________________ OYSTER BAY _______________
Edition Graduation Keepsake
June 22, 2023
HERALD
GRADUATES the C L A S S
OF 2023
the best and brightest
VOL. 125 NO. 26
All kinds of fun at Oyster Bay Day
Brody Ort, a kid on a mission
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JUNE 23 - 29, 2023
BAL
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Valedictorian Sophia Dean is off to Brown By LAURA LANE llane@liherald.com
Courtesy Sophia Dean
OYSTER BAY HIGH School’s 2023 valedictorian, Sophia Dean, was recognized at the Oyster Bay-East Norwich district Board of Education meeting on Jan. 10 by, from left, Melissa Argaman, director of guidance, Superintendent Francesco Ianni and board President Laurie Kowalsky.
Sophia Dean, this year’s valedictorian at Oyster Bay High School, has always loved school. As a child in Oyster Bay, she often played school, and was always the teacher. Her mother, Stephanie Dean, said Sophia even asked her to buy teacher certificates for the “students” who did well. “She always loved learning, and put in the extra time,” Stephanie said. “Everything had to be done 100 percent. She was a perfectionist since an early age.”
Sophia, 18, is graduating with a weighted grade point average of 110. She will attend Brown University in the fall. She attributes her academic success in part to her love of school, which, she said, makes it easier to stay motivated. She added that she also has a good memory, and was always focused in class. Although Dean studied hard, she may have had a more challenging path than other students, because she had less time to study. She competed on the high school cross-country and track teams, and has also CONTINUED ON PAGE 15
A week full of classical music kicks off on the North Shore By ROKSANA AMID ramid@liherald.com
For the past 12 years, the Oyster Bay Music Festival has brought high-quality classical music to the North Shore. This year the concert series will run from June 23 to July 1. The festival began at Christ Church and First Presbyterian Church in Oyster Bay. The churches reached out to music teacher Sarah Hoover, who contacted fellow musicians Pippa Borisy and Lauren Ausubel. The three agreed that they wanted to provide more opportunities for their students, and the North Shore in general, to hear live
classical music. “Why do people always have to travel to the city?” Ausubel, one of the festival’s three cofounders, said. “Why can’t we have things that are in unique venues out on Long Island, by us? We wanted to do something — not just a classical music festival, but something that would really bring people together in the community and show them that classical music is very approachable.” For one week each year since then, the performers in the Oyster Bay Music Festival have come together, and have developed something of a cult following among a devoted audience.
Performers of all ages and skills take part in the series. The concerts showcase vocalists, pianists, strings and wind players, and the event has caught the attention of internationally known musicians. Pianist Maxim Lando, who started performing in the festival at age 9, will make his 12th appearance, this year with two friends from Europe who will also play: German violinist Tassilo Probst, and French-Viennese double bassist Marc-André Teruel. The three 20-year-old rising stars performed at this year’s International Classical Music Awards in Poland. Lando and Probst were awarded Chamber Music Album
of the Year for their release “Into Madness,” and Teruel received the first ICMA Classeek Award. Glen Head resident Christopher Lau, a bass-baritone, will be among the festival’s many performers. Lau, who earned a master’s in vocal performance at the Mannes School of Music in Manhattan, will make his ninth
appearance in the Oyster Bay Festival. “The festival has just been so important in my growth as a singer, because I’ve been in it basically every single year,” Lau said. “And it’s just so amazing seeing so much young talent all in the same places and unusual venues. It’s really cool that we CONTINUED ON PAGE 4