In the News
Mackenzie Melemed
Hail to the piano player
Eighth-grader makes fifth appearance at White House
BY PATRICIA ROY PROY@HOLDENLANDMARK.COM
MacKenzie Melemed has attended more White House Christmas parties than many presidents.For the fifth year he was invited to play piano at the White House annual Christmas open house, entertaining guests with a selection of traditional holiday songs. This would be an achievement for anyone, but is all the more remarkable because MacKenzie is only in eighth grade.
He made the now-familiar trip to the capital last weekend with family members, but sounds like the kid he is when he talks about the White House decorations.
"Everywhere you look, it's decorated. Every room has a theme and there are trees and lights everywhere. It's beautiful," he said.
He and his guests get an insider's tour of the White House, a more extensive one than is allowed to the public. Last year, he even ran into the Scottie and Miss Beasley, the Bush family dogs.
MacKenzie was the only soloist at the White House this year and he speaks matter-of-factly about his preparation and performance. He wears a suit to the event and plays on a Baldwin upright piano in the grandly decorated foyer. The performance lasts about an hour and a half.
"I do my own arrangements of the music. I change it from year to year, do it in different keys so it's not always the same," he said.
Mackenzie has been playing the piano since he was 4 years old, his mother, Sue Belsito said, and started focusing on classical music when he was 10.
It's no surprise that White House invitations are forthcoming when Mackenzie has already played Carnegie Hall twice and has been featured on the PBS show "From the Top," a program where only 1 percent of those who audition are chosen.
Last summer he participated in a program called Pianosummer, made up of 35 students from "all over the world," Belsito said. MacKenzie was chosen for that program through an audition on CD.
Currently, MacKenzie attends Bancroft School, but until this year was in the Paxton Center School and really enjoyed himself there, his mother said.
"They were wonderful about his schedule, whenever he needed time off, it was fine," she said.
He'll be playing at the PCS eighth-grade graduation and has helped establish a scholarship for aspiring musicians in memory of Jeffrey DeFrino, the son of the Paxton Center School Anthony DeFrino. He has also performed at a very successful fundraiser for the Webber family at Anna Maria College and has raised money for Home for Heat, as well as performing at Mechanics Hall in Worcester.
The young musician takes none of this for granted, especially the White House performances.
"It's an honor to be there," he said.
