Music rings through the rows in the auditorium as hundreds of students from Lincoln Park, Beacon Academy, and Chicago Math and Science Academy join the Parker Concert Band, Advanced Wind Ensemble, Special Chorus, and Grape Jam. On February 1st, from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m., these students will be learning from guest conductors to improve their music and performance technique. Doors open to the public at 7 p.m., where students will be performing a selection of songs for the first time as a whole.   

After four weeks of practicing, the Concert Band and Advanced Wind Ensemble will join and perform with band ensembles from Lincoln Park High School and the Chicago Math and Science Academy. Grape Jam and Special Chorus will join choirs from Lincoln Park High School and Beacon Academy to perform a selection of songs.

“This is special because this is the first time we get to do something collaborative with students that might be complete strangers in the beginning, but at the end, we are one,” Music Teacher Alec Synakowski said.

After school, from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m., these musical groups will be working with guest conductors to practice their pieces and prepare for performances. The performances will be in the auditorium at 7 p.m. on Friday.

“I am excited for the music festival because it will be amazing to be a part of so many people coming together and communicating through the same form of art,” Freshman and Concert Band member Ava Utigard said.

This music festival is being held at Parker for the fourth consecutive year, and it is the largest it has ever been with four schools bringing in their musicians. In the past, Parker has just partnered with the Latin Band and Choir. The event was started in 2016 by the Parker music department as a way to connect with choirs and bands from other schools and bring in guest conductors to provide students with a new perspective on teaching. “It provides our students with an experience to broaden Parker’s place in the independent school community,” Music teacher and Music Department Chair Kingsley Tang said. “Parker students know kids from other schools, but they didn’t know kids from other schools as musicians.”  

There will be over 120 choir students from Lincoln Park High School, Beacon Academy, and Parker performing as a whole. “Singing in a group of a hundred or more singers is powerful,” Upper School Choir Director Emma Castaldi said. “It’s so cool to hear yourself as one voice within a giant group, and it’s very magical when that sort of thing comes together.”

The auditorium will be filled with 100 band students from the participating schools. The ensemble of all 100 students will perform Into the Clouds! by Richard Saucedo and Marche Slav by Tchaikovsky. “You get to see what music looks like for people outside (of Parker),” Synakowski said. “When you make music with somebody, you’re almost communicating with them in another language. It’s really, really special.”

After winter break ended, Grape Jam and Special Chorus began learning the pieces that will be performed at the festival. During the festival, students get a chance to sing and practice with their teacher and an outside director. “You learn some new ideas from them, get a different style of learning and teaching from them,” Castaldi said, “and it’s refreshing,” This year, the conductor who will be teaching a workshop with all the choir students will be Sarah Catt, a Choir teacher at Elk Grove High School.

For students, the event is mostly workshops with guest conductors. Conductors refine and polish the pieces that the choirs have been working on and teach new warm-ups and performance techniques to the students. “I liked learning with the conductor the most [last year]. It was nice to see how they got their choirs warmed up compared to ours and how they directed their choir,” junior Grape Jam and Special Chorus member Isabella Gomez-Barrientos said. “It’s good to have more than one conductor that will help you improve upon what you want to do.”

The workshops provide an opportunity for students to learn in new ways with a new way of teaching. “As a choir, it gives them an opportunity to work with another director,” Middle School Music Director Rob Denien said. “It’s valuable to hear someone else’s feedback and ways of approaching choral education. It allows them to collaborate with other choirs and sing with other people – which is always a great experience.” Students spend two hours during the event working with guest conductors and other students.

Guest conductors and connections to the partnering schools stem from connections from the music teachers. Guest conductor Steve Martin, who will be directing the band, works closely with Synakowski. Lincoln Park High School Choir Director Ian Martin was a peer of Castaldi in college. The past guest band conductor reached out to Chicago Math and Science Academy as a way to expand the event. Beacon Academy reached out to the Parker music department as a way to grow their own choir program.

“Even though sometimes it’s hard to branch out and connect to people who aren’t in your normal day to day, everyone wins when you do,” Synakowski said.“It’s that that is at the heart of this festival.”