Art can often be a response to current events and changes in culture or a reflection of people’s emotions during tumultuous times. Galvanized by the recent calls for racial and social justice, as well as the ongoing pandemic, students at Choate joined students from five other New England schools — Kingswood Oxford School, The Loomis Chaffee School, Deerfield Academy, The Hotchkiss School, and Phillips Exeter Academy — to form the Renaissance Ensemble and create art inspired by the current moment.
On August 30, as a fundraiser for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) Legal Defense and Education Fund (LDF), the Renaissance Ensemble debuted their concert “The Key to Change” via YouTube.
Hotchkiss student Benjamin Weiss ’21 gave a statement on the formation and tenets of the Ensemble: “A group of eleven strangers with the connection of being high school students, of having love and passion for musical theater … got together on Zoom to open their hearts and do what they love. From that, the Renaissance Ensemble was born.” Since the original Renaissance era was born from the bubonic plague, the Renaissance Ensemble was fittingly born from the coronavirus pandemic.
Choate students contributed a rendition of “Wait For It” from Hamilton: An American Musical. The video featured soloists Maxwell Brown ’21, Lucas Eggers ’21, Eliza Marovitz ’21, Dominic Thomas ’21, Cristian Castro ’22, and Skye Figueroa ’22; the ensemble was comprised of Sabrina Carlier ’21, Will Flamm ’21, Emily Goodwin ’21, Matthew Syms ’21, and Ava Maha ’23.
“The Ensemble provided a sense of unity in a lonely time,” Maha said. “Virtual rehearsal was a great way to rekindle friendships with familiar faces.”
The Ensemble has a focus on social justice; as part of “The Key of Change” performance, the Ensemble started a GoFundMe campaign to raise money for the LDF. The group expressed that their beliefs center on progress and equality, voicing their support for the Black Lives Matter movement. Furthermore, they stated that systemic change is necessary to bring about equality, and the arts have the power to open hearts and minds and inspire change.
“In our schools, institutions that pride themselves as learning communities of diverse and supportive members, we’ve heard countless stories on how that hasn’t been and still is not the case,” Weiss said. “Your voice has an impact. You have an impact. What you learn, what you do with that knowledge has an impact,” he continued. “So share it, find others, speak out, make change, because your voice matters.”
