Laurel Concert Program 2024
Elizabeth “Ma” Sonier, Laurel Music Camp’s Founder
Elizabeth C. Sonier began teaching in Winsted in 1932. In October of 1944, She had an idea to bring a nationally respected conductor together with music students for a week of rehearsal during the summer. Music educators from across Connecticut agreed on the benefits it would provide to the students, but colleagues told her over and over “There’s no way, Betty. There’s a war on!”
1945 staff member Mary Lane would write:
“Having accomplished that little bit, we sat there on our last morning together, storing up in our memories the beauty of the scene before us. The lapping of the lake seemed to say, “All is well.” A cool breeze tossed the waves, which gurgled under the abandoned raft near the pink laurel bushes. Across the lake, pine trees stretched skyward from a rocky cliff. On our own shore birds echoed back and forth in the gently rustling birches. Then and there we decided that, look where we might, we could not find a more beautiful spot … in which to establish an annual summer music camp. Nor could we find a more appropriate name than the “Laurel Music Camp.”
A local resident, Walter Davey, had heard the students rehearsing, and would row his boat across the lake to listen – Davey was an active Scout leader. In March of 1946, Davey and Sonier gathered with lead Scout Council members Prosper Lavieri and Merle Hildreth, along with Connecticut Music Educator Association officers G. Albert Pearson and Doris Raynor at the Workcoeman Boy Scout Reservation. This would be the new home for Sonier’s dream.
Camp Workcoeman has graciously hosted Laurel Music Camp for most of its existence, but the past four years of camp have been held at Camp Mattatuck in Prospect, CT. Together, the Scouts of Camp Mattatuck and the Laurel Music Camp Staff of today have proven to all alumni of LMC that regardless of location or circumstances of the world, Laurel Music Camp continue in its same spirit for many years to come!
OUR CONDUCTORS
Keenan Asbridge, Jazz Band Conductor
Keenan is a trumpet and piano player, educator, and composer/arranger from Hartford, CT. He has been active on the New England and New York music scenes for about a decade now, performing in a variety of styles and settings.
Keenan leads his own jazz sextet, featuring original compositions and arrangements, and is a member of a funk/soul group called Nikita; in addition to this he is a freelance musician playing everything from weddings, to big band, or pick-up small group gigs.
In the Spring of 2023, Keenan received a Masters degree in composition and arranging from UMass Amherst, where he started diving into the world of conducting large ensembles, as well as writing for them. Keenan also teaches all ages of students in Hartford at the Charter Oak Cultural Center, as well as Studio 88 in Mansfield, CT.
Amanda Hanzlik, Choir Conductor
Amanda Sprague Hanzlik is President of the ACDA Eastern Region, Director of Choral Activities at Edwin O. Smith High School in Storrs, Connecticut, and the Director of Music at Immanuel Congregational Church UCC in Hartford, Connecticut. Twice a semifinalist for the GRAMMY Music Educator Award (2024 & 2022) she is also a recipient of the 2023 Connecticut State Department Hero of the Arts Award.
Hanzlik made her Carnegie Hall conducting debut in 2023 and frequently serves as a guest conductor for all-state and regional honor choirs. Under her direction, the E.O. Smith Chamber Singers are regularly featured at ACDA and NAfME festivals and conferences as a selected ensemble.
2024-25 marks her 26th year as a music educator and artist in K-12, faith-based,
community and collegiate music education and choral spaces. Deeply passionate about creating new choral music with living composers, she also
strives to uplift and elevate the work of the artists of the choral art medium into all spaces of culture and society.
Amanda Hanzlik holds a BA in Music/Vocal Performance and K-12 Education from the University of Iowa and an MA in Music and Music Education from Teachers College, Columbia University.
David Hagy, Orchestra Conductor
David Hagy is in his 36th and final season as Music Director of the Salisbury Symphony Orchestra. He recently retired at Wake Forest University after 27 years there as the Orchestra Director. He has also conducted numerous youth orchestras and over fifty musical theater productions.
Dr. Hagy grew up in Indianapolis and credits that public school system with enabling him to become a classical musician. He graduated magna cum laude as a Violin Performance major from Indiana University, and holds master’s and doctor’s degrees in Orchestral Conducting from Yale University. His principal conducting mentors were Thomas Briccetti and Otto-Werner Mueller.
He currently lives in Salisbury, NC, and Long Island City, NY, with his cat Dario, and is pleased to be working with the students and staff at Laurel Music Camp for his thirteenth time!
Damon E. Coachman, Concert Band Conductor
Damon is a Performing Arts Instructor at Sacred Heart University. His most recent guest conducting appearances include serving as a choral clinician at the 2023 Ledyard All-District Choral Festival, conducting the 2022 CMEA Eastern Region Middle School Jazz Band, and conducting at the 2017 Marywood University’s Junior Wind Band Celebration.
Damon holds a bachelor’s degree in Music Education from Central CT State University, and has done graduate work in instrumental and choral music pedagogy and conducting at the Hartt School, Plymouth State University, and CCSU. He has served the CMEA and ACDA in various capacities, including chairing ensembles and committees dedicated to diversity initiatives. He is humbled and honored to be the guest conductor for the 2024 Laurel Music Camp Concert Band.
Jazz Band Performers:
TRUMPET
Kylie Tinnirella
Benjamin Buyniski
Kaleb Foster
Caleb Nichols
TROMBONE
Annamarie Mueller
Christopher Teator
Calvin Bareiss
Najee Durrett *
ALTO SAXOPHONE
Paul Westerberg
Tristan Connolly
TENOR SAXOPHONE
Scott Spinner
Julian Prytko
BARITONE SAXOPHONE
Matt Erickson
PIANO
Janelle Gagnon
BASS
Nick Colon
GUITAR
Jonah Moylan
Raina Pereira *
DRUMS
Ben Poland *
Chorus Performers
SOPRANO
Auralee Amshalem
Molly Crossley
Emma Daggett
Heidi Farnum
Lorelei (Low) Gnerre
Eliana Holerca
Janina Howard
Lillian LaCaprucia-Hull *
Lori McClain
Chloe Nixdorf
Maggie Owen
River White
Lauren Zimmerman
ALTO
Emmaline Davis
Amelie Driscoll
Elsabet Ferruci
Katie Gaspar
Charlotte Gonzalez
Nicole Gwiazdowski
Grace Hanzlik
Ivy Hawkins *
Hailee Knapik *
Rowan LaFleur
Bailey Madore
Maya McCue
Katie Metcalfe
Jazmin Santiago
Nola Schaller
Amelia Sears
Makiah Speight
Soleil Vaillancourt
TENOR
Rock Abrahamson
Sadie Connell
Logan Foster *
Liam McGrath
Leo Owen
Kaira Springer *
BASS
Joel Glenister +
Mark Kolb +
Jonathon Kulinski +
Patrick Minnerly
Brandon Zenevitch +
Orchestra Performers
VIOLIN
Flynn Amodio
Selena Antwi
Leah Belin +
Richard Bierut
Phoebe Blume +
Camy Groff +
Eden Lewis *
Lennon Furano
Rachel Gohla
Aury Millan
Johanna Stolfi
JJ Sun
VIOLA
Wyatt Bosma +
Ko Cervigni Rutkauskas
Princess Peprah
Ann Sengchanthong
CELLO
Dean Gonzalez
Rory Levine
Daniel Martino
Lay Espinal *
Daviean Mitchell
Gabriella Richardson
Hazel Westfall
STRING BASS
Matt Miskin +
McKenna Semeraro
FLUTE
Brianna Wood
Amelia Athay
Michelle Humble +
CLARINET
Emma Kurowski
Kameron Aldridge
BASS CLARINET
Kai Vardon
OBOE
Luke Ashworth *
BASSOON
Livia Fallon *
FRENCH HORN
Frankie Pfaffle
Grant Abelson +
TRUMPET
Ryan Godfrey
Lemon Dickens
Jonah Erazo
TROMBONE
Layne Gordon
Brandon Harley
Beq Lendvay +
TUBA
Vinny Leone
PERCUSSION
Joshua Styga
Ethan Cavajani
Grace Reid *
Heidi de Leon +
Concert Band Performers
FLUTE
Emma Bednarz
Izzy Dimmock
Nora Higgins
Kate Hudak
Tyda Kin
Grace Velardi
Lydia Whelton
Brianna Wood
PICCOLO
Amelia Athay
OBOE
Luke Ashworth *
Rowyn Ferreira
CLARINET
Kameron Aldridge
Emma Kurowski
Emmie LaPlante
Mike Russo
Samira Tanko
Dan Rehberg +
BASS CLARINET
Kai Vardon
ALTO SAXOPHONE
Megan Bernegger
Brayden Buyniski
Mark DeLorenzo
Madden Holcomb
Lily Kosko
Owen Miller
TENOR SAXOPHONE
Kayla Gerhart
Cole Orlowski
Frost Wyatt
BARITONE SAXOPHONE
Natalie Pear
BASSOON
Livia Fallon *
Isabella Oakley
FRENCH HORN
Grant Abelson +
Frankie Pfaffle
TRUMPET
Lemon Dickens
Jonah Erazo
Ryan Godfrey
Madigan Krauss
Alec Marvin
Jason Matot
Tina Mattei
Julian Monroe
Shaun Norcott
Andrew Teator *
TROMBONE
Layne Gordon
Brandon Harley
Deanna Juliano
Aiden El-Sahragty
Phineas Semeraro
EUPHONIUM
Kairi Grant
Mackenzie Hale
TUBA
Jennifer Dravis
Vinny Leone
Anthony Ramos
Ava Stango
PERCUSSION
Ethan Cavajani
Jake Fox
Zach Fox
Polina Litman
Sophie Peters
Grace Reid *
Rex Sturdevant +
Joshua Styga
Teresa Waldron +
Soren Westerberg
Ryan Pothier
* Junior Counselors are performers as well as being staff members; they are noted with their performing groups by an asterisk next to their name.
+︎ Senior Staff that are performing are shown noted with this symbol.
Laurel Music Camp Senior Staff 2024
Grant Abelson
Rock Abrahamson
Michael Alderman
Don Amodio
Keenan Asbridge
Eric Barakat
Jamie Barber
Leah Belin
Paul Bilodeau
Robin Bilodeau
Phoebe Blume
Sarah Bochain
Wyatt Bosma
Emily Cashin
Damon Coachman
Caitlin Daly-Gonzales
Heidi de Leon
Derek Friend
Kim Friend
Scott Friend
Jenn Galasso
Jessica Giampietro
Phil Giampietro
Joel Glenister
Courtney Graham
Camy Groff
Megan Hendler
Kyle Hogan
Kenneth Jacques II
Cliff Janssen
Andrew Kaufman
Mark Kolb
Emily Kropo
Casey Kulinski
Jon Kulinski
Jordan Lasko
Julia Lavernoich
Beq Lendvay
Corinne Marshall
Michelle Martin
Karla McClain
Scott McClain
Lyric McVoy
Scott Minnerly
Tara Minnerly
Matthew Miskin
Carrie Peters
Daniel Rehberg
Kyle Saulnier
Oslo Schaller
Lauren Sleath
Rex Sturdevant
Melissa Teator
Lyn Tracy
William Valenti
Teresa Waldron
Nikki Whitehill
Brandon Zenevitch
A Special Thanks
Connecticut Rivers Council
Jeromy Nelson and the staff of Camp Mattatuck
Pomperaug High School
The Gilbert School: Winsted, CT
Northeastern Communications
Main Street Community Foundation
Southford Pizza
Mateusz Zechowski, STUDIOTEO Recording Services