SAUGUS — The Belmonte STEAM Academy welcomed families to its auditorium on Friday to watch fourth and fifth graders lend their voices at the Winter Wonderland concert.
The concert marks the first of its kind for the upper-level grades since before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. The nearly 400 students were separated into three “pods” that each gave their own performances of three songs at 9 a.m., 10 a.m., and 1 p.m.
Each concert had its own unique lineup of winter-themed tunes, with the final song of the day being “Walking in a Winter Wonderland.” Before the concert’s conclusion, Principal Maureen Lueke thanked first-year Music Teacher Chloe Panico and the rest of Belmonte’s music department for reviving the event and getting the students prepared to perform.
“It’s been truly a team effort, the kids have been doing an amazing job,” Lueke said. “They’ve been spending lots of time during classes and different rehearsals of just working on being ready for today.”
Panico said that preparation for the concert began as early as October. She explained the challenge of ensuring that the hundreds of students learned the lyrics in time so they would be ready to take the stage.
“They started listening to the songs late October, and then November through January they were singing almost every class trying to nail the words,” Panico said. “It’s a little tricky because I only see them once every six days.”
Panico added that the return of the concert was a big hit amongst the students, and having members of the community see their work was really impactful.
