PopsConcert May 19, 2009

Orchestra 1 under the direction of Mr Rick England led the playbill for the May 19th performance of the Pops Concerts. They performed a rather eclectic musical selection ranging from traditional folk music ("Cotton Eyed Joe") to 1930's film score ("Play Fiddle Play") to 1960's pop ("The Windmills of Your Mind") to light classical ("Bugler's Holiday").  Their particular rendition of "Play Fiddle Play" was specially rearranged for an almost 100-strong piece string orchestra by Mr England, who is himself a published composer.

Mr Kyle Smith, a student music teacher on placement with AHS, conducted Concert Band 2 next. This time, the theme was music from the movies with a medley of soundtracks from some recent and not-so-recent movies ("Music for a Darkened Theatre") followed by the high energy theme score from "Indiana Jones and The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull".

The final group of the evening, the Symphony Orchestra, under the baton of Mr Tom Forbes gave a stirring performance of "Russian Sailor's Dance". After this, the theme switched to Broadway musical theatre with a performance of a selection from "Fiddler on the Roof" with the guest conductor of the evening, Mrs Ann Ward. Mrs Ward had placed the winning bid in an auction for the guest conductor spot for tonight's performance during the Orchestra Benefit Dinner earlier in February. Other aspiring conductors should note that there will be another auction for this coveted position during next year's Orchestra Benefit Dinner.

The Symphony Orchestra next performed the theme score from Rodgers and Hammerstein's "Flower Drum Song" under the direction of Mr Rick England. Mr Tom Forbes finished off the evening with the Symphony Orchestra by leading them through selections from Tim Rice's and Andrew Lloyd Webber's "Jesus Christ Superstar" probably leaving most of the adults in the audience nostalgic for their high school days.

In between the performances, members of the audience were able to purchase desserts to enjoy from the comfort of their seats. The proceeds from the sales of these desserts are used to support the AHS music program.