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By Camille Kerwin
Hometown Weekly Contributor
This past Saturday, the Medfield Music Program brought its concert season to a close with a completely student run show. The annual Pops Concert is the year’s most exciting show, as students choose the concert’s theme and the music they will perform. Pops is also the music department’s sole fundraiser for the year. Concert-goers can order food as they listen to the school’s band, orchestra, chorus, chamber ensemble, and jazz band.
A committee of musicians spearheaded the concert’s planning process and put hours of labor into its construction. Leaders of each ensemble composed this committee and headed different facets of the show’s organization. Some students decorated and prepared the school gym, transforming the room into a bright auditorium. Others orchestrated refreshments, ticket sales, and publicity. Cole Foster, a member of the chorus, band and jazz choir, served as chairperson of the committee. Foster noted that the planning was “a lot of work and possible because of the help of the amazing people who got it together.”
This year, students decorated the school gym for a night on Broadway and performed numbers from numerous shows that have graced the Broadway stage. The band performed arrangements from “The Phantom of the Opera” and “West Side Story,” before the chorus and orchestra finished up the first half of the concert with songs from “The Little Mermaid,” “Aladdin,” “Mamma Mia,” “Rent,” “American in Paris,” and “Wicked.” The Jazz and Chamber Ensembles continued on after the intermission with a variety of genres, breaking from the Broadway theme. They performed foreign songs and serenades before returning to the theme with a closing number from “Spamalot.” Members of all groups joined on stage to sing “Always Look on the Bright Side of Life” as a farewell to senior musicians.
Unfortunately, the night was not only a farewell to seniors, but also chorus director Margo Nothnagel’s final show with Medfield Music. Many choral students have known Ms. Nothnagel since their first days at Blake Middle School, and she will truly be missed. Nothnagel remarked that she has “enjoyed each one of her students and the opportunity to inspire them.”
Saturday was a bittersweet night for all music students as they said goodbye to friends and a beloved teacher. Every attendee and participant enjoyed the bright atmosphere and passion that Pops so greatly embodies. A successful concert season has come to a close.
