United in Music: APAC Band 2025

Away from the academic stress and struggles, a silver lining of international collaboration took place at the International School of Beijing, China. SFS had the honor of having 22 students participate in this year’s APAC band festival; collaborating with band students across Asia, this year’s iteration of the event was not only a milestone in the world of music but also showed how collaboration can recreate beautiful music to bring people together. 

Mr. Yaniw, director of the SFS Wind Ensemble and an organizer of the APAC Band trip since his first year at SFS, was eager to share how the celebration of music brought a community of students together. He also noted that the annual APAC band event has become an integral part of enriching students’ experience in music. Having helped organize APAC every year for six years now, he’s noticed a unique excitement about APAC, as  “Students often look forward to APAC the most out of all the other events we offer…because you’re not competing but making a piece of art together”. Collaborating to create a piece of art together often requires delegations and cooperative spirits – not only does the APAC community bring schools together on a continental scale, but students have shared their enthusiasm for this event out of all the other music festivals.

Jayden Lee (10), a participant in the euphonium this year, says the reason why “APAC is special in comparison to other band events is because of its atmosphere – it’s not as competitive and demanding as others”. Previously participating in APAC, AMIS, and NHF, Ana Park (10) shares how “APAC for sports compared to music is very different because the purpose of APAC Band is to get closer and collaborate to create the final product – not constantly competing with other schools to win.”

This year's music celebrated the significance of musical innovation across its history, portraying the theme of development and continuous creativity in music. Starting with Gustav Holst’s composition of the first ever music written for a band, the APAC group moved on to The Things That Never Were, highlighting the boldness of creativity and design every individual has deep within themselves. Kyu Chung (11), a two-time high school APAC Band participant, has shared that this year’s music portrayed a new perspective as a mixture of contemporary and classical music – portraying both historical music written by Holst to contemporary music which are rising in popularity in recent years.