Without John Williams, there might not be the Alex DeStefano his family, friends, mentors and Holy Spirit High School community know.
As a boy, DeStefano would hear the American composer’s familiar trumpets, trombones and timpani of the “Indiana Jones” theme while watching “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” and mirror them on his family’s piano.
“With perfect pitch, I banged out what I heard,” he explains.
It is this ability to listen, adapt, create and perform that has marked the now 18-year-old DeStefano’s already-accomplished-but-just-starting musical career, evidenced by his recent first place win at the collegiate level in the New Jersey Music Teachers Association 2021 Young Musicians Competition for Piano.
DeStefano recorded two pieces for judges: Bach’s “Prelude in Fugue No. 1 WTC Book 2,” and Chopin’s “Fantaisie Op. 49.”
“It’s just great to get recognition and feedback” from the judges, he says when asked about the award.
The flexible attributes of the piano – “the scale and variety of the pieces you can play, in classical, jazz and popular music” – is what attracted DeStefano to the instrument in the first place, DeStefano says.
At the Absecon high school, he’s performed in the jazz and concert band, and has even arranged pieces for the concert band. He has also overseen the direction of some shows at the school, including “A Christmas Story” and “The Diary of Anne Frank,” the latter for which he composed original material.
And he has written the school’s new song marking its upcoming 100th anniversary, “Through These Halls.”
With all these projects, DeStefano is quick to credit the school’s music director, Claire Collins, for her guidance these past four years. “She’s always helping out the students, making sure we put our best foot forward.”
This year, Collins made the senior the school’s conductor for the music department, where he has led his peers at different events. For this year’s Christmas concert, for instance, he created an arrangement for Trans-Siberian Orchestra’s “Carol of the Bells.”
“He’s poured himself into his music,” Collins says of her “exceptional” student with “the most humble heart.”
Every day at lunchtime or after school, she added, one can find DeStefano in front of the school’s concert grand Yamaha piano.
His musical development has also been nurtured outside the classroom. For the past year, DeStefano has studied under the Curtis Institute of Music’s Amy Yang, seasoned pianist and chamber musician, to perfect his craft.
“It’s been a remarkable experience with such an esteemed professor,” he says, adding that her expertise “has benefited me greatly.”
As well, DeStefano collaborated in a global effort during the COVID-19 pandemic, Art Together Now. Organized by the rock band OK Go, the effort saw more than 15,000 socially-distanced musicians, artists, and students from 35 states and 21 countries share their talents and create music together. He is credited for “String and Piano Arrangement” and “Additional Music Production, Engineering, and Support” for the project.
Watching DeStefano’s focus and achievement has put a smile on the face of his mother, Natalie.
“He’s a good person and gifted musician,” she says, adding that she “couldn’t be prouder” of her son.
In the same breath, she expresses her appreciation for Holy Spirit High School’s role in his development. “He’s in a good place, musically, academically and spiritually.”
Composer. Director. Producer. Young musician awardee. Whatever he does next, DeStefano is grateful for the instrument he’s been attached to practically since birth.
“The piano brings me peace in the cacophony of life; it’s something to rely on, an escape,” he says.
DeStefano is unsure what the next steps are after high school, but he knows it involves music, whether in the education or performance tracks. There is still sheet music to be filled.
“The future has a lot in store; I’m taking it one step at a time,” he says.
at the bottom and then tap “Add to Home Screen”
