Way to Go!: Benjamin Rossen, of Great Neck
Benjamin T. Rossen was named a finalist and third-place winner in two recent national music competitions. Credit: Great Neck School District / Alex Tanchoco
A Great Neck student has hit high notes in recent national music competitions.
Benjamin T. Rossen, a sophomore at Great Neck South High School, was a finalist in the classical music discipline of the National YoungArts Foundation’s 2018 Competition, going on to attend master classes and perform on piano at the 37th annual National YoungArts Week last month in Miami.
Rossen also placed third nationally in the senior division of the Music Teachers National Association’s 2017-18 Student Composition Competition for his original composition for piano and alto saxophone. He first had won the contest’s New York and Eastern Division levels.
“I love classical music,” said Rossen, 15, who started taking piano lessons when he was four. Of National YoungArts Week, he said: “It was a very intensive environment; everyone had the same passion as me.”
Rossen performed his piece during the 2nd annual Long Island Regional Young Musicians Concert at the Tilles Center, which was part of a regional chamber music competition sponsored by the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center.
He is founder of his school’s Music Creators Club, is music editor of the art-literary magazine, and plays French horn in the wind ensemble and symphony orchestra.
“Ben is a remarkable individual with an incredibly bright future,” said Michael Schwartz, Great Neck South’s performing arts department head.— MICHAEL R. EBERT
Michael R. Ebert is an education researcher and has worked for Newsday in various capacities since 2003. He was part of an 11-person team named as 2008 Pulitzer Prize finalists for investigative coverage of the LIRR's platform safety issues.
