Applause echoed through the room as members of the Asian Students Union finished their performance and walked back to their seats in the audience. Then, Coffee House heads and volunteers slowly dragged a piano to the middle of the room and Caleb Kessler ’26 walked up for his performance. He sat down at the bench, took a brief moment, and played the first note.

Immediately the entire crowd knew it was Bohemian Rhapsody, and everyone began to sing along.

On Friday, October 11, the Coffee House Club ended the week with the first Coffee House of the 2024-25 school year. A room full of delighted audience members, who all contributed to the successful charity fundraiser, excitedly watched the 15 performances.

“I just like the opportunity of seeing people who might not always perform in a collection or who like being in M blocks”, said club head Sachin Rao ‘25. “Getting to see, you know, hidden talents is a lot of fun.”

Coffee House is a long-term tradition at Friends School, going back 24 years, to the 2000-2001 school year. Over time, it has changed names from Save the Music Club to the Coffee House Club we have now. There have been breaks in this long tradition, but in recent years the club has done everything they can to put together a successful Coffee House each semester, where many people come out and enjoy the showing of musical and artistic talent of fellow Friends students.

Together with faculty advisor Carl Schlenger, this year’s club heads chose Music United as the charity they wanted to raise money for. Founded and primarily run by Friends School alum Harrison Fribush, Music United is very closely tied with the school. It’s also “the most ideal cause, because it’s helping fund music in Baltimore, which is kind of what we’re all about”, said Sachin. 

Preparation for such an event requires a great deal of planning and time. But this year’s club heads were up for the challenge. Sachin noted that they started planning this event at the beginning of the school year, so it took about a month of on and off work to plan. They had to pick a date, send out reminders and forms to collect a list of performances, and find a group of people to volunteer to help set up.

The 15 registered performances ranged from solos to big groups, and were all different kinds of music. Caleb’s version of Bohemian Rhapsody brought the room together. As the performance went on, everyone started singing along to every word.

Audience members cited Sachin Rao and Sam Principe’s performance of “Fake Plastic Trees” by Radiohead as a favorite performance.

“It was my first time seeing them sing and play guitar,” said audience member Solomon Tompkins. “They both killed it, and it was really cool to see.”

Even some close friends were pleasantly surprised to discover their friend’s previously hidden talents.

Audience members say this is just one result of Coffee House’s open and welcoming environment. It is a place where anyone can sign up ahead of time to perform – or just go up at the last minute – no matter their level of experience or talent.

“You can go up there and mess up. The whole point is just to try and give it your best effort,” said senior Noah Johansson, who came to perform, watch others, and photograph the event. “People will respect you no matter what.” 

While a lot of people in attendance were performers, many also showed up to the event just as audience members, to watch the various performances and hang out with friends. Many of these performers, as friends and club heads, inspired many people to come out and watch or even try performing themselves. Sachin, Sam, Caleb, and Mr. Z, the band director, all collectively encouraged Noah to come out and perform at Coffee House.

Something new this time was that the venue of the event was changed to be the lower school assembly room, rather than the quad. The club heads moved it inside because of noise complaints from residents in Roland Park. 

“I liked the inside venue a lot better. It feels so much cozier and the acoustics are better”, said Noah.

He also said the warm yellow light contributed to a cozy feeling, and made it feel like a cafe where you would go to watch similar performances.

As a performer, audience member, and photographer, Noah said he preferred it from all three perspectives. During the performances, it was a good setup to take a lot of pictures, but the close environment made him feel more engaged and involved with the performances at the end. 

On the other hand, Solomon said he did not enjoy the indoor venue as much. 

“The Lower School was crowded, the seats were uncomfortable and cramped, and it was hard to move through the room”, he said.

As someone who was also involved in the setup of the event, he pointed out that it was difficult to carry the five amps they needed, among other things, and it was inconvenient to bring all the materials over. 

Despite the slight disagreements over the new venue choice, the event was still very popular and enjoyed by many regular attendees as well as first timers. Overall, Coffee House proved to be a great success, wonderfully kicking off the new school year.