Red Bank Regional music teacher Jeffrey Boga leads members of the RBR string ensemble (pictured left to right): Olivia Barkey, Salvatore Giglio, Maittie Avilia and Kevin Velazquez during a performance at the Monmouth Conservatory of Music.
Press release from Red Bank Regional High School
The Visual and Performing Arts Academy at Red Bank Regional High School has been training Monmouth County artists for over thirty years. For the past eight of those years, a strings program — featuring a chamber ensemble and string majors incorporated into the main school orchestra — has been building partnerships to promote instrumental music in the community.
This year, the Red Bank Regional Chamber Ensemble performs in a series of chamber music events at the Red Bank Library, hosts an inter-district strings festival in April for middle and elementary school students, and joins the Monmouth Conservatory for its 50th anniversary celebration at the Count Basie Theatre in June.
The program is led by strings teacher Jeffrey Boga, a gifted musician who volunteered to conduct a free afterschool program at the high school for the elementary and middle school students at the beginning of the school year, when the Red Bank School District announced the cessation of its strings program in the Middle School for budgetary reasons. Thankfully, that provision was no longer necessary with the recent resumption of the program in mid-fall through private fundraising.
Monmouth Conservatory of Music Associate Director Irina Kovalsky leads her students in a recent concert, during which RBR’s string ensemble students also performed.
The cancellation of the strings program would have been a great setback for Red Bank’s elementary students, whose school district directly feeds into the regional high school and its VPA program (Little Silver and Shrewsbury also feed directly into RBR, and the high school accepts students from all over Monmouth County through an audition process and tuition program). Students may apply to one of the eight majors in the renowned VPA program including the string major.
“I think this is a tremendous program, because kids who have a passion for music can major in it and get a full range of music theory, technology and music history,” states Jeffrey Boga. “Students who are serious can go to major schools like Eastman, Westminster, Rutgers, and Penn State with scholarships. ”
Monmouth Conservatory of Music Associate Director Irina Kovalsky has been welcoming Mr. Boga’s string musicians in joint performances for the past three years. Most recently they performed at a concert at the Conservatory in January.
An émigré from the midwest, Mrs. Kovalsky notes how surprised she was to learn how the tri-state high schools paled in comparison to midwestern high schools that feature strong student orchestras — especially when viewing the proximity to the cultural Mecca of New York City. The cuts to the Red Bank elementary string program were emblematic of that reality.
Mrs. Kovalsky stated that the Monmouth Conservatory of Music wants to offer free group music lessons to Red Bank elementary and middle students, who could not otherwise be able to afford them, and seriously desire to hone their musical skills — adding, “Music is the most important education we can give young people…as soon as a child is touched by music (his/her life) is embellished forever.”
