Student-run nonprofit hosts concert to support underprivileged special education students

Photo by courtesy of Isabelle Gecils

A saxophone ensemble, consisting of musicians from the Saratoga High and Redwood Middle music programs, played the famed “Can You Feel The Love Tonight” during the concert.

The encaptivating voices of senior Anastasia Ramirez and sophomore Diya Iyer filled the air as they sang “Somethings Are Meant To Be” from the movie “Little Women.” Numerous quartets, small ensembles and singing trios proceeded to charm the audience during the concert hosted by Music and Good in Concert (MAGIC), a nonprofit organization run by various students on campus, on Jan. 14 in the music building. The night closed out with a performance from Tamasha, the school’s competitive Bollywood dance team.

Hosting around 100 attendees, the event began at 7 p.m. with around 45 performers taking part in the evening. For the event, MAGIC partnered with the nonprofit Best Buddies using the help of the school Best Buddies Club to get in touch with the organization’s CEO and support further communication and promotion of the event on the nonprofit’s social media. 

They raised $1,300 of their $2,000 goal to support resource-challenged special education students and are in the process of distributing the proceeds.

The idea to support special education students emerged when senior officer Caden Lee wanted to hold a concert that included the special education students he used to teach saxophone. 

“We would have had a special section featuring those special education students who’ve been learning,” junior founder Vidur Sanghi said. “Unfortunately, that was not possible [due to musician availability], but we decided that we wanted to continue with the idea of supporting and helping special education students.”

Founded during the pandemic, MAGIC has held around 10 concerts and most have been online, so officers, Sanghi, Lee, juniors Mohit Gandluru, Taylor Chu, Shrey Jain, Arjun Raje and senior Helen Kao really pushed to make it possible for this event to be live. 

Along with supporting this cause, MAGIC has raised around $20,000 total throughout the years to benefit healthcare workers and restaurants impacted by the pandemic, children in India who couldn’t afford life-saving surgery and those who have suffered from the conflict in Ukraine.

The organization aims to host another concert in early August to kick off the new school year and continue to find new causes they are passionate about. They hope to expand their reach past the school as they have done during past online concerts and invite outside musicians to collaborate with them during live events.

“[Being a part of MAGIC], I think that what’s most exciting to me is being able to have the opportunity to collaborate with other artists internationally,” Sanghi said. “Although this is a lot more difficult to put together in person, it will help us grow as we continue to get more people involved around the world.”