Contemporary Music Club President Gavin Thornton had mixed emotions Friday as the group took the stage — it would be the final performance for him and the other seniors.
The Contemporary Music Club (CMC) hosted their second and last CMC Nite of the year.
“There’s a bit of sadness to it because I’ve been doing this throughout all of high school, and this will be my final one, but I’m still very excited,” Thornton said prior to the event.
The club every semester puts on CMC Nite in the Black Box Theater. Friday’s performance was themed around the 1969 Woodstock Music and Art Fair. CMC members played songs such as Bob Dylan’s “Make You Feel My Love” and Sly and the Family Stone’s “I Want to Take You Higher.”
Thornton discovered CMC his freshman year when a friend brought him to a meeting; there, he “quickly fell in love with the atmosphere, the environment [and] the people.” He described CMC as “a home away from home.”
While he loves the community, Thornton’s favorite part about the club is the performances. He has always been passionate about self-expression through music. Indeed, Thornton has been playing music since he was 8; today, as part of CMC, he mainly plays the drums.
Music Advisor and junior Brady Rice, too, enjoys playing onstage the most out of what he does at CMC. He loves working with other CMC members, “but it all pays off … CMC Nite,” he said. Even when he’s not onstage, he loves watching the members that he’s helped as the music advisor finally demonstrate how far they’ve come in front of an audience.
“You get to see this performer really grow into this song and get comfortable with the group. That’s a really beautiful thing,” Rice said.
Like Gavin, Rice found CMC to be like a home.
“It’s a family … I consider some of these people I work with like siblings,” he said.
Rice found out about CMC because he was taking a piano class taught by its advisor, Mr. Stratos Argyriou. Rice then introduced his friend Ian de Almagro to CMC when their band needed a drummer. De Almagro decided to stay in CMC; now it’s his junior year and he has taken up the role of event organizer.
De Almagro’s favorite part of CMC is sharing his love of music with other members such as sophomores Corey Harrison and Kamran Kalwar and junior Isabella Torres.
Curiously, Harrison never actually signed up for the club. Instead, his friend sophomore Pascal Brinkmann did it for him. Since Harrison had always been keen on joining because he was friends with Rice, he has remained a member of the club.
Many students define their high school experience by their academic rigor or their athleticism, he said; CMC and the opportunities it offers are how Harrison defines his. That includes the diversity of the club’s members.
“There’s no greater group of people to be around at Heritage than CMC,” he said.
Kalwar similarly appreciates the people brought together by the club.
“It’s a good community of a bunch of talented musicians … we can all put our talent together and play music,” he said.
He wishes he had joined earlier, as personal reasons had interfered with his participation last year. However, Kalwar believes it’s never too late to join—in fact, a senior joined the club early 2025, and they still had the opportunity to play music alongside the other members.
Like others, Torres values CMC’s sense of community. Indeed, it was the welcoming nature of the club that motivated her to join. After joining, she became good friends with many club members.
“There’s no judgment here,” she said. “It’s just a place to be yourself.”
