83rd Annual Winter Conference

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2018 WINTER CONFERENCE Lilac Ballroom - Rochester Riverside Convention Center 83rd Annual Winter Conference Guest Performing Groups Concert Hour Schedule & Keynote Address THURSDAY EVENING CONCERT

The School of The Arts Concert Choir (Rochester) John Gabriele, Director The School of the Arts Concert Choir has been the premiere vocal group in the Rochester City School District since its

1 2018 WINTER CONFERENCE Lilac Ballroom - Rochester Riverside Convention Center 83rd Annual Winter Conference Guest Performing Groups Concert Hour Schedule & Keynote Address THURSDAY EVENING CONCERT HOUR- NOVEMBER 29, :15 p.m. The School of The Arts Concert Choir (Rochester) John Gabriele, Director The School of the Arts Concert Choir has been the premiere vocal group in the Rochester City School District since its inception 37 years ago. Numbering about 50 members, the choir reflects the diversity of the RCSD both physically and musically. The Concert Choir has performed in locales as far away as Toronto, New York City and Washington, D.C. But since its most important mission is to bring great music to the community, the Choir has performed at a number of city schools and community events, and has made performing at City Hall a biannual tradition (to celebrate the lighting of the Holiday Tree, and to celebrate Black History Month). John Gabriele, the conductor of the School of the Arts Concert Choir, has worked in the Rochester City School District for more than 30 years. A native Detroiter, he attended the University of Michigan School of Music (where he was recognized as an Earl V. Moore Scholar) and did graduate work at the Eastman School of Music. Gabriele has published a book on jazz improvisation (Improvise Now, published by Mel Bay) and has written three textbooks that are used by the Rochester City School District (on basic music theory, Advanced Placement music theory, and firstyear piano). He mentors young music teachers in the RCSD and is happy to report that many graduates of the School of the Arts are now city teachers themselves. Gabriele is also an active performer, arranger and composer and recently finished writing the soundtracks for The Front Row and Creating Hope, two locallyproduced movies that have been distributed worldwide. Gabriele would like to thank his family, colleagues and administration for their support, and wants his students to know how proud he is to be their conductor. The Brooklyn Wind Symphony Jeff W. Ball, Director Kimberly Roof, Assistant Director Jeff W. Ball is the Founder, Artistic Director and Conductor of the Brooklyn Wind Symphony, established in 2008 as the Grand Street Community Band. From its original 30 members, the organization has grown into the 65-piece Brooklyn Wind Symphony and allowed for the formation of two additional ensembles, the 90-piece Grand Street Community Band and the 70-piece Kings County Concert Band. The Brooklyn Wind Symphony is the first-ever New York Citybased ensemble to be invited to perform at the Midwest Clinic and the World Association of Symphonic Bands and Ensembles Conference. The Metropolitan Music Community, a 501c3 non-profit corporation on which Ball serves as a board member, oversees all three ensembles. Ball is in his 13th year as Director of Bands and seventh year as Coordinator of Performing Arts at the Grand Street Campus (GSC) High Schools in the Bushwick neighborhood of Brooklyn, NY. His responsibilities include directing the GSC Wind Ensemble, Concert Band, Jazz Band A and Beginner Band, as well as overseeing a large performing arts department comprising more than 180 pianists, 60 guitarists, and he teaches courses in musical theater, music theory and theater technology. The seven bands at GSC involve more than 400 students from the three Title 1 (high poverty) high schools that make up the campus. More than 95 percent of the band students at GSC begin their musical training in the ninth grade. Despite this late start, the four concert bands and three jazz bands at the school consistently receive the top ratings of Gold and Gold with Distinction at the New York State School Music Association 22 School Music News November-December 2018

He continues his education by regularly attending conducting symposiums led by the finest collegiate and professional conductors in the world.

2 vatory of Music Wind Ensemble and as director of the New York City All-City High School Marching Band. He received his Bachelor s degree in Music Education and Jazz Studies from Ithaca College in 2003 and his Master s degree in Music Education from the same institution in He continues his education by regularly attending conducting symposiums led by the finest collegiate and professional conductors in the world. Ball is a member of NYSSMA, NYSBDA, NAfME, MEANYC, Pi Kappa Lambda and CBDNA. A resident of Williamsburg, Brooklyn, he is an active guest conductor and clinician FRIDAY MORNING CONCERT HOUR- NOVEMBER 30, :30 a.m. Plattsburgh High School Select Vocal Ensemble William Verity, Director The Plattsburgh High School Select Vocal Ensemble was formed 15 years ago with the goal of performing challenging, high-quality, mostly a cappella literature with many voice parts. The group consists of members from our larger mixed chorus ensemble who audition yearly for inclusion in the group. Since our first year participating in the New York State School Music Association Major Organization festival (2006), the group has consistently received ratings of Gold and Gold with Distinction on literature deemed the most difficult to perform (Level 6). In fact, from May 2013 to May 2017, the Select Vocal Ensemble earned a consistent Level 6 Gold with Distinction rating. Members of the ensemble have performed with world-renowned violinist and conductor, Andre Rieu at the Bell Centre in Montreal back in 2010 when the Plattsburgh City School District was hand-picked to provide backing vocals for the Montreal stop on Rieu s world-tour. The entire group won a performance competition in 2014 to sing backing vocals on I Want to Know What Love Is with the band Foreigner at the Flynn Center in Burlington VT. Most recently, the group was selected to perform at the opening ceremonies of the 2017 New York State School Board Association conference in Lake Placid, NY. Last year, the ensemble performed on the Cabin Fever benefit concert with Roy Hurd and Taylor LaValley and was also selected to perform the National Anthem at a Vermont Lake Monsters home game. William Verity is a 1992 graduate of The Crane School of Music in Potsdam, NY. During his undergraduate education, he studied choral conducting under Brock McElheran and Dr. Timothy Mount. Currently, Verity is the director of high school choral activities in the Plattsburgh City School district, where he con- (NYSSMA ) festival, often participating at the highest Levels of 5 and 6. Ball has given the presentation about his work at Grand Street titled Successful Urban Band Director: Making it Work Where It Usually Doesn t at many state and national music education conferences. Additionally, he now serves as director of the New York City All-City High School Concert Band, a 90-piece auditioned honors ensemble that meets weekly and comprises the finest public high school musicians from New York City. Ball also spent five years as director of the Brooklyn College Conserducts the Mixed Chorus, the Select Vocal Ensemble, provides small group vocal lessons and teaches classroom music. Over the past 12 years, the Select Vocal Ensemble has consistently earned Gold and Gold with Distinction ratings for performances on Level 6 NYSSMA literature at major organization festivals. Aside from performing at competitions, the group routinely travels throughout the Plattsburgh community, singing at other schools, retirement communities, and with other local choral groups. Verity has been an adjunct lecturer at SUNY Plattsburgh, where he conducted the College Chorale and Men s Ensemble. In 2004, he was the guest choral director of the Champlain Valley Oratorio Society, which concluded its season with a performance of Carl Orff s Carmina Burana. Currently, he provides individual voice instruction as an applied voice professor at SUNY Plattsburgh. Verity has acted as guest conductor for all-county honor ensembles in Clinton, Essex and Franklin Counties in New York, has twice served as conductor for the mixed chorus for the Northwest District Music Festival in Vermont and was the guest conductor of the 2015 NYSSMA Zone 5 Area All-State Mixed Chorus. Lastly, Verity is the current choral editor for NYSSMA s monthly professional journal: The School Music NEWS. He is honored to be conducting the Plattsburgh High School Select Vocal Ensemble at the 2018 NYSSMA Winter Conference. Herricks High School Chamber Orchestra Catherine Fish, Director The Herricks High School Chamber Orchestra, made up of approximately 40 students, is the elite string orchestra at Herricks High School, New Hyde Park, NY. Acceptance to this curricular, honors-level ensemble is by audition only, resulting in a highly competitive audition process and a rigorous rehearsal environment. November-December 2018 School Music News 23

FRIDAY MORNING CONCERT HOUR- NOVEMBER 30, 2018 9:30 a.m.

challenging repertoire and nuanced musicianship.

3 FRIDAY MORNING CONCERT HOUR- NOVEMBER 30, :30 a.m. continued Under the direction of teacher and conductor, Catherine Fish, the Herricks High School Chamber Orchestra has grown into a nationally recognized ensemble, acclaimed for its performance of challenging repertoire and nuanced musicianship. In March of 2018, the ensemble won First Place High School String Orchestra in the American String Teachers Association (ASTA) National Orchestra Festival competition held in Atlanta, GA. The orchestra s recent credits also include consistent annual ratings of Gold with Distinction at the New York State School Music Association (NYSSMA ) major organization festival, a 2017 performance at Carnegie Hall, and annual participation in the Lincoln Center Chamber Music Society s Young Musicians Program competition. This year, two small chamber ensembles will represent the orchestra at the Music for All National Chamber Music Festival to be held in Indianapolis in March Fish, who is Director of Orchestras at Herricks High School, holds a Bachelor of Music degree from Temple University where she studied with former concertmaster of the Philadelphia Orchestra, William DePasquale, as well as a Master of Music degree from the University of the Arts. At Herricks, her three striving string ensembles consistently earn the highest rating of Gold with Distinction at the NYSSMA major evaluation festival, as well as other regional festivals and competitions. Her small chamber ensembles consistently earn high honors as well, including annual participation in the Lincoln Center Chamber Music Society s Young Musicians Program competition, and the Music for All National Chamber Music Festival. In 2018, under her direction, the Herricks High School Chamber Orchestra placed first in the country in the High School String Orchestra category at the American String Teachers Association (ASTA) National Orchestra Festival, held in Atlanta. Fish is also the String Orchestra director at the New York State Summer School of the Arts (NYSSSA) School of Orchestral Studies and a strings coach for the Metropolitan Youth Orchestra (MYO). She serves regularly on the boards of multiple professional organizations, and in she is serving as the Vice President for the Nassau Music Educators Association (NMEA), Division IV. FRIDAY EVENING KEYNOTE ADDRESS & CONCERT HOUR - NOVEMBER 30, :15 p.m. Keynote Address Speaker Kathleen D. Sanz, Ph.D., NAfME President Kathleen D. Sanz received her B.A. and M.A. degrees in Music Education from the University of South Florida and her Ph.D. in Music Education from the University of Colorado. Presently, she is the President and CEO of the Center for Fine Arts Education in Tallahassee, FL Sanz has been instrumental throughout her career in curriculum and assessment development and implementation at the district and state level. Prior to her current post, Sanz served as the Supervisor of Curriculum and Instructional Services and codirected the District School Board of Pasco County Curriculum Department from From she supervised the fine arts at the K-12 level. Her past teaching experience includes eight years as a music educator at the elementary level. Sanz served as a grant evaluator of U.S. Department of Education Professional Development in Arts Education (PDAE) grants for the Hillsborough County, FL public schools. She also developed and received grants from the Florida Division of Cultural Affairs for the Florida Music Educators Association awarded annually from Past President of the Southern Division of NAfME, as well as Past President of the Florida Music Educators Association, Sanz has also served as President of the Florida School Music Association, Currently, Sanz is the State Executive of the Florida Music Educators Association. Sonic Escape Maria Kaneko Millar, Violin Shawn Wyckoff, Flute Fiddle-dancing for thousands in Tiananmen Square. A flute concert on skis in the mountains of Vermont. Couchsurfing parties in the Arctic Circle. A cross-country caper in a busted $500 minivan. Adventure abounds when art rules life, and sharing it with the world is what Sonic Escape s about! Shawn Wyckoff and Maria Millar founded Sonic Escape in Armed with flute and violin, their game plan use hyper-instrumentals to fill hearts with indescribable joy has landed them on hundreds of stages across 40 North American states, provinces and beyond! Millar and Wyckoff push themselves to the brink singing, dancing, telling stories, and, above all, playing their hearts out with a wonderfully imaginative anything goes sense of fun. (The Washington Post) They met at The Juilliard School. A love of blading the streets of New York (and a spring break in Ireland) forged a romance powered by fun. But playing the flute and violin together? No way! Too shrill, hard to tune. Temptation kicked in, though, and Millar and Wyckoff gave it a go. Tuning took two years; matching breath and bow took even longer. Composing music that amplifies the virtuosity, range and 24 School Music News November-December 2018

FRIDAY EVENING KEYNOTE ADDRESS & CONCERT HOUR - NOVEMBER 30, 2018 8:15 p.m. continued emotion of the flute and violin that s when the real fun began.

4 FRIDAY EVENING KEYNOTE ADDRESS & CONCERT HOUR - NOVEMBER 30, :15 p.m. continued emotion of the flute and violin that s when the real fun began. They knew they d arrived when an audience exclaimed, Hurry, lock the doors! Don t let them leave!! After several years of frenzied, fabulous touring, Millar and Wyckoff reflected, How can we further connect with communities to make a lasting difference? Their answer: Four Seasons Rising (4S ), a project that combines music and activities to inspire action for Earth. Featuring The Symphony, a concerto for flute, violin and orchestra composed by Millar and funded by Canada Council for the Arts, 4S is rooted in the belief that music should unite and ignite. Performing arts centers such as Lincoln Center (NYC), Chautauqua Institution (Chautauqua, NY), Irish Arts Center (NYC), Oxnard Performing Arts & Convention Center (Oxnard, CA) and the Imperial Theatre (Sarnia, ON) have provided formidable stages for Sonic Escape s larger-than-life sounds and moves. Concerts and workshops at the University of Missouri (St. Louis, MO), University of Wisconsin (Whitewater, WI), Penn State (Erie, PA), Hofstra University (Hempstead, NY) and The Juilliard School (NYC) have enabled them to share with audiences and students alike! Then there s festivals whether thousands camp without running water or gather in idyllic town squares, Sonic Escape loves them all and has performed at the Summer Arts Festival (Huntington, NY), Blue Skies Music Festival (Clarendon, ON), Elora Festival (Elora, ON) and Cherry Blossom Festival (Philadelphia, PA). Lastly, Canada Council for the Arts, Chamber Music America and the Puffin Foundation have generously funded Sonic Escape s compositions, travels, and the creation of a five-day community residency. So, look out! When you see that green minivan rolling into town, make way for the two nomads (and maybe even two traveling cats) that are Sonic Escape: good times and superb music are sure to follow! Maria Millar Violinist and composer Maria Kaneko Millar has performed as a soloist throughout Canada, Ireland, China, Japan and the U.S.; on The Canadian, British and American Broadcasting Corporations, as well as The WB s One World Jam, CBS Sunday Morning and CBS The Early Show, which have aired her work. One hundred seventy performances as Solo Dancing Fiddler in Riverdance on Broadway and the North American and Asian Tours of Riverdance: The Show featured improvised solos and simultaneous dance. Millar also performed in Radio City Music Hall s One World Jam and premiered her creation for five prerecorded violin tracks and one live dancing violinist, All for One, on CBC s nationally televised The Great Canadian Music Dream. She has toured North America with her one-woman show of original works for violin, voice and dance, playing venues such as The Kennedy Center and The Library and Archives of Canada. Canada Council for the Arts, Alberta Foundation for the Arts and the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council have awarded Millar composition and space grants; Samson sponsors Millar, providing audio, wireless and effects processing equipment specific to her roles as singer, acoustic/electric violinist and dancer. Millar lives to improvise: her arrangements and aural transcriptions of Asian, Celtic, Gypsy, Klezmer, Tango, Turkish, blues, jazz, pop, rock and classical music, which have laid the foundation for fearless ad-libbing in any setting. Millar holds accelerated B.M./ M.M. degrees in Violin Performance from The Juilliard School. Shawn Wyckoff Flutist Shawn Wyckoff is an avid solo and chamber musician who has been featured in performances at Carnegie Hall, Avery Fisher Hall, The Kennedy Center, Weill Recital Hall, Merkin Concert Hall, The Library of Congress, BargeMusic, MOMA and the Guggenheim Museum. Wyckoff is the artistic director, flutist and music arranger for TetraWind, a woodwind quartet specializing in contemporary American music. Wyckoff s orchestral work includes concerts with Continuum, One World Symphony and The Harmonia Opera Company. He is a First Prize winner of The Judith Lapple National Flute Competition, the Flute Society of Washington Competition and The Friday Morning Music Club Woodwind Competition. Wyckoff was named a Maryland Distinguished Scholar of the Arts and received the Stephen Brewster Award (as chosen by a panel of National Symphony Orchestra musicians), the John Philip Sousa Award and the National Alliance for Excellence Award. Wyckoff holds a B.M. degree in Flute Performance from The Juilliard School. SATURDAY MORNING CONCERT HOUR - DECEMBER 1, :30 a.m. Westfield Academy Handbell Ensemble Kent Knappenberger, Director The Westfield High School Handbell Ensemble was begun in 1991 when the music faculty took note that there were three handbell choirs existing in our small community in various organizations. The school began purchasing handbells and it has become an integral part of secondary general music classes. Students in the handbell ensemble are not auditioned but rather includes any high school student who enrolls in one of four graded general music electives. Besides community and November-December 2018 School Music News 25

SATURDAY MORNING CONCERT HOUR - DECEMBER 1, 2018 - continued school performances, they have toured the Northeast U.S. The ensemble has performed at the 2009 NYSSMA Winter Conference, has appeared by

5 SATURDAY MORNING CONCERT HOUR - DECEMBER 1, continued school performances, they have toured the Northeast U.S. The ensemble has performed at the 2009 NYSSMA Winter Conference, has appeared by video at the GRAMMY Lifetime Achievement Ceremony in 2014, in concert at the Westminster Presbyterian Church, Buffalo, NY, and will be presenting a featured concert at NAfME All-Eastern Music Conference this coming April in Pittsburgh, PA. They perform on a five-octave set and a duplicate threeoctave set of Malmark handbells. They will be performing a program of original music and transcriptions from The Can-Can to music of the Trans-Siberian Orchestr Alumni of this group continue to play in handbell ensembles throughout the U.S. a. If you ve never heard a handbell ensemble, this is the one to hear! Director Kent Knappenberger is in his 30th year of teaching at Westfield Academy and Central School. He has been a guest conductor at regional handbell festivals throughout the Northeast since he was 18. At Westfield High School, he conducts the vocal choirs, the handbell ensemble, the steel pan ensemble, and the McClurg St. String Band. Under his leadership, four different ensembles from Westfield schools have been featured at the NYSSMA winter conference on various years since Similarly, the McClurg St. String Band has been featured at the 2013 NAfME all-eastern conference in Hartford, CT. Knappenberger is the inaugural recipient of the GRAMMY Music Educator Award and the NYSSMA Distinguished Service Award. He would like conference attendees to know that The group s goal is to have this concert performance in Rochester exceed anyone s expectations of a handbell ensemble. Central Islip High School Concert Choir John Anthony, Director The Central Islip Concert Choir, under the direction of John Anthony, has performed locally and internationally in choral festivals in Austria, The Czech Republic, Italy, Los Angeles, San Francisco, South Carolina, Honolulu, and Nassau, Bahamas. In addition, the choir has performed at the Disney Honors National Choral Invitational, Festival Disney, All American Music Festival, Heritage Music Festivals and OrlandoFest. In 2012 the Central Islip Concert Choir performed at the White House in Washington, DC, and more recently at the NYS Democratic Convention at Hofstra University. The Concert Choir has repeatedly received Gold with Distinction ratings at the New York State School Music Association major organization festivals and has been featured on NBC News, CBS News, Newsday, News 12, Channel 55 News and Choral Director magazine. John Anthony is a graduate of the Aaron Copland School of Music at Queens College, City University of New York. He studied piano with Sheila Aldendorff at the Mannes College of Music in Manhattan. Anthony attributes his love of choral music to his experience singing with the Sanford H. Calhoun High School Choir, under the direction of his mentor, S. Talbot Thayer, and to his very first choral director, Patrick G. Variano, who inspired him to believe that even the youngest students can rise to greatness when they believe in themselves and in each other. 26 School Music News November-December 2018

Kelsey Tamayo, D.M.A. Percussionist, Conductor, Educator, Music Theorist

Kelsey Tamayo, D.M.A. Percussionist, Conductor, Educator, Music Theorist Curriculum Vitae Educational Background Michigan State University, the College of Music; 2012-2015 Doctor of Musical Arts in Percussion