600 Top LI Musicians to Perform
at HHS
Long Island's top high school musicians will be at Huntington High School Friday evening for a 7:30 p.m. performance before what is expected to be a full house.
The 55th Annual Senior High School All-County Music Festival will provide Long Island's top instrumental and vocal students with an opportunity to rehearse and perform demanding, professional level music under the tutelage of celebrated conductors.
Co-sponsored by the New York State Council of Administrators of Music Education and the Suffolk County Music Educators' Association, the festival kicked off with Thursday evening rehearsals. The annual concert is usually a sell-out event so community members who would like to reserve tickets during the day on Friday should call the Huntington music office at (631) 673-2106 to reserve their tickets. All tickets are $10.
This year's program features eight students from Huntington High School, three of which are going on to the All-State conference next month.
Jeffrey Sun (violin1), Andrew Ku (cello), Matthew Beeby (trombone 2), Collin Richardson (trombone 1), Jesse Reigot (French horn 1), Michael Marchetta (double bass), Francesca Gray (clarinet) and Kevin Solomowitz (bassoon 2) will all be performing during the festival. Mixed chorus members Brianne Bennett (soprano 2), Robert Folan (tenor 1), Alexa Kaplan (alto 2), Anna Schiffmacher (soprano 2) and Joshua Stickell (tenor 2) will also perform.
Students are selected for participation based upon teacher recommendation and scores from New York State School Music Assn. adjudication ratings. Many of the participants are also members of the All-State ensembles, which will be performing in Rochester in early December. Messrs. Sun, Ku and Richardson will represent Huntington High School at the All-State conference.
Friday evening, the symphony orchestra will be conducted by Benjamin Rous, associate conductor of the Virginia Symphony. The women's chorus will be led by Rebecca Reames, an associate professor of music at SUNY Potsdam's Crane School of Music. The symphonic band will perform under the direction of Joseph Kreines, associate conductor of the Florida Symphony Orchestra.
The final group on Friday night's program is the 240 member mixed chorus, under the direction of Steven Sametz, director of choral arts at Lehigh University, one of the country's premier choral programs.
"The county enjoys holding this most prestigious event at Huntington High School, every four years," said Joan R. Fretz, Huntington School District director of fine and performing arts. "They always appreciate our beautiful auditorium, our gracious and helpful music faculty and the best stage manager and crew on Long Island." Ken Gilbert is that stage manager who has earned a glowing reputation in the arts community.
"Hosting 600 additional students in the middle of a school day while changing rehearsals sites and set-ups in record time presents a challenge, but it is well worth the effort of our dedicated staff," Ms. Fretz said. "Our guests are always appreciative and polite. They are wonderful representatives of their school districts. Their amazing performances are a testimony to the incredible accomplishments of our Long Island school music programs."