Way to Go: Michael Stevens, East Islip

Michael Stevens is hitting all the right notes for musical success.

The eighth-grader at East Islip Middle School was selected to perform at the New York State School Music Association's seventh annual Piano Showcase, to be held Friday in Rochester. Only 13 pupils statewide were selected out of 87 applicants in grades 4-12.

To be eligible, Michael had to receive a perfect score on a Level 6 NYSSMA solo audition. He has scored perfectly every year since his first eligibility in third grade.

Michael's achievements include winning the 2011 Northeast Horn Festival concerto competition at the University of New Hampshire and receiving the 2011 Gretchen Snedeker Memorial Scholarship at the New York Summer Music Festival. At the latter, he was the first person to win both of the festival's recital competitions on different instruments -- horn and piano.

Most recently, Michael received the 2011 Dianna Flagello Scholarship and the 2012 Dorothy Hales Gary Scholarship at Manhattan School of Music Precollege, where he is pursuing a double major in horn and piano.

He also is first horn for both the Metropolitan Youth Orchestra of New York and Manhattan School of Music Precollege's Philharmonic Orchestra.