In a ferocious competition at the 2017 Bach To Rock Battle of the Bands, 26 bands went head-to-head at The Cutting Room in New York City on June 11.
“The students work very hard to prepare for this
huge event and I’m incredibly proud of everyone who participated,” said Bach To Rock Director Elana Hayden. “While this is a competition, the main point is for the kids to have a great experience performing in a top New York City venue and to have fun.”
Seasoned music industry professionals Jamie Betty (Count Basie Orchestras), Bert Elliot (Bernie Williams, Marcus Miller) and Steve Walter (musician and co-owner of The Cutting Room) judged the performances. One hundred and fifteen students performed on a stage that has hosted Lady Gaga, Sheryl Crow, John Mayer and Sting, to name a few.
The bands were scored on several criteria including musical ability, technical ability, stage presence, material, creativity and professionalism. All the competitors study a variety of musical disciplines at Bach to Rock music school on Port Washington Boulevard, including music theory, instrument instruction, recording arts, performance arts, voice lessons and band coaching.
Port winners included The End with Braden Blacker, Blaise Torio, Noah Lapter and Zen Lee in the elementary school division, The Statues with Olivia Mathis, Yoni Cohen, Alyssa Publisi and Matthew Loffredo in the middle school division and M.O.A.B. with Drew Brodsky, Luca Bombardiere, Nicole Victory and Liam Carlton. Eitan Prouser was the band coach for both the elementary and high school winners while Fabio Rojas was the band coach for the middle school winners.
Runners up in the elementary division were The Monarchs with Ella Rowe, Stella Comess, Chimka Korie, Sienna Cocossa, Anderson Lu and Oliver Goldman (band coach Eitan Prouser) and The Wolverines with Jayden Doshi, Kirin Doshi, Stella Felix, Nicoletta Rubino and Dylan Miglio (band coach Victor Murillo). The runners up in the middle school division were Riptide with Ben Rotko, Tara Bluni, Dylan Forman and Emelie Nguyen (band coach Eitan Prouser) and
Juvenile Hazard with Ian Miller, Eric Holm, Aden Neuwirth, Dylan Miller and Zachary Pfeil-Schaub (band coach Jared Winzelberg). The high school runner up was No Social Life with Jess Girillo, John Bubany, Dennis Nakazawa, Justin Loffredo, Emily Telacki and Chelsea Felix (band coach Victor Murillo).
