Alumni & History

Bill Squires (Class of 1967) is a retired business owner still living in Longmeadow.  His community service includes alumni class and regional offices with the University of Pennsylvania; past president of the Enfield, Ct., Rotary Club and district secretary of Rotary International; and board of directors for Goodwill Industries of Hartford-Springfield and Jewish Family Service of Western Massachusetts.  Bill and Nancy have been honored as Paul Harris Fellows of Rotary International, and by Lubavitcher Yeshiva Academy.  They have three daughters, all graduates of Longmeadow High School.  Bill has also returned to singing after a somewhat extended break, as a tenor and sometime soloist for Mak'hela, the Jewish Chorus of Western Massachusetts.  He has also performed the Star Spangled Banner, O Canada, G-d Bless America, and Hatikvah at over three hundred events (at last count) from Vermont to Florida and Texas, including Florida spring training for the Washington Nationals (three times), Detroit Tigers, and Houston Astros (four times); Gillette Stadium twice; TD Garden in Boston four times; Amway Center in Orlando; WNBA's Connecticut Sun at Mohegan Sun Arena four times; Basketball Hall of Fame College Basketball Tip-Off Classic at Mohegan Sun Arena; World Team Tennis in New York, Boston, and Hartford; UMass; Quinnipiac University; the Palestra at the University of Pennsylvania four times; Tri-City Valley Cats in Troy, NY; singing "God Bless America" at Fenway Park for the Red Sox and many more.

JOHN WEISS is a proud graduate of Longmeadow High School (Class of 1969) and earned a Bachelor of Music degree in music education at Boston University’s School for the Arts, a Master of Fine Arts degree in choral conducting at the University of California, Irvine, and a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in choral conducting from the University of Arizona.  His collegiate conducting appointments include stints at University of South Alabama, Washington State University, Bismarck State College, and Mississippi Valley State University.  High school choral groups under his direction won numerous first prizes and gold medals at many choral festivals and he was guest conductor for the Vermont Northwest District Festival High School Chorus, the Southeastern Massachusetts Scholastic Band Association Festival High School Chorus, and the MMEA Southeast Junior District Festival Chorus.

John has presented interest sessions at the Northwest Division Conference of the American Choral Directors Assoc., the Washington Music Educators Assoc. State Conference, the Oregon Music Educators Assoc. All-State Conference, and adjudicated such prestigious voice competitions as the Singer of the Year Contest in Los Angeles and the National Assoc. of Teachers of Singing Artist Award Regional Competition in Seattle.  Singers from his voice studio have been NATS divisional winners at the regional level, participated in the Metropolitan Opera District Auditions, and been employed by regional opera companies. 

As a bass, John was a Metropolitan Opera Regional Finalist and won First Prize in the Associazione Lirica Italo-Americana Mario Del Monaco Voice Competition.  He has performed leading and supporting roles with Boston Lyric Opera, Indianapolis Opera, Ash Lawn-Highland Summer Festival (VA) and other regional companies.  Some of his favorite roles include Leporello in Don Giovanni, Tevye in Fiddler on the Roof, Mustafà in L’italiana in Algeri, Alfie Doolittle in My Fair Lady, Sarastro in Die Zauberflöte, Colline in La Bohéme, Bartolo in Il Barbiere di Siviglia and Sir Joseph Porter in H.M.S. Pinafore.

John’s doctoral research explored vocal health in the choral rehearsal, especially as it relates to vocal fatigue.  The University of Arizona nominated his research for the Julius Herford Award sponsored by the American Choral Directors Association.  An article based on this research appeared in The Choral Journal and he presented his findings at the 2nd International Physiology and Acoustics of Singing Conference in Denver, the American Choral Directors Association Northwest Division Conference in Portland, and most recently at the College Music Society’s 2016 Southern Regional Conference in Birmingham, AL   He can be reached at johnweiss28@gmail.com. 

Dr. Elaine ("Lainee") Broad Ginsberg, a Longmeadow High School graduate of 1980, received her collegiate degrees from Oberlin Conservatory, Oberlin College, Ball State University, and a doctorate from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. Dr. Ginsberg has been teaching music theory, ear training, composition, music history, and the history of Jewish music at Keene State College in New Hampshire since 2005. She has also been the Choral Director at Hampshire College in Massachusetts since 2001. Previously, she taught at Interlochen Arts Academy in Michigan for eight years, where she conducted their Chamber Singers and ran the Theory and Composition program. Dr Ginsberg presently serves as the conductor of Mak'hela, the Jewish Chorus of Western MA, an ensemble which performs regularly in the Western MA region.  

Dr. Ginsberg is a published composer of choral music, including an arrangement of  "Oseh Shalom" which has sold over 5000 copies of sheet music to date.  She lives in New Hampshire with her daughter, husband, and assorted canines and felines.  She is also the proud step-mother of three and step-grandmother of five.

Andrea Lieber Brinnel, Ed.D., LHS class of 1980

I have been delightfully married to my LHS sweetheart David for 29 years and have spent the last 25 years in the field of education as a teacher and administrator. I have been an early childhood specialist for the State of CT (Dept. of Education and Office of Early Childhood) for the past 7 years. I also teach early childhood courses at Baypath and Post Universities.  My two children, Paul and Hailey, are also graduates of LHS.  Paul is an engineer living in Chicago and Hailey is a music education major at Temple University.  David and I live in Longmeadow with our dogs Gershwin and (Countess) Basie.

Craig Hanson (class of 1987) received a Master of Music degree from the New England Conservatory and a diploma in Opera Performance from the Longy School of Music. He is heard widely in recital, oratorio, musical theater, opera and contemporary music programs throughout the United States. In the traditional opera and musical theatre, Mr. Hanson has sung leading roles of several romantic and lyric operas, as well as many Gilbert & Sullivan operettas. He made his European debut in July 1999 appearing on Italian national television with the troupe Opera Lirica à Orvieto in Porto Ercole. Aside from a career as a performer, Mr. Hanson compiled and published the ECS Opera Aria Anthology, a collection of contemporary arias by American composers from the E.C. Schirmer opera catalog. He currently lives in Burlingame, CA with his wife and three children.

Adam Luftman joined the San Francisco Opera Orchestra as Principal Trumpet in 2007, and he also holds the position of Principal Trumpet in the San Francisco Ballet Orchestra. Originally from Longmeadow, he attended LHS 1993-1995.  Mr. Luftman has held positions with the Baltimore Symphony, the New World Symphony in Miami and the Civic Orchestra of Chicago. He has also been a guest artist with many of the country's finest orchestras, including The Cleveland Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra, Chicago Symphony and San Francisco Symphony. He has also enjoyed touring and recording with many of these ensembles.

In addition to his orchestral work, Mr. Luftman has been a featured soloist with numerous groups. He is also a member of The Bay Brass, San Francisco Contemporary Music Players and is an avid jazz musician. Mr. Luftman also recently performed and recorded as a member of the National Brass Ensemble, a group comprised of principal musicians from the nation's top orchestras.

He also can be heard on recordings with the Philadelphia Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, Baltimore Symphony, ESPN Sunday Night Football and on many movie and video game soundtracks recorded at Skywalker Ranch in CA.

Mr. Luftman is currently on the faculty of San Francisco Conservatory, Stanford, UC Berkeley and San Francisco State University.  He is an honors graduate of the Cleveland Institute of Music and the Interlochen Arts Academy. Mr. Luftman lives in San Francisco with his wife, Reva and their daughter, Riley.

Matthew Chandler graduated LHS in 2000 where he studied under Peter Thomsen and Mike Mucci. Matthew received his BA in Biblical Studies from Boston Baptist College and is currently completing course work to receive his Masters in Worship Arts. Matthew has traveled and lead worship at churches and events across the country.  

An accomplished singer and worship leader, Matthew has become a respected worship songwriter in Nashville Tennessee and across New England. Matthew is currently the Songwriting Coordinator for Simply Worship Conferences and Greenhouse Ministries and the Creative Arts Pastor at Journey Church in Barrington New Hampshire. He resides in Rochester New Hampshire with his wife, Rachel, and two children, Charlotte and Owen.

(LHS class of 2002) LJ White's music serves ideals of direct, focused and socially relevant expression, assimilating an unrestricted array of influences through unpredictable-yet-contagious rhythms, strange and evocative sonorities, self-evident gestures, and apposite forms. LJ has worked with some of the most exciting players in contemporary music, including Alarm Will Sound, Ensemble SIGNAL, the JACK Quartet, Ensemble Dal Niente, and members of the International Contemporary Ensemble, the Talea Ensemble, and the Bang on a Can All-Stars.

LJ has won the Craig and Janet Swan Prize, the Margaret Blackburn Composition Competition, an Emil and Ruth Beyer Award from the National Federation of Music Clubs, the Dolce Suono Ensemble Young Composer Competition, the North American Saxophone Alliance Composition Competition, and the American Prize. LJ has been in residence at the MacDowell Colony, Yaddo, the Atlantic Center for the Arts, and the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, among other colonies, and has had works featured at Walt Disney Hall's REDCAT and at many high-profile festivals, including the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, Copland House's CULTIVATE Festival, and the Composers Conference at Wellesley College. LJ is a lecturer in music studies at Northwestern University, is Department Chair of Music Theory and Composition at the Merit School of Music, and has studied at Boston University, the New England Conservatory of Music, the University of California at Berkeley, and Northwestern University.

Stephen Spinelli attended Longmeadow High School from 1999-2003. While at LHS, he played tuba in the Wind Ensemble, and accompanied for Women's Choir and La Cappella. He is currently the assistant director of choral programs at Cornell University, where he conducts the Cornell Chorale and Chamber Singers, and is the assistant director of the Glee Club and Chorus. Stephen is also the director of the chancel choir at First Presbyterian Church in Ithaca, NY. Previously he worked at Abington Friends School (Jenkintown, PA) as the director of middle and upper school choirs. Stephen has held positions the choral director at Philadelphia University and as an assistant conductor for the Pennsylvania Girlchoir. Visiting appointments include Moravian College and Villanova University. He has sung and recorded with the contemporary music choir The Crossing (Philadelphia, PA) and is an accompanist for the Bennington Voice Workshops in Bennington, VT. Stephen serves on the board of directors of the vocal octet Roomful of Teeth, for whom he assisted in the production of a Grammy Award-winning debut album, as well as their Grammy-nominated sophomore album, Render. His research interests include non-Western singing techniques, and the development of the Lutheran Cantata. Stephen holds degrees from Williams College (BA, music) and Temple University (MM, choral conducting), and he is currently a Doctor of Musical Arts candidate in choral conducting at Northwestern University.

Sarah Cohn (class of 2005) cannot remember a time she wasn’t singing. Throughout her high school career, she joined every opportunity that would give her more chances to sing. She was a member of almost every choir the school had to offer, including being one of the original members of The Accidentals’ inaugural year.

After graduating, Sarah received an AA in music, with a focus in classical voice, from Holyoke Community College. From there Sarah continued to work odd jobs in music, ranging from church choirs for midnight mass at Christmas, to filling in for her Cantor at Sinai Temple while he was on sabbatical.

Today, Sarah is the Operations Administrator for ART-ventures for Kids. Recently merged with Mad Science of Western New England, ART-ventures offers art enrichment for elementary aged children through after school programs, camps, events, and birthday parties. But that’s not all! By night, Sarah is the lead singer and front woman of the successful local cover band The Glorious Unknown! The Glorious Unknown has been together since 2012, originally formed as a backing band for a singer songwriter but continued out on their own after the singer songwriter moved away. Sarah has been fronting the five-piece band since 2016 and is joined by two of her fellow HCC classmates. The band has harnessed each of the member’s unique musical talents to form an incomparable and highly sought-after sound, creating a high demand for their brand of entertainment. From Dolly Parton to Metallica, Britney Spears to The Beatles, they can play at all, and when called for, double as a Queen tribute band. The band is available for hire for weddings, parties, corporate events, and more! For more information, check out their website at tguband.com.

A. Alexander McKeithen (Class of 2008) is a classical baritone who has been performing for over 15 years. His experience varies from ensemble to solo performances. He is well versed in the styles of vocal jazz, traditional and contemporary gospel and musical theater, but his niche has always been classical vocal performance with an emphasis on art songs and spirituals. His ensemble performance credits include The Howard University Choir, The Howard Gospel Choir of Howard University, The 105 Voices of History National HBCU Concert Choir, Howard University’s Premier Vocal Jazz Ensemble Afro Blue, Sam Roberts and the Levites Assembly and the National Broadway Chorus of Washington D.C. He is currently a vocal music teacher at Alice Deal Middle School in Washington, DC.  

A 2008 LHS graduate, Ethan Sobel currently serves as the Director of Student Life at Boston University Hillel. He is also an educator and diversity trainer for Greater Boston Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG) and a member of the Board of Directors for Friends of Lesbians and Gays (FLAG) Flag Football. When not working with students or on LGBT advocacy, Ethan can be found working the pressbox for the Boston University  and Northeastern University men's ice hockey teams. Ethan resides in Cambridge, MA. He can be reached at esobel@bu.edu.

Hilary Purrington (LHS 2009) is New England-based composer of contemporary classical music.  Her work has received recognition from the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP), the National Federation of Music Clubs (NFMC), the Massachusetts Music Educators’ Association (MMEA), Houston Grand Opera’s Home and Place, the American Modern Ensemble, and Voices of Change/Dallas Symphony Orchestra, among others.  

In the summer of 2012, Purrington received funding through a Wagoner Foreign Study Scholarship to study Music Composition and German Language at the Freie Universität Berlin, and in the summer of 2013, she participated as a Fellow at the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival’s New Music Workshop. Recent projects include commissions from the NOVUS Trombone Quartet, the Chicago Harp Quartet, and the Musical Chairs Chamber Ensemble.  Purrington holds degrees from The Juilliard School and the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University.  She will begin pursuing a Master of Musical Arts at the Yale School of Music in the Fall of 2015.

Emilie Ferreira graduated from LHS in 2010 and spent the next four years at UNCW where she was an integral proponent of the formation of the first ever all-woman a cappella group, The Seabelles. She majored in French and Psychology and spent the spring semester of her junior year studying in the south of France. She moved back up north after graduating (still questions why she left the beach...) and now works as a Communication & Events Associate at UMass Amherst. And somewhere along the way she adopted a cat named Leo who's pretty cool. 

Elissa Erwin graduated from LHS – and the Longmeadow Symphony Orchestra– in 2011. She graduated from Drew University, where she was concertmaster of the orchestra, in 2014. She now lives in NJ and works at Sourcebooks, editing children’s and young adult novels in NYC. She still gets her fix in music by annoying her neighbors with her violin and by occasionally busking with friends for charity in Central Park.

Shane Coughlin (2013) is a graduate of the New England Conservatory Preparatory School, as well as Longmeadow High School where he won the John Philip Sousa Band award in consecutive years. He has since continued his studies in trumpet performance at the Peabody Conservatory where he will beginhis third year in the joint studio of Joe Burgstaller, Phil Snedecor, and David Fedderly. He is also pursuing a degree in neuroscience with concentrations in psychopharmacology and degenerative diseases through the Snyder department of brain science at Johns Hopkins University with Dr David Foster.

Hailey Brinnel (2013) is currently a Jazz Education major at the Boyer College of Music and Dance at Temple University.  She can be found playing trombone, singing, or playing piano in Philadelphia and surrounding areas.  She also teaches weekly at the Early Childhood Music Foundation.  With the big band run by Terell Stafford, she has played at Dizzy's Club Coca Cola at Lincoln Center with guest artists Jon Faddis, Jimmy Heath, Dick Oatts and Wycliffe Gordon.  She can be heard on the band's 2015 album 'Dear Dizzy'.  She also regularly plays with Sherrie Maricle and the DIVA Jazz Orchestra, and when in Massachusetts has played with the Hartford Jazz Orchestra.  In 2014 she toured Ireland as an assistant conductor of New England Conservatory's Massachusetts Youth Wind Ensemble.