“Be our guest! Be our guest! Put our service to the test!”
The “Beauty and the Beast” tune was just one Disney song that filled the Maurice Gusman Concert Hall with magic on Nov. 4 for its Disney 100-Year Celebration.
The Henry Mancini Institute Orchestra, vocalists, writing and arranging students from across the Frost School of Music and resident conductor of Henry Mancini Institute, Scott Flavin, performed Disney songs that were arranged by students of the Frost Studio jazz Writing program (directed by Steve Guerra).
The opening composition was “Circle of Life” from the “Lion King,” arranged by Kevin Zapata.
While speaking about his song choice, Zapata’s message to the audience was, “Life is too short to kind of just do the same old unhappy things over and over…follow your dreams.”
Secondly, the heartfelt “Dos Oruguitas” from “Encanto” was sung by Maria Quintanilla, a doctoral student and jazz vocal teaching assistant. “Dos Oruguitas” was arranged by Carolina Calvache for this performance.
A “Beauty and the Beast Medley” arranged by Gary Wang came next on the line-up. The singers of this medley included Baily Grogan Doctoral Voice (Jazz) student and Teaching Assistant and Daniel Fiamengo, studio jazz writing master’s student. The medley included the songs “Belle,” “Something There,” “Be Our Guest,” “The Enchanted Rose” and “Tale as Old as Time.”
“Strangers Like Me” from Disney classic “Tarzan” was arranged by Daniel Ryan Fiamengo. The singer of this composition was senior media scoring and production major and contemporary vocal principal Spencer Ford. Fiamengo’s message to the audience was that Phil Collins did a masterful job in the soundtrack and that Tarzan is about family and friendship.
More Disney songs such as “Pink Elephants on Parade” from “Dumbo” (arranged by Craig Peaslee) and “Recuérdame (Remember Me) from Coco” were sung by Quintanilla and arranged by Thomas Wenglinkski.
“I always love watching Disney movies. Especially as a student who majored in music, I decided to attend,” Inji Jung, a first-year graduate student studying music industry said.
Jung stated with excitement that her favorite piece of the concert was “Remember Me.”
“The arrangement was so awesome, and most of my friends who attended the concert agreed with that,” Jung said.
The final composition was “121 (Eye to Eye)” from “A Goofy Movie.” Before the piece began, the arranger Casey Dickey asked the audience if anyone has parents that embarrass them and the audience mutually agreed with laughter. This performance featured sophomore media scoring and production major and jazz vocal principal Aron Stornaiuolo singing and grooving to the song.
Stay tuned for more magical Henry Mancini Institute Orchestra concerts.