As announced in the spring, the Harker Conservatory has again been invited to perform at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in summer 2011. Originally, the group had planned to perform “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee.” However, that show is currently making its British premiere in London’s West End theater district, so rights to perform it in the U.K. have been restricted.
Undeterred, Laura Lang-Ree, director, and her creative staff brainstormed and have announced that “Pippin” will replace “Spelling Bee” as next year’s spring and Fringe musical.
The show, the 30th longest-running production on Broadway, is an unusual take on Pippin, son of Charlemagne, and his voyage of self-discovery. The play will be updated to modern times and given a current sensibility along the lines of the Broadway smash “American Idiot.”
Audition times have not changed, and more information is available in the Harker Parent Portal (HPP),in the back-to-school hub under Optional Programs and Forms in Encore!, the Conservatory’s newsletter.
Both boys and girls swim teams came in second in the league championships, where our swimmers set WBAL records in many events. At the CCS finals, the boys team was recognized as the CCS scholastic team champions; both boys and girls teams went on to place the highest in Harker history. The boys team placed fourth and girls placed eighth – a huge contrast to five years ago, when the teams had never scored at CCS.
Jessica Khojasteh, Gr. 11, won the 200 individual medley in 2:03:11, which is the first-ever CCS title in any sport for Harker. Khojasteh is also Harker’s female athlete of the year. The boys 200 medley relay team of Kevin Khojasteh, Gr. 10, Michael Clifford, Gr. 12, Daryl Neubieser, Gr. 10 and Cole Davis, Gr. 12, finished second at CCS with Davis also taking second in both the 50 and 100 free. Kevin Khojasteh also took second in the 100 breaststroke.
Golf
The boys golf team qualified for CCS regionals for the first time in school history as an at-large bid, where the boys placed eighth. Individually, Maverick McNealy, Gr. 9, qualified for the CCS finals by shooting a 75, once again making Harker history. McNealy shot a 73 for a top ten finish at CCS, one short of qualifying for the Nor Cal tournament. His score made him first alternate for that tournament. James Feng, Gr. 12, just missed qualifying for CCS, eagling the final hole for a 76. Yash Khandwala, Gr. 12, Jeremy Whang, Gr. 12, Ram Seeni, Gr. 11 and Kyle Roter, Gr. 9, also played very well.
Boys Volleyball
The boys volleyball team ended their regular season by defeating both King’s Academy and Saratoga. The playoff season came to a close May 13 at Mitty in the CCS quarterfinals. Despite the huge, supportive crowd cheering for Harker, the Monarchs defeated the Eagles 18-25, 22-25, 25-23, 18-25. The boys ended their season 25-10 overall with a third place finish in league.
Girls Lacrosse
Girls lacrosse defeated Woodside 13-8 on senior day to earn their fifth win of the season, which is a program record! Michelle Douglas, Gr. 9, scored five goals and Monisha Appalaraju, Gr. 11, scored three. The team ended with a 5-4 league record.
Tennis
The boys tennis season came to a close May 14 as they lost 6-1 to Bellarmine in the second round of CCS. The team finished second place in league behind Menlo.
Softball
Softball ended their season with victories over Mercy-San Francisco, 13-3 and Pinewood, 6-1. Arthi Padmanabhan and Shizuka Tiernan, both Gr. 12, were both three for four batting against Mercy. The team ended with a 4-10 league record.
Baseball
Baseball ended its season May 14 with a 9-5 loss against league champion Sacred Heart Prep. Stefan Eckhardt, Gr. 12, had two hits and Greg Plauck, Gr. 12, had two RBIs. The boys finished their season with an 11-15-1 overall record and 5-5 in league for a third place finish.
Track and Field
The boys took third out of nine teams at league finals, with three seniors qualifying for CCS. Thomas Enzminger threw for
first in the discus and second in shot put, qualifying in both events. Scott Underwood took second in the discus and qualified for CCS and Aadithya Prakash took first in the 3,200. Michael Chen, Gr. 9, also qualified in the shot put and was the only freshman to participate in this event at CCS.
The National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NSMC) recently announced its final round of college-sponsored scholarship winners, and 2010 graduate Patrick Campbell was named the winner of the National Merit Colby College Scholarship. Harker’s first National Merit winner, graduate Sarah Teplitsky, was announced in April. An additional 21 winners, the most in California, were announced in May. Later that month, three more graduates were named in the third round.
The California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) recently released its list of Academic Team Champions for the 2009-10 school year, and Harker’s upper school football, wrestling and boys swimming squads were all named state champions for their exceptional GPAs. Harker tied with San Diego County’s La Costa Canyon High School for the highest number of teams to win the honor.
The upper school’s performing arts division, the Conservatory, proudly announced its 2010-11 season in May.
The fall play, directed by Jeffrey Draper, will be Shakespeare’s “Much Ado About Nothing.” This romantic tale takes place in a coastal city when a troupe of military victors comes home from war. Draper will be setting his version in 1945, with the boys coming back from defeating Hitler and Japan in World War II. Auditions will be Sept. 6-9.
The musical theater department was invited, for the second time, to participate in the world’s most prestigious arts festival, the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, sponsored by the American High School Theatre Festival. This year’s musical, “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee,” directed by Laura Lang-Ree with musical direction by Catherine Snider, will travel to the Fringe in August, 2011. Because of the extensive planning involved in taking the show on the road, auditions for the musical will be the week of Sept. 20, not in February as is usual.
Details for both shows will be posted in the daily bulletin and announced on campus when school begins. Students of all grades are encouraged to audition.
Cantilena, the upper school all-female classical vocal group, and Guys’ Gig, the all-boys vocal club, teamed up April 29 for a special concert in the Nichols Hall auditorium, directed by Susan Nace. Cantilena performed beautiful works by Japanese composer Ro Ogura, Thomas Weelkes, J.S. Bach and more. Meanwhile, Guys’ Gig brought a more modern vibe, singing “Take the ‘A’ Train” by jazz great Billy Strayhorn and “Change the World,” made famous by Eric Clapton. Several soloists and small groups were also featured at the show, including Mallika Dhaliwal, Gr. 11, singing “Ici-bas!” by Gabriel Fauré, Curran Kaushik, Gr. 12, performing Vincenzo Bellini’s “Vaga Luna Che Inargenti” and seniors Jackie Ho, Samir Datta and junior Ben Tien singing “Hey, Soul Sister” by the rock group Train.
For the first time, choirs from all three campuses came together one March evening for the United Voices concert, which featured the lower school’s Bucknall Choir, the Gr. 7-8 singing group Vivace (both directed by Jennifer Cowgill) and the upper school groups Bel Canto, directed by Catherine Snider, and Cantilena, directed by Susan Nace. All four groups thoroughly entertained the evening audience at the Blackford Theater, each singing pieces in a number of different styles from cultures all over the world. Among the many highlights were the Bucknall Choir’s version of the Spanish folk song “Que Llueva,” Vivace’s rendition of Mozart’s “Luci Care,” a performance of the Mack Gordon and Harry Warren classic “At Last” by Bel Canto and the closing song, the American folk hymn “How Can I Keep From Singing?” by Cantilena.
The Senior Showcase in April was a fun tribute and tearful farewell to the graduating seniors who spent their high school years in the Harker Conservatory, as they finally received their certificates from the program. Each student performed a piece from the repertoires they’ve been crafting for four years before receiving their certificates in their disciplines (acting, dance, instrumental and vocal music, technical theater or musical theater). Graduating seniors who performed at or produced the showcase were: Nikita Agrawal, Natasha Chitkara, Priya Bhikha, Sarah Newton, Margaret Woods (Theater); Alison Axelrad, Veronica Hsieh, Valerie Hwa, Shanna Polzin, Adrienne Wong (Dance); Namrata Anand, Alexander Creasman, Scott Mohanram, Melinda Wang (Musical Theater); Erica Hansen, Jacob Schwartz, Scott Underwood (Technical Theater); Nicole Lindars, Anita Satish (Vocal Music); Sonya Huang, Carissa Jansen, Miriam Lee, Elodie Nguyen, Priya Sathaye, Julia Shim, Jacqueline Son, Elaine Song, Shizuka Tiernan (Instrumental Music).
The increasingly warmer weather provided the perfect atmosphere for the Songs Into Summer concert on April 30, featuring upper school vocal groups Bel Canto, directed by Catherine Snider, and Downbeat, directed by Snider and Laura Lang-Ree. The show featured several group performances, including Bel Canto’s versions of the Macedonian folk song “Tatkovina” and the African-American hymn “Bound for the Promised Land,” andDownbeat’s renditions of the Broadway standard “One” and the Billy Joel hit “River of Dreams.” Also singing Billy Joel was Downbeat soloist Christina Li, Gr. 11, who performed “And So It Goes,” and Anita Satish, Gr. 12 and James Seifert, Gr. 11, were crowd favorites with their duet, “The Prayer.” Towards the end of the evening, the graduating seniors featured in the show said their farewells to the audience before Downbeat performed the dramatic closing number, “Home” by pop star Chris Daughtry.
In March, the lower and upper school jazz bands presented an Evening of Jazz at the Blackford Theater. Directed by lower school music teacher Louis Hoffman, the lower school ensemble performed the John Coltrane standard “Blue Trane” and a special arrangement of the Deep Purple classic “Smoke on the Water.” To further liven things up, Hoffman and several members of the ensemble donned eye-catching and often silly hats. The Harker School Jazz Band, directed by Chris Florio, played a variety of tunes from greats such as Count Basie, George Gershwin and Arthur Hamilton. Running the gamut from rousing, upbeat swing numbers to slow, soulful ballads, the US band performed their set with equal parts subtlety and aplomb.