From K-Pop to classical music, a wide variety of genres were performed at the Raise The Roof concert on April 12. The concert showcased members of Chamber Music Club, Coffeehouse and K-Pop Dance Club (KDC). The concert was planned with the help of Service Club Imagine (SCI) to host a fundraiser performance for Hope House, an emergency safe shelter for youths who are experiencing homelessness or similar situations. 

With $5 tickets and additional funds from Vanco, money raised went directly to Hope House as donations. Aileen Dosev, ‘23; Autumn Eversman, ‘23; Lily Kamrath, ‘23; Elise Pudwill, ‘23; Elizabeth Wang, ‘22; April Wang, ‘23; and Q Hoppe, ‘23 spent months planning the Raise The Roof concert.

The first group to perform was a string quartet that included Elsa Johnson, ‘22, cello; Lucy Snow, ‘25, violin; Amanda Webster, ‘24, violin; and Anika Lang, ‘23, violin. They performed Mozart’s “Eine Kleine Nachtmusik.” The challenging part about the piece was that everyone’s part in the quartet was extremely exposed, so everyone had to feel confident about their parts. In addition, the group worked on balance, projection and playing at a steady tempo. 

The next string quartet included Annalise Smith, ‘23, cello; Ken Smith, ‘23, violin; Mackenzie Eresov, ’23, violin; and Rebecca Pace, ‘22, flute. The group performed “Divertimento 6” by Haydn and “Canon in D” by Pachebel. The group then surprised the audience by suddenly transitioning to “Never Gonna Give You Up” by Rick Astley. 

According to Smith, it was easy to play “Canon in D” and “Never Gonna Give You Up” because the group had already played it for Musical Telegrams during Heart Week. 

Next was a piano trio that included Meiling Mathur, ‘23; April Wang, ‘23; and Isabela Snow, ‘23, who played the third movement of Debussy’s “Piano Trio,” an impressionist era classical piece. 

To finish off the Chamber Music groups, Mathur and Wang performed “Merry-Go-Round of Life” by Joe Hisaishi, the classic theme from the Studio Ghibli film, Howl’s Moving Castle. 

After the Chamber Music groups, two indie rock groups from Coffeehouse came onstage. The first group to perform was Dead Mother Scavenger, which included Malin Denton, ‘23, guitar and vocals; Izzy Fossing, ‘23, guitar and vocals; Matilda Bak, ‘23, drummer; and Lucas Silva, ‘23, bass. They performed “Bags” by Clairo, “Break” by Alex G and “My Kind of Woman” by Mac Demarco.

Next was the Bluefin which included Katie Garner, ‘24, lead singer and guitar; Oskar Hafner-Orange, ‘24, drums; and Quin Hafner-Orange, ‘24. The group performed “Madeline,” an untitled song about summer, and “1979” by The Smashing Pumpkins. Written by Oskar Hafner-Orange himself, “Madeline” is one of the first original songs that the group ever played. The untitled song about summer was written by Quin Hafner-Orange. 

After a ten minute intermission, KDC stole the spotlight with their choreographic dances. The members performed “Magic” by TXT, “Lovely” by Billie Eilish, “Lovesick Girls” by BLACKPINK, “Black Mamba” by aespa, and “LOCO” by ITZY. Members of KDC who performed in the concert included Anna Nodsle, ‘23; Chae Lee, ‘22; Elizabeth Wang, ‘22; Q Hoppe, ‘23; Jin Bang, ‘22; Sophia Claeys, ‘23; Kei Faeldonea, ‘25; Aleen Jude, ‘23; Liliana Magnuson, ‘24; Aero Oh, ‘25; Sabrina Pietrafitta, ‘24; Indie Potas, ‘25; Abby Schmidt, ‘23; Stella Stinnett, ‘25; Lulu Vega, ‘25; Enrong Yao, ‘22, and Felix Monicatti, ‘25. 

To prepare for the concert, the KDC members rehearsed for over four months. They chose their outfits based off of what the original dancers wore or the general concept of the song. Furthermore, a lot of the members had to learn the majority of their parts at home which can be difficult, especially for self-taught dancers. 

“Synchronization is always the hardest part of any group dance, and that’s the snag that was hit most often.” Hoppe said. “However, the hours of practice certainly paid off.” 

Another struggle that KDC encountered was that dancers needed to change and prepare for their next dance to keep the concert running as smoothly as possible. 

“Backstage in between performances was a chaotic mess of people shouting, frantically running around and helping others get changed in time for their next song, and I found this adorable,” Pudwill said. 

Many friends, families and teachers came to the concert, and the event was such a success that more seats were needed for everyone to watch the performances. The concert raised around $1200. 

Overall, those who were part of this project had fun participating. 

“Every performance we do feels life-changing in a way. It’s just such an amazing experience every time”, Oskar Hafner-Orange said. “Being around and performing with so many other extremely talented people felt incredible.” 

Pudwill agreed that that concert was a huge success.

“[The concert] turned out even better than I could have ever imagined, and I’m so glad to have been part of it,” Pudwill said.