The Carlmont Instrumental Music program has a spring concert series coming up this next month, and students are starting to prepare themselves for it.
For many senior students, this performance will be their last big concert of the year, making it a special concert.
“The energy is different because you have students who are graduating, like myself, and so in a way, there’s pressure to make this the best performance yet. I know it’s a little bit sad, obviously, but there’s a lot of excitement with it being the end of the year,” said Arianna Behrendt, a senior in the Carlmont Symphony Orchestra.
For seniors like Behrendt, the spring concert serves as a full-circle moment, providing closure for all the years they spent in the program and displaying their growth throughout the years as musicians.
“I can tell that the seniors are proud of all the growth they’ve done since they were freshmen because you enter this place just a few months out of middle school, and you leave this place a few months away from living on your own,” said Brian Switzer, a Carlmont Instrumental Music director.
The spring concert is scheduled to take place over three nights. Each night, a different ensemble will perform. This makes for very different audiences in each show, allowing each ensemble to shine on its own and create a unique atmosphere on each night.
Tickets are available on Ludus. The second night, which features the jazz ensemble, will also be streamed on the radio at KCEA (89.1) for the public to listen to. KCEA will also stream the third night, which features senior awards and scholarships, according to Jordan Webster, a Carlmont Instrumental Music co-director.
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Caption: The above track is Behrendt’s favorite song from the concert that her ensemble (Symphony Orchestra) is performing. “We performed this song in my first year for the Performing Arts gala. This was the first piece I played with the symphony orchestra, and now it’s going to be the last. It’s probably the most full-circle moment I’ve had in the music program,” Behrendt said.
Though exciting and fun, the concert does mean the end of many cherished memories and friendships for seniors, making it both bittersweet and nostalgic.
“These seniors may have been playing the same instrument next to the same kid for years. On one hand, they’re ready for college, but on the other hand, it’s like, you get one final senior concert and that’s it,” Webster said.
The spring concert is also a showcase of the amazing rapport that the ensembles have worked towards for the semester, which is why the concert can also be seen as a celebration.
“It’s really, really a fun set of evenings. It’s like a celebration, and we’re hitting a point of the year where there’s some incredible music happening,” Webster said.
For Webster, this is a chance for the entire program to showcase what it has worked on over the past year.
“Everyone is putting together the best thing they’ve played this year and the most advanced material and the most impressive repertoire, so I think if you’re holding out to come to see a concert, shame on you, but this is really the one to see. We’ve had the whole year together to grow as an ensemble and to grow as a program, and you’re gonna see that really highlighted at that spring concert,” Webster said.
