Story and photo by Carla DeFord
Sabato (‘Tino’) D’Agostino conducts the Arlington High School Honors Orchestra and Madrigal Singers. Austin Lu is in the front, to the left of the conductor.
From “Mercy, Mercy, Mercy” to the 1812 Overture, from “Joshua! (Fit the Battle of Jericho)” to “Don’t You Worry ‘Bout a Thing,” the 2017 Arlington High School (AHS) Pops concert offers a program that celebrates Mother’s Day as well as the end of the academic year for the AHS Department of Performing Arts.
As anybody who has attended one of these annual concerts knows, you don’t have to cross the Charles, fight traffic or empty your wallet to attend a high-quality Pops concert. AHS provides one right here in town, complete with festively decorated tables and available snacks and beverages (see sidebar).
Choral director
To Madalyn Kitchen, who’s completing her second year as AHS choral director, “Pops is a special concert because it’s the culmination of everything we’ve been working on, including developing good vowels, diction, phrasing and musicality.” Kitchen came to Arlington by way of Arizona, where she grew up, and Brigham Young University, where she received a degree in music education. She noted that this year’s choral program includes several pieces from video games, including “Sogno di Volare” from Civilization VI, which will be performed with the honors orchestra, a “Super Mario” medley and “Legend of Zelda.”
Referring to a Pops tradition of announcing the seniors’ names and their plans for the coming year, Kitchen explained that the Pops “is the time when we recognize and applaud the seniors who are graduating and moving on to the next phase of life.”
AHS Pops Concert
Where: Town Hall
When: 7 p.m. Saturday, May 6; and 2 p.m. Sunday, May 7.
Table seats are $10; to order in advance, contact christinahurley1[@]me.com
Balcony seats are $6 and are available at the door only.
Plates of savory or sweet snacks at $7 per plate as well as beverages will be available for purchase at the event.
Profits fund scholarships for AHS students
Madrigal Singers’ president
One of those seniors is Olivia Bonardi, president of the Madrigals. “I was so lucky to join the Madrigals in 2015, the year we traveled to Italy,” she said, “because on that trip I formed bonds with people who are now some of my closest friends. Mads is a special community. We have a close relationship with our teacher, and we trust and respect each other.”
Bonardi, who plans to attend McGill University to study physiology, said the large number of singing groups at McGill influenced her decision to go there. “I can’t imagine not singing,” she said.
Bonardi noted that her favorite song on the program is the one the graduating Madrigal Singers have chosen to present: “Run to You.” “We’re singing the song to each other,” Bonardi noted, “which is kind of cheesy, but on the other hand, it’s strikingly accurate. These are the people I’ve relied on for years.”
Aspiring jazz singer
Fellow Madrigal Devin Wright is a sophomore who will be performing two solos: “Sweet Home Chicago” with the jazz band and “Crazy in Love” with the concert band. “When the offer arose to perform with these groups, it was honestly a dream come true. I’ve been watching the jazz and concert bands play since I was in elementary school, and to be able to perform with them is a real honor,” said Wright.
Having joined the Madrigal Singers this year, Wright noted that “waking up at 6 a.m. every school day [for rehearsal at 7] is definitely challenging, but it’s 100 percent worth it. Mads is the highlight of my day.”
“To be able to stand on the Town Hall stage,” Wright continued, “where hundreds of singers and musicians have stood before me, feels as if I’ve won an Oscar. This is the last hurrah for the music program of 2016-17, and we have prepared quite a show.”
Soloist and concertmaster
Austin Lu, who is concertmaster of the full orchestra, will also be soloist in the honors orchestra performance of an excerpt from the Mozart Violin Concerto No. 3. He noted that one of the challenges facing him as a soloist was to develop his own interpretation of the music. “It’s hard to find a balance among all the different ways to play a piece. Understanding, finding and conveying my interpretation, comes from extra hours of playing with the honors orchestra, practicing endlessly at home and listening to numerous recorded versions of the piece,” he said, adding, “the honors orchestra has done an amazing job supporting me in every way they could.”
Lu plans to attend UMass. Amherst Commonwealth Honors College next year. Although he will not be pursuing music as a career, he is considering joining an orchestra at college. “Music will always be a part of my life,” he said.
Student composer, arranger
“Cave Canem” means “beware of the dog” in the language of ancient Rome, and that’s the name of the Latin-inflected piece written and arranged by sophomore Julian Carpenter, who will be directing the jazz band in performing it. “I started composing my own pieces in seventh grade,” said Carpenter, “and as my love of jazz grew, it was reflected in my compositions.”
Carpenter said he first brought this piece to Musica Vesuviana, the music summer camp in Italy founded by AHS instrumental director Sabato (“Tino”) D’Agostino, in 2016. “Hearing other people play your music is a euphoric feeling. When my peers improvise on ‘Cave Canem,’ it’s a delight because they find new ideas that I might not have imagined. That’s one of my favorite aspects of jazz,” he noted.
Maestro
For D’Agostino, having a student conduct his own composition will be one of the highlights of the pops concert. “Directing an ensemble helps students with their confidence, peer relationships, rehearsal technique and leadership skills,” he said.
Another highlight will be the finale, an excerpt from Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture, a gigantic and exhilarating work of great complexity. “I think students should be exposed to masterpieces like this one, because in addition to being a part of the history of music, they are part of history period,” D’Agostino said.
The overture will be performed by the full orchestra with the AHS Chorale singing from the balcony; it commemorates the Battle of Borodino, in which the Russians defended their homeland from Napoleon’s invading army (listen for quotations from “The Marseillaise”). As D’Agostino observed, “This piece really challenges every musician, every section, and me. It’s a great way to say goodbye to our seniors and our audience. I’m having a great time conducting it!”
This news feature by YourArlington freelancer Carla DeFord was published Tuesday, May 2, 2017.
