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Symphony Orchestra wins top prize for performance

Date: 7/26/2010

July 26, 2010

By Chris Maza

Reminder Assistant Editor

LONGMEADOW -- The Long-meadow High School Symphony Orchestra recently won the 2010 American Prize in Orchestral Performance's high school division.

"I am very happy for our students. They work extremely hard and really care about the orchestra," Orchestra Director Michael Mucci said.

The contest, which was in its inaugural year, is a competition in which a panel of judges from across the country evaluate a recording of each group.

"We were required to send in a CD recording of our Symphony Orchestra from a live performance. We chose our most recent national performance recorded at the National Orchestra Festival in Carnegie Hall," Mucci explained. "The criteria included tone quality, interpretation, precision, intonation and musicality."

Mucci credited the entire music department in the Longmeadow School System with preparing the members of the orchestra to be able to take on this kind of competition.

"Every music teacher in Longmeadow deserves credit for the Symphony Orchestra receiving The American Prize," Mucci said. "Music education begins in the elementary schools and is nurtured and expanded on in our middle schools. The high school is simply an extension of the important teaching done earlier."

Mucci added that he is troubled by the cuts to the music program's budget and is concerned about the program going forward, despite the accolades.

"I am worried about the future of our orchestra program. I honestly can't fathom why any official in Longmeadow would want to do away with the elementary instrumental music program," Mucci said. "The Longmeadow music program is a nationally recognized program that has received three Grammy Signature Awards. If you cut the roots of the tree, the tree will eventually die."

Still, Mucci is hopeful that added recognition will help sway the School Committee to look into new ways to fund the budget for the program.

"The School Committee and elementary school principals were notified that the Symphony Orchestra won the American Prize," Mucci said. "I would hope that the national recognition makes a difference. It costs approximately $45,000 to fund the entire elementary school band, chorus, and orchestra programs. That's a serious bang for the buck. It amounts to about a 10th of one percent of our 30 million dollar school budget."