North High School’s annual Artfest, a celebration of the school’s fine and performing arts, will be held over four days and three evenings, from May 19 to 20 and May 23 to 24. Art events will be held during the day and evening, but concerts will be held in the evenings. All events will take place at the school, located at 35 Polo Rd. All events are free and the public is welcomed.
Art Exhibit
The Artfest student Art Exhibit will be held on Thursday and Friday, May 19 and 20, and on Monday and Tuesday, May 23 and 24, during regular school hours. The Art Exhibit Closing Night Reception will be held on Tuesday, May 24, at 6 p.m. The exhibit features the culminating display of work from all fine art classes, including Advanced Placement and Advanced Art, Sculpture & Ceramics, Digital Photography, Digital Design, Fashion, Architecture and Studio Art, and reflects the students’ talent and commitment, as well as their joy in expressing themselves. The art teachers are Joseph Giacalone (lead teacher), Christine Hakanjin, Emily Man and Laura Powell.
Repertory Theater
The Artfest Repertory Theater performance will be held on Friday, May 20, at 7:30 p.m., with a production of Trapped, under the guidance of director/drama teacher Ilana Meredith Schikler. For more information about this performance, click here.
Concerto Concert
The Concerto Concert, which begins at 7:30 p.m. on Monday, May 23, features soloists accompanied by the Symphony Orchestra with excerpts from concertos by Handel, Beethoven, von Weber, Rimsky-Korsakov, Glazunov, Boccherini, Saint-Saens, Harry DeCosta and Rachmaninoff.
Concerto soloists include violinists August Chen and Katie Tsai, cellist Ellen Xu, bassist Eddie Syn, pianist Kejia (Madeleine) Wang, clarinetist Benjamin Watson, saxophonist Man Yung Hon, flutist Abigail Berkower and tuba player Casey Poon. The evening will offer a range of character, from traditional instrumental concertos to the circus-like fare of the “Tuba Tiger Rag,” and will end with the colossal experience of the Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 2 for the mammoth 137-piece Symphonic Orchestra and piano soloist Madeleine Wang.
Artfest Concert
The Artfest Concert on Tuesday, May 24, will begin at 7:15 p.m. The concert theme is Russian Composers from the 19th and 20th Centuries, featuring the Chorus, Long Island Sound, Symphonic Band and Symphony Orchestra performing works from renowned Russian composers. Prior to the event, concertgoers will be greeted by a Chamber Ensemble and a Jazz Ensemble offering an emerging tradition of Music in the Lobby.
The Honors Select Choral Ensemble will perform “He, Watching Over Israel” by Mendelssohn, followed by The Long Island Sound performing “Dark Eyes” (a traditional Russian cabaret song), “Baubles, Bangles and Beads” from Kismet and the Glazunov/traditional Russian piece, “Song of the Volga Boatmen.”
The Chorus will perform “Cool Kids,” “Bashanah Haba’ah,” three Russian folk songs of “The Birch Tree,” “Kalinka” and “Toom Balalaika,” and a medley from Fiddler on the Roof, including “Tradition,” “Matchmaker,” “If I Were a Rich Man,” “Sabbath Prayer,” “To Life,” “Sunrise, Sunset” and “Fiddler on the Roof,” with violin soloist Lauren Goldsamt.
The Symphonic Band will perform transcriptions of Shostakovich’s “Festive Overture,” “Prokovieff’s March” from The Love for Three Oranges, Shostakovich’s “Jazz Waltz No. 2” and Khatchaturian’s “Sabre Dance.”
The Symphony Orchestra will perform Khatchaturian’s “Masquerade Waltz,” the entire five movements of “Lieutenant Kije” by Prokovieff and the final movement of “Symphony No. 5” by Shostakovich.
The combined Chorus and Symphony Orchestra will close the concert with Borodin’s “Polovetsian Dances” from the opera Prince Igor.
Vocal students will be under the direction of Dr. Janine Robinson. Instrumental students will be under the direction of Joseph Rutkowski.
For more information, contact Neil Saggerson, North High fine and performing arts department head, at nsaggerson@greatneck.k12.ny.us.
