Huntington Musicians Shine at
String Festival
The crowd at last Sunday's Long Island String Festival concert at Ward Melville High School was treated to a fine performance that included 11 exceptional musicians from the Huntington School District.
The teenage musicians are among Long Island's elite. They were accompanied to the festival by Huntington High School strings teacher and orchestra director Lisa Leonardi. She takes pride in Huntington's fine program and the many honors and awards it has earned over the years.
The festival musicians included Huntington High School students Zechariah Perea, Christian Jamison, Ben Nikodem, Monica Owen, Jennifer Polster, Jessica Straub, Holly Grabowski, Ashley Melgar, Hailey Giordano and Melany Lanham-Ciancia and J. Taylor Finley Middle School eighth grader Christian Verfenstein. (Melanie Grossman was also selected but did not participate.)
"Christian was honored to be chosen as the principal second violinist at this festival," Ms. Leonardi said. "This is impressive since he's only an eighth grader."
The Huntington musicians rehearsed at Ward Melville High School in Setauket on Friday from 4-9 p.m. and again on Saturday from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. before their public concert on Sunday at 1 p.m. Ms. Leonardi called it a "grueling schedule," and no one was prepared to disagree with the veteran teacher. However, based upon the crowd's applause, the result of those rehearsals was an afternoon of sensational music.
"The Huntington contingent was certainly bigger than most," Ms. Leonardi said. "Several of the students ranked well in the seating. Christian Verfenstein, who received first chair second violin in the junior high orchestra fared best of all."
Ms. Leonardi and Finley orchestra director Deborah Kim expressed pride in the performance of Huntington's elite secondary school string musicians. "It is quite an honor to be chosen for the Long Island String Festival," Ms. Leonardi said.