Lewis-Lionti Sonata Concert


Monday, February 3, 2025

Hankin Auditorium, Westchester Community College, Valhalla, New York

The Lewis- Lionti Sonata Concert was established by the GWYOA Board in 1997. The concert provides outstanding Youth Symphony seniors an opportunity to perform a major concerto with full orchestral accompaniment. In addition to recognizing the musical accomplishment of our students, the concert was established to honor the many years of dedicated GWYOA service rendered by Dale Lewis, former director of Junior String, and Victor Lionti, former conductor of Youth Symphony.


LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN (1770-1827) Creatures of Prometheus Overture, Op. 43

The Westchester Youth Symphony

WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART (1756-1791) Divertimento in D Major, K. 136 I. Allegro

Reese Wang, violin, Rebecca Zhang, violin, Jason Cai, viola, Erin Suk, cello

CARL STAMITZ (1745-1801) Duet in E-flat Major, I. Adagio II. Allegro Moderato

Sophia Jimdar, violin, Alice Wu, viola

JOSEPH BODIN DE BOISMORTIER (1689-1755) Sonata No. 1, Gravement

Aadi Sethi, cello, Betty Gao, cello

GEORG FRIDERIC HANDEL (1685-1759) Allemande from Suite XVI in G minor

Sophie Tanios, flute, Haley Berger, clarinet

JAY UNGAR (b.1946)  Ashokan Farewell

Lilianne Williams-Ameen, violin, Verity Chao, viola

SOON HEE NEWBOLD (b. 1974) Alpha and Omega

The Westchester Youth Symphony

Kathleen C. Feldman, now in her fourth season as conductor of the GWYOA Youth Symphony, is the director of orchestras at Horace Greeley High School in the Chappaqua School District. With nearly two decades of teaching experience district wide, she also teaches music theory, coaches chamber ensembles, and serves as district music coordinator. Feldman is on the WCSMA board of directors, currently serving her second term as President-elect. Additionally, she teaches at the Eastern US Music Camp at Colgate University.

Feldman performs as a violinist in local orchestras and has performed internationally as a soloist and chamber musician. She has guest conducted for groups such as The Chappaqua Orchestra, Orchestra 914, and the Cortlandt Chamber Orchestra. Feldman has also conducted at All County Festivals in Orange County and Queensbury, NY, and has studied conducting at Julliard through their extension division and is currently a student of Dr. Mark Shapiro.

Feldman holds a violin performance degree from SUNY Purchase, a Master of Arts in Teaching from Manhattanville College, and a Certificate of Advanced Graduate Studies from Boston University. She is proud to showcase and celebrate Youth Symphony and its graduating senior class.


Westchester Youth Symphony

Violin l

Reese Wang, Concertmaster*

Rebecca Zhang, Asst. Concertmaster *

Tiana Kaga, Associate Concertmaster

Lilianne Williams-Ameen, Associate Concertmaster*

Koh Ando*

Natalie Baccay

Alexander Bond

Andy Cao

Cindy Chen

Ariana Chung

Sara Driver*

Alice Enokida*

Albert Huang

Katie Hung

Aleah Inoue*

Avi Medar

Justine Pascutti

Gabriella Rubinfine*

Serina Tomioka

Alyssum Wong*

Ava Wu


Cello
Betty Gao, Principal

Zoe Yau, Assistant Principal

Camilla Browand

Emma Camillo

Lauren Capurso

Evan Gilliam

Scarlett Hartzman

Conner Kim

Trisha Iyer

Hannah Loges*

Richa Patil*

Sachin Sasidharan

Aadi Sethi*

Teddy Stern

Erin Suk

Shaleen Thaker* 

Kian Vasudev*



Harp

Charlotte Dorr



Violin II
Rudolf Tseng, Principal

Sophia Jimdar. Assistant Principal*

Ari Bellman

Mira Bokil-Hepp

Penelope Conway

Amy Feng*

Raina Gu

Beatrice Hopper

Sara Jankovic*

Shawn Lin

April Hana Middleton*

Zoe Seltzer

Michael Shost

Brian Song*

Daniel Song*

Amir Thalappillil

Aadhya Vijil

Aditi Vijil

Caroline Wu

Avery Xu

Yuhan Zhao


Bass
Jake Siegel, Principal*

Rani Benslimane

Catherine Lynch*

Zion Park

Samira Phillips

Noah Rinke


Flute
Sophie Tanios, Principal*

Catherine Zhang. Assistant Principal

Isabelle Chacko

Yashica Balasubramanian


Piccolo
Yashica Balasubramanian


Percussion
Vivian Ellsworth

Alexa Frusciante

Cole Michelini



* Graduating Senior

Viola
Verity Chao, Principal*

Alice Wu, Assistant Principal

Jason Cai*

AbIgail Choi

Sameen Choudhary

Karissa Hinds* 

Leila Ibrahim

Evan Kaplan

Christian Sanchez

Navin Vasudev

Charlotte Wilke-Olsen*


Oboe
TianTong Wang, Principal

Aanya Shetty


Clarinet
Sally Anderson, Principal*

Joseph Francois, Asst. Principal*

Haley Berger*

Sophie Greenslade*

Johannes Magtajas


Bassoon
Ayaka Utsumi, Principal*

Anton Aaman


French Horn
Natalie Lord, Principal*

Adin Triolo, Assistant Principal*

Olive Copeland

Sarah Trivedi


Trumpet
Chen Lei, Co-Principal

Colin Rubsamen, Co-Principal*

Bryce Cohen

Donovan Chung

Trombone
Evan Piccirillo, Principal*

Alexander Harra

Angelina Pineiro*


2025 Graduating Seniors


The GWYOA Board celebrates Youth Symphony seniors last season as orchestra members and welcomes them into the GWYOA alumni community.

The Victor and Vincent Lionti Scholarship

The Victor and Vincent Lionti Scholarship honors the legacies of conductors emeritus Vincent J. Lionti and C. Victor Lionti by awarding a scholarship to a graduating senior who are in good standing with the GWYOA and who plan on pursuing a major or minor degree in music performance, music education, or another music related degree. 2025 is the scholarship’s inaugural year.


2025 Victor and Vincent Lionti Scholarship Recipient: Sophia Jimdar

2025 Victor and Vincent Lionti Scholarship Recipient: Aadi Sethi

2025 Distinguished Alumni Award Recipient:  Dr. Katie Kresek

Dr. Katie Kresek is a distinguished musician and educator with a rich background in performance, creation, and education. Graduating from the Greater Westchester Youth Orchestras Association (GWYOA) in 1994, Dr. Kresek has since crafted a remarkable career, blending her love for music with an unwavering commitment to excellence.

The first American woman to win a Tony Award for Best Orchestrations, Katie Kresek’s dynamic career as performer, creator, and educator is defined by versatility and multi-genre musical artistry. She is currently the concertmaster and co-orchestrator of Moulin Rouge! The Musical at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre on Broadway, for which she has received both the 2020 Tony Award for Best Orchestrations and a 2020 Outer Critics Circle  Honor for Outstanding Orchestrations.

Drawing on a peripatetic upbringing steeped in classical, folk, musical theatre, pop, and tango, her arrangements blend her vast experience as a performer with an imaginative synthesis of compositional styles. Her collaborations explore a wide vocabulary of idiomatic techniques, instrumental timbres and textures. In addition to Moulin Rouge! The Musical, recent arranging projects include for Beck’s 2024 Orchestral Tour, The Met Gala, Sleeping At Last’s 2024 performance at Carnegie Hall, Jonathan Coulton's album Some Guys, Phillip Phillips Behind The Light, and Lana Del Rey's Body Electric on the Born to Die: Paradise LP which was nominated for a Grammy Award. She has also written arrangements for Ariana Grande, Lizzo, Trey Anastasio, Rosanne Cash, Jesca Hoop, Misterwives, Richard Marx, Five for Fighting, and many others.

As a recording artist, she has performed on albums with artists including Norah JoHow are you doing, my brother?nes, James Taylor, Paul Simon, and most recently with Sarah Jarosz on her album World on the Ground, which won the 2021 Grammy Award for Best Americana Album. During the Broadway shutdown, she joined Trey Anastasio at his eight-week virtual residency, Beacon Jams, as part of the Rescue Squad Strings. Recent tours include Adele 25 Live in both Europe and North America, Five For Fighting Live with String Quartet, Elbow, Father John Misty’s Pure Comedy Tour, Bright Eyes, Rod Stewart at Madison Square Garden, and in Europe, US, Japan, and Latin America as the lead violinist and strings arranger for Lana Del Rey. She served as the concertmaster of David Byrne's Contemporary Color, performing with St. Vincent, Tune-Yards, Lucius, and Nelly Furtado in shows in Toronto and New York. She has also performed and/or recorded with Ariana Grande, Lizzo, Beyoncé, Jay-Z, Rufus Wainwright, Rosanne Cash, Diana Krall, Billy Porter, Pharrell Williams, Phillip Phillips, A Great Big World, Bastille, Jesca Hoop, Steve Martin & Edie Brickell, Alicia Keys, Angelique Kidjo, O.A.R., Shakira, KD Lang, Chris Martin, John Mayer, Jewel, Lenny Kravitz, Joanna Newsom, Enya, Ayo, Maya Isacowitz, Misterwives, Frank Ocean, MNDR, She & Him, Amber Rubarth, Kishi Bashi, The Hot Sardines, Breaking Benjamin, Zayn Malik, RY X, Trampled by Turtles, Chromeo, Andrew Bayer, JViewz, Marc Almond, Sir Jacobsen, Adriel Denae, The O’Jays, and many others.

She is also a founding member of the XQuartet; a string ensemble dedicated to the art of singer-songwriter collaboration in the studio and on stage. Since its inception, the quartet has emerged as one of the leading ensembles of its kind.

Her work in television includes performances on Saturday Night Live, The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, The Late Show with James Corden, The Late Show with Steven Colbert, American Idol, Bluegrass Underground, Jimmy Kimmel Live, The Today Show, The Late Show with David Letterman, The View, CBS The Early Show, The Rockefeller Christmas Tree Lighting, and the 51st Annual Grammy Awards. Her Broadway experience includes performances in the original New York production and Angelica Tour of Hamilton, The Cher Show, Charlie & The Chocolate Factory, American Idiot, The Lion King, Chaplin, Follies, Cinderella, The Phantom of the Opera, Gigi, Honeymoon in Vegas, Matilda, Pippin, On The Town, A Minister's Wife, Giant, and Frozen. 

As a music and talent coordinator, Katie has put together ensembles for numerous national and international film, television, recording and touring projects, including the 2014 Met Gala with Frank Ocean, Adele’s debut at the 2009 Grammy Awards, and Adele’s 2015 television special “Live at Radio City” on NBC. 

Praised for her skilled teaching artistry, creative and original programming, and her intelligent, holistic approach to string pedagogy, Katie Kresek combines passionate performance practice with deep commitment to learning to illuminate musical worlds for students and concertgoers. For six years, she was an Adjunct Associate Professor at St. John’s University in the department of Core Studies, where she taught interdisciplinary courses that explore the intersection of the arts and social issues in New York City, in addition to serving as an instructor of violin and viola. From 2016 to 2021, she served as the Community Liaison for the Teaching Artist Community at Teachers College, where she mentored teaching artists on expanding their practice. As a co-creator of Teachers College’s Online Certificate in Responsive Pedagogy program, she has designed online arts learning experiences for numerous cohorts since 2016. Additionally, Katie has served as teaching artist for Lincoln Center Education, The New York Philharmonic, and many other cultural organizations.

Katie holds a B.F.A. in music performance, a B.A. in literature, and a certificate in arts management from Purchase College, an M.M. in music performance from The Mannes College of Music, and a Masters and Doctorate in music and music education from Columbia University. Additional studies are in arranging, orchestration, and scoring at Berklee College of Music and The Juilliard School. 

Board of Directors
Victoria Kravitz, Chairperson

Elena Inoue, Vice Chairperson

Farhad Ameen, Treasurer

Jennifer Kaplan, Secretary

Paul Pak, Assistant Treasurer

Katrina Choi, Assistant Secretary

Iris Wong, Auditions Liaison

Sujatha Thalappillil, Digital Assets Liaison 

Margaret Bond, Chairperson Emeritus


Westchester Elementary Strings

Bernard Klinger Conductor

Stephen Jacobsohn Co-Liaison
Min Lucy Luo, Co-Liaison
Franziska Winkler, Co-Liaison

Westchester Junior Strings
Jacqueline Stern Conductor
Katrina Choi,  Co-Liaison

Victoria Kravitz,  Co-Liaison

Ying Yang, Co-Liaison


Westchester Youth Symphony
Kathleen Coletta Feldman Conductor

Farhad Ameen, Co-Liaison

Candy Huang, Co-Liaison

Elena Inoue, Co-Liaison


Spring Gala Concert
May 4, 2025 David Geffen Hall, Lincoln Center



Open Auditions for the 2025-2026 Season
GWYOA welcomes new musicians and current members moving up to participate in another exciting season of inspiring music! Auditions for new musicians interested in joining Junior Strings and Youth Symphony will be Saturday, May 10, 2025. Auditions for new musicians interested in joining Elementary Strings, and graduating musicians of Elementary Strings and Junior Strings wishing to move up to the next orchestra will be held on Monday, May 12, 2025.


For complete information and to register, visit www.gwyoa.org

Greater Westchester Youth Orchestra is a non-profit organization providing excellent grounding in cooperation, helping young people to develop self-esteem, and promoting harmony of our ethnically diverse community through classical music training. GWYOA consists of three orchestras made up of students in grades four through twelve from Westchester County and surrounding counties in the Tri-State Area.