JUNE 24, 1928 – The National High School Orchestra Camp opened at Interlochen for the first time, welcoming more than one hundred young musicians and two dozen teachers to a summer they would never forget. The next Sunday, an audience arrived, curious to see what the orchestra of young musicians could accomplish in only six days. The guests were given a 32-page program book explaining how the orchestra and band came to be, with lists of the campers, advisors, faculty, staff and contributors, program notes for the concerts, and advance programs for the week ahead. There was even a report of a gentleman in England who had heard the orchestra’s Chicago performance in March via shortwave radio – a foreshadowing of Dr. Maddy’s international vision.
JUNE 6-7, 1963 – The first Arts Academy commencement exercises filled two days with intense activity that culminated in the presentation of diplomas to the first class of Interlochen graduates, which consisted of 24 seniors. The address at Thursday’s baccalaureate, titled “Interlochen Yesterday,” was given by Clyde Vroman, an Interlochen trustee and the director of admission at University of Michigan. The next day’s honors convocation included the salutatory and valedictory addresses and a speech, “Interlochen Today,” by the headmaster. The Friday evening graduation was a relatively simple affair and featured little more than Dr. Maddy’s address, “Interlochen Tomorrow.” (Did you guess that was coming?) Four new buildings were also dedicated during the festivities, including the Jessie V. Stone building, the Dow Science rotunda, WIAA Radio and the Giddings Concourse.
JUNE 11, 1965 and 1971 – These dates share the dubious distinction of being the latest dates of Academy graduation, back in the era when they were on Friday mornings. In those years, classes began in mid-September, we did not break for Thanksgiving Day and the December and March recesses were longer. Most academic years extended into the first week of June. The earliest graduation occurred in 2009 when the 47th senior class graduated on May 23rd.
JUNE 2-4, 1977 – The Academy’s 15th year closed with a day-and-a-half “Festival ‘77,” followed by graduation on Saturday morning. Previous years had ended with a scattering of concerts, but this new format demonstrated what the school is truly all about to students’ families, many of whom had not visited the campus during the year. Highlighting all arts areas, the end-of-year Festival is a tradition that has continued ever since.
JUNE 27, 1996 – In the category of unusual double-features, or “New Age meets the Old,” the Interlochen Arts Festival hosted Yanni in Corson at 7 p.m. and Little Richard in Kresge at 8:00. The Yanni event was principally a technological experiment during which Corson auditorium was linked to a half dozen sites around the world, where small groups of mostly bleary-eyed kids were gathered to share in a question-and-answer session with the Greek-born composer and keyboardist. Although a pioneering effort, the global meeting became a major frustration for the organizers as lapses in both audio and video transmission made it seem as though we were trying to reach another galaxy rather than merely other continents. Perhaps the audience for Little Richard ultimately came out ahead that night!
