LI kids of Camp Broadway to perform at Carnegie Hall
How do you get to Carnegie Hall? Practice — and for five Long Island youngsters, also by having the Broadway Education Alliance cast you to be in this year’s Camp Broadway Ensemble, part of the New York City-based Camp Broadway theater-arts program.
The troupe will perform with The New York Pops at that orchestra’s 41st Birthday Gala Monday at Carnegie Hall’s Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage. Tickets are available at the Pops website, at the Carnegie Hall box office and through CarnegieCharge at 212-247-7800.
Isabella Aguilo, of New Hyde Park; Aine Cosgrove, of Babylon; Delilah Damico, of West Islip; Samantha Fiore, of Syosset, and Christian Ford, of Hempstead, will be part of the 55-member ensemble of 12- to 17-year-olds from 40 towns and cities in 16 states, as well as from Jakarta, Indonesia.
“I'm very excited to be performing at Carnegie Hall with the New York Pops. It is truly an honor and I know it's going to be an experience I will never forget,” said Isabella, 13, who started performing two years ago and has appeared in eight shows with local theater companies including Lynbrook-based Sunrise Theatre Company. Last May, she sang the national anthem at the Merillon Sports Association and New Hyde Park North Little League parade kicking off that youth baseball season.
.
Isabella auditioned for Camp Broadway Ensemble after her mom, Kristen Aguilo, saw the information on a theater-related Facebook page. Isabella's video submission included a performance of “Waiting on a Miracle” from “Encanto.”
The ensemble will first prepare for the gala with a three-day music and movement rehearsal that includes a master class in dance taught by an unspecified Broadway musical-theater professional, the Alliance said in a news release. On Monday, the group will perform two numbers and afterward get feedback from the guest artists and the event's organizers.
Of the other young performers, Samantha was among the 15 Outstanding Achievement Award winners named by Garden City Friends of Music in 2018. A vocal soloist in the Westbury-based New York State School Music Association’s 2018 festival, she also about that time was one of five elementary students from Garden City’s Stewart School selected to represent the school in the fifth grade All-County Chorus.
“We are thrilled to have Camp Broadway join us once again for our 41st Birthday Gala,” New York Pops president and executive director Anne Swanson said in a statement. “Our partnership is always a highlight at our annual gala concert, as we bring together students from throughout the country and the world to celebrate the power of live music with our orchestra.”
The gala, “The Soundtrack of Our Lives: A Tribute to the Legendary Clive Davis,” honoring the 92-year-old iconic recording-industry executive, benefits the Pops and its PopsEd music-education programs. Scheduled to appear are a plethora of pop, rock, Broadway, hip-hop and R&B stars.
The lineup features Babyface, Shoshana Bean, Busta Rhymes, Deborah Cox, Brandon Victor Dixon, Art Garfunkel and Art Garfunkel Jr., Courtney Hadwin, Melissa Manchester, Barry Manilow, John Mellencamp, Ray Parker Jr., Carlos Santana, Valerie Simpson, Patty Smyth, Rob Thomas, Adrienne Warren, Diane Warren, Dionne Warwick and Avery Wilson, as well as early “American Idol” winners Ruben Studdard and Fantasia Barrino Taylor.
“I'm excited to be performing with so many stars from the music world. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and I'm going to make the most of it,” Isabella said. “And I'm excited to be performing with Broadway stars because I hope that one day I'll be on a Broadway stage, and I can't wait to learn that from people who've done that themselves.”.
Daniel Bubbeo contributed to this story
