AAS Concert Week Reminders
10/23/2025

Congratulations to all on a wonderful first rehearsal last week. All of the groups are shaping up nicely,
and we are looking forward to seeing the energy the students bring to our second rehearsal on October
29th! Thank you to all of those who helped make this first rehearsal possible: chaperones, sending
teachers, sectional leaders, conductors, the WCSMA board and AAS team, and most of all of the White
Plains Faculty and Staff who so graciously opened their facility to us and worked tirelessly to help host
this festival.

In order to make rehearsal number two, three and the concert successful, there are some clarifications
and announcements listed below. Please share the following information with the appropriate people.

● Please remind students/parents/guardians this week about ordering tickets and recordings
through the flyers provided in the previous emails and in the music packets. I will list the web
addresses again at the bottom of this letter.

● Please remind students to bring food and water for their meal breaks on the 29th and 30th.
There will be snacks for sale courtesy of the White Plains Music Boosters on the 29th, however,
at Purchase on the 30th, students will only have access to water fill stations.

● ALL Instrumental students must bring their own music stand for
ALL Rehearsals. For both White Plains HS and SUNY Purchase.

● All WCSMA members will be granted comp tickets to the concerts on the 30th. You do not need
to reserve said tickets in advance. There will be a designated volunteer in the lobby of the
Purchase Performing Arts Center before the performance to check you in. Please see them to
gain admission.

● Please make sure everyone who is driving to White Plains HS reads the drop-off/pick-up
information again. To summarize, Everyone should enter campus via the Bryant Avenue
entrance. Buses should then continue straight to drop off students at the circle at the top
of the hill, noted on the map sent through DaCapo on 10/14, as the “Bus Ramp.” Though
we strongly encourage students to be bused, if a Parent must drop off a child, they
should do so IN THE STUDENT PARKING LOT, in the northernmost corner closest to the
Auditorium (Building D). No student should enter through the main entrance, and no
student is permitted to drive themselves to this event.

● All students Must have a Teacher Chaperone and all Chaperones
MUST stay until ALL STUDENTS ARE PICKED UP. If the chaperone is
riding the bus and some students are being picked up, the bus must
wait to depart until all parent pick-up students have departed.

● AAS Participation Fees are overdue. If I have received your payment, it has been updated in
DaCapo. Please verify that information. I will be emailing those from whom I have not yet
received payment by the end of day tomorrow. (If I have received copies of your PO, I will
consider you Paid for this exercise.)

I wanted to thank you all again for such wonderful participation in the first rehearsal. Running sectionals
and sharing of rehearsal time can be burdensome, but the festival would not be possible without all of
your active participation. Thank you. This week’s responsibilities are fewer for those who are
chaperoning from each of your districts, but I will ask that we each spend some time in the rehearsal
spaces so to be on hand in the event the chairpersons need a hand.
See you on 10/29!

Best wishes,
Patrick Murphy
AAS Coordinator

Links

Purchase Tickets Here Order Video/Audio Recordings Here
https://westchestercountyschoolmu.simpletix.com/  https://www.mciverrecording.com/25WSTRAAS.html

Concert Band

Jamal Duncan joined Arizona State University in Fall 2020 as associate director of bands and assistant professor of instrumental conducting. He conducts the Wind Symphony, teaches conducting, and serves as assistant director of undergraduate music studies. Previously, he was assistant director of bands at the University of Arkansas.

His research focuses on conducting pedagogy, wind literature, and reimagining the concert experience. He has presented at the Midwest Clinic, the World Association for Symphonic Bands and Ensembles, and the College Band Directors National Association. A champion of new and diverse repertoire, Duncan commissions and programs works reflecting a wide range of cultural voices.

In 2024, the ASU Wind Symphony performed at the CBDNA Western/Northwestern conference. He has collaborated with composers including Steven Bryant, Viet Cuong, and Kevin Day. A winner of the American Prize in Band/Wind Ensemble conducting and a Reynolds Conducting Institute fellow, Duncan has conducted and adjudicated ensembles nationwide and abroad.

He previously taught in Lansing, Michigan schools and directed the Flint Youth Wind Ensemble for eleven seasons. A Flint native, Duncan earned degrees from the University of Michigan and Michigan State University.

Choral Conductors

Shoshana Hershkowitz holds degrees in music education and vocal performance from the Crane School of Music at SUNY Potsdam. She has been a choral music educator for over 25 years, beginning her career at Commack High School on Long Island, where she taught from 1999-2009. Hershkowitz has been the choral director at Stony Brook University since 2009, where she conducts the Stony Brook Chorale and Camerata Singers. Mrs. Hershkowitz served as the founding conductor of the Metropolitan Youth Orchestra of New York’s Suffolk Symphonic Choir, a countywide high school choral ensemble from 2013-2022. She also served as a supervisor for student teachers on Long Island for the Crane School of Music from 2019-2021.
Hershkowitz is an active guest conductor, with previous engagements for NYSSMA, Suffolk County Music Educators Association, Nassau Music Educators Association, Vermont Music Educators Association, and Hamptons Music Educators Association. As a clinician, Mrs. Hershkowitz has presented workshops for The Balanced Mind Conference, New York State Council of Administrators of Music Education, the New York State chapter of the American Choral Directors Association, the Choral Society of the Hamptons, as well as for school districts. She is a proud member of the Evoco Voice Collective, a semi-professional Long Island choral ensemble.

Eric Williamson (he/him) is a Grammy-nominated music educator, conductor, and advocate for equity in the arts. He serves as Artistic Director of Lavender Light: The Black and People of All Colors Lesbian & Gay Gospel Choir, which celebrates its 40th anniversary as a pioneering community dedicated to singing Black Gospel music while uplifting Black and Brown queer voices.
Mr. Williamson holds a B.A. in Music from Pennsylvania State University and an M.A. in Music Education from Teachers College, Columbia University. A passionate and magnetic conductor, he has led honor and festival choirs across the East Coast and is a frequent clinician with Carnegie Hall’s Music Educator Workshop, where he champions works by Black women composers.
Previously, he conducted with the Grammy Award-winning Brooklyn Youth Chorus, preparing ensembles for major performances at Lincoln Center, New York City Opera, and various recording projects. His work spans gospel, opera, hip-hop, and musical theatre. In 2025, he served as Music Director for NYU Steinhardt’s scholar-in-residence Eve, directing a multi-genre concert celebrating her 25-year career.
Beyond the podium, Mr. Williamson is a National Facilitator for the Human Rights Campaign’s Welcoming Schools program, leading nationwide training on LGBTQ+ inclusion. He has been featured on NY1, Good Morning America, and Pix11 News, and published in the Music Educators Journal. He has also led national workshops on anti-racism and culturally responsive teaching with organizations includingTATI, Guitars Over Guns, and Music Will.
Currently, he teaches PreK–5 general music at PS 32 in Brooklyn and is an adjunct professor at NYU Steinhardt, where he founded and directs the Black Music Ensemble. This ensemble highlights music of African and African-American traditions, exclusively featuring works by Black and Brown composers and centering LGBTQIA+ affirmation.

String Orchestra

Rick Webb holds degrees in music performance from Bowling Green State University and the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. After 14 years of school orchestra teaching in the Midwest, he earned the Ph.D. in Music Education from Northwestern University in 2012. Dr. Webb currently serves as Associate Professor at the State University of New York at Fredonia, having previously served on the faculties of DePaul University, the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, and the University of Florida. He is a published educational scholar, composer and arranger, and active string clinician and conductor, working with school and festival orchestras around the United States. Dr. Webb’s arrangements of music by American composers of the early 20th c. “pre-jazz” era are published by Keiser-Southern Music.

Symphony Orchestra

James Millar recently retired after 20 years as Director of Choirs and Orchestras at Tenafly High School in Tenafly, NJ. He remains active in the musical life of Tenafly and beyond as a conductor, chamber musician and accompanist. He serves as Music Director at the Presbyterian Church at Tenafly, and is the founder of Summer Music in Tuscany, an annual two-week festival for singers and instrumentalists in Sarteano, Italy. Mr Millar conducted the North Jersey Intermediate Region Orchestra in 2025 and 2016, the 2022 New Jersey All State Orchestra, the 2017 New Jersey Honors Chamber Orchestra, the 2015 Central Jersey Region Orchestra and the 2013 North Jersey Intermediate Region Treble Chorus, in addition to conducting rehearsals for the NJ All State Orchestra since 2016. He holds Bachelor of Music (piano) and Master of Music (orchestral conducting) degrees from Northwestern University. Further studies include the Aspen Summer Music School, the Goldovsky Opera Institute, the Mannes Opera Workshop, and privately with Carl Bamberger, retired, of the Mannes Conservatory of Music. Further information can be found at www.SummerMusicinTuscany.org.

Wednesday, October 15, rehearsal 4:00-9:00 PM — White Plains HS

Wednesday, October 29, rehearsal 4:00-9:00 PM – White Plains HS

Thursday, October 30, rehearsal 9:00 AM – 3:00 PM – SUNY Purchase Performing Arts Center
Thursday, October 30, concert 8:00 PM – SUNY Purchase Performing Arts Center