Four from Area Named Tilles Scholars

Four music students from the Tribune readership area have been named Tilles Scholars by the Tilles Center and the music department of the C.W. Post Campus of Long Island University.

The local scholars are Brian Killeen of Levittown and Robert Farley, David Korn, and Jeffrey P. Wissert of East Meadow. The youngsters earned their honors in a single round of competitive auditions, conducted by professors Maureen Hynes, Alex Stewart and Earl Williams of the C.W. Post Music Department, with Tilles Center Executive Director Elliott Sroka and Tilles Center Director of Education and Outreach Amy Wynn.

Levittown resident Killeen, a Tilles Scholar for a second time, is a junior at MacArthur High School who has studied bass guitar privately for five years. He has performed with the All-County and Nassau-Suffolk Jazz Ensembles and accompanied the All-State Vocal Ensemble.

His Tilles Scholar award includes tuition assistance for two semesters of the C.W. Post Pre-College Music Program's jazz workshop and tickets to four performances at Tilles Center, those of the Carnegie Hall Jazz Band, Stanley Turrentine, the Preservation Hall Jazz Band and Take 6.

Korn, a vocal student, is a senior at East Meadow High School. He has performed with the All-State Symphonic Band and Boston University's Tanglewood Institute Choral Program, and has studied under scholarship at the Interlochen Arts Camp and the Usdan Center. As a Tilles Scholar he will receive tuition assistance toward the C.W. Post Pre-College Music Program in voice performance and tickets to three performances at Tilles Center: Carmen, The Gypsy In Us and Handel's Messiah, performed by Musica Sacra.

Wissert, a sophomore at East Meadow High School, plays the trumpet. He has been playing for five and a half years, and has participated in his high school's band, the Nassau-Suffolk Concert Band, All-District Band, NYSSMA and All-County Orchestra, Band and Jazz Ensemble. As a Tilles Merit Scholar, he has received tickets to two performances at Tilles Center, those of the Carnegie Hall Jazz Band and Take 6.

LI String Festival Participants Honored

Eleven East Meadow middle and high school students were honored at a recent board of education meeting for their participation in the Long Island String Festival, held on Nov. 15 at Massapequa High School.

Musicians from East Meadow and W. Tresper Clarke High Schools and Clarke and Woodland Middle Schools received certificates of recognition from Dr. Victor Bobetsky, director of music and art for East Meadow schools. Students' names were submitted, along with their New York State School Music Association sheets (NYSSMA), to a selection committee made up of string teachers from throughout Nassau County.

String Festival participants from East Meadow were: Jared Alster, a senior at East Meadow High School, for the bass; Joanne Auyeung, a sophomore at East Meadow High School, for the violin; Jennifer Choi, a tenth grader from Clarke Middle School, for the violin; Nathaniel Dial, a freshman at East Meadow High School, for the cello; Eric Frohman, an eighth grader from Woodland Middle School, for the viola; Flora Kim, a junior at Clarke High School, for the violin; Lauren Marino, an eighth grader at Clarke Middle School, for the viola; Michael Marino, a junior at Clarke High School, for the cello; Elizabeth Mayo, a senior at East Meadow High School, for the cello; Jonathan Reinharth, an eighth grader at Woodland Middle School, for the violin; and Garrett Wakefield, an eighth grader at Woodland Middle School, for the viola.

MacArthur HS Students Stage Burke Musical

Members of the Advanced Musical Theatre class at MacArthur High School will present Swinging on a Star: The Johnny Burke Musical Thursday night, Dec. 18 at 7:30 and Friday night, Dec. 19 at 8, at the high school auditorium on Old Jerusalem Road.

The musical revue, conceived by Michael Leeds, opened to popular acclaim on Broadway last year and received a Tony Award nomination for Best Musical.

Swinging on a Star takes its audience on a chronological tour, from a Chicago speakeasy in the 1920s to the Starlight Ballroom of the 60s. The revue features the lyrics of Johnny Burke in collaboration with some of the top composers of the era.

Special highlights include tributes to the USO tours of World War II and the Bing Crosby/Bob Hope/Dorothy Lamour ÒRoadÓ films. Much of the music, which reached the top spots on the nationÕs hit parade during the founding years of Levittown, include WhatÕs New, Pennies from Heaven, Personality, Polka Dots and Moonbeams, Imagination, But, Beautiful, Moonlight Becomes You, Sunday, Monday or Always, Misty, HereÕs That Rainy Day and the Oscar-winning Swinging on a Star.

The production, directed by Mike Canestraro, is being presented in honor of LevittownÕs 50th anniversary.

Tickets for the 18th and 19th are $5 and can be purchased at the door. For more information, call Canestraro at 520-8450.