14 New Hyde Park Kids Earn State's Highest Music Honor

NEW HYDE PARK, NY — Fourteen high school music phenoms from New Hyde Park were among 800 students across the state chosen to participate in the annual All-State Music Festival, the highest honor a school musician can achieve.

The Herricks High School students will perform in Rochester, New York, from Dec. 5-8, the district said in a news release. The annual festival is sponsored by the New York State School Music Association. There they will practice and play with nationally recognized conductors in musical ensembles, including a wind ensemble, a symphonic band, a symphony orchestra, a treble chorus, mixed chorus and a jazz ensemble.

To qualify for the festival, each student had to receive a perfect score in a formal audition, which required the highest level solo, a sight-reading exam and performance of three scales. More than 6,000 sophomores and juniors audition every year.

Here are the Herricks All-State musicians:

• Stanley Chen (bass clarinet)
• Michelle Chiu (cello)
• Gloria Kang (cello)
• Karina Ng (violin)
• Jeremy Lau (jazz lead trumpet)
• Daniel Navy (double bass)
• Izzah Nazir (violin)
• Kyle Pinzon (cello)
• Rhea Rasquina (clarinet)
• Chiara Tan (violin)
• Sarah Winkler (soprano 2)
• Justin Yang (cello)
• Kaitlyn Yoo (violin)
• Allison Yu (alto)