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Hendrick Hudson High School junior Cassandra Cavalieri, bassoon, and senior Jodi Scharf, trombone, earned the distinction. Cavalieri was accepted into the symphony orchestra and Scharf into the symphonic band.
The Eastern Division Conference is held every two years and is hosted by a local state Music Education Association.
The best musicians from 10 northeast states are invited to participate in these highly competitive ensembles, making both Cavalieri and Scharf among the 30 or so best student musicians on their instrument in the Northeast and among the top in the entire country.
In fact, Cavalieri won the coveted principal bassoon chair in the symphony orchestra, which rates her as the top high school bassoonist in the Northeast.
Both musicians worked from Thursday through Saturday, with a performance on Sunday, averaging about seven hours of rehearsal a day with some of the country’s top collegiate and youth group wind band and symphony orchestra conductors.
“Listening to a group, any group, where each individual plays at such a high level is so powerful it can’t be described” said Benjamin Acrish, band director at HHHS. “And to think these are our kids, it’s truly amazing! I’m so proud of these girls; they work so hard.”
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