Huntington, East Northport Students Win LI Music Hall Scholarships

HUNTINGTON, NY — The Long Island Music and Entertainment Hall of Fame recently awarded $10,500 in scholarships to 2026 graduating high school seniors from across Long Island.

LIMEHOF awarded ten $1,000 scholarships to students pursuing studies in music performance, music education and theater. The organization also presented the $500 Pat DeRosa Memorial Scholarship for the fourth consecutive year, honoring the late LIMEHOF inductee.

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“The record number of scholarship applications we received this year is an encouraging sign for the future of the arts,” said Tom Needham, vice chairman of the Long Island Music and Entertainment Hall of Fame. “We are proud to provide thousands of dollars in scholarship support to outstanding students pursuing careers in music performance, music education, and theater, and we look forward to seeing the contributions they will make to their communities and the arts for years to come.”

The 2026 LIMEHOF scholarship winners were:

Harry Diner, of Huntington, a violin and electronic music student at Harborfields High School, who will attend Cornell University.

Riley Fergus, of East Northport, a viola student at Half Hollow Hills High School, who will study at The Juilliard School.

Chloe Leshnower, of Dix Hills, a classical voice student at Half Hollow Hills High School East, who will pursue a Bachelor of Music in Music Education at the University of Miami Frost School of Music, with a Vocal Performance Certificate.

Abigail Ng, of East Northport, a violin student at Northport High School, who will pursue music education at Syracuse University.

Gavin Pollack, of West Islip, an oboe student at West Islip High School, who will attend the University of Miami Frost School of Music to study music education with a minor in education.

Julius Radino, of Bellport, a drums student at Bellport Senior High School, who will attend the University of Miami Frost School of Music and pursue the M.A.D.E. program.

Jackson Seifert, of Shirley, a tenor trombone student at William Floyd High School, who will attend the Blair School of Music at Vanderbilt University.

Nicholas Suwalski, of Farmingdale, a trumpet student at Farmingdale High School, who will pursue a double major in trumpet performance and music education at Queens College’s Aaron Copland School of Music.

Lisa Yasinov, of Syosset, a soprano voice student at Syosset High School, who will pursue a Bachelor of Music in Classical Vocal Performance at New England Conservatory.

Christian Seymour, of Wading River, a saxophone student at Riverhead High School, received the 2026 Pat DeRosa Memorial Scholarship. Seymour will study music education at Ithaca College.

Kolton Chamberlain, of Mastic Beach, a tuba and voice student at William Floyd High School, who will study music education and performance at Ithaca College.

The Pat DeRosa Memorial Scholarship honors Pat A. DeRosa, a saxophonist and longtime music educator who taught in Huntington and South Huntington. DeRosa performed from Manhattan to Montauk and beyond, and in 2018 was recognized by Guinness World Records as the world’s oldest professional saxophone player.

DeRosa, who was born in Brooklyn and raised in South Huntington, began playing saxophone at age 12. He later served in World War II, played with the Glenn Miller Army Air Force Band, performed at New York City venues including the Latin Quarter and the Copacabana, and earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the Manhattan School of Music.

He was inducted into the Long Island Music and Entertainment Hall of Fame and the South Huntington Hall of Fame.

The memorial scholarship was created to support a high school senior continuing music studies on saxophone or another woodwind instrument.

LIMEHOF said it has awarded tens of thousands of dollars in scholarships to Long Island high school students since its founding. Applications are reviewed by the organization’s education committee, chaired by Needham. Students from Nassau, Suffolk, Queens and Brooklyn are eligible to apply.