Electrify Your Symphony returns to Bethel Park High School

Considering that the Beatles disbanded more than half a century ago, today’s teenagers couldn’t be blamed for considering their music to be ancient history.

Yet the George Harrison composition “Here Comes the Sun” is one of the songs in the repertoire for the upcoming Electrify Your Symphony performance at Bethel Park High School.

And it was the students’ idea.

“We were given a smorgasbord of choices, and then I sent the choices to the students and let them vote,” high school orchestra director Stephanie Glover said.

The ballots definitely favored songs of the 20th century, including a couple of tunes by Led Zeppelin, a band that effectively broke up in 1980.

“Honestly, I listen to a lot of this type of music, anyway,” junior Clara McGough said. “So it’s really fun to be able to play it.”

She will perform on violin with more than 100 other young musicians as Electrify Your Symphony returns to Bethel Park for the first time since 2019.

The international education program was created by electric violinist Mark Wood, a Trans-Siberian Orchestra alumnus, to bring a taste of the rock ’n’ roll stage to schools and, from ticket sales, to help finance music departments.

Leading the Bethel Park extravaganza is Greg Byers, who started playing cello at the Family Suzuki School of Rochester, N.Y., when he was just 2 1/2.

In addition to Zeppelin’s “Immigrant Song” and “Stairway to Heaven,” other selections chosen by the Bethel Park musicians include “Tom Sawyer” by Rush, “Sweet Child O’ Mine” by Guns N’ Roses, “Enter Sandman” by Metallica and a “Star Wars” medley.

“It’s a lot of fun to prepare for, and it’s going to be an awesome show,” first violinist Jake Kalogeris, an 11th-grader, said. “I think it will be especially cool for audience members who grew up with these songs to hear them, but also for audience members to hear songs from the past that they might not be aware of yet.”

Younger students are participating along with the high schoolers.

“I love the music. It’s fun to teach it. It’s fun to play. But the sense of community and family that this builds for the strings department is really special, because we get all the kids involved,” Glover said. “Elementary kids are taking tickets, and the middle school kids are getting to play on a few tunes.”

The Bethel Park Music Boosters group is providing support by hosting Byers during his visit, plus providing extras for the performance such as raffle baskets to support the fundraising cause further. And Bethel Park business Pasta Too will be feeding the students on show day, according to boosters special events coordinator Melissa Knight.

Byers will rehearse with the students to develop a show to be presented to an audience at 7 p.m. Jan. 6 in the high school auditorium. Select musicians will have the opportunity to play versions of their instruments built specifically for amplification and featuring some distinctive design flourishes.

“I think it will add a lot to the performance, having the different colors of the electric instruments as well as the acoustic,” McGough said. “It will be a cool mashup.”

The show features more than music.

“We do fun things with our instruments, too,” Kalogeris said. “We’ll throw our bows in the air, and the cellos will flip their instruments around really quickly. And then we’ll be dancing and marching to some songs.”

Glover particularly is looking forward to her students having a good time with Electrify Your Symphony.

“Some of them are perfectionists. They want everything to be played perfectly, and they don’t want to really move or groove or improvise,” she said. “Greg will get them to open up, and by the end, they’re spinning their cellos and they’re dancing. They loosen up. And they need that.”

Tickets are $5 in advance and $8 at the door for the Jan. 6 general admission show. To order tickets, email glover.stephanie@bphawks.org.