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11
JULY
The Long Island
Youth Orchestra was founded by its
present director, Martin Dreiwitz 45 years ago. The
formation of this 57 member ensemble was both an
innovation and an experiment. The New York area had no
permanent youth orchestra at that time and indeed there
were but a handful in the entire nation. Today the
nation boasts of more than 150. Certainly no one could
have predicted that the Orchestra membership would have
grownto more than 100 members – that the orchestra would
have made 35 concert tours to the far corners of the
globe – that it would have more than 2 500 alumni, many
of whom play in some of the nation’s finest orchestras
or teach at schools in the area and country – or indeed
that it would still be serving the talented musical
youth of Long Island on a regular basis 45 years later.
Today’s Orchestra has been in residence at Long Island
University for the past 18 years.
Martin Dreiwitz has been a Long
Island woodwind teacher and travel agent for nearly 45
years. He is a graduate of New Yourk City’s High School
of Music and Art and the University of Chicago. He
studied with the world-famous clarinetists Simeon
Bellison and Anthony Gigliotti. He continued his studies
with the American Composer Alexi Haieff and conducting
with the German maestro Wilhelm Furtwaengler. He founded
the Long Island Youth Orchestra in 1962. In addition to
serving as its music director and permanent conductor,
he is also operation manager and principal fund raiser.
His leadership of the touring LIYO has helped make it a
well known and widely acclaimed musical organization all
over the world. President Bill Clinton in 1995 wrote in
a letter to the orchestra “I am pleased to commend your
director, Martin Dreiwitz, for his many wonderful
contributions to the youth of New York and to music
lovers around the globe. His caring leadership has
inspired and encouraged for 32 years, and the thousands
of students whose lives he’s touched are the best
possible measure of his success.” |
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