Instrumentalists, Singers, Dancers Perform at Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City for "Be Worthy" Fundraising Campaign Event

COURTESY OF DEERFIELD COMMUNICATIONS

Vocal ensemble members, chamber musicians and dancers performed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City on the evening of May 13, in an event kickstarting the Academy’s new “Be Worthy” fundraising campaign. 

The campaign—with a goal of 500 million dollars, which would set a fundraising record for the Academy—has raised 340 million so far, Head of School John Austin announced at the event.

Interim Director of the Arts and Choral Director Mike Pfitzer first asked his Vocal Ensemble class about who was interested in attending the event a few months prior. According to Ella Waag ’26, a singer in Vocal Ensemble, the trip was in high demand, and all of the seniors in the class decided to attend. 

The group had started working on their piece, a traditional Zimbabwe miner’s song, Shosholoza, in the fall, coming back to it to practice with the Met-sized group. At first, the plan was to perform two pieces, starting with a softer song that “fit [their] skillset more” Waag said. 

But after Dr. Pfitzer and Director of Music Thomas Bergeron met with the planning and coordinating company, Empire Entertainment, the group decided to stick to one high-energy, upbeat number for the night. 

According to Mr. Bergeron, the purpose of the performances was not to provide a far-reaching overview of the arts departments—a model they’d followed at previous external showcases, such as the trip to Carnegie Hall last spring. 

More broadly, Dr. Pfitzer said that the event was extensively planned “to cater to the audience experience, at all levels,” not to demonstrate the Academy’s high-level mastery of a specific discipline. The group of eight string players who performed during the main-course had planned, at first, to perform front-and-center, rather than as background music. When Mr. Bergeron first told the musicians about the change before the event, they still wanted to play.

A few musicians expressed reluctance about playing only in the background. “For some of us, the octet was the only thing we played, and it’s not the best feeling playing when the entire crowd’s milling around talking to each other,” said chamber musician and Associate Editor for the Deerfield Scroll Naomi Kim ’28, but she did add that the performance was more relaxing and low-stakes.

For Mr. Bergeron and Dr. Pfitzer, they felt that the event was good practice for the students to have an experience as artists tailoring their art to an audience. The two of them, Mr. Bergeron said, spent their lives learning “not only how to do what [they] do well but to think about the audience experience.”

Dr. Pfitzer described the event as a series of small and specific moments in the schedule. On Empire Entertainment’s website, the company, an event production agency based in New York City, Los Angeles, and Tokyo, states, “We produce moments that matter.” 

When the music department received instruction from Empire to find “upbeat, lively music for cocktail hour,” they thought that the Other Doors, the Academy’s all-school meeting band, would be the best fit. 

A few months before the event, the dance department also began planning their portion of the night. Costume Designer Karen St. Pierre found out in March that the dancers would need seven entirely handmade costumes, after Director of Dance Heather Holohan-Guarnieri shared a choreography video with her as inspiration for the dancers’ costumes. 

After spring break, the two gathered to plan the performance—everthing from costumes, makeup and choreography to transport and logistics. At first, the team had a material concern and worried about static during the bus ride.

And, Ms. Karen said, she had to think about the flips and tricks, constructing costumes with the dancers’ individual movements in mind. Each handmade costume was also stylistically personalized, modeled after traditional Grecian styles.

“Each kid was their own classic tableau state,” she said. 

The octet opened the dinner portion of the evening, and four of the eight chamber musicians accompanied the dancers during their piece—which they’d also performed together at the Spring Chamber Music Showcase the weekend before—later in the programming. 

The group of instrumentalists, singers and dancers returned just after two in the morning.