Schools
Schreiber HS Students Bring Music to Port Library
Schreiber High School students end the school year on a musical high note at a concert at Port Washington Public Library.
Select students from Schreiber High School performed at the Port Washington Public Library in June, ending the year on a musical high note at a concert presented by the library's Music Advisory Council.
According to council member Jonathan Watkins, owner of Wright Music, this is only the second time Schreiber students have performed at the library, the first time being two years ago. With the June performance, Watkins hoped to both showcase Schreiber's music program to the community, and give the students' parents the opportunity to see their children perform in smaller ensembles.
"We have so much great talent here in Port, that it would be nice to have [the students] featured as soloists. Whereas their parents always see them as members of a band or chorus, here they get a chance to see them as soloists."
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Nineteen students took part in the concert, performing 10 different pieces. Various music genres, from baroque and romantic to jazz and contemporary, were covered.
Before Heather Foye and Jonathan Schechner, the two vocalists of the night, performed their solos, they thanked Schreiber's music department and their teachers.
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Three seniors, Solomon Hoffman, Connie Kim, and Ryohei Ozaki performed a contemporary piece written for clarinet, violin, and viola.
"I thought it was a lot of fun," said Hoffman, who will be attending Columbia University in the fall. "I wasn't quite sure how the audience would react to such a modern piece, but I think they enjoyed it."
Hoffman explained to the crowd how the three seniors had been performing together as a group as part of the Senior Experience program at Schreiber, in which seniors take part in various projects once AP tests have finished. The three seniors have given concerts at venues around town, including the Port Washington Senior Center at Manorhaven and St. Francis Hospital.
After a saxophone sextet closed the concert with their rendition of Irving Berlin's "Blue Skies," Music Advisory Co-Chair Bernard Schneider came onstage and praised all the musicians, and expressed his desire to host a Schreiber concert at the library on a regular basis.
"I'm convinced that this is something we've got to do again and again and again," Schneider said.
