RHS OFFERS MUSIC STUDENTS A VARIETY OF EXPERIENCES

RHS Offers Students a Variety of Musical and Theatrical Experiences

(June, 2008 – Riverhead, NY) The Riverhead Music Department offers its students a variety of musical experiences from musical theater to commisioning original compositions to festival competitions.

East End Arts Council/Westhampton Teeny Award Nominees

RHS music teacher Sean O'Hara is the director of the Blue Masques performances and David Loddengaard directs the pit orchestra during the musicals. This year Mr.O'Hara chose two award winning productions, "Up the Down Staircase" and "Urinetown, The Musical," which evoked both enthusiasm and outstanding performances from his young casts, choreographer and stage crews. In addition to the accolades of its audiences, a record number of members of the cast and crew of both performances have been nominated for TEENY AWARDS by the judges representing the East End Arts Council and Westhampton Theater. The judges attend performances in all of the East End schools and then nominate students for TEENY AWARDS, a recognition project modeled after the Tony Awards. The students from RHS nominated this year include:

Lead Actor in a Comedy
Colin Palmer, Riverhead, “Up the Down Staircase”
Lead Actress in a Comedy
Allyson Bunch, Riverhead, “Up the Down Staircase”
Magdalena Szalowski, Riverhead, “Up the Down Staircase”
Supporting Actor in a Comedy
Josh Bieling, Riverhead, “Up the Down Staircase”
Supporting Actress in a Comedy
Katie Blasl, Riverhead, “Up the Down Staircase”
Arianna Vaiana-Cavanaugh, Riverhead, “Up the Down Staircase”
Supporting Actor in a Musical
Ryan Beodeker, Riverhead, “Urinetown”
Tim Ferris, Riverhead, “Urinetown”
Supporting Actress in a Musical
Katie Blasl, Riverhead, “Urinetown”
Allyson Bunch, Riverhead, “Urinetown”
Outstanding Performance in a Comedy
Meghan Davis, Riverhead, “Up the Down Staircase”
Choreography
Jessica Benitez, Riverhead, “Urinetown”
Stage Managers
Ricky Rizzon, Riverhead, “Urinetown”

HS Commissions an Original Composition

The RHS spring concert featured an original composition commissioned by the high school cultural arts program entitled "Il Grande Lotte" written by the composer Carl Strommen for the high school orchestra.

"I helped come up with the title," explains 11th grader Amanda Muller, who plays violin in the orchestra. "It translates to 'the great strife' in English," she explains. "It was a very emotional and intense composition about conflict and struggle. I think we all really enjoyed working with Mr. Strommen on the ideas for the composition and it was fun to play it at the Spring Concert."

Music in the Parks Festival

The students are also given the opportunity to attend the Music in the Parks festival at Kings Dominion near Richmond, Virginia. On May 30th and 31st, and June 1st, 2008 the Riverhead High School Chamber Choir, Varsity Jazz Ensemble, and Chamber Orchestra performed at Music in the Parks and brought home a number of honors.

The ensembles had the option to perform for adjudication only or to compete against other ensembles involved in the festival. The Varsity Jazz Ensemble performed for adjudication and received an Excellent rating. The Chamber Orchestra placed second and received an Excellent rating as well. The Chamber Choir placed 1st in their division, 1st overall among High School Choirs and received a Superior rating.

"All of the students involved performed extremely well and conducted themselves with professionalism and class throughout this endeavor," stated Sean O'Hara, the high school chorus teacher. "We thank the administration and Board of Education for granting the approval for us to provide this experience for our students. They have given us all much of which to be proud."

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