Schools

Effort Underway to Raise Tuition Funds for East Hampton Violinist

Maxfield Panish is headed to the Manhattan School of Music, but is $18,000 short for this year's tuition.

A talented violinist from East Hampton needs some financial help to continue his music education and achieve his dream.

Maxfield Panish, an 2012 graduate, will attend the Manhattan School of Music this fall, but with a $35,000 tuition price tag, he's having trouble getting enough financial aid and loans to cover the costs, which all include additional money for housing and other related expenses. He's $18,000 short.

Panish has received some scholarships, including a $2,500 scholarship from Music for Humanity, a non-profit organization based in Chester, NY, which also happens to be founded by Barry Adelman, the owner of the store in Amagansett.

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Panish, along with 10 other young musicians from around the country applied to Music for Humanity for a scholarship this year. "He was selected to receive a $2,500 scholarship based upon his talent, passion for music and financial need, but it’s not enough," Adelman said.

Adelman has organized a voucher sale fundraiser, where $20 vouchers will be sold to help raise money for Parnish. Ten to 20 local retailers will offer private sales, to anyone who buys a voucher, valid for discounts from Nov. 9 to 15. The voucher sale will continue through the end of October.

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Adelman said the suggested discount is 20 percent, but each retailer will create their own private sale. "One hundred percent of the vouchers bought, less printing expenses, will supplement Maxfield’s scholarship," he said.

"My dream is to be a great solo violinist," Panish said. Adelman said he has the chops.

Panish has been playing since he was five — ever since he heard a virtuoso violinist on a classical music station on the car radio and fell in love with the instrument's sound, he said. "I was awed by the violinist’s ability to express such deep emotion in each note, and by the many different colors and nuances of sound that he produced," Panish wrote in an essay.

"I just wanted to play like that," he said by phone on Wednesday.

He started out taking lessons in Water Mill, but with limited musical training on the East End, his mother eventually took him to Setauket to train with Irina Pustovoit.

When he was in eleventh grade, he set out to win the Brockman Playhouse Award for the Manhattan School of Music's pre-college program, and took a month off from high school to prepare for the audition. He was accepted and spent Saturdays in the city studying with Anat Almani.

As high school graduation neared, he was accepted to the school's conservatory and even has been placed with his first choice for a teach, Isaac Malkin. The hard work had paid off, he said. "Now I'm having difficulty coming up with the funds."

The son of Karen Panish, a nutritional therapist, he's doesn't qualify for any financial aid or financial aid from the school, though he has already taken some college loans.

This summer, he has been saving his money from work as a private chef. Raised as a vegetarian, he learned to cook healthy dishes from his mother and decided to use the skill to make some money to further his education. He also plans to work as a private chef in the city while going to school.

On Saturday at noon, Music for Humanity will present the scholarship to Panish, near Crossroads Music in the Amagansett Square. The community is invited to attend and purchase vouchers to help further Panish's dream.


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