Above: ARHS Pops Night 2016 (posted to YouTube by Southborough Access Media)
Earlier this month, Algonquin held its annual Pops Night. As always, the event features performances by the school’s vocal and instrumental ensembles. This year, two of the pieces held special meaning for Southborough students and audience members.
The school paper covered the event the tributes to Southborough’s late Eric Green:
Green, a member of the class of 2017, passed away unexpectedly; his life and death made a lasting impact on his classmates. In tribute of their friend, Jazz I performed “Kaleidoscope” by Erik Morales and Wind Ensemble played “A Kind and Gentle Soul” by James Swearingen. Morales and Swearingen, two professional composers, wrote the pieces in honor of Green.
“The students who played in the Wind Ensemble were in eighth grade when [Green] passed away,” Wind Ensemble director Amy Collins said. “They weren’t able to play the commission [then] because they had moved up to the high school by the time. They’re seniors now; and they got to play [the commissioned piece] at Pops Night. That was special. It touched a lot of people in the audience that knew Eric.”
Collins chose the June 1 Pops Night to perform the songs in remembrance of Green because the 2015-2016 school year would have been his first playing in the bands featured at the concert.
Kaliedescope begins about 1 hour and 50 minutes into the above video. Kind & Gentle Soul is 2 hours and 22 minutes in.
For the full Algonquin Harbinger story, click here.
