The Spring Pops concert took over Orthwein Theatre with a bang last week, offering an enthusiastic audience a wide variety of pop hits combined with creative choreography and stage design. MacKenzie Macam ’20 said, “The Spring Pops Concert was so much fun and super energetic. We practiced super hard and made lots of memories!”
Our MICDS Pops Concert is a high energy, fully choreographed concert accompanied by a professional stage band, featuring some of the best in pop music—both current charts as well as several throwback pieces.
Artists being featured this year included One Direction, Imagine Dragons, Walk the Moon, Bruno Mars, Charli XCX, Pink, DNCE, Ruth B, Harry Styles, and PORTUGAL, The Man. Throwback artists included Twisted Sister, Toto, ABBA, Survivor, The Weather Girls, Whitney Houston, and Billy Joel. Every generation in the audience found something to enjoy.
At the Thursday, April 25 performance, Annabelle Abramov ’22, Elena Thomas ’20 and Nicholas Mellanby ’19 performed solos. Annabell sang The Climb by Miley Cyrus, Elena sang Dancing On My Own by Robyn and Nicholas brought out his guitar to enhance his performance of Shape of You by Ed Sheeran.
Featured Soloists for the for the Friday, April 26 performance included Charlie B. Southern ’19 and Zion Thomas ’19 who teamed up to rock Dream On by Aerosmith and McKay Marshall ’19 who offered a melodic, hauntingly beautiful rendition of Lady Gaga’s Poker Face. For the second night in a row, Nicholas Mellanby ’19 took the stage with his guitar to perform Shape of You.
In between each song, students introduced the next choral group or performance. They usually included a joke or witty commentary, and it was evident every performer was having a blast.
Caroline Sant ’19 embraced her last Pops Concert. She said, “The Spring Pops Concert is always what I look forward to most. It is my all-time favorite concert we get to perform not only because I am given the opportunity to choreograph some of the numbers, but because I get to watch everyone else get a little out of their comfort zone. This year was especially my favorite because it was my last year. The senior choir really came together for one last celebration and it was a blast! This will be one of my favorite memories from MICDS.”
Mr. Dana Self, Upper School Choral Director, took the stage after both spectacular performances to introduce seniors, recognize achievements (stay tuned: we’ll post an article soon announcing all choral and band awards) and to thank supporters. He called out Bianca Sforza ’19 for her work on lighting for this year and the last three. Bianca is heading to Carnegie Mellon to study lighting design for theater. Mr. Self also recognized the work of the Class of 2019 to raise money for the Children’s Miracle Network. A series of events held throughout the year raised over $13,000 for CMN, with the last round of donations coming from Pops Concert audience members who generously contributed after the show. The MICDS Arts Backers hosted a reception in the Messing Gallery following the concert.
Mark your calendars for the 2020 Spring Pops Concert! The dates for next year are Thursday, April 23 and Friday, April 24, 2020.