Lily Wasoski: 2025-26 Scholar-Artist Merit Award Winner
Congratulations to Lily Wasoski from Huntington for being named one of Long Island Arts Alliance’s 2025-26 Scholar-Artist Merit Award recipients.
Majoring in Musical Theater at LIHSA, Lily aspires to be an Opera singer. She is thrilled to be recognized for her scholarly and artistic excellence. She shares, “I’ve worked so hard to maintain a good balance between my in-school education and my work outside of school. I’ve dedicated so much time and energy to keep my grades up but also hone in on my skills for theater, so it means a lot to be recognized like this.”
Inspired by LIHSA Faculty members Chris Brick and Kim Larkin, Lily sings praises about her LIHSA experience. She says, “LIHSA has prepared me for what to expect when I step out into the real music world; they’ve taught me proper audition techniques, how to pick out repertoire that suits me, as well as how to collaborate with my colleagues. Not to mention that LIHSA has provided so many wonderful opportunities to work with professionals who come and tell us about their stories from the music and theater world that they’re experiencing right now, which is an opportunity you just can’t get anywhere else.”
Lily is grateful to be one of Huntington School District’s first students that had the opportunity to attend LIHSA and is also active in her home school’s performing arts programs (Marching Band Drum Major, a flute player in the Wind Ensemble, Drama Department, and the Concert Choir).
Lily loved being part of last year’s Broadway Supports LIHSA, enabling her to not only work with Broadway stars, but to also provide her own creative input. Other performance favorites include Chicago: Teen Edition at Huntington High School (role: Mary Sunshine) and Balloon Boy last year at LIHSA (role: Tabloid Queens). She also was in her first full-scale opera this summer (Humperdink’s Hansel und Gretel at Queens College, in the Gingerbread Chorus) reflecting, “It was such an honor to be in that production, especially since most singers don’t get the chance to be in an Opera production until they’re well into college.”
Looking at the year ahead, Lily is very excited to be participating in our Verbatim Theater class, working with NYU’s Verbatim Performance Lab to create an original play. She shares, “From now until January we’re going to choose a topic for our show to focus on and interview knowledgeable people on this topic via Zoom and use the responses from those interviews to create our script. We then will get to perform as the people we interviewed in our play, and copy their exact inflections and gestures. It has been so amazing getting to learn about Verbatim from the professionals at NYU, which is something I never would have imagined I would get to do!”
In the future, Lily aspires to work as an Opera Singer, performing not only classic operas like Le Nozze Di Figaro but also shows like Into the Woods or Rodger’s and Hammerstein’s Cinderella, which more and more opera companies are doing in the modern age. She shares, “I hope I can bring the creativity and productivity that LIHSA has taught me to these companies to make opera more interesting for younger audiences, just like my teachers have done for me. I think it’s important to keep opera as an art form alive, and it’s becoming harder and harder as the years go on. So, I feel it’s my responsibility as part of the next generation of opera singers to keep this music alive.”
“Enrolling at LIHSA was the best decision I’ve ever made,” Lily reflects. “I have made so many amazing friends and connections with my teachers that I will carry with me for the rest of my life. I love LIHSA!!”
Congratulations, Lily on your distinction as a Merit Scholar. We look forward to saying, “Bravo!” throughout your career! Keep scrolling for more photos.
