Tuckahoe Student to Perform in Festival

Tuckahoe's own Anthony Gjelaj will have the opportunity to perform a solo at the prestigious All-County Chorus Concert. Gjelaj is a fifth grader at Cottle. Here are the details courtesy of Anthony's mother, Lisa Gjelaj.

On the morning following the second of three scheduled rehearsals for All-County chorus members, the music teacher at William E. Cottle, Ms. Keiha Kim, proudly announced to the school that Anthony Gjelaj was selected for the coveted solo in the Elementary All-County Chorus Concert that was set to occur on Saturday, March 16th.  She continued by saying, “There were at least 100 kids trying out.  This is quite and honor –this chorus is made up of the best singers from every Westchester school and Anthony was chosen to sing a solo!”

For a student at Cottle to be considered for All-County Chorus in the 5th grade, students had to audition before Ms. Kim, who selected four children to represent Cottle.  This school year, the four children selected were Anthony Gjelaj, Sydney Nealis, Alexis Pinto & Emily Marais back in October 2012.  As a group, they would meet every week with Ms. Kim to practice for All-County in addition to meeting a second day every week for the Cottle School Chorus. The children worked hard this year and have demonstrated their commitment to Saturday’s performance and to their craft. 

The WCSMA Elementary & Intermediate All-County School Music Association sponsors four festivals for students in grades five through twelve.  They held their All-County Music Festival Chorus Concert this past Saturday, March 16th, and there were 231 students selected from over 57 schools throughout all of Westchester County.  On Tuesday, March 12th, the children participated in a required rehearsal in preparation for their performance on Saturday.  It was at that time that the children had the opportunity to audition for only five solo parts available.  According to Ms. Kim, “The line of kids auditioning was literally going down the hallway.”  There were at least 100 kids who decided to audition and ultimately, throughout the selection process, the candidates were narrowed down to 15.  From there the children had to audition a second time and only five were chosen to perform with this distinction, which included Anthony.  These five children were recognized on stage at the Concert Hall at the Performing Arts Center at Purchase College, a venue which seats over 1,500 guests. 

Anthony’s parents have expressed their thanks and appreciation to Ms. Kim for affording him the opportunity to be part of the All-County Chorus and for all of the time she has volunteered to prepare the Cottle children for the performance, as well as the preparation and guidance regarding the solo audition process.  Ms. Kim expressed the happiness and pride that she felt for Anthony being recognized at this level and acknowledged the stiff level of competition for Anthony to be considered “among the best of the best.”  She also, rather humbly, gives all of the credit to Anthony and “his years of vocal training and his ability to wow the judges with just eight bars of singing. I just taught them the songs.”

According to the proud parents, “Anthony has been singing for as long as we can remember. At a very early age, we noticed him singing ‘God Bless America’ after having watched several Yankee games.” By age four, he was standing on top of chairs or tables to sing before family and friends, and his songs would typically bring tears to their eyes. Once his parents came to better appreciate his special talent, they enrolled him in voice lessons at age 9. “When he was in third grade, by chance, a teacher's aide [Mrs. Laura Allen] came to hear Anthony sing, and she recommended him to the band teacher [Mr. Paul Bernardi], who was completely awed by Anthony's voice,” said his parents.  From there, with the band teacher's support, Anthony began singing at various school functions and events such as opening day for the Tuckahoe Youth Association. He has been studying voice under the tutelage of Jane Askins, a faculty member at Crestwood Music Education Center; he is a three-time student performer at the Concordia Conservatory Annual Holiday Musical, and this past summer he performed songs as community service to benefit a children's hospital in Queens, New York. This school year, Anthony was chosen for all-county chorus, and shortly thereafter to play the role of "Simba" in his grade school's musical performance of "Lion King.”

His parents added, “We realized early on that Anthony had an innate passion for singing. He loves to listen to music and has an uncanny ability to remember notes and lyrics. His musical interests vary and include many genres. His singing performances, whether it is the national anthem, "Gary Indiana" or a Bruno Mars' song, continue to move audiences. His most steadfast goal is to be able to perform the National Anthem at Yankee Stadium one day.”
Congratulations to Anthony Gjelaj on earning this most prestigious and distinguished honor, and congratulations to William E. Cottle school for being so well represented in the Westchester All-County Music Festival Chorus Concert!  Another Cottle student who has simply done good!