On the first day of the music department’s annual Winter Concert, the announcers told the audience that, should audience members like the performance, they could come back the next night and the night after that to watch the entire performance again, as if in a circle.

“You mean the ‘Circle of Life’?” program announcer senior Pam He said, thus providing a segue into the final performance from Lion King and adding another strike to the night’s list of terrible puns.

The music department’s annual Winter Concert, which is held from Jan. 31 through Feb. 2, showcased the talents of the the string and chamber orchestras, the A, B and Concert Choirs, Variations, and the Wind Ensemble. In a special acknowledgement to its 40th anniversary, the Winter Concert featured some of the music department’s concert pieces, or “masterworks.”

“[It’s] nostalgic,” Variations member senior Maggie Maser said of performing pieces that she had performed freshman year, like Antonio Vivaldi’s “Gloria.”

The second half of the concert was filled with newer “showtunes,” many of which were from Broadway. The pieces performed ranged from Disney classics, including Aladdin and Beauty and the Beast, to Les Miserables, an obvious nod to the musical’s recent big screen popularity. Despite the thoughtful diversity, each piece showcased the department’s varying instrumental and vocal talent.

By the end of the show, the audience clapped decisively for an encore. Music teacher John Galli, however, politely insisted that that was all for the night.

“We get tired up here too,” he said.