Music at the Movies is an annual event in which the Oak Park High School music program performs songs from movie scenes which are playing in the background. 

Night One: 

Starting with night one, Concert Band, Wind Symphony and Wind Ensemble performed. The first night included songs from “The Great Escape,” “Ant-Man,” “Jurassic Park,” “Star Wars” and “Avengers: Age of Ultron.” With months of preparation, this was their big night to show off their skills.

“Preparation included practicing the compositions for multiple months during designated band classes,” percussionist Ethan Shmorak (‘25) said.  “On the technical side of things, the live streams are set up after the school day of the performance with a tech meeting the Tuesday before the show at lunch.” 

The behind the scenes consisted of lots of work and preparation for this one night. 

“The band room is turned into a full studio for the MDs to entertain the hundreds of people tuned in remotely,” Shmorak said. “The headsets that are seen in the performance transmit a metronome specifically programmed for the song to correspond with the film footage.” 

The band was overjoyed with the outcome; with all the preparation, the audience could definitely tell how hard they worked. 

“Night one went extremely well with all musicians executing their parts beautifully as months of practice should produce,” Shmorak said. 

Night Two:

The second night consisted of Choir and String Orchestra, playing songs from “Tangled,” “Mary Poppins,” “Psycho,” “Pirates of the Caribbean” and “The Prince of Egypt.” 

“It was a magical night. 5:30 [p.m.] was our call time, but I was a bit of an early bird because I love strings so much,” bassist and Strings Council member Andrew Hearst (‘22) said. 

With all the preparation, musicians were undoubtedly under a lot of pressure. 

“It was a lot of fun, there were a few technical difficulties but it was all resolved shortly,” Hearst said. “All the preparation definitely added up to a very eventful October.” 

The intertwining of the movie scenes and the live music makes this annual event unforgettable.  

“We’ve been doing it ever since I was a freshman, I love to be back,” Hearst said. “I love being able to incorporate music and movies together and I’m sad this was my last one.”