MSD Alumnus Creates Symphonic Tribute to 17 Parkland School Shooting Victims

The tragic events of February 14, 2018, continue to have ripple effects, especially within the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School community.

Five years later, people deal with the trauma of that day in different ways, including creating art inspired by the experience of surviving the mass shooting which killed 17 people.

Max Fink found the outlet to express his pent-up emotions was to write a symphonic orchestra piece.

The Florida Youth Orchestra is rehearsing Fink’s composition, called “Forever and Always, a Reflection,” preparing to debut the piece at their February 19^th concert.   

“This is one of those rare occasions where the composer has lived the piece and it’s straight from an experience,” said Matt Calderin, a conductor in the orchestra and a former music teacher at Stoneman Douglas High.

Fink was a junior at the school on the day the unthinkable happened.

“In every way possible, I feel like this piece is a big dedication to every life that was lost during the tragedy,” Fink said.

“I feel a really special connection to this piece, particularly because Max was my student at Stoneman Douglas,” Calderin added.

Fink says the terror he felt that day, and the overwhelming sadness of the days that followed, will always be a part of him.

“I think that this piece kind of summarizes and puts into music what everyone’s emotions and feelings were up to this five-year mark,” Fink said.

Divided into three movements, “Forever and Always” starts bright and cheery to signify normalcy. It was, after all, Valentine’s Day.

“All of a sudden you’re hit with movement two which is devastation, and it immediately just becomes dark,” Fink says, describing the music. “It’s like the time after the tragedy happens and you feel lost and you feel like you’re in a dark place and then there’s this huge release of energy at once and it’s like everyone’s grieving together and everyone’s mourning and it’s just like a big release of emotion.”

Movement three is lighter but not joyful. It represents moving forward in the wake of tragedy. Fink lost two bandmates that day, Alex Schachter and Gina Montalto.

“It felt like losing family members because we were all so close in the marching band.”

Of course, the whole piece symbolically represents the 17 victims, but Fink also embedded direct references into the music as well, such as 17 chimes and one point and 17 snare drum hits in another.

“I just felt like I had so many built-up feelings and emotions inside me, and it’s hard to be able to put that into words,” said Fink.

So he used music to express himself, and now that high school musicians are breathing life into the notes he wrote on paper, Fink thinks maybe, his work can be a point of light in the darkness many still feel.

“I like to hope that this piece has been sort of an emotional outlet that kind of will let me share that light at the end of the tunnel for other people,” explained Fink.

Healing, for anyone who feels the emotion in the music, and a big step forward for his own recovery.