Permian High School’s Black Magic group is preparing to get Odessans into the Christmas spirit with A Gift of Christmas from Black Magic.
The Black Magic show is scheduled for 7 p.m. Dec. 8 at Crescent Park Baptist Church, 3002 E. University Blvd. Doors open at 6:15 p.m.
To purchase tickets, visit tinyurl.com/2nee62j9. Tickets are $10 for the general public, plus fees, and $5 for teachers, plus fees.
Laurie Wash, director of choirs at Permian, said there are 27 students involved in the production.
“But they will be joined for selected songs by members of the Permian Band, the Permian Orchestra (and) they will also be joined by a small group of strings from UTPB,” Wash said.
She added that they are excited about the intimate location for the concert.
“It’s a great place to celebrate Christmas,” Wash said.
She added that it is a great way to start the season as the show will include many different styles of Christmas music — traditional, pop and classical.
“Lots of different things for lots of different tastes. This is basically our gift of Christmas, our gift of music to the community, from the kids,” Wash said.
The choir, band and orchestra students recently joined forces for a concert Nov. 28. Asked if they were getting concert fatigue, Wash said this is the busy season for musicians.
“And what a joy to get to work all year and celebrate through concert,” she added.
Wash said she loves this time of year and it’s lots of fun to listen to the students’ choices and her own selections and put together a concert.
Sophomore Abigail Wells is in her first year in Black Magic. The youngest you can join the group is as a sophomore.
“She’s one of the youngest members. She’s actually one of two vocalists. There is another sophomore that’s also in the band, so (they are) very few and far between,” Wash said.
Wells said she’s feeling anxious about the upcoming show.
“I’m definitely nervous because I think this is probably my most anticipated performance of my life. But I’m also really excited because I love all the people I’m doing it with and we’ve all worked so hard to make this happen,” Wells said.
She was also in the Nov. 28 show.
“I guess it kind of prepared me because there were so many people last night. It was a good (test) to see how many people I can really perform in front of,” Wells said.
There wasn’t a chance to become complacent between concerts.
“I would say that that’s kind of a good thing because we don’t have time to really think about it and overthink it,” she added.
Wells said she has gone to Black Magic concerts since elementary school and loved them. Now that she’s part of the group, it’s really exciting and kind of unreal.
She plans to audition again.
“I’m really excited about it because I know that Black Magic has meant so much to our community because it’s been around and I know (it’s) something people really look forward to every year,” Wells said.
She added that they have worked really hard and hopes the community turns out to see the results.
“It would mean a lot if they come to support us,” Wells said.
