Four South Side High School students have been named All-State musicians. Seniors Malachi Burns-Sharoff, Rory Zukerman and James Herard, all 17, and junior Sophia Grunfield, 16, will showcase their talents at the 2025 New York State School Music Association Winter Conference in Rochester in December.
Burns-Sharoff plays the keyboard percussion otherwise known as percussion mallet. “I originally played clarinet,” he said. “I got to middle school, and they needed someone to cover a mallet percussion, which has the same layout as a piano, and because I knew how piano worked, I got drafted for that. And so I’ve just been doing that ever since. In high school I taught myself the other areas of percussion — snare drum, bass drum, timpani — so now I can cover all of them.”
Burns-Sharoff plans to double major in musical performance and either film studies or political science in college though he doesn’t know where yet. “I think it’s good to get into music because there’s a community around it, and I think it’s a very positive and inspiring community, and it … helps you better yourself,” he said.
Zukerman is a bass clarinetist. “I started playing clarinet in fourth grade,” he recalled. “That was the instrument I picked, and then when I got to middle school, I got the offer to do bass clarinet instead, and I said I would. So I’ve been playing bass clarinet since sixth grade. Everything is the same. Bass clarinet usually has one lower note it can go to, but other than that, they’re just an octave apart.”
With plans to study music education, Zukerman has a long list of potential colleges. “Music is a very healthy pathway and outlet,” he said, “and I just feel like everyone should include music in their lives.”
Taking a different approach to music, Grunfield will be featured in NYSSMA’s Electronic Music Composer Showcase. “I use Logic Pro (digital audio workstation), and it’s mostly electronic,” she explained. “I didn’t use any acoustic instruments to compose it,” she added, referring to her audition piece. “I think I was just messing around with the keyboard a bit, and then trying different sounds, layered stuff, and it turned into a whole thing.”
Though she is only a junior, Grunfield plans to pursue a career in studio composition or songwriting, with her first choice of school being the Berklee College of Music in Manhattan.
Herard is an All-State vocalist, singing tenor. “It started when I was in elementary school — we had a choral class that we went to,” he said. “And so when I went to middle school, instead of doing band or orchestra, I joined chorus and I kept doing that.”
Herard hopes to study musical theater in college. “I’ve always loved being in shows … and being in choirs and stuff,” he said. “I’ve loved music ever since I was a little kid, and so being in choir is like a continuation of that.”
“Attending the All-State Conference is a transformative experience,” Kathleen Mark, the district’s director of the arts, said. “Performing with the top high school musicians from across the state often cements future career goals for these students, and allows them to connect with like-minded peers and meet faculty from some of the country’s top collegiate music programs.”
Senior Elanor “Ellie” Rubin, 16, was honored for her musical gifts in a different way. She received Long Island Arts Alliance’s Scholar-Artist award, one of 20 honorees across Long Island, for her talents in musical theater.
“I had a monologue and a song, and I remember being really excited, but also nervous, because it’s hard to put all the love you have for something in a one-minute recording,” Rubin said. “I’m really grateful that it came through the way it did.”
“This is the first time one of our students has been recognized as a Scholar-Artist, and we are thrilled with Ellie’s success,” Mark said. “She is also a member of our IB Music program and our SSHS Chamber Singers.”
Rubin is planning on pursuing musical theater in college, and is looking into acting programs as well. “I’d really like to thank my friends and family for always being there for me, and supporting me as an artist, and really seeing me and encouraging me to do what I do,” she said. “I love telling stories, and they’ve encouraged me to keep doing that.”
Over 6,000 students from across the state each year apply for All-State evaluations each spring. Roughly 600 are selected to perform in one of eight ensembles. More than 100 students submit compositions to the Composer Showcase, and 10 works are selected, performed and workshopped.
For more information, visit NYSSMA.org.
