Students To Represent Newtown In Multiple Music Festivals

The Newtown School District’s Music Department announced this year’s regional, state, and divisional music festival participants this week. According to the announcement, 41 students from Newtown Middle School and Newtown High School will or have served as ambassadors for Newtown as they rehearse and perform at this year’s events. Students were chosen based on teacher recommendation and audition process.

Students will work with nationally recognized conductors, including Mark Scatterday of Eastman School of Music, Band; Adam Glaser of Julliard School of Music, Orchestra; Eric Richards of University of Nebraska, Jazz; Paul Head of the University of Delaware, Choral; William Boughton, the music director of the New Haven Symphony Orchestra; Kevin Jay Isaacs of Western Connecticut State University, Choral and Composition; Gillian MacKay of the University of Toronto, Band, John Mastrianni, a professional musician and the jazz band director at the University of Connecticut and Hall High School; Tom “Bones” Malone, a professional musician and composer/arranger; Christopher Shepard of Sydney, Australia, who is the director of Summer Portals at the Hotchkiss School; and Anthony Susi, a Professor of Instrumental Music at the University of Connecticut, a composer and director of bands at Captain Nathan Middle School in Coventry.

2010-11 Regional, State and Divisional Music Festival Participants

Newtown students in grades five through nine who will participate in the Fairfield County String Festival from March 25 to 26 at Western Connecticut State University are violinists Kai Hedin, Gemma Hyeon and Sam Omalyev; Anna Pinckney, Sara Lampel, and Emma Tallon on viola; and cellist Nathyn Horvath.

Students in grades seven and eight who will be participating in the Western Region Middle School Music Festival March 18 to 19 at Western Connecticut State University are Sophie Kennen and Julia Faxon on clarinet, Madeline Marlin and Gabriella Perpignand on flute, Matt Jenson on jazz trumpet, Richard Sadlon on the jazz tenor saxophone, Joe Wheelen on jazz bass guitar, and in chorus, Jessica Ngyuyen, Megan Primavera, Jenna Siroky, Katie Wolff, Sean Dalton, Mike Eisele, and Max Galassi.

Students who participated in the Western Region High School Music Festival between January 14 and 15 at New Canaan High School were vocalists Katie Cummings, Jacob Eventoff , Carolyn Fagerholm, Ishaar Gupta, Kamryn Harmeling, Chris Hunter, Matthew Madden Mark Malia, Katie McMorran, Daniel O’Connor, Kayla O’Leary, and George Primavera; and musicians Rachel Fintz on the string bass, Andrew Jensen on jazz trombone, Alex Lampel on cello, Patrick Milano on jazz trumpet, Liam Reynolds on jazz trombone, Olivia Rowley on alto saxophone, Katie Stawiasz on oboe, and Brian White on trombone.

Newtown High School students who will attend the All-State (High School) Music Festival between April 7 through 9 at the Hartford Convention Center are vocalists Katie Cummings, Jacob Eventoff Carolyn Fagerholm, Kamryn Harmeling, Chris Hunter, Matthew Madden, Mark Malia, Katie McMorran, and Daniel O’Connor; and Rachel Fintz on the string bass and Liam Reynolds on the jazz trombone.            

The National Association For Music Education’s Eastern Division High School Music Festival, scheduled for March 31 to April 2, in Baltimore will include three NHS students on vocals: Katie Cummings, Jacob Eventoff, and Katie McMorran.