Liberty High School orchestra to remember fallen Lion

Musicians to perform concert in memory of Emily Burke

Emily, 15, died along with Rudolfo Calderon, 14, of Finksburg, in an April 15 single-car crash along Louisville Road in Louisville.

The community will get a chance to hear a part of Emily’s voice one last time as part of a special memorial tribute during a free 7 p.m. Wednesday orchestra performance at Liberty High School, 5855 Bartholow Road, Eldersburg.

A free spring band concert featuring the concert and symphonic bands and the wind ensemble will be at 7 p.m. Monday at the school.

Emily’s parents, Paul A. and Tracy L. Burke, brought Emily’s violin to the orchestra to be played by Emily’s best friend, Alison Hird, 15, of Sykesville, who survived the crash. Emily’s brother, Paul E. Burke, 17, also survived.

‘‘It was like all of a sudden her violin is playing again,” said Jason.

Alison, who sat beside Emily in orchestra since fourth grade, agreed. ‘‘It’s kind of like me talking for Emily because she can’t,” she said.

The orchestra is quite different without Emily, Jason said.

‘‘The overall dynamic of the class just dropped and became very sad and quiet and sorrowful,” she said. ‘‘The kids know we are doing this because we need to do this as individuals and as a group.”

Alison said the orchestra still misses her, and a group of girls will eat lunch in the band room instead of the cafeteria to talk about Emily.

‘‘It’s one more thing I can do for her,” she said about the solo.

Jason, who said she still has not come to grips with Emily’s death, decideaaad to take the spring concert as an opportunity to remember and celebrate Emily, a ‘‘peppy” and ‘‘lively” girl, she said.

The tribute will include a slideshow honoring Emily during the performance, a candlelit performance with the wind ensemble and percussion and a piece featuring Alison performing a solo on Emily’s violin.

Alison’s solo will be in ‘‘Ashoken Farewell,” which was popularized by the PBS miniseries ‘‘The Civil War,” Jason said, however the piece itself was written in the 1980s.

‘‘It can be melancholy, yet incredibly beautiful at the same time,” she said about the song. ‘‘I wanted to select a song that is very touching, but is very uplifting too.”

Another of Emily’s favorites, ‘‘Millennium,” will also be performed.

The concert also features pieces performed by the jazz ensemble and orchestra to satisfy curriculum requirements, which were planned before Emily’s death, Jason said.

One piece is from Disney’s ‘‘Pirates of the Caribbean,” which was a piece Emily pressed for, Jason said. The non-traditional selection is not something that Jason would normally select, but decided to break from tradition.

Emily loved one movement in the song because it reminded Emily of her favorite cartoon movie, ‘‘The Land Before Time,” Jason said.

Jason knows that the concert will be emotional, and prepared her musical ensembles with a speech to help them to be calm and in control.

‘‘We know going into it that we’re all going to be pretty upset, and that’s OK,” she said. ‘‘We’re going to do the best we can and do it for the love of Emily.”

Alison said Emily would have loved the concert.

‘‘I think she would think it was really cool,” she said. ‘‘Emily would have said ‘Dude, everyone loves me!’”

A memorial plaque will be hung in the music room after the concert, Jason said.