The Arts

East End Arts student plays Carnegie Hall

Cole Hempel, 12, performing at East End Arts last Friday. (Credit: Barbaraellen Koch)
Cole Hempel, 12, performing at East End Arts last Friday. (Credit: Barbaraellen Koch)

Over 46,000 performances have been held at Carnegie Hall in Manhattan, with some concerts by the most famous names in music: Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman, and Igor Stravinski.

And now, East End Arts can say one of its own students has shared one of the stages.

Cole Hempel, a 12-year-old from Westhampton Beach and EEA student for the past seven years, was one of 32 kids chosen to perform in the National Young Musicians Showcase Competition last weekend. The competition, held in the Weill Recital Hall, was hosted by the National League of Performing Arts.

Cole performed Bach’s Three-Part Invention in G Minor. He also performed the piece on Friday night, at the opening reception of ‘Line’ at the East End Arts gallery.

Shenole Latimer, director of education with EEA, said that for non-music performers, playing at Carnegie Hall “it’s like you almost might as will win the lottery. It’s hard.”

He said Cole plays “like he has ice water in his veins.” And while he wasn’t there last Saturday to see the show, he heard that he played wonderfully.