At Cross-Co-Op Collab, A Young Conductor Steps Into The Spotlight

Israel Ortiz with his mom and biggest fan, Susana Teran. Lucy Gellman Photos.

Wilbur Cross High School junior Israel Ortiz lifted the baton in his right hand, making an S shape as he cut a gentle path through the air. In front of him, 60 students sat at the ready, watching every move. He raised an index finger, and two clarinets sang out in unison. Beneath them, the trumpets crept in, followed by the shrill cry of nearly a dozen flutes. Drums undulated in the background.

It was the best 17th birthday present Ortiz could have asked for. And he was just getting started. 

Tuesday night, Ortiz’ conducting debut was one of several highlights at an inaugural pops concert from Wilbur Cross and Cooperative Arts and Humanities High Schools, featuring jazz ensemble, string orchestra, and concert band performances from students at both schools. For just over an hour, musicians joined forces in Cross’ Mitchell Drive auditorium, soaking the space in a big-band sound that neither student body has been able to achieve since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic. 

Before the end of the night, it doubled as a celebration of Ortiz, who turned 17 on Tuesday, and is raising funds to study conducting at the Eastman School of Music this summer. Currently, he has raised $1,815 of $3,465. Donate here. 

“We’ve gone through a lot over the last few years, and when I get these moments to welcome audiences to shows, it’s just a reminder to me of the power of the arts and what your children are providing for us,” said Daniel Wajnowski, assistant principal for Cross’ Business & Fine Arts Academy. “The arts is something that fulfills us as humans, binds us as a community and certainly entertains us.” 

From the beginning of the night, excitement buzzed through the auditorium, palpable as parents, siblings and students took their seats and whipped out their phones and cameras in anticipation. On stage, pools of blue and red light soaked the curtains as young musicians filed in, ready to share the space with each other for the first time. In front of them, Co-Op band instructor Matthew Chasen lifted his saxophone, and let out a single, bellowing note. In the audience, a low hum of chatter fell to a hush. 

Within moments, Paul Desmond’s  buttery “Take Five” filled the room, a few students moving to the music as they played. Over the steady, swinging dance of keys and percussion, horns entered the mix, sending a brassy wail out over the seats. When Co-Op junior Alanis Rios stood for a solo on sax, Chasen adjusted the microphone and came over to play alongside her, so that the sound traveled all the way to the back of the space. 

By the time the trumpets came back in, it felt like a full-fledged party onstage. Somewhere, the ghost of pianist Dave Brubeck, who popularized the work during his lifetime and spent his last years in Connecticut, stirred pleasantly at the sound. 

“It really is great for us to be able to keep that music alive,” Chasen said, praising both students and fellow music instructors who brought the concert to fruition. “Don’t go anywhere, because there’s a lot more great music to come.”

Top: Israel Ortiz and Eric Teichman. Bottom: Jazz band(s) in action. 

And there was, from jazz numbers from composers Kris Berg and Victor Lopez to string arrangements that flowed right from bossa nova to Motown to movie soundtracks that have never before graced Cross’ well-loved stage. Rearranging the stage for string musicians, instructor Henry Lugo noted that the past years have marked a transition for students and educators, making Tuesday’s concert a triumph in and of itself. 

Lugo himself has lived that: he arrived at Co-Op at the beginning of this school year, after shepherding very young string musicians through the pandemic at Betsy Ross Arts Magnet School (BRAMS). As students folded the Temptations, Gladys Knight & the Pips, The Supremes, and The Jackson 5 into a medley, his arms sailed through the air, slowing as the low moan of the cellos signaled the beginning of “I Heard It Through The Grapevine.” His enthusiasm was contagious; it was hard to watch from the audience and not bop along.  

Throughout, nods to collaboration were everywhere. Before leaving the stage, Lugo shouted out Cross strings teacher Kendall Alderman, who helped bring the two ensembles together with a 90-minute rehearsal Tuesday afternoon. As a combined concert band took the stage, two saxophonists exchanged last-minute notes with no words at all, using a language of half-smiles, head nods, furrowed brows. Between jazz numbers, veteran Co-Op educator and musician Patrick Smith switched in and out with student drummers, making sure that percussion never missed a beat. 

But it was Ortiz’ conducting debut, set to the soundtrack of “Alice In Wonderland,” that stole the night's spotlight. Rising from where he sat with his tuba, Ortiz took the podium, hands trembling as he reached for the baton (during an interview after the show, he held both palms out in front of him to see if the nerves had subsided). Five dozen musicians shifted in their seats, their instruments still in their laps. He steadied himself, counting the concert band in. 

“You got this, Izzy!” a fellow student shouted from the front row.  

Ortiz eased into it, methodical as his arms lifted off, gliding through the half-light around his music stand. The woodwinds answered his call, cutting away with clean bursts of oboe and bassoon. He ushered in the drums, the fingers of his left hand extended as he raised his arm. His whole carriage rose, and horns came in with a blast of sound that disappeared almost as quickly. His arms began to bounce, and the cymbals whispered, crested and crashed from where they were tucked toward the back of the stage. 

At the front of the auditorium, a toddler moved to the music, eyes saucer-wide as it built towards a climax. Brass quieted, and woodwinds filled the open space they had left. As Ortiz entered the final stretch, shoulders and knees constantly in motion, he drew out the band’s sound, listening for each instrument. He coaxed sounds forward with a flick of his wrist, then urged them to step back just as quickly. When he threw up his arms to a final, victorious burst of sound, the audience burst into applause.

“Let’s fund him!” a parent yelled from the second row, eyes sparkling. When another parent won the school’s raffle later in the evening, they donated the money right back to his GoFundMe.

“I am over the moon delighted and thrilled for Israel,” said Wilbur Cross’ Eric Teichman, who leads the school’s concert band, jazz band, marching band, and a new summer band camp, in a phone call after the concert. “He's so over-filled with joy when he is conducting, and it's something that I haven't gotten to see him do a lot of yet. It's just very fulfilling to see him dedicate himself to this with such excitement.”

Ortiz still hadn’t come down from it after the concert, as students spilled out of the auditorium into the bright, sanitized light of a high school hallway. Making a beeline for his mom, Susana Teran, he beamed, his whole face aglow. As the two embraced, he described it as one of the best moments of his high school career.  

“I entered the concert today thinking, ‘Let’s make someone happy,’” he said. “Let’s make someone fall in love with music.”

When he spotted a child dancing in the front rows, he said, he knew that he had succeeded. After high school, he plans to study music education, and return to schools in a teaching capacity. 

It’s part of a years-long love of instrumental music and conducting that is still evolving, he added. Growing up as the youngest of four children, Ortiz didn’t hear much music around the house, he said. In middle school at BRAMS, he started playing the tuba, followed by trombone and bass. He loved the rigor and the dedication it took to get good, he said. “It’s nothing you can fully master.” 

That’s ultimately also how he caught the conducting bug. When Covid-19 pushed his freshman year online, he found that music was a source of comfort, even if it was just rehearsing at home in his room. When classes returned to in-person, he was excited to jump back in. Then a few months ago, he watched a video of Leonard Bernstein conducting Ludwig Van Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony. It was a revelation, he said.

He credited his teachers at both Cross and the Educational Center for the Arts (ECA) for supporting him as he started to explore conducting. This summer, he said, he is hopeful that he can take his skills to another level at the Eastman School of Music. 

Nearby, flutist Kamryn Jaynes said she was excited to see her friend soar—and to grow her own musical footprint before graduation. A senior at Wilbur Cross, Jaynes started playing the flute around fifth grade, when she was eight. Years later, she doesn’t know if she’ll pursue it when she heads to college next year, but still loves to push herself when she plays.  

“We had our struggles but it was really good in the end,” she said. “I think being able to see how different schools play can teach us.” 

In a series of interviews following the concert, educators and students from both schools noted the work that it took to get to Tuesday night—and the hope that each of them have to work together again during the next academic year. While Cross and Co-Op have the largest music programs in the district, educators at the two schools can’t remember a time when their ensembles have ever collaborated. Before the show Tuesday, they had a single, 90-minute rehearsal together to master coexisting onstage. 

But the first whispers of a partnership began last year, during a summer band camp held at Cross. By then, a few Co-Op students were already part of Cross’ marching band, which also brought Chasen and Teichman together. Drum major Young In Kim, who is now a senior, came up with the idea of a district-wide collaboration. For years, he’d also been trying to get Teichman to include the “How To Train Your Dragon” soundtrack in a concert program. The two ideas fit together. 

“We were kind of brainstorming fun things to do for band this year, and I thought it would be cool to do a concert with other NHPS students,” said Kim, who is the band’s president this year, and plans to continue music when he heads to Yale University in the fall. “It was really nice to hear the full force of the band.” 

Chasen added that he sees it as part of a flourishing that is not limited to Cross or Co-Op, but happening slowly across the city's public schools. Remote learning decimated Co-Op’s concert band, which shrank from roughly 60 to just over 20 students and is still rebuilding. It’s also taken a toll on Cross’ band and strings programming. Together, Chasen said, the two schools are stronger than they are apart. 

While the two schools are working to rebuild their music programs, which took a significant hit during months of remote learning, they’re not the only ones. This weekend, several New Haven schools are sending students to the Connecticut Music Educators Association’s (CMEA) All-State Festival. He also praised the work of Joshua Smith, an NHPS alum who now leads the band at James Hillhouse High School.

“It was a learning experience,” he said in a phone call after the concert. “What one school was lacking, the other school was able to offer … It really was a win-win because it allowed collaboration within the schools. It showcased that it's not one school that has artistic offerings, it's city-wide and district wide.” 

Cooperative Arts & Humanities High School will have its next band and strings concert at Co-Op, 177 College St. in downtown New Haven, on April 18. Wilbur Cross High School will have its next band concert on May 16. To support Wilbur Cross junior Israel Ortiz as he pursues conducting at the Eastman School of Music, click here.