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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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Born to a family of
musicians, Diomedes showed his interest in the violin at
the age of 3. Diomedes' father became his first
violin teacher. He took his first formal lesson at
age 5 at the St. Scholastica's College of Music
(Philippines), studying under the violin pedagogue of
Ms. Vima Valerio. After a year, he transferred to
the much respected pedagogue, a Julliard trained
violinist, Professor Basilio Manalo, and then to
Professor Arturo Molina, the only foreigner in history
to win the Annual String Competition, at the Kiev
Conservatory, Moscow.
Diomedes has
performed as a soloist of the PREDIS CHAMBER ORCHESTRA,
and CHILDRENS ORCHESTRA as Concertmaster. He
became the youngest member of the Manila Symphony
Orchestra II, and has been featured in Maestro Filipino
l, and Friends of the Cultural Center of the Philippines
(CCP)
Concert.
At the age of 8,
Diomedes was one of the delegates, in the 45th year Suzuki
Music Convention (1998) held in Japan. He has been
featured at his solo debut recital at the Cultural
Center of the Philippines, and at the Pasig Music
Festival. In 2002, he won first place at the
National Music Competition for Young Artists, and in
2003, he made his concert debut "The Gift", at the CCP
which was awarded as one of the best performances of
2003 by the Manila Bulletin in the Philippines.
He moved to New
York in the summer of 2005 to pursue his studies of the
violin at the Mannes College, Preparatory Division.
He was under the tutelage of respected violin pedagogue,
Dr. Chin Kim. In 2006, he joined the Green
Mountain Chamber Music Festival in Vermont, and played
the Khachaturian Violin Concerto for the opening
concert. In 2007, he won the Friday Woodmere Young
Artist Competition in Hewlett, NY, and was featured in
the WQXR 96.3's Rob Sherman's Young Artist Showcase.
In 2008, he won the Mannes Concerto Competition, which
led him to a performance with the Mannes Philharmonic
under the baton of Mr. Michael Adelson, assistant
conductor of the New York Philharmonic. Soon he
became the Concertmaster of the Mannes Philharmonic (in
2009). Diomedes chamber group, also won the
American Teacher's League Competition of 2009, and was
later featured at Carnegie Hall. Additionally, and
later in the year of 2009, he had his homecoming concert
in the Philippines entitled "Symphonic Virtuosity", with
the respected German conductor, Christoph Poppen, and
the Manila Symphony Orchestra.
Today, Diomedes just had his New York concert debut with the
New York Symphonic Arts Ensemble at the Julia Richman
Auditorium. He also became a prize winner of the
Julliard Competition 2010, playing William Schuman's
Violin Concerto. In addition, he recently
performed at the Paul Hall of the Julliard School for an
all sonata concert called "Sonatenabend". Diomedes
is a member of the West Islip String Ensemble, and is currently furthering his studies at the Julliard
School under the tutelage of professor Stephen Clapp.
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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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Gregory began studying the violin at the age of nine at his
local elementary school in West Islip, NY. He always
showed great interest and pride when practicing and
performing at various music festivals and school concerts
during his youth. Little did his parents know
that this seemingly ancillary hobby would eventually become
a huge part of Greg's life.
His
Grandfather's gift of an heirloom family violin spurred
Gregory's burning desire to hone his skills and join the
high school orchestra. In his sophomore year, Greg's
true talent and increasing skills shone through as he won
the concertmaster position which he held until graduation.
Throughout his high school years, Gregory played with the
Long Island Youth Orchestra under the direction of Martin
Dreiwitz, and was granted a "rising star" position with the
C.W. Post Orchestra under the baton of Susan Deaver.
It was at this time that Greg began attending summer chamber
music festivals. Upon graduation at St. John the
Baptist High School, Greg was granted admission to the Crane
School of Music at SUNY Potsdam.
During the summer between high school and college, Gregory
was part of a month long international orchestra tour with
the Long Island Youth Orchestra. The orchestra was
honored with performances in Australia, New Zealand, Samoa,
and the Cook Islands.
In
2004, Greg entered the Crane School of Music. At
Crane, he was under the tutelage of several very
accomplished violinists. He began his studies with
John Lindsay, the concertmaster of The Orchestra of
Northern NY, and a revered soloist. Subsequently, Greg
joined the studio of Dr. Sarah Hersh. Dr. Hersh
studied with such famed pedagogues as Dr. Shinichi Suzuki,
and is one of the designated teacher trainers of the Suzuki
method in the United States. Greg credits Dr. hersh
with having a huge impact on both his playing and teaching
style.
Greg
had many accolades during his studies at Crane. He was
a member of a student string quartet, and The Crane
Symphony Orchestra for four years, in addition to being
chosen for the select opera and ballet orchestras. In
2005, Gregory performed at Carnegie Hall in NYC as part of
the Crane Symphony Orchestra. At the end of the next
year, Gregory's String Quartet won an audition and became
featured performers at the NY Governor's Inauguration in
Albany, NY. In 2008, Greg graduated Suma Cum Laude,
with a Bachelor's degree in Music Education.
Today, Gregory resides in his home town of West
Islip, NY. He performs as a member of the West Islip
String Ensemble, and teaches violin and piano while
continuing his studies as a graduate student at Stony Brook
University.
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Instrument:
Viola
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As a child Thomas
Duboski always had a keen interest in Music. Being raised into a
musical family, he began studying the viola at the age of nine.
His first experience with the viola, was in a musical instruments repair
shop, that he and his Mother had visited to repair her clarinet.
One of the repairmen at the shop introduced Tom to the instrument that
he was to play for the rest of his life. At this time, his
interest in pursuing music and learning to play the viola began.
From the Baroque
style of Johann Sebastian Back to the Twentieth-Century contemporary Max
Reger, Thomas has played and performed numerous works within the diverse
classical viola repertoire. He has attended many renowned
orchestral and chamber music festivals including Long Island String
Festival 2007-08 and S.C.M.E.A. All County Orchestra for four
years. He was also involved with the Tri-M Music Honor Society in
his high school. In addition, he has attended New York's All-State
Music Conference in December 2007-08 in Rochester, NY. Each of
these year's, Tom had the experience of live orchestra performances with
the Eastman School of Music's "Eastman Theater". During his years
of studying the viola, Thomas had attended several summer music festival
programs. These programs include New York State Summer School of
the Arts, School of Orchestra Studies Division for 2007 and 2008.
In 2009, he attended Meadowmount School of Music, studying with Patricia
McCarty. Lastly, in 2010, he attended the Green Mountain Chamber
Music Festival, studying with violists Karen Ritscher and Wing Ho.
In addition to
participating in many music festivals, Thomas has been involved with
several Pre-College Music Programs. The Stony Brook University
Pre-College program was the first of these which he attended for three
years. Following this, Tom went on to the Aaron Copland School of
Music Pre-College program at Queens College for one year. During
his last two years of high school, Thomas was enrolled in the Mannes
College for Music Pre-College program, which was a turning point in the
development of his musical career studies. At Mannes, he studied
privately with violist Liuh-Wen Ting. Tom's chamber music coaches
included cellist Gregory Hesseling and pianist, David Oei.
Thomas has performed
in various major concert halls which include Carnegie Hall. For
two years (2008 through 2009), he was a member of the Metropolitan Youth
Orchestra. For each of these years, he performed a concert at
Carnegie Hall's Stern/Perlman Auditorium. Additionally, in 2009,
he won the American Music Teacher's League Young Artists Competition
with his Piano Quintet from the Mannes Pre-College, performing in
concert at Carnegie Hall's Weill Recital Hall. Beyond
performing, Tom has won many scholarship awards including the Long
Island Philharmonic's Agnes Trill Funk Music Achievement Scholarship
Award in 2009.
Mr. Duboski is a member
of the West Islip String Ensemble. He is currently furthering his
studies in music and performance of the viola at the Manhattan School of Music.
He is under the tutelage of Patinka Kopec.
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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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