Despite the pouring rain last Friday night, May 5, almost 200 packed into the Cranston East auditorium to see the performances of the East concert and jazz bands, joined by special guest performer, magician Bruce Kalver.

“The show last night was a huge success. The jazz band and concert band sounded great and many people were very impressed and entertained by the combination of music and magic that Bruce Kalver and the Thunderbolt band were able to create. I was very pleased with the turnout since this was the first time we have hosted an event like this. I am hoping to have more entertainment fundraising events of this kind in the future,” said director and music teacher Greg Arsenault.

The Cranston East Big Band "East Jazz" performed under the direction of Greg Arsenault, and the winds technician was (former CHSE music teacher) Mark Colozzi.

Student musicians were Nadya Lehnert, flute; Troy Santopadre, Aggerlyn Vetiaque and Jeramiah Coss, alto saxophone; Adrian Cartagena Capo, tenor saxophone; Jacob Nelson, Griffin Martin, Kevin Aldana and Peter Vannini, trombone; John Rei, piano;

Sean Curry, bass; and Jacob McLane and Joseph Scungio on drums.

The Cranston East Thunderbolt Concert Band was also directed by Arsenault and had the following student performers;

Nadya Lehnert, flute; while Bernadette Linsangan, Sienna Racal, Daniel Norridge and Timothy Khiev played the clarinets. Bass clarinet was Samuel Hunt, and the alto saxophone was played by Troy Santopadre, Aggerlynn Vetiaque and Luis Samayoa Illescas. Adrian Cartagena Capo and Timothy Thongvilay played the tenor saxophones, while Joseph Picton performed on the baritone saxophone.

Playing the trumpets were Samuel Hinds, Griffin Martin, Jacob Nelson and Thomas Yakey. The French horn was played by Jeramiah Coss and Giovany Jiminez.

Kevin Aldana and Roland Hanson were on the trombone, and Peter Vannini played tuba, while John Rei was on piano.

The students who were part of the percussion ensemble were: Grey Boudreau, Kaiden Campbell, Baeli Carroll, Joshua Deland, Taylor Grant, Jacob McLane, Tyler McNeil, Talia Parente, Alexis Rei and Joseph Scungio.

The Jazz Band performed “Gorilla Man Blues” by Mark Taylor,

“Blue Bossa” by Kenny Dorham arranged by Mark Taylor, “Samantha” by Sammy Nestico and “Feelin' Alright” by Dave Mason with the arrangement by Mark Taylor.

The Concert Band played “Mars” by Gustav Holst arranged by Owens, during which Kalver performed a levitation act and “The Thunderer” by J.P. Sousa.

Bruce Kalver is the father of two Cranston East band alumni; Eric, Class of 2005, and Wendy, Class of 2010.

For Colozzi, it was a treat to simply sit in the audience and enjoy the performances.

“I sat in the audience and listened. The kids pulled off a nice performance with limited rehearsals. There is some great up and coming young jazz talent,” he said.

Due to costs and budget restrictions, it is up to the music department to raise extra funds.

“The 2016 budget had $980 for repair, $4,000 for supplies and materials, $3,350 for sheet music and $9,900 for transportation. The band gets about 85 to 90 percent of the transportation budget. We split the repair and sheet music budget between band, orchestra and choir. Supplies and materials is for all three groups plus our other classes: guitar, percussion, music production, voice class, and music theory. It's a thin budget for all of those things. The marching band budget is about $20,000 and Indoor Percussion is about the same. So the total for just the Thunderbolt band programs is roughly $40,000 for the year. The school committee provides about $11,000 of the $40,000 that the band needs to operate and do what we have been doing for many years so it is up to us to raise the other $29,000 or so we need to be a competitive marching organization,” said Arsenault.

The reviews for the show were all raves.

"Bruce was very entertaining and had the entire audience in amazement! The musical program and magic show complimented one another very well in a night highlighting Cranston's own performing arts," said Anthony Petrocchi, a 2005 graduate of East and the President of the Cranston East alumni Band Association. Petrocelli was involved in band all four years of high school, participating in concert, jazz and marching band. He was the drum major in the marching band during his senior year.

Members of the Fusco family were very impressed with the talents of Bruce Kalver.

"I loved how he got the audience involved and kept everyone on the edge of their seats," said Shelley.

Kailey says he so good at what he does. He totally confused and amazed her.

IT'S CALLED MAGIC:

How did he do that? Magician Bruce Kalver entertains and mystifies at the Cranston east fundraiser.