckeby, A Festival Prelude by Alfred Reed, and Music For a Darkened Theatre by Danny Elfman from the film Scores.

The third part of the concert was One Life Beautiful by Julie Giroux, and Entry March of the Boyars by Johan Halvorsen, played by Cerritos College Concert Band, and conducted by Betancourt.

The final part of the concert included, March of the Trolls by Edvard Grieg, and Jupiter the Bringer of Jollity by Gustav Holst.

Betancourt gave his thoughts on the concert, “I thought it was great. We had the groups perform fantastically, we had a full house as you can see, and the audience I thought was really appreciative of the performance, and was really quiet and attentive so they could all really enjoy the music, so it was a great concert.”

The program went so well that one veteran performer, Ken Black said, “I am with the Cerritos concert band, and have been playing here for five to six years of summer band and also winter and spring bands. It’s a very nice group, Dr. Betancourt has done a fantastic job and a very easy person to learn from and take instructions from. It’s very enjoyable.”

Black said he played the trombone, but as to which instrument was difficult to play, he said his daughter played the French Horn which he thought was probably much more difficult.