WESTERLY — The Westerly Excessive Faculty Music Corridor of Fame will induct 10 new members at a ceremony scheduled for April 2, in line with Louis M. Toscano and Thomas J. Liguori, members of the choice committee.
The inductees embrace Angela (Lombardo) Bacari, George Bookataub, Marilyn Frechette Brockmann, Margaret Day, John Graham, Robert Guarino, Albert Norcia, Florence Soloveitzik, William Thorpe and the late David DeAngelis.
“It is a terrific group,” stated Toscano, who, like Liguori, is a member of the Westerly Excessive Faculty class of 1970. “The emphasis is on music educators.”
Members of the category of 1970 created and endowed the corridor of fame as their fiftieth anniversary class present in October of 2021. In November, they held an induction ceremony at Westerly’s United Theatre.
“We determined to maneuver the ceremony to the spring so we might showcase the Westerly Excessive Faculty bands,” Toscano stated.
Curiously, Liguori stated, three members of the Westerly Excessive Faculty class of 1966 are included on the record of 2023 nominees.
DeAngelis, the 2002-03 Westerly Instructor of the 12 months, taught music and theater at Westerly Excessive Faculty for 33 years. He additionally based the highschool’s Theater Scrapbook Firm and served as music director at Our Girl of Victory Church from 1993 to 2014.
Bacari, a 1961 graduate of Westerly Excessive Faculty, has had a lifelong profession within the music trade. A mentor to Liza Minnelli and Billy Gilman, she has made a lot of hit information, toured with such celebrities as Don Rickles, Rodney Dangerfield and Norm Lewis, and has appeared on “The Merv Griffin Present,” “The Dinah Shore Present,” “The Virginia Graham Present” and plenty of Jerry Lewis muscular dystrophy telethons.
Bookataub, additionally a 1961 graduate of the Westerly Excessive Faculty — the place he was voted “Class Musician” — was a member of the primary graduating class of Berklee School of Music in 1966, has served as a highschool band director for 40 years, and was an teacher of percussion on the College of Maine, Portland.
Brockmann, a graduate of Westerly Excessive Faculty with the category of 1945, carried out on Broadway in “All for Love” and highway productions of “Blossom Time” and “Miss Liberty.” An everyday performer at Fay’s Theater in Windfall, she was the soloist on the 1948 Cherry Blossom Pageant, carried out on the Latin Quarter and has maintained a lifelong love of music.
Day, a 1955 graduate of Westerly Excessive Faculty, studied harp at Julliard Faculty of Music, was the principal harpist for Windfall Harp Ensemble and performed with a lot of native organizations, reminiscent of Pfizer Gamers, St. Pius Church Choir, Immaculate Conception Church Choir, Colonial Theatre and Mystic River Chorale.
Graham, a member of the Westerly Excessive Faculty class of 1966, toured Europe with Faculty Band of America in 1966, taught music within the West Warwick faculties from 1970 to 2000 and has carried out with each the Rhode Island Philharmonic and Japanese Connecticut Symphony orchestras.
Guarino, additionally a member of the Westerly Excessive Faculty class of 1966, holds a grasp’s in voice from Manhattan Faculty of Music and was a tenor soloist with symphony orchestras in Boston, San Antonio, Harrisburg Opera, Orchestra of New York, Princeton Professional Musica and New Haven Chorale. He has carried out as lead with Michigan Opera, Atlanta Opera, Des Moines Metro Opera and Wolf Lure Opera. He’s professor emeritus at The School of New Jersey and founding father of Collegium Musicum, and presently directs Stonington Madrigal Singers.
Norcia, a graduate of New England Conservatory of Music, taught for greater than 20 years within the Westerly faculty system. He composed the Babcock Junior Excessive Faculty track, wrote and revealed “Voice,” an educational information to singing, judged many statewide scholar vocal competitions and served as an evaluator of music applications in public faculties.
Soloveitzik, a 1922 graduate of Westerly Excessive Faculty, studied at Julliard Faculty of Music and Yale Conservatory and taught piano in Westerly for a few years. Her pupils included corridor of famers George Greeley and Al Copley.
Thorpe, one other member of the Westerly Excessive class of 1966, earned levels from Boston Conservatory of Music in piano and New England Conservatory in voice. A member of Pi Kappa Lambda Nationwide Music Honor Society and the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, he has carried out in 32 states, was a soloist on the CBS-TV broadcast celebrating the Cole Porter Centennial, represented the US at a United Nations live performance in Shanghai, was soloist on the Bethlehem Music Pageant, Missouri River Pageant, Arizona Heritage Pageant, Boston Lyric Orchestra, Boston Civic Symphony, and plenty of different East Coast orchestras. He’s additionally founding father of Thorpe Music Publishing Firm.
Extra details about the April 2 induction ceremony shall be launched nearer to the date.
