Talented, Young Women of Music & Art

While it’s always sad to say so long to graduating seniors, I couldn’t be happier for Pat and Shamitri - two of my long-time students who are heading off to experience new academic adventures this fall.

Pat

Shamitri

Pat, who has studied with me for 6 years, will enroll in the Computer Science and Arts program at Carnegie-Mellon University. Shamitri, who I’ve taught for 9 years, will start her first semester at Cornell University and is planning to major in Chemistry.

In addition to sharing a love of music, Pat and Shamitri both happen to be talented sketch artists. Just check out these drawings! 

Pat S. (Esther and Ezra)

Shamitri B. (Through my eyes)

It’s worth mentioning that the characters represented in these works served as inspiration for collaborative composition projects that we recorded a few years ago (Stay tuned to my website’s blog page for updated music and stories about each project). 

It’s been amazing to witness Pat and Shamitri’s development over the years. These two young women grew up right before my eyes - literally and artistically!

Although I’ll really miss both of them, I know that Pat and Shamitri will continue to appreciate music for a long time to come. And what a great feeling that is!

A Growing Group of Music Makers

Last Sunday, family members and friends gathered to hear 17 talented musicians perform for our June Student Showcase.

As in previous events, the young musicians played alongside professional musicians from the Rochester, NY area. All students were featured as soloists and performed selections from the musical worlds of Broadway, Jazz, Classical, Pop and Video Game themes. And if that wasn’t already wonderful enough, two ambitious students worked with me to compose original music for for our Pro-Am ensemble. This coming together of creativity and collaboration had a way of causing proud parents and other listeners to smile and cheer . . . song after song!

My heartfelt appreciation goes out to this year’s student participants: Onnalise M., Alex R., Lily B., Bailey B., Arav B., Alex W., Giada D., Stephen G., Cameron H., Josh J., Lucas C., Caroline C., Tommy M., Shamitri B., Benjamin C., Pat S., and Javiana D. Thanks to all for your hard work and dedication to our musical projects over the last couple months!

I’d also like to say thanks to Bob DeRosa (bass guitar), Matt Bent (percussion) and Aidan O’Connor (woodwinds) - the “pros” who did such a great job shaping the music and making it so much easier for the students to shine.

Stay tuned for upcoming posts - we’ll be sharing much of the music we performed with you!