Lincoln Academy students in Wind Ensemble and Lincolnaires on their recent trip to participate in the WorldStrides Heritage Festival. Photos by Margaret Kastelein ’23.
Lincoln Academy’s Wind Ensemble and Lincolnaires choir both earned Gold ratings at the 2023 WorldStrides Heritage Festival in New York City, which took place March 30-April 1. The musicians traveled to New York City for the weekend-long festival for the first time since 2019.
“It was a long tradition to alternate years traveling to the Festival between Wind Ensemble and Lincolnaires,” said LA band director Liz Matta, who traveled with students to New York. “We decided to take both groups together this year because this was the last chance for these seniors to make this trip. It is such an important learning experience for young musicians to get out of their comfort zone and play in the city.”
In addition to performing for judges at Riverside Church in Manhattan, the LA student musicians saw a Broadway show, attended a performance of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, attended a performance of the extraordinary “DIVA” Jazz Orchestra at Dizzy’s Jazz club at Lincoln Center, and enjoyed a post-award show dinner and dancing cruise on the Hudson River around the Statue of Liberty.
“A highlight for me was going to Dizzy’s and listening to professional musicians in person,” said senior Liam Card, who sings in the Lincolnaires and plays saxophone in the Wind Ensemble and Jazz Bands. “It’s nothing like listening to recorded music through headphones. There’s so much emotion and feeling in person. It has reinvigorated my love for music.”
Oliver McNamara ’24 and Gavin Albert ’24 with the WorldStrides Heritage Festival Wind Ensemble Plaque. Photo by Margaret Kastelein ’23.
“I got to make this trip for the first time this year,” said LA choir director Emily Anderson, whose first year at LA was the 2019-20 school year. “I have heard about it since I started working at LA, and the trip far exceeded my already high expectations. There were some obvious highlights in getting to perform in the massive and ornate sanctuary of Riverside Church, and hear various professional performances. I found more subtle joy in getting to see the camaraderie among students from both ensembles and the confidence and excitement they exuded walking the streets of the city. While I tend to find silver linings in everything, these students have missed out on so many learning experiences over the past several years, and I am grateful to be able to have shared in this big win. To say that our students deserve this trip would be an understatement.”
The performance venue at Riverside Church seats 2000 people and is the tallest church in the nation, and it has remarkable acoustics. “One of the reasons we go to this festival is to offer these kids a chance to perform at Riverside,” said Matta. “The acoustics are spectacular, and every bit of the Gothic Revival architecture and design is incredible.”
Oliver McNamara ’24 and Gavin Albert ’24 with the WorldStrides Heritage Festival Wind Ensemble Plaque. Photo by Margaret Kastelein ’23.
The Gold Rating is the highest rating offered by judges at the WorldStrides Heritage Festival and based on average scores awarded by the three judges in areas of tone, intonation, interpretation, balance, blend, diction, rhythm, repertoire, etc. Groups needed a score of at least 85 to earn the Gold Rating, and Lincolnaires earned an score of 94 and Wind Ensemble earned a score of 90. “This year’s judges were professors of music from Eastman, Manhattan, and Long Island’s Schools,” said Matta. “They commended the students on professionalism of tone and musicianship. The judges gave us some great feedback about what our next steps for growth as an ensemble should be, and congratulated the students on their success and hard work to continue to sing and play during the challenges of the pandemic.”
“We had some serendipitous moments on the trip as well, that came from both LA connections and the spontaneity of the city,” Matta continued. “Our flute players were able to meet Clare Chase, the featured flutist of the NY Philharmonic, after the performance, and were invited to play with her when she performs locally this summer with the Salt Bay Chamberfest. A family friend in NYC offered a five-person pass to the Museum of Modern Art, so some of our student artists got to experience that aspect of the city. Several students discovered a music store near Times Square and got the chance to play on Louis Armstrong’s trumpet mouthpiece. Others got to meet and talk with a veteran MET Opera singer we happened to meet outside of General Ulysses S. Grant National Memorial.”
“There were so many cool things that we got to do–we really packed it in,” agreed junior flutist Audrey Hufnagel. “We got to experience a lot of things that we can’t do in Maine. It was great just being in the city.”
More photos from the trip, courtesy of Margaret Kastelein ’23, are on the LA Flickr page.
