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Alphabetical list of WISE group members,
click on name below:
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Instrument:
First Violin
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Charlene Faro has been a member of the West Islip
Symphony Orchestra since 1990...
She received her Bachelors Degree in Math from
Dowling College where she continued to play violin after
high school. She played with the Dowling Orchestra for
fifteen years for conductor Charles Weinsoff.
Charlene was also a member of the South Shore
Symphony under the direction of Anthony Messina and
played with the James Street Players. She is proud and
thrilled to be playing first violin with the West Islip
String Ensemble .
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Instrument:
Cello
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Ed Lambese began his
musical journey at age 7 when his Mom got him a toy violin for
Christmas. He began playing some real tunes on this and it was
plastic. Later, in grade school he saw a notice of " Free
Violin
Lessons" offered after school in the auditorium of the Asher
Levy School, in NYC where he lived. Upon seeing a real violin, he
was enthralled with the beauty of the wooden instrument and was
determined to play it. He showed much promise and won contests and
eventually scholarships to the Third Street Music School
Settlement under the coaching of Mr. Charles Manoff and later on,
a special scholarship to the High School Of Performing Arts (where
the Fame TV series was focused on) .
After grade school,
Ed's family moved from NYC to Brooklyn, NY where he started Junior
High School at Walt Whitman JHS. Ed continued on training all
through Junior High School and then won a scholarship to The High
School of Performing Arts, but his Dad preferred he stay in
Brooklyn. Upon entering High School ,he was made Concertmaster
of the Erasmus Hall High School Orchestra in Brooklyn, NY. In
his first year of High School, he got Barbra Streisand's Algebra
Book when they gave out the math textbooks. Erasmus Hall is the
oldest High School in the country with such celebrated alumnus as
Barbra Streisand, Neil Diamond, and Lainie Kazan. During
Junior High School, Ed had fallen in love with the sound of the
cello. In his first year of High School, he became serious
about learning to
play the cello. He asked
one of his High School teachers, Mr. Alan Knieter(whom he
still remains in contact with), if he could borrow a cello
over the summer break of 1971. That summer, he took home the cello
and a piece of music the orchestra had performed called "Chaconne"
which had a nice cello solo. He remembered the melody line of the
cello solo and figured out the notes on the cello and taught himself
the Bass Clef. Upon returning to High School for the Fall
Semester
of 1971, he was made principal cellist of the Erasmus Hall High
School Orchestra. Ed was also coached by Barbra Streisand's
and Neil Diamond's vocal teacher, Mr. Cosimo DiPietto, as he was the
Choral and Orchestral director of Erasmus Hall for Ed's
first two years of High School. Mr. DiPietto, was a very
serious, gifted teacher and he was very strict with his students
about music. Other students were nervous when he conducted and
concerned about making mistakes. Mr. DiPietto took a great liking to Ed and always praised his playing. He had a standing
quote for Ed which was, " You get some great sound out of that
cello, Fella!". Ed was thrilled to have his playing praised
like that by Barbra Streisand's and Neil Diamond's High School Vocal
Instructor. Especially since he was such a serious music
instructor! Ed was also coached by another teacher and dear
friend at Erasmus Hall who was a professional cellist himself.
His name is Saul Zalkin...he devoted much of his free time to
coaching Ed on the cello between classes as he said he saw gifted natural talent. Later
on Ed also trained with a world famous Hungarian Violinist, Mrs.
Katherine Fodor Finn of the Fodor Violin
Studio in Brooklyn, NY.
Ed continued on playing first violin and cello
through High School and then on to get his BA in music education
at Brooklyn College. Ed has played with many orchestras
that include the All Boro, Boro Wide Orchestra, and also a
chamber group that he formed. He also was a member of the Alumnus
Orchestra and then went on to play with "The New World Symphony
Orchestra, a semi pro orchestra. He has been a member of the "
West
Islip Symphony Orchestra" for the past 7 years and continues to
perform with them. In June of 2004, Ed was asked by the "West Islip
Symphony Orchestra" president, Nancy Donohue, to play with a few
other members of the " West Islip Symphony" at a Grand Re-opening of
the West Islip Library... Hence the birth of WISE (West Islip String
Ensemble). Since then Ed and the members of WISE have performed together at many venues
all over Long Island and continue to do so.
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Instrument:
Second Violin
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Paul Little began
playing the violin under the direction of Theresa Poland at
the age of 12. Since then, he has taken great pride in
becoming a talented and well-rounded musician.
After graduating
from Brentwood High School on Long Island in 1998, Paul
attended SUNY Potsdam’s Crane School of Music, where he
earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Music Education. While at
Crane, Paul studied under several world-renowned string
players, including violinists John Lindsay, Sara Hersh, and
Ioan Harea, violists Kenneth Martinson and Peter Bucknell,
and cellist Mathias Wexler. In addition to improving his
skills as a violinist, Paul also learned and became skilled
at playing the viola and cello. He also studied classical
guitar under Richard Stephan and flute under Kenneth
Andrews. He credits Marsha Baxter, his professor in
multicultural music, as his biggest influence for helping
him to “open up to what music is truly about”.
In addition to
his private studies at Crane, Paul was a member of the Crane
Symphony Orchestra, participating in the Potsdam community’s
annual Holiday Convocation concert, which is televised and
broadcast on local public television and radio stations
across Northern New York. He was also involved in the
Opening Ceremonies for the now defunct Goodwill Games in the
year 2000 at Lake Placid, New York. Throughout his
undergraduate college career, Paul has played numerous
orchestral and chamber works by Brahms, Mozart, Haydn,
Mahler, Holst, Shostakovich, and countless other composers
from throughout classical musical history.
Paul is also
known in jazz and theater circles as well. While at Crane,
he was a member of “El Norte Tropicale”, the Crane Latin
Jazz Ensemble, which led to a chance meeting with trumpeter
Arturo Sandoval. He also has performed in many musicals in
pit ensembles, including “The Wiz”, “Camelot”, “Anything
Goes”, “Guys and Dolls”, and “Les Miserables”, both in
Potsdam and in theater companies throughout Long Island.
After earning
his degree in 2003, Paul taught music in the North Babylon
school district for 2 years. Feeling that performing and
making music was his calling and not just teaching it, he
left teaching behind and began work on his Masters Degree in
Music Technology at Five Towns College, where he is
currently studying under Michele Denton, whom he refers to
as the teacher “who gave him the ball and let him run with
it”. He is currently in preparation to perform Mozart’s
Violin Concert No. 5 in A Major for an upcoming concert at
Five Towns.
Paul joined
the West Islip String Ensemble in 2006, and is also a member
of the West Islip Symphony Orchestra.
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Instrument:
Viola
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Sam was introduced to the Violin at a
summer camp program in Trumbull, Connecticut under the direction of
Miriam Giannone. By the end of that summer he auditioned and was
accepted into the "Bridgeport Symphony Youth Orchestra" as a Violist.
After seven years with the "Bridgeport Symphony Youth Orchestra", Sam
had experienced many varied forms of music from classical to modern.
Sam learned as much as he could about his instrument, and is very
thankful that he attended that summer camp with such a wonderful teacher
(who has been his instructor ever since).
Some of Sam's highlights from high school included being selected to the
"Western Connecticut Regional Orchestra" and playing in the "Trumbull
High School Golden Eagle Marching Band" where they had won the "Eastern
Marching Band Association" (EMBA) championship competitions for two
years while he was there. Since it was difficult to march with a viola,
Sam became a percussionist in the band’s “pit”.
After graduating high school, Sam continued as a Violist in two
Connecticut symphony orchestras: "The Subway Symphony Orchestra"
(sponsored by the Subway Corporation), and the "Hamden Symphony
Orchestra". He also performed in various local musical
productions.
Since moving to Long Island, he has happily been involved with "The West
Islip Symphony Orchestra" since 2004 and in the summer of 2005, he
joined the WISE GUYS of the "West Islip String Ensemble" which has
really been a great experience for him.
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Wilcox, Valerie |
Instrument:
Viola
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When Valerie
was in sixth grade, her school principal asked her if
she would like to study the violin. Puzzled by this
out-of-the-blue suggestion, she at first declined. But
after giving it some thought, she decided to take him up
on his offer. After all, her father already had a violin
at home gathering dust, and she already played some
piano. It turned out that the principal had confused
Valerie with her violin-playing friend, a mistake that
would ultimately change her life. Four years later, her
high school orchestra teacher hand-picked her to
transfer to the viola, so that she would be able to lead
that section after a year of preparation. The plan
worked, and in her senior year, Valerie was made
principal violist of her high school, was assistant
principal in the Suffolk County SCMEA orchestra, won the
Performing Arts Award from Lincoln Center, and toured
Europe as part of the American Youth Symphony, playing
as assistant principal. In college, Valerie played viola
with the Elmira, NY city orchestra (again as assistant
principal) for three years, and did a lot of
free-lancing. Once out of college, she again toured,
this time with the American Youth Chamber Orchestra,
when they went to Great Britain. She began a 12-year
career as a self-employed music and dance teacher,
training dozens of students throughout Long Island on
the violin, viola, piano and organ, and in Scottish
Highland dance. For a few years, she studied Scottish
fiddling and did a little competing, once placing as
high as third in the Northeast Championships. She has
played in the pit orchestra for more musicals and church
programs than she can remember. She played with the
Sagtikos Orchestra until it disbanded, and subsequently
joined the West Islip Symphony Orchestra in 1980, where
she has been principal or assistant principal violist
for many of the intervening years. (She is also
responsible for writing their program notes.) Valerie is
a member of the Long Island String Festival Association,
and has earned her New York Music teacher certification
(to go along with those in Elementary Education and
Spanish), three British teaching/judging certifications
in Highland dance, and a Ph.D. in Performing Arts, which
reflects her interests not only in music, but a deep
involvement with ethnic dance as well. She was recently
asked to join WISE, where she has already shown her
flexibility and musicality in covering both violin and
viola parts.
When not
involved with her music, Valerie can be found at
Scottish cultural events (she runs the dance competition
at the Long Island Highland Games), doing her radio show
on WUSB-FM, tutoring students in Spanish, or at her
full-time job as chairperson of the Foreign Language
department at the Long Island School for the Gifted.
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