Friends of the North Shore Symphony Orchestra needs your help in supporting NSSO concerts!

Friends of the North Shore Symphony Orchestra was first established in 1993 and in 2001 became a New York State not-for-profit corporation. Quoting from the by-laws, “The purpose of The Friends of the North Shore Symphony Orchestra, a not-for-profit corporation in the State of New York, is to aid in the financial support of the North Shore Symphony Orchestra.” Any member of the public may join the Friends of NSSO by making a contribution of at least $10 in year prior to the annual meeting and is entitled to vote on resolutions that come before the membership.

Since the beginning of our 44th season, Friends of NSSO has taken over the management of the Orchestra. All business matters are now the responsibility of the Friends corporation and its Board of Directors.

To advertise with us, please send us an advertisers form (PDF) by mail at the address below or by email: NSSOrchestra@Gmail.com.

To contribute to the NSSO, please print out a contribution form for individuals (PDF) or corporations (PDF) and mail it to us at the address below.

To receive information about how you can become a contributor, advertiser or volunteer this year, please send your name, address, phone number and e-mail address to:

Friends of North Shore Symphony Orchestra
PO Box 419
Greenvale, NY 11548-0419

or e-mail us at: NSSOrchestra@Gmail.com.

As Friends of NSSO is a tax-exempt corporation under section 501(c)(3) of the IRS code, all contributions are tax-deductible.

Board of Directors

Susan E. Deaver Music Director & Conductor

Full bio here

Martin Dreiwitz

Martin Dreiwitz is the founder and conductor of the Long Island Youth Orchestra. He has overseen its expansion from a fledgling 50-member community youth orchestra to its present island-wide 105-member size. In addition to serving as its music director and permanent conductor, he is also the orchestra’s president, operations manager, and principal fund raiser. His leadership of the touring LIYO has helped to make it a well-know and widely-acclaimed musical organization in the far corners of the globe. Mr. Dreiwitz, a former professional clarinetist, is a graduate of New York City’s High school of Music and Art and the University of Chicago. He studied clarinet with Simeon Bellison and Anthony Gigliotti and conducting with the great German maestro Wilhelm Furtwaengler. Mr. Dreiwitz combines his love of music and travel by operating a travel agency. He served as chair of the Friends Board during its first 3 years.

Robert D. Kross

Bob Kross grew up in Brooklyn, and received a B.S. in Chemistry from Brooklyn College. He then went to Ames, Iowa to work for the Atomic Energy Commission while completing his doctoral studies in physical chemistry at Iowa State University in 1956. Thereafter he expanded his technical knowledge, becoming an R&D director at several small public companies, and eventually running his own consulting organization serving a broad range of commercial organizations. His 3-dozen patents cover Bob’s broad range of interests, in the many areas of science in which he has been involved professionally. Bob is a self-taught French Hornist, from high school days, and has been with the NSSO since the early 90’s, joining the Friends Board at its 2001 inception.

Joshua Golbert

Joshua Golbert is the Director of Music and Performing Arts in the Plainview-Old Bethpage Central School District. Prior to coming to Plainview-Old Bethpage, Joshua worked in the Farmingdale Public Schools, where he held the post of Master Lead Teacher for Fine Arts. He is active in numerous local, state and national organizations for music teachers and music advocacy.

William Farber, President

Bill Farber, violinist with the NSSO, is a lighting director and cameraman for motion pictures and television. He has worked throughout the United States and internationally on feature films, television movies, promotional films and television commercials. Bill is a graduate of Brown University with a degree in American history and literature. Born on Long Island, Bill was a member of the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra’s youth program, the New Jersey All-State Orchestra, summer music programs at the Red Fox Music Festival in western Massachusetts, the Neighborhood Music School in New Haven, Connecticut and music groups at Yale and Brown Universities. He is principal violist of the Molloy College Orchestra on Long Island. His teachers and coaches included Samuel Applebaum, Richard Luby, Broadus Erle, Fredy Ostrovsky and Gerard Matte. Bill has served as a Board member and as President of the Parents’ Association of the Children’s Orchestra Society, as a volunteer and coach with the Long Island Sinfonia and youth chamber music groups, and as a mentor in Oracle’s ThinkQuest competition. He is the author of a book on writing effective business correspondence and has taught film industry seminars on special lighting techniques and equipment. Depending on the season, Bill may be found riding Long Island’s back roads on bicycle, or exploring Vermont’s backcountry on skis.

Theodore Jospe, Chairman

Ted Jospe received his bachelor’s degree from University College of Arts and Science, New York University, and his M.B.A. in healthcare administration from George Washington University. He served as an Army Captain with tours of duty at Walter Reed Army Medical Center and various assignments in Vietnam. Ted retired as President and CEO of Southside Hospital in 2003, a position he held for 31 years. He has been an active faculty member of the Stony Brook University School Health Technology and Management since 1974 and currently teaches graduate and undergraduate courses in health facility operation and management. During his career, he has had numerous board affiliations and memberships, including the Hospital Association of New York State, the League of Voluntary Hospitals, the North Shore-LIJ Health system, Southside Hospital, the Nassau-Suffolk Hospital Council, the Suffolk County Board of Health, the Long Island Association, the Harbor Country Day School Board of Education, and the Long Island String Quartet. He was a violinist in the North Shore High School Orchestra, the Hofstra Symphony as a high school student, and the NYU Symphony Orchestra. After a forty year hiatus, he resumed playing four years ago, and has been a member of the NSSO for the past four seasons.

Leonard Shaw, Secretary/Treasurer

Leonard Shaw has a BS in electrical engineering from the University of Pennsylvania and the M.S. and Ph.D. in EE from Stanford University. He is an Emeritus Professor of Electrical Engineering at Polytechnic University where he was Head of the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, and later Vice Provost for Undergraduate Studies. He has been an industrial consultant and spent sabbatical leaves at universities in Nantes, France, Eindhoven, The Netherlands and Brighton, England. He published a research monograph chapter on stochastic control, and co-authored a text on signal processing. He is a Fellow of the electrical engineering professional society (IEEE). Within the IEEE he served as editor-in-chief of the IEEE Press and Chair of the Technical Field Awards Committee, as well as president of the IEEE’s Control Systems Society. He has been a violinist in the NSSO for more than 10 years, and has been Secretary/Treasurer of Friends of the NSSO since its inception in 2001.

John C. Stevenson, President Emeritus

John Stevenson grew up in Snohomish, WA (then a rural hamlet). He came to the East Coast to study engineering physics at Cornell University, completing his undergraduate degree in mathematics at New York University followed by a M.S. from NYU and doctoral degree from Adelphi University. Joining the C.W. Post faculty as a mathematics instructor in 1963, he has done research in aspects of space physics, lecturing and, at various times, serving as an administrator. He became Professor Emeritus in 2002. Over the years Stevenson has served on several boards of not-forprofit institutions on Long Island among them, President of the Walt Whitman Birthplace Association, Treasurer and President of the Vanderbilt Museum and, currently, as a Director of the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Association. Stevenson has played in the NSSO violin section for many years. He served as President of the Friends of the NSSO from its beginning in 2001 until 2008.

Leslie Strait

Leslie Strait is the principal flute of the North Shore Symphony Orchestra, where she has been a member since 1989. She is a founding member of the Principal Winds wind quintet. She also performs with the Flutissimo flute quartet. As a board member of the Long Island Flute Club, Ms. Strait performs annually with the LIFC Professional Flute Choir. While at Crouse College of Music at Syracuse University, she studied with John Oberbrunner. Other teachers include Harold Bennett, Allison Hubbard, and Jeff Weissman. Her choral experience includes membership in The Long Island Symphonic Choral Association, and The Long Island Masterworks and Philharmonic choruses. In 2005, Ms. Strait made her Carnegie Hall debut on the flute. Residing in East Northport with her husband and two children, she runs a private studio, and is a frequent soloist at Union United Methodist Church. She is currently pursuing a black belt in mixed martial arts.

Andrew A. Weickert

Andrew A. Weickert earned a B.A. from Lehigh University and, after two years in the Army, a Masters degree in Social Work from Adelphi University. He worked as a Social Worker at the Veterans Hospital, Northport, at Nassau County Medical Center, and at the Association for the Help of Retarded Children. He continues to work part-time for the AHRC as Guardianship Coordinator. He studied violin as a child with his mother, a concert violinist who graduated from the Academy of Music in Budapest, Hungary. He is a violist in the NSSO and has played violin in a quartet with friends for 30+ years. He has participated in the Chamber Music and Composers Conference at Wellesley, Mass almost every year since 1979. He currently serves as chair of the Friends Board.

Clair Van Ausdall

Clair Van Ausdall has at various times been a pianist, an accompanist, an organist & choir director, a cellist, a teacher, a record company artists-repertoire man, a publicist, a critic, a music annotator, and most recently, editor-inchief of Chamber Music magazine. He has degrees from Northwestern University in English and physics, and from the Eastman School of Music in piano and musicology, where he was a student of Cécile Genhart & Charles Warren Fox. His annotations for recordings of Debussy, Rachmaninov & Shostakovich received Grammy nominations in 1968, 1971 & 1976. He has been writing program notes for the North Shore Symphony Orchestra since 1992.