From March 28-29, Aragon Band, Orchestra and Choir held their Symphonic Pops concert in the theater, performing the musical “Wonderful Town.”
“This year we were given the music very late,” said junior first-chair cellist John Liu. “We pretty much [had] two weeks to rehearse a whole musical. It’s great music, but it’s also hard music, so two weeks is really very little time to get this together.”
The students had around two-and-a-half weeks to prepare for the performance. Most had to practice during Flex or lunch times. During Flex rehearsals, the women’s, men’s and chamber choirs combined.
“Personally, I haven’t found it super stressful,“ said junior and women’s choir member Heli Artola. “The stressful part I’ve found is [that] I can’t go to Flex for math, [which] I need, or AP [English Language and Composition], because I’m dedicating my time to the musical. So I feel like that’s the most stressful thing, that I’m taking time out of my day, like Flex [so] I can’t go to classes I really need.”
In order to perform, the instructors had to purchase copyrights for the play.
“With any copyrighted musical, especially anything by Leonard Bernstein, we have to apply for the license,” Chen said. “A few months ago, before winter break, I applied for the license. We tell them who’s performing it. We have to tell them how many people are performing in it. We have to tell them the age group. We have to tell them the school. And then they will let us know if they’re going to grant us the rights for it. Then right after winter break, they told us they gave us the rights for it, [and] we paid almost $2,000 for copyrights.”
After the performance, students reminisced and reflected on their performance.
“To be honest, I expected to fall out of the sky a little, but we stayed up,” Liu later said. “Maybe there was some turbulence, but we stayed in the air … I was pleasantly surprised with how we played because we [didn’t] have enough time to prepare this, and everyone was struggling, but we pulled it together.”
There were many people who came to watch the show, and students like sophomore Jesus Avila had distinct feelings about the performance.
“I felt euphoric because I really liked how they all synergized with each other [and] it felt amazing listening to all three [groups] perform at the same time,” Avila said. “I just love how they sound together, and how [they’re able to] make a bigger and grander? performance. It was very uplifting [and] bright. I just love the … vibe of community, combining three separate communities into one bigger community.”
Many parents came to the show to support their children, enjoying the evening musical.
“Since watching my daughter go through the program and coming back with her as an alum, it’s gotten better and better,” said parent of performing alumni Linda Chuan. “I’m so impressed with how well the program produces great artists, and I know we’ve been spending so much time with STEM … We forgot the arts. So instead of STEM, we should really be promoting STEAM. Because it really feeds our soul … I love seeing the differences in having different people play different parts.”
The Jazz Concert will be held on April 11 at 7 p.m. in the theater.
