This past Sunday, the Palatine Music Department and friends joined for an afternoon of not just music, but also history. On Feb 8, 2026, Palatine High School held its 150th Anniversary concert. The concert consisted of a total of 12 songs plus a classic performance of Palatine’s Loyalty, which featured the Palatine Orchestra, Band, Choir and Mariachi. Among these songs, a special piece had its world premiere in the concert.
“This is Home/Aqui es Hogar” was commissioned to Palatine High School by Jóse Hernandez, an internationally recognized mariachi musician. The lyrics were created by Lisa Medina, a contemporary folk singer-songwriter and references several aspects of Palatine; from red and grey to waving Pirate flags, this commissioned piece embodies the Palatine spirit.
“This is Home” has been the first commissioned piece Palatine has gotten in around 50 years, making its debut notable. This piece also has the extremely rare but pleasant surprise of combining mariachi, band, orchestra and choir for an all-out performance with the entire Palatine music department as it was performed for the first time ever at the concert.
“We did some research last school year to look into composers that would be open to composing a really unique piece like this,” said Carlos Esquivel, Director of Bands. “There isn’t a lot of music for band, mariachi, orchestra and choir.”
What made this performance all the more special was the alumni. Former PHS band directors and students showed up to watch this momentous occasion, in which they got to see how the PHS Music Department changed over the years since they’ve left.
“What makes this concert more special than any of the other ones is just the fact that we’re celebrating this as a department,”said Esquivel. “So we get to perform alongside the three other music programs here at Palatine.”
Even with all of these wonderful occurrences, this concert was really just one to unite people to enjoy listening to the sounds of Palatine and to have a good time playing some tunes and singing on a Super-Bowl Sunday.
