Islip Area String Music Ensemble Hits NYC Big-Time Aug. 12th

"Strings Attached" a unique Long Island music ensemble based in Great River will be making their New York City debut on Friday, August 12th, 7-8 PM, at the "Kolstein Performance Showcase" at the landmark, prestigious Essex House (160 Central Park South). This performance is free and open-to-the-public, as a community service sponsored by The Kolstein Center (www.kolstein.com). Explains Manny Alvarez, the President of Kolstein: "The mission of our 'Performance Showcase' is featuring emerging artists...string musicians who deserve a recognized venue to present their talents. When I discovered 'Strings Attached', these musicians have earned this opportunity because of their demonstrated consistent study of their instruments which includes: practice, rehearsals, and many public service performances throughout Suffolk County."

"Strings Attached" is led by Barbara Llobell, a retired educator from Great River who has studied violin for many years. Barbara had been an instructor of competitive marching bands and winter guards. Barbara also plays guitar and has been studying the cello within the past year. According to Barbara: "'Strings Attached' is a serendipitous product of the pandemic. It began as a group of four violinists planning to play a garden tour cancelled by the lockdown. It morphed into an ensemble of players sharing music and friendship."
Now, the ensemble welcomes players of all ages and abilities and has grown to eleven musicians. Over the past two years the ensemble has performed locally and is one of the groups that has recorded music for “The BAFFA Beat Goes On”, an online series of videos created during the pandemic to keep BAFFA (Bay Area Friends of the Fine Arts, Sayville, New York) alive.

Other members of "Strings Attached" who will be playing at Kolstein on August 12th include:

---Danae Butler, has been playing violin for 25 years. She is a member of the BAFFA Symphony Orchestra and the BASO-Bay Area Symphony Orchestra. She is one of the founding four players and a driving force.

---Andrea Edwards is the President of the BAFFA, Bay Area Friends of the Fine Arts. She is a violinist in the BAFFA orchestra and has performed in the Catskill Symphony Orchestra and the South Shore Symphony Orchestra.

---Ella Feehan has been playing violin for six years. She is one of the four "Strings Attached" founding members. She has also played in a jazz ensemble and her high school string ensemble.

---Rosalie Troisi has a BA in music and is a former member of the Dowling College Symphony Orchestra. She was a former instrumental music teacher. She did three summer world tours with the LI Youth Orchestra, performing in mainland China, Hong Kong, Japan, India, Israel, Africa, Europe, British Columbia and Hawaii. She is presently a violinist in the BAFFA Symphony and performs with her church praise and worship team.

---Florence Hengeveld has been a grateful violist for over 52 years. She has a BA in music and is a Holistic practitioner. She is the principal violist in the BAFFA Symphony.

---Lauren Marinich has been playing the viola since the age of ten. She has played in community orchestras and ensembles most of her adult life. She was the orchestra librarian for the BAFFA Symphony for twenty years.

---Kyla Butler has been a cellist for four years. Playing in this ensemble inspired her to start her own chamber group.

---Rachel Laterra has been playing cello for seventeen years. She is a member of BAFFA, BASO and "Strings Attached" and is grateful to be involved in all of them. She works as a chemist and considers both music and chemistry her passions.

---Claire Yannacone chose to play the cello as a third grader because everyone else chose violin. She participated in groups through high school, college and beyond including the Sound Symphony, BAFFA, and most recently in the Riverhead High School pit orchestra where she joyfully surprised her science students with her hidden musical talent.

---Kashmere Cooey is the principal flautist of the Bay Area Symphony. She is also a member of the Bay Shore- Brightwaters Symphonic Band. "Strings Attached" is delighted to add a wind player to the ensemble, although Kashmere is talking about taking up the violin.
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"Kolstein Performance Showcase" at The Essex House, 7-8 PM, Friday, August 12th
Program: A Musical Adventure Through Time

Spring- Antonio Vivaldi (Italy)- 1678-1741

The Arrival of the Queen of Sheba- George Frederic Handel (Germany)1685-1759

Adagio-Tomas Albinoni (Italy)- 1671-1751

Dance of the Blessed Spirits- CW Gluck (Germany) 1714-1787

Emperor String Quartet- Mov 2- Joseph Haydn (Austria)-1732-1809

Quartet #4-Mov 1&3-WA Mozart (Austria)-1756-1791

Vltava Main Theme- Bedrich Smetana (Czechia)-1824-1884

Flower Duet (from the Opera Lakme)- Leo Delibes (France)-1836-1891

Slavonic Dance #8- Anonin Dvorak (Czechia)1841-1904

Pavane- Gabriel Faure (France)- 1845-1924

Eleanor Rigby- Lennon & McCartney(UK)- Released 1966

While My Guitar Gently Weeps- Harrison, Lennon & McCartney(UK)-Released 1968

The Long and Winding Road- Lennon & McCartney(UK)-Released 1970