Oak Park High School’s music department debuted its annual Music at the Movies concert on Oct. 8. 

Concert band, wind symphony and string orchestra kicked off the first night of the two-night event. All three groups had just over two months to rehearse and mesh with their bandmates. The freshmen members had less preparation since it was their first concert, but still performed amazingly.

“The concert was a nice change and definitely different from what we had in the past,”  freshman Adelman Dash said.

The concert also marked the beginning of the new string orchestra class. The class is organized by Stacey McClamma, who also directs the chamber orchestra and choir. Last year, the chamber orchestra was the only strings level available. 

“The kids did an amazing job, especially considering some of the kids had never played their instrument before and many of the musicians have never played together,” McClamma said.

Behind the scenes, performance preparation included tedious coordination and lengthy set-up by both band student leaders and the tech team. In addition, all band and choir levels underwent rigorous practice, which paid off with music everyone can enjoy.

“As far as the performance goes, I couldn’t be happier, even from the sound check rehearsal earlier today to the performance, which was the strongest yet, which is what we hope for,” band director Zachary Borquez said.

The event closed with choir, wind ensemble and chamber orchestra on Thursday, Oct. 9. In case you missed the show, check out the recording on the Oak Park Music Archives YouTube channel.