PHOTO: Usdan Center Holds Summer Arts Day Camp

Usdan Center for the Creative and Performing Arts, the renowned summer arts day camp which has introduced the arts to more than 60,000 children, presented a special on-campus workshop on Thursday April 24 from 8 AM to 12 Noon at the Maurice Hexter Center, titled "A Morning of Clarinet 2014." The unique event was attended by 45 clarinet students from several Suffolk County school districts, was taught by Liam Burke, an award-winning and fast-rising young clarinetist who has performed with the New York Philharmonic, the Mostly Mozart Orchestra, the Orchestra of St. Luke's and other major ensembles.

The event is sponsored by Bethpage Federal Credit Union, which is also sponsoring Usdan's new Micro-Grant program benefiting more than 70 students from North Babylon High School. In addition, Bethpage supports the Center's long-running Usdan/Bethpage Scholar in the Arts program, providing Usdan scholarships for students who are "adopted" by their Bethpage community branch, and receive recognition there for the remainder of the year.

Liam Burke's other credits include Ensemble ACJW, the American Symphony Orchestra, the American Ballet Theatre Orchestra, the New World Symphony, the Juilliard Orchestra and in composer John Adams' Chamber Symphony at the Kennedy Center, at Mr. Adams' invitation. A recent graduate of The Juilliard School of Music, he was a recipient of Juilliard's prestigious Peter Mennin Prize for Outstanding Achievement and Leadership, and was named winner of the Juilliard Clarinet Concerto Competition and the Vandoren Emerging Artist Competition.

Photo Courtesy of Usdan Center