Shoreham-Wading River: H.S. winter concert highlights; 20 students named to SCMEA All-County Div. II Honors Ensembles

Music was in the air this week. Last Wednesday, March 9, the Shoreham-Wading River High School music department performed its 2011 winter concert. Within its ranks were 20 students named to the Suffolk County Music Educators’ Association All-County Division II Honors Ensembles. Congratulations to Kaden Badalian, Timothy Haggerty, Laura Logan, Lizzy Stietzle, Taylor Burgess, Kevin Callagy, Nicole Lambert, Laura Lee, Richard Lacovera, Eric Lopez, Sarah Pluta, Eric Steiger, Joseph Caligiuri, Sean Callagy, Julie Lindell, Clarie Shanklin, Laura Shanklin, Rosario Terracina, Sarah Uzzi and Christian Wern.

David Minelli’s concert band took the stage first, performing four pieces. The second, “Peter and the Wolf,” featured a special guest, narrator and superintendent of SWR schools, Dr. Harriet Copel. The concert band sounded so sophisticated and together.

Second to perform was the SWR symphony orchestra, conducted by Steven Fayette. The students performed three numbers so well that the audience was amazed at their level of skill. Laura Kovach, featured on “Concerto in G Minor for Violin and Orchestra,” was incredible. She got a standing ovation from the audience. And the orchestra was absolutely amazing.

Dennis Creighton led the high school chorus through four numbers. “Song for the Mira” featured soloist Melissa McDonald and Nicole Caligiuri on oboe. “That Old River in the Summertime” featured Zach DelVecchio on guitar and Stefan Ringer Benigno on bass. The chorus did a fabulous job.

Alexander Rose Meli, a fifth-grader at Wading River Elementary School, recently sang “The Star-Spangled Banner” at an organizational meeting for the Suffolk County Legislature. Along with her extraordinary singing ability, Alexandra plays tuba in the advanced band and bass in the advanced orchestra at school. Her family and her principal, Stephen Donohue, were in attendance for this special performance. Congratulations!

Five local step dancers from the Inishfree School of Irish Dancing will be traveling to Dublin, Ireland, in mid-April to compete in the world championships. The school had 24 world qualifiers from all its locations and Inishfree had three first-place qualifiers, three first-place world champions and two All-Ireland first-place champions. We want to congratulate all the Irish step dancers, especially Sean Sanders, 18, from Wading River, Conor Reagan, 12, from Shoreham and Eamon Reagan, 10, from Shoreham. The Inishfree Dancers will perform Saturday, March 19, from 7 to 11 p.m. at St. John’s Hall in Wading River for the St. Patrick’s Day fundraiser to benefit the St. John’s Outreach Program. Tickets are $30 per person and are available after every Mass and in the parish office (929-4339).

Enjoy your St. Patrick’s Day, do a little singing and dancing, eating and drinking, and we will meet again next week.