149 Great Neck Students Invited to All-County Music Festival

Hundreds of Great Neck School District students have been invited to participate in the 2013 All-County Music Festival to be held in January at Long Island University's Tilles Center.

From thousands of Nassau County students, 149 Great Neck musicians from from grades 5 through 12 have been asked to participate in the annual event.

"They serve as a standard of excellence for their musical peers and an inspiration to their schools," according to a message posted on the school district website.

Founded in 1936, the All-County Music Festival is sponsored by the Nassau Music Educators’ Association. NMEA is a nonprofit, voluntary organization of Nassau County teachers. The organization is an arm of the New York State Music Association and the Music Educators’ National Conference. 

Great Neck students selected for the All-County Music Festival include:

Division V: Grades 11 and 12:

North High School Band: Lauren Brill, trombone. Orchestra: Zachary Chen, viola; Karishma Mansukhani, viola; Sowoon Park, flute; and Laura Simeon, harp. Mixed Chorus: Sarah Ajodan, alto; Richard Feder, tenor; Justine Schoenbart, alto; and Paula Tartell, soprano.

South High School: Elizabeth Chi, tenor saxophone. Orchestra: Christine Chung, violin; Philip Foo, viola; David Hong, violin; Sam Huang, violin; Kristen Lee, viola; Lauren Shum, flute; Seung Yeon (Christine) Song, viola; Chae Rin Yoon, violin; and Alison Zhao, violin. Mixed Chorus: Anoush Baghdassarian, alto; Jessica Drucker, alto; Annie Jacob, alto; Justin Kelly, tenor; James Kennedy, baritone; Allison Kornrich, alto; Elly Nina Mor, soprano; and Steven Telsey, tenor.

Division IV: Grades 9 and 10

North High School: Zachary Han, clarinet; Liza Sakhaie, flute; Benjamin Watson, clarinet; and Jonathan Zuckerbrod, clarinet. Orchestra: Chris Angelidis, oboe; August Chen, violin; Leerone Hakami, violin; Casey Poon, tuba/sousaphone; Spencer Poon, oboe; and Eric Wang, violin. Chorus: Danielle Ajodan, soprano; Andrew Hakimian, tenor; Eliana Smooha, alto; Dean Spector, baritone; and Westley Strausman, tenor.

South High School: Angela Chi, clarinet; Matthew Lee, bassoon; Robin Shum, oboe; and Jay Zussman, bass clarinet. Orchestra: William Huh, oboe; Christopher Lee, violin; Jonathan Lee, cello; Rebecca Schifilliti, piccolo/flute; Helena Woroniecka, viola; Yorana Wu, violin; Hannah Yi, violin; Anne Yim, cello; Hye Rin Yoon, violin; and Emily Zhou, bassoon. Choir: Diana Charlop, soprano; Samantha Ng, soprano; Michelle Geffner, soprano; and Giovanni Xu, bass.

Division III: Grades 7 and 8

North Middle School: Scott Rothbaum, clarinet. Orchestra: Junhyuk Bae, violin; and Matthew Han, trumpet/cornet. Chorus: Daniel Amar, baritone; Oliver Besman, baritone; Gabriella Burgos, alto; Adin Charasz, baritone; Sarah Dayan, alto; Jason Hakimian, baritone; Samatha Law, alto; Julia Lesser, soprano; Peri Litt, alto; Julia Prager-Hessel, alto; Sophie Saidmehr, soprano; Katie Tropp-Levy, soprano; and Arleigh Wasserman, alto.

South Middle School: Rachel Brenner, clarinet; Hannah Dienstag, clarinet; and Emily Huh, flute. Orchestra: Nelson Bai, violin; Kelly Foo, oboe; Yiqing He, violin; Zhengkuan Huang, violin; Chul Soon Hwang, viola; Kathryn Lam, violin; Joshua Lee, cello; Jessalyn Li, bassoon; Derek Lin, violin; Florence Ning, violin; Michelle Song, violin; Christine Suh, violin; Asia Zhang, violin; and Michael Zhang, cello. Chorus: Caterina DePaulis, soprano; Susan Fendt, soprano; and William Ren, baritone.

Division II: Grade 6

North Middle School: Molly Racsko, alto saxophone; Joshua Rothbaum, clarinet; and Omeed Tartak, euphonium. Orchestra: Hyein Lee, viola; and Shannon Liu, violin. Chorus: Rachel Schlusselberg, soprano; and Ethan Zak, alto.

South Middle School: Jeremy Chen, oboe; Rachel Kim, flute; Samuel Levine, flute; Noah Sheidlower, trumpet; and Eric Yang, clarinet. Orchestra: Jennifer Luo, violin; Chloe Metz, violin; Kenneth Tan, viola; and Justin Kwong, cello. Chorus: Allison Liman, soprano; and Maggie Roach, soprano.

Division I: Grade 5

E.M. Baker School: Michael Lu Zhang, clarinet. Orchestra: Wellington Chen, cello; Michael Song, violin; Kathleen Tan, cello; and Alexandra Woroniecka, violin. Chorus: Simone Saidmehr, alto.

J.F. Kennedy School: Madeline Yang, flute. Orchestra: Amie Adjakple, violin; Jonathan Heravi, viola; Esther (HeeJun) Hwang, violin; Michael Jacobs, violin; Brandon Lin, viola; Judah Nouriyelian, cello; Matthew Somekh, double bass; and Adam Tsou, violin. Chorus: Nerissa Ng, soprano; Emilia Pedersen, soprano; and Daria Scolnick, soprano.

Lakeville School: Christiana Claus, flute; Michelle Foo, oboe; and Eric Madenberg, snare drum. Orchestra: Jaehyun Kim, violin; Kelly Lam, violin; Jinju (Annabel) Paek, viola; and Ann Zhang, violin. Chorus: Valerie Deligiannis, alto; and Vivian Vlantis, alto.

Saddle Rock School: Thomas Chang, trumpet; and Kelly Chau, flute. Orchestra: Jeremy Bernstein, cello; Anna Izakson, violin; Marguerite Li, violin, and Samuel Ugolini, violin. Chorus: Sophia Kim, soprano; and Julia Kronfeld-Tejada, soprano.

District music teachers

Teachers of All-County Music Festival students include:

On the secondary level, instrumental students are taught by Joseph Rutkowski, North High; Jacquelyn Tomlet and Matthew Trinkwald, North Middle; Anthony Virgilio, Mark Boschen, and Michael Schwartz (performing arts department head), South High; and Mark Boschen, Alan Schwartz (department head), and Anthony Virgilio, South Middle.

Secondary vocal students are taught by Roger Ames and Janine Robinson, North High; Denise Eisner, North Middle; Pamela Levy, South High; and Shelley Willcox, South Middle.

Elementary instrumental students are taught by Anne Fogarty, Baker; Amy Kempton and Christopher Wilson, Kennedy; Juan Garcia and Jennifer Hood, Lakeville; and Christopher Wilson, Saddle Rock.

Elementary choral students are taught by Cynthia Gorney and Jacqueline Petriello, Baker; Korey Terranova, Kennedy; Robin Golub and Robert Pietromonaco, Lakeville; and Chad Lasky, Saddle Rock.