Each year, orchestra combines with a part of band to present Pops by the Pond, an outdoor concert which features songs from Pirates of the Caribbean, Indiana Jones and the Phantom of the Opera, among other modern music. This year, the annual performance will take place on Fri., May 23 at 7 p.m.

Pops by the Pond is different from Stay Day – while both feature music performances by the pond, the former has a much larger scale and focuses more on the performance itself. According to orchestra Vice President senior Evelyn Shen, around 180 musicians from orchestra alone will be performing this Fri.

“My favorite part about it is that this is the only concert everybody in orchestra performs,” Shen said. “It’s really fun just to be able to have the entire orchestra together. We will start at 7 and hopefully go until around sunset.”

As Drum Major, senior Shelagh Haney’s main job for the performance is to conduct musicians from band.

“You would think that it’s hard conducting so many people,” Haney said. “But if I keep my eye contact with people, it’s not so difficult.”

Haney said that while she enjoys the concert every year,the most difficult part about the performance is the rehearsals.

“There are a lot of people in rehearsals every time,” Haney said. “It gets very hot with around 180 people in one room.”

Shen agreed with Haney, and said it had been a struggle for the orchestra and band directors to keep everybody motivated at rehearsals. However, to accommodate every student, the directors came up with an attendance policy that allowed each person to miss up to one hour of rehearsals.

Senior Jesse Grant of Chamber Orchestra said that even though the rehearsals were painful during AP exam weeks, the concert itself is enjoyable.

“It’s the last concert of the school year,” Grant said. “We recognize that any other experience we have will never be similar to it. We’ll never be akin to it.”