During the 2016-17 school year, along with other talented music students across the United States and overseas in military base schools, Supriya Makam from Newburgh Free Academy practiced with dedication to gain a chair or part in her local, district, and state music honor ensembles.

And now Supriya will join the “best of the best” for the National Association for Music Education’s (NAfME) 2017 All-National Honor Ensembles November 26-29, 2017, at Disney’s Coronado Springs Resort at Walt Disney World in Orlando, FL. The Jazz Band and Choir concerts take place 7:30-9:00PM, November 28, and the Concert Band and Symphony Orchestra concerts begin at 10:00AM, November 29, in the ballrooms at Disney Coronado Springs Resort. The concerts are free and open to the public. Tickets are not required.
Supriya Makam is a rising senior at Newburgh Free Academy. She is an honors and AP student, and is at the top of her class among over 700 students and a member of the Girls Varsity Tennis team.

Supriya participates in numerous choral activities, including international, national, and state-level choirs. She performed in the 2016-17 NYState All State Womens Chorus and the NAfME All Eastern Chorus. She currently performs with Madrigals, the select chorus at NFA, the Cecile Chaminade Women’s Chorus, and Capella Festiva Treble Choir at Vassar College. She is also the founder and CEO of Educate Without Borders, a not-for-profit organization that fosters literacy and education among youth in the Newburgh community and abroad. Additionally, she has participated in research opportunities to further her knowledge and skills in the sciences.

The video below is from the September 2016 NECSD Board of Education Meeting when Supriya performed. Her perfomance begins around 10:26 into the video.

The All-National Honor Ensembles performers represent collaboration and creativity in its highest musical form. The All-National Honor Ensembles consist of a concert band, symphony orchestra, mixed choir, and jazz ensemble. Students were chosen through an audition process. The concert band and symphony orchestra will each have 155 and 152 instrumentalists respectively, the jazz ensemble 21 instrumentalists, and the mixed choir 281 vocalists. Eligible students have qualified for their state-level honor ensemble program and competed against top students for a spot in these national honor ensembles.

Selected students will be rehearsing a challenging repertoire in preparation for performing under the baton of five of the most prominent conductors in the United States: Dr. Z. Randall Stroope (Mixed Choir); Dr. Margery Deutsch (Symphony Orchestra); Dr. T. André Feagin (Concert Band); and Todd Stoll with Lauren Sevian (Jazz Ensemble). All conductors have received top honors in their field and will spend several days rehearsing with students before the concert.