Keisuke Hoashi. Oneonta Daily Star Newspaper.

Among my legion of responsibilities as the Voice of the New York Summer Music Festival was the privilege of getting interviewed from time to time about the great kids we had playing all kinds of music at the camp. Here is a 2010 article from the local rag, the Oneonta Daily Star:

Hundreds to tune in for music festival

Posted: Tuesday, June 29, 2010 3:30 am

ONEONTA _ Hundreds of students and faculty will share listening, performance and other music-making ideas this summer.

And students, faculty and guest artists at the New York Summer Music Festival will be appearing in free concerts at the StateUniversity College at Oneonta through Aug. 8. Dana Leong, a composer who plays electric cello and trombone, opened the visiting artist recital series with jazz pieces Monday night.

About 200 students are registered for each of the three two-week sessions, which is about double the number of five years ago, Keisuke Hoashi, director of communications and cofounder of the festival, said. With faculty and staff, about 300 people are involved in music-making, representing 24 countries and 37 states, he said.

Patrick and Barbara Burdick of Oneonta stepped briskly into the Hunt Union Ballroom to join the audience Monday night. Patrick Burdick said they have been attending the festival concerts for several years.

“The talent among the performers, the guest artists, the faculty and the students is very top rate and very worthwhile,” he said. And the quality seems to improve each year, he said.

Hoashi said the festival has 50 classes or ensembles daily and presents about 40 concerts, Hoashi said. Visiting artist and faculty recitals are in Goodrich Theater at SUNY Oneonta, he said, and most start at 8 p.m. The festival presents many musical styles and genres.

A 250-voice All-NYSMF Choir is slated to sing the national anthem for the Oneonta Outlaws at Damaschke Field at 6 p.m. Sunday, the Fourth of July. A schedule of other recitals and concerts is listed on posters and is available online at www.calendar.yahoo.com/nysmf.

The festival started Monday, and several students applauded the opportunities it offers to perform, hear professional artists, study with learned faculty, share ideas about music and meet musicians from other states and nations.

“Last year, it was such a great experience, I came back,” Daniela Shorser, 16, an alto saxophone player from Westchester County, said.

Students range in age from 11 to 25 and stay in dormitories on the SUNY Oneonta campus. Tuition, room and three meals cost $1,600 for a two-week session. Faculty are from Juilliard, Curtis, the Manhattan School of Music, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra and other groups.

“We work closely with the faculty,” Emily Eckart, 20, a festival counselor and a French horn player studying music at Harvard University, said. “It’s really great for us as young musicians to learn about teaching.”

Emi Kagawa, a professional pianist in New York City who teaches at St. Joseph’s University in Philadelphia, said she has been on the NYSMF faculty for five years. The current session has 44 piano students, she said, and the guest artists are “incredible.”

“Every year, it’s very, very exciting,” she said.

“It’s great,” echoed Alejandro Aviles, a professional jazz saxophone player from New York City who is in his 11th year on the festival faculty. “The kids are very talented here _ we’re able to do good music.”

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