Walt Whitman singers back from Europe

Students Jane Pigliacelli, Lauren Varolian, Alanna Shalinski, Kayla Cook, Danielle Burby and Noelle DeLorenzo with Judy Leopold, the Whitman choir director.

By Michael R. Ebert
michael.ebert@newsday.com

Seven students from Walt Whitman High School were among 96 statewide to partake in the American Music Abroad Summer Tour in Europe, where they represented the U.S. as goodwill music ambassadors. The school had more students chosen than any in the state.

“We had scattered performances in some beautiful cathedrals and monasteries,” said senior Lauren Varolian, a soloist along with Michael Fawcett, who graduated in June. “I really didn’t think the people over there would enjoy us as much as they did. One time, we attracted a crowd of over 100 people when we only expected a handful to show up.”

Before departing on their 21-day trip, the students traveled to East Stroudsburg University in Pennsylvania for three days of rehearsing, culminating in a farewell concert for their families. In mid June, they traveled to Switzerland, where their journey began.

“We left our TVs and Internet behind and saw a new side of the world,” said Varolian, who noted that the highlight was having a snowball fight on an Austrian glacier in July. “It was amazing to see 1,000 years of artifacts that we simply don’t have in our country.”