RBR VPA Students Selected for All-National Honors Band and Chorus

Red Bank Regional (RBR) is honored to announce that two of its Visual and Performing Arts (VPA) students, Patrick Martini of Union Beach and Matthew Rosen of Little Silver, have reached the pinnacle in their high school music careers with their acceptance to the very prestigious All-National Honors Ensembles sponsored by the National Association for Music Education (NAfME). The RBR students are among 637 top high school music students in the country to earn this honor. Both will perform, Patrick in the mixed chorus and Matt in the concert band, at a gala concert on October 30, 2013, in Nashville Tennessee.

            RBR’s lead VPA teacher Kris Zook comments, “We are so pleased to have Matt and Patrick both be selected for the All-National ensembles. Their hard work and dedication in getting to this level are a testament to their talent and musicianship. They continue to make all of the RBR Visual & Performing Arts proud to count them among our ranks.”

            Patrick, a music and drama double major, has steadily risen in the ranks of the honor choirs since he entered RBR as a freshman in the VPA program. He was selected for three years to the All-Shore Chorus and made first chair for two years. He advanced to All-State Honor Chorus for the past two years and was the top scorer of 350 male singers. Patrick was also selected for All State Opera and has appeared in many school musicals and dramas taking lead roles in RBR’s productions of As You Like It, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Little Mermaid, Jr., and Little Women. He also performed a lead role in the school’s opera presentation of Dido and Aeneas.  Patrick also performed in community theatre in Phoenix’s production of Sweeney Todd and with the Garden State Players in a music theatre showcase.

            On making the All-National Honor Mixed Choir he states, “I was really happy and felt a real sense of accomplishment and so honored to be going to Tennessee to perform among the best students in the country.”

            Matthew Rosen is an instrumental music major in RBR’s VPA with a concentration in clarinet, bass clarinet and saxophone. His acceptance to the All-National Honors Band is on Bass Clarinet. This past spring Matthew won the First Chair, Principal Bass Clarinet for the All-Eastern Concert Band. Matthew has been studying clarinet since the fourth grade and began competing for honors bands in middle school. By 8th grade he had won seats in the middle school All-Shore Band and the Middle School Region II Orchestra. As a freshman he had the distinction of being accepted to the High School Region II Band on two instruments. By sophomore year he was accepted to the All-State Wind Ensemble on all three instruments.

Matthew has seized many opportunities to expand his musical experiences. He has spent his high school summer vacations playing alongside professional musicians under the direction of John Luckenbill performing in a shore-area concert series. He also held the position of Concertmaster, Principal Clarinetist at the 2012 and 2013 New York Summer Music Festival in Oneonta, NY. He has played bass clarinet in the Rutgers University Symphonic Band, the only high school student to ever play with that ensemble. Additionally, Matthew studies the soprano, alto, tenor, and baritone saxophones with the well known saxophonist Dr. Paul Cohen from Manhattan School of Music and Rutgers. Matt is currently playing clarinet in the Manhattan School of Music pre-college Philharmonic Orchestra. Of his many musical accomplishments Matt comments, “Nothing for me has been as notable as my acceptance to the All-Eastern Band, my Junior year, until this. I still can’t believe that I made All-National.”

            NAfME is the successor of the oldest music education association in the country, originally founded in 1907 as the Music Supervisors National Conference. Its mission, according to its website is to “advance music education by encouraging the study and making of music by all.”  NAfMe counts itself among the largest arts education organizations in the world with over 130,000 active and retired music teachers and 60,000 honor students and supporters. For more information on NAfMe, visit their website www.nafme.org.