Eleven Cornwall Central High School musicians participated in NYSSMA’s recent Zone 9 Area All State Festival. The weekend event was held at Newburgh Free Academy (NFA) and included students from Rockland, Orange, Sullivan, Ulster and Greene Counties.
This year’s festival was more selective than its predecessors since musicians had to be socially distant and there was limited space on the NFA stage. Students were selected on the basis of their virtual solos last spring when the successful Cornwall students all had near perfect scores.
In addition to working hard to prepare their music prior to the festival, these musicians had 12 hours of rehearsals before their Saturday evening performance.
Only four zones held their Area All State in November; several zones either canceled the festival again or postponed it until the spring.
Faculty advisor Anthony Ravinsky praised the students who represented Cornwall.
“We are proud of all of these musicians for all of their hard work over the years to get them to this point in their musical careers,” he said.
Orchestra: Natalie Celen-tano, Leia Hannes, Tyler Reed.
Band: Jonathan Arcangel, James Lorino, Joshua Wozniak.
Choir: Ellie Babbitt, Emma Blacksmith, Benjamin Carter, Stephanie Correia, Aneeka Phadnis
