The Performing Arts Academy of John Marshall High School will present another display of youthful exuberance with Bach, Rock & Shakespeare 9 at THE GREEK THEATRE on May 11. The annual show is truly a community event with local students from the Los Feliz and Silverlake areas. The evening will feature orchestral music, both classic and modern, Shakespeare monologues and Marshall's own Battle of the Garage Bands final.

The showcase will begin with the Orchestra of King Middle School.  The Marshall High Symphony Orchestra, under the baton of Conductor Dee Dee Paakkari, will then perform music from Bach to Rock and film scores from “Grease” and “Pirates of the Caribbean”.  The Ivanhoe Guitar Club will join the orchestra on stage in fully orchestrated arrangements of The Beatles’ “Norwegian Wood” and The Who’s “Baba O’Reilly”, featuring last year’s winning garage band, The Kidneys.

Students from local elementary schools participating in the “Little Kids Rock” program will take the stage to show their skills.  The Marshall High Glee Club will sing.

The evening will conclude with the final round of the once-a-month lunchtime Battle of the Garage Bands of John Marshall High.  Each of five winning student bands will perform two songs: one cover and one self-penned, under the direction of the Marshall music faculty Michael Finn and Dee Dee Paakkari.  The battle will be judged by a panel of music industry and celebrity judges which in past years has included band members from The Red Hot Chili Peppers, Wu Tang Clan, Bad Religion, The Foo Fighters, El Chicano and Hole.