The Bridgewater-Raritan High School’s Piu Vivace club recently performed at the Bridgeway Senior Care and Rehabilitation Center in Bridgewater on Sunday, December 18.
Piu Vivace, a music term meaning “more lively” in Italian, is an after-school club that gives primarily string players the opportunity to participate in a casual orchestra experience. In addition to the standard full-ensemble rehearsal, members are also able to practice and perform pieces that they choose in small groups.
The president of the club, Paritosh Bhole, along with Vice President Ethan Wei and Event Coordinator Ella Brotschul helped organize the performance, which was described by orchestra director Hsiao-Yu Lin Griggs as “very successful.”
Other musicians participated in the event, including Aditya Abraham, Ella Brotschul, Michael D’Elia, Malhar Deoray, Advik Joshi, Ayushmaan Mukherjee, Aaron Persky, Ian Soos and Ethan Wei.
In total, they performed seven pieces that lasted roughly forty minutes. The pieces ranged from classical to contemporary in a combination of solos and small group pieces. A vocal performance was put on by Ella Brotschul singing John Lennon’s “Happy Christmas” while playing the guitar.
Both the audience and performers enjoyed the event, as many audience members told the center’s staff to let the performers know how much they liked the event and the music.
Violin player and junior Advik Joshi commented on the event.
“My experience was great! It was truly a pleasure to perform in front of the residents. It both helped me as a musician gain more experience performing, and it was also nice to bring joy to the residents,” he said.
Paritosh Bhole also commented on why the club decided to organize the event.
“We decided that one of the major objectives of the club was to share the joy of music beyond the school community. We found that performing at senior residence centers allowed us to reach an audience that didn’t always get the chance to see us perform,” he said.
Bhole continued by detailing the success of the event.
“The event was certainly a success, and we’re looking forward to performing at more residence centers and even public locations, such as local libraries or an outdoor park. We look forward to bringing more musicians and new songs to these events,” Bhole said.
Piu Vivace’s next confirmed performance will be at BRHS’s spring concert, which is scheduled for May and when the group will be joined by all the other orchestra ensembles at the high school.
