East End Arts Announces Music Masters Fellowship Program

Intensive Tuition-Free, Nine-Week String Ensemble Workshop, Fall 2013

Led by Professional Cellist & Conductor Nico Olarte-Hayes

Riverhead, New York - East End Arts is thrilled to announce the commencement of the 2013 Music Masters Fellowship, a string ensemble of local high school student musicians participating in an intensive tuition-free, nine-week workshop under the baton of professional cellist and conductor Nico Olarte-Hayes. Nico Olarte-Hayes is an alumnus of the prestigious Perlman Music Program and is quickly establishing himself as one of today’s most promising musical talents.

Students applied to participate back in late summer and a select few were chosen to participate in this program. Applications came in from across Suffolk County and the final nine-piece string ensemble includes five violin students, one viola student, two cello students, and one double bass student:

•Matthew Barnard (age 17), violin, from Riverhead High School;

•Megan Brunner (age 15), violin, from Riverhead High School;

•Alaina Cruse (age 16), violin, from Westhampton Beach High School; 

•Sarah Halpin (age 16), cello, from Riverhead High School; 

•TeAndra Jenkins (age 15), violin, from Riverhead High School; 

•Nicholas Kleinman (age 17), double bass, from Sachem High School North; 

•Yasmine Kocan (age 13), cello, from Riverhead Middle School; 

•Lauren Schaefer (age 12), violin, from Riverhead Middle School; 

•Sarah Vaccaro (age 14), viola, from Bellport Middle School. 

The ensemble has been rehearsing Monday evenings since the end of September in East End Arts’ Carriage House rehearsal space and the group preparing for their final concert in early December. 

Members of the community are invited to attend the free final concert that will take place on Tuesday, December 3 at 7:30 PM at Suffolk County Community College’s Eastern Campus, specifically the Shinnecock Building, Hall 101, located at 121 Speonk-Riverhead Road, Riverhead, NY. We thank Suffolk Community College for graciously providing the performance space. For more information about the final performance, visit http://www.eastendarts.org/calendar/event/2013/12/03/music-masters-fellowship-string-ensemble-final-concert.

The Music Masters Fellowship program is made possible through donations from within the community.

More about the Music Masters Fellowship Program

The Music Masters Fellowship Program was created with the goal of providing local students with one-on-one learning opportunities with masters in the music field, and to encourage student pursuit of post-graduate education. The program employs master performers and composers in rock music, jazz, world music and classical music to mentor small groups of talented high school students from Eastern Long Island. Through one-on-one learning opportunities with masters in the music field, the students are given training in rehearsal and performance skills, in addition to recording, marketing, composition and songwriting. They leave with life-long friendships, as well as portfolio materials to assist them in future endeavors, including their pursuit of post-graduate education. Participating students are selected based on application and performance sample. By creating this exciting and enriching program for the students, East End Arts is the catalyst for an expanded sense of opportunity and possibility throughout the academic year.

The pilot program, which took place during the spring of 2011, was mentored by Corky Laing, drummer and songwriter from “Mountain,” and “West, Bruce & Laing”; the second program, which took place in the spring of 2012 was mentored by singer/songwriter Lauren Kinhan of New York Voices and JaLaLa. The 2013 program is under the leadership of the young and incredibly gifted Nico Olarte-Hayes, a professional cellist and conductor, who is an alumnus of the very prestigious Perlman Music Program, which is under the direction of the world renowned master violinist Itzhak Perlman. 

For more information about Nico Olarte-Hayes, visit http://www.eastendarts.org/programs/music-masters.html#olarte-hayes-bio. 

For more information about the Music Masters Fellowship Program, contact the East End Arts School at 631-369-2171 or education@eastendarts.org.