Last hurrah for grads
Virtual concert being planned by high school students
SYDNEY — Two students from Riverview High School and one from Sydney Academy are planning a virtual concert as a way for grads to celebrate during the COVID19 pandemic.
Zachary Fraser, David Cassagrande and Nathan Grosset are all graduating this year and are organizing the event for the classes of 2020 in Cape Breton. Their hope is to bring some of the “hoopla” back for the grads who are dealing with the cancellation of all traditional celebrations and ceremonies due to the health protection orders in place in Nova Scotia to stop the spread of COVID-19.
“The point of this concert is to have some sort of proper celebration event for the graduates,” said Fraser, 18, who is in Grade 12 at Sydney Academy.
“We want to give everybody a chance to have a final hurrah… Our big goal is to let everybody take back the lost opportunities and not let the pandemic have the final word.”
The three have been friends for many years and all play together. They have been working on different arrangements of songs for the year-end concert all year until the event was cancelled due to COVID19 health protection orders in Nova Scotia.
"(After the concert was cancelled) I decided why did we have to depend on the school system when we're old enough (to organize one ourselves)," said Cassagrande who came up with the idea to host their own virtual concert.
"Between the three of us, we have the knowledge to make it work. So we decided to step forward and offer this celebration and time to come together for all grads from all over the Cape Breton Regional-Victoria Centre for Education."
The virtual concert will feature recorded videos of the musical numbers from participating high school students within the Cape Breton Regional-Victoria Centre for Education. The organizers want to have at least an hour of music, which they believe can be achieved with 10 different acts.
Other graduates will get to watch the concert together via a video sharing or live streaming platform where the students can be together virtually, enjoying one of their last high school events.
Fraser, who will be taking electrical engineering at Dalhousie in the fall, has experience in recording, mixing and mastering. He will be giving tips on how to record to participating acts and helping mix down the recordings to ensure good quality. Cassagrande and Gosset will be emcees of the concert.
“We were hoping to have an in-person concert near the end of the summer,” Fraser explained. “When we realized that wasn't going to work out, we were searching for something else to do. Then David came to me with this idea.”
The teens aren't sure when they'll hold their virtual concert or on what video sharing platform. Right now they are focused on finding enough acts to fill at least an hour — 10 acts plus their own music.
Launching the virtual concert idea Tuesday night via social media, the trio has already secured a couple of acts.
If they aren't able to find enough acts in the student population of the Cape Breton Regional-Victoria Centre for Education, Fraser said they will expand their search to other school districts.
Once they know they have enough acts, Fraser said they'll determine when the concert will happen and how other grads can tune in and work together.
Any graduates interested in performing in the virtual concert are asked to email Fraser at zach.fraser88@ gmail.com. Graduates wanting to attend the concert can also email Fraser.