On Friday, May 29, Performance Workshop (PW) held their last show of the year in the Little Theater, orchestrated by Mario Aparicio, the Archie Williams music director. The event featured students from both PW classes split into several different bands, each with their own unique style. The performance started at 6 p.m., ended at 10:30 p.m, and featured a total of 10 PW bands and four Guitar Workshop (GW) groups.
The original plan, Aparicio explained, was to split the groups up over two days. Unfortunately, they had to cancel the performance on Thursday because of Senior Awards Night and move all bands to the second day. As a result, the show on Friday was twice as long as normal.
“Tonight was the Performance Workshop Music Festival. We call it the festival because tonight it was all the bands playing back-to-back, and it was a four-hour show, which is crazy, but we did it, and it all went well, and it was really fun,” Aparicio said.
The event opened with four performances from students in GW. They performed selections from a mix of genres, including “Stand By Me” by Ben E. King and “Let Her Go” by Passenger, which featured a solo performance by junior Shane Hartman.
Throughout the night, Aparicio awarded students who demonstrated exceptional character, leadership, and musical talent. He also gave each graduating senior a medal as a departing gift.
“When I was in high school, I got [a medal] too, and so I wanted to give them the same experience… I got the medals from the same place that my high school bought them from, and I designed my own logo and created everything from scratch,” Aparicio said.
Each band performed songs from a wide range of music genres, with sets stretching from three songs to six. Some of the most well-received performances included “Just A Girl” by No Doubt, sung by junior Lilly Zucker; “November Rain” by Guns N’ Roses, sung by junior Petra Betti and senior Sadie Moors, with a guitar solo from Fin Donnelley; and “Suddenly I See” by KT Tunstall, sung by freshmen Sonny Capobianco and Nadia Rajparia.
Because of the limited seating and unusual format of the show, Aparicio encouraged audience members to stay only for the performances of their choice. By the time the fourth band came out on stage, the Little Theatre was packed, with some audience members sitting in the aisles to watch the show.
By 8 p.m., the audience started to thin out, and by 10 p.m., only a small group of students and family members remained. Despite the small audience size, the bands who performed later in the night still managed to keep the energy high, with spectators loudly encouraging and interacting with them. Sophomore Everett Connell, who performed with the second band of the night, commented on the length of the show.
“I think it was pretty long, but I stayed through the whole thing, and it was really fun to see everyone [perform],” Everett said.
Sadie, one of the graduating seniors, reflected on her experience in PW. This was her first year in PW, joining the class as a singer in her last year at Archie Williams.
“I love to sing, and I found out about [PW] in my sophomore year, and I was just really nervous to join because I had really bad stage fright… I signed myself up at the end of junior year, and now I have completely gotten over my fear of being on stage, and found a very deep love for singing in front of people and performing. [PW] has really helped me find something that I will love to do for the rest of my life,” Sadie said.
This performance marks PW’s final act, but Aparicio has organized a few more performances before the summer. Some members of PW and Jazz Band, along with the Band and Orchestra class, will perform at the Archie Williams graduation ceremony Thursday, June 11, and several members of the Jazz Band will perform in the Fairfax Festival Saturday, June 13.
