Ella Tantillo of East Islip High headed to 'pre-college' at Juilliard

An East Islip High School student has been making her mark in both the arts and athletics.

Ella Tantillo, a junior, was recently one of about 10 French hornists worldwide accepted into the Juilliard Pre-College in Manhattan, which offers a comprehensive conservatory-style music program for students ages 8 to 18. She was selected based on an audition held earlier this year.

Tantillo, 16, will study under two professors who are members of the Metropolitan Opera and participate in lessons ranging from music theory to ear training each weekend through May. She and the other pre-college participants will also perform three concerts during that span, she said.

“It was definitely a shock,” Tantillo said of her selection. Of her love of the French horn, she said: “I love the versatility of it, and it has such a wide range of pitches and ways to play it. It’s just such a beautiful instrument.”

Tantillo is also a member of her school’s varsity lacrosse, tennis and basketball teams, the latter of which won the league championship last school year. Her other athletic achievements include being her tennis team’s most valuable player last season and receiving “all league” honors for tennis as a freshman and sophomore and “all league” honors for basketball as a sophomore.

Tantillo is historian of her school’s Tri-M Music Honor Society and a member of the World Language Honor Society and Interact Club. She has also worked as a tennis camp instructor at the Clear School for the Deaf.

By Michael R. Ebert

michael.ebert@newsday.com

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.