MEET THE DIRECTORS
When PJ Heckman was four years old he attended his first choir rehearsal. At the end of the practice he shouted, “It’s over already? I never want this to end!” And for the last several decades he made sure that the singing didn’t stop.
PJ has sought out many musical and non-musical opportunities. He sang a high C while being thrown several feet into the air. Had three children. Wrote the lyrics for a Rock concept album. Joined the amazing teaching staff at Pond Road Middle School in 2015. Performed in a musical revue in the basement of a Barnes & Nobles in Rio de Janeiro. Dreamed, built, opened and closed a performing arts studio. Got married. Performed a solo in 6th grade where he was booed off stage by his peers (intentionally). Attended Westminster Choir College for both undergraduate and graduate degrees in Music Education. Though not in that order.
PJ is thankful that choir rehearsal never ended and is honored to teach the students of Pond Road Middle School. He is incredibly proud of the choristers you will see on stage today - and you should be too.
Brian Williams graduated from Westminster Choir College with a bachelors of music in music education and masters of art in teaching. Returning to the classroom that sparked his love for music, he is completing his eighth year as the choir director and music theory teacher at Robbinsville High School. Extracurricularly, he directs the high school musicals and is a co-advisor of the Tri-M Music Honor Society. Outside of Robbinsville, Brian is the music director for the Kids and Teens in the Park summer program run by Middlesex County and is the music director and producer for the Woodbridge Community Players. He also currently serves as president elect for the Central Jersey Music Educators Association and is the New Jersey Music Educators Association's choral performance chair.
INSTRUMENTALISTS
Peter DeMets, Caty Butler, Meghan Doyle, Nikki Weaver
THE PROGRAM
Pond Road Middle School Choirs
I See a Star - Greg Gilpin
Shine Like Stars - PINKZEBRA
Hanerot Halalu - Becki Slagle Mayo, Hannah Blank '23, clarinet
Riu, Riu, Chiu - Linda Spevacek
Hot Chocolate (from The Polar Express) - Glen Ballard & Alan Silvestri, arr. Roger Emerson
A Marshmallow World (with “The Candy Man”) - arr. Mark Hayes
Robbinsville High School Chamber Choir
Day of Fire and Sun - Kate Crellin, text by Sara Teasdale
Deck the Halls in 7/8 - Traditional Carol, arr. James McKelvy
Robbinsville High School Concert Choir
Bring Me Little Water, Silvy - Huddie Ledbetter, arr. Adam Podd, Bridget Godfrey & Ethan Shaev '23, soloists
Light - Words and Music by Lisa Loeb and Cliff Goldmacher, arr. Andy Beck
Hark! The Herald Angels Sing - Mendelssohn, arr. Willcocks, Michelle Williams, soprano
Run, Mary, Run - Traditional Spiritual, arr. Brian Tate, Addis Tafesse '24, soloist
Ad Astra (To the Stars...) - Jacob Narverud
Iam Sol Recedit - Ola Gjeilo
ROBBINSVILLE HIGH SCHOOL CHOIRS
Concert Choir - Tarren Allen, Mahi Amin, Paras Anand, Sana Anand, Prithvi Raaj Arumugam, Ava Blando, Katherine Blando, Angie Brown, Leah Caiola, Elizabeth Davis, Sidney Davis, Daniel Delate, Melina Fusco, Bridget Godfrey, Hailey Harrison, Alyce Heller, Summer Heyburn, Felicity Holt, Kara Huang, Daniela Kamel, Anya Kawlekar, Patrick Koryat, Brianna Krail, Elliora Liebmann, Ria Mahajan, Abigail Moir, Nida Mubaraki, Anusha Nandan, Amelie Perez, Ivy Rizzo, Jonathan Ronen, Jonathan Roy, Maxim Rychkov, Shreya Savur, Abby Scatena, Ashley Semmel, Brianna Semmel, Ethan Shaev, Eric Steinberg, Addis Tafesse, Kaitlynne Tighue, Hailey Tkacs, Aanya Tummala, Brianna VanNest, Isha Veerubhotla, Natalie Villegas, Akshaya Vinod, Olivia Walker, Olivia Wint, Allyson Wolochuk, Sivapriya Yallapragada
Chamber Choir - Ava Blando, Daniel Delate, Bridget Godfrey, Summer Heyburn, Nida Mubaraki, Anusha Nandan, Shreya Savur, Abby Scatena, Ethan Shaev, Addis Tafesse, Olivia Walker, Allyson Wolochuk
POND ROAD MIDDLE SCHOOL CHOIRS
6th Grade - Semi Ahmed, Abbigail Amato, Divyansh Ameta, Laya Arumugam, Teddy Awad, Hrithvik Bhavanam, Stuti Bhujang, Sydney Capell, Harlow Carrigan, Caiden Casale, Vatsal Chamoli, Alina Chubis, Misha Dani, Arshia Dhamija, Nikol Dimitrova, Berna Domac, Maureen Dutka, Lucy Fang, Zoya Fazal, Charlotte Galluccio, Ranbir Gandhi, Anoushka Ganti, Mia Godfrey, Isha Gulati, Amy Harmer, Keira Houlihan, Emma Jablonski, Tarini Jalagam, Vrishank Jannapureddy, Kaylan Joskowicz, Dhriti Kalthod, Aditi Kampli, Ira Kekatpure, Nishna Ketineni, Jahnavi Kommanaboina, Anagha Kovuri, Stephanie Latushka, Luis Lopez, Grace Maggipinto, Sonia Mahajan, Kaavya Majumdar, Gavin Marantz, Julianna (Julie) Markos, Gregory Melnyk, Sophia Mirando, Charlotte Moorcroft, Gabrielle Mueller, Rishi Muthukumar, Harish Muthukumaran, Ahana Nandy, Aanya Nayak, Sunaya Nayee, Yashvi Patel, Rajvi Patel, Aryan Patel, Kenzie Paul, Zoeh Penafiel, Laila Penaloza, Fiona Peter, Tiffany Plaza, Savanah Potter, Abhishek Priolkar, Anastasiya Protsiv, Sahana Rai, Ronith Rao, Liana Reddy, Tommy Reid, Aiden Roberts, Zuly Sandoval, Nakshatra Satheeshkumar, Vihaan Saxena, Vrushti Shah, Carina Shah, Rithvik Shankar, Shreeyanshi Sharma, Anmol Shukla, Aarush Singh, Annabelle Song, Celia Sparandera, Arthi Subramanian, Shawna Tahvildarzadeh, Aidan Taylor, Aditi Thakare, Medha Thummalapally, Leah Tighue, Reilly Tkacs, Alexis Tomasello, Anika Tummala, Jainil Vaidya, Sid Vaidyanathan, Donovan Vasquez, Dhruv Venkatesh, Janani Vijayakumar, Smairah Wadhawan, Alexis Wint, Colby Wright, Inaya Zaidi
7th Grade - Jesutobiloba Dave Ajewole, Upasana Amin, Josie Basora, Kendall Bethea, Andrew Borghard, Neha Boubalan, Isaac Boyle, Jack Bruno, Meghan Cabral, Mel Chan, Sahana Chittala, Leo Chung, Rhiannon Clonan, Ruhana Dhillon, Kanishkha Duna, Mikayla Evanchek, Marina Ferrari, Julia Fleck, Shaivi Gaddam, Lily Gertsman, Lakshya Gogineni, Lucky Golecha, Snigdha Gonugunta, Jaden Gracias, Emma Harrison, Auggie Hernandez, Caroline Holub, Michael Hughes, Tanvi Katragadda, Sophia Kharab, Evan Kharitonov, Polly Kor, Naidhrua Kotagiri, Akshara Krishnamoorthy, Reina Kuchana, Niranjan Kumarasamy, Ishika Mahadani, Favian Maldonado, Sahasra Mamidala, Nivi Narapareddy, Sloka Nimma, Sahaili Patel, Ethan Prabhakar, Samhita Pulagam, Gurman Rai, Alexa Ritzer, Celia Rockoff, Claire Rockoff, Bella Rossi, Jeaniene Roy, Daawn Ruffin, Aaustin Ruffin, Aashi Sakhardande, Olivia Sanchez, Aashni Sathappan, Aahana Sathappan, Anika Saxena, Pia Saxena, Hannah Setlight, Haley Shapiro, Rachel Sharma, Chaarvi Sharma, Nora Steinberg, Juliette Stout, Sreenidhi Sureshbabu , Bhakti Vaidya, Shloka Vankayalapati, Ginna Vilatoro Taglianeti, Thomas Wang, Nevan Wilks, Leila Yen, Karmen Young, Kylah Zdeb
8th Grade - Mahogani Andres, Rajan Anoushka, Skanda Arun, Spandana Arun, Mritula Boubalan, Shiuli Chatterjee, Sathvika Cheedella, Lucy Daly, Marisa DiMeola, Ashna Dubey, Michaela Dutka, Heshu Elavarasan, Sanjita Ethiraj, Mahjanae Fowler, Izzie Ghen, Bianca Godwin, Addison Herrera, Srushti Hirisave Swaroop, Gwenyth Holt, Emmalyne Holt, Anwita Indukuri, Darsh Jaiswal, Stella Jiang, Guneet Kaur, Emily Kharab, Kat Kharitonov, Megha Kiran, Janvi Kothagundla, Arshiyaa Kuttin, Shruti Masamsetty, Chase Mathews, B Mertz, Emily Moorcroft, Julia Myers, Amanda Nunez, Nevil Patel, Hetsi Patel, Swarup Rajesh, Sahanashree Rajeshkumar, Swapna Ramachandran, Sanjana Shahade, Sanjna Shankam, Jillian Shenghit, Anna Shulgina, Anika Tripathi, Barbara Tur, Akshara Vikas, Arhaan Waseem, Emma Wong, Nolan Wood, Jenny Wu, Srija Yerneni, Melanie Zipp
Thank you to everyone who made this concert possible! Special shoutout to the dedicated student musicians seen on stage today and to the support they receive from their families to continue to pursue an art form they love. As always, thank you for keeping the arts alive in Robbinsville. Have a lovely and safe holiday season!
Credits:
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