The College of Staten Island hosts a ribbon-cutting ceremony for its new Electronic Music Lab on Tuesday, November 25 at 5 p.m. in the Willowbrook college’s Center for the Arts (1P) room 124.

The event features Miss Staten Island 2002, Ryan Kelly (who is also Miss Gotham 2003), performing in front of an original electronic arrangement of Duke Ellington’s “I’m just a lucky so and so” programmed by Victor Magnani, the technician who set up the lab.

The lab is currently in use by its first class, and students have 4 projects due by semester end.

Ryan Kelly“It’s a lot of fun and a lot of work” said Kelly, “we’re learning how to mix tracks and create original compositions, and I don’t know any other place that can give five-day-a-week access to such a high quality lab.”

Representing the culmination of years of planning and an investment of approximately $50,000, the creation of Electronic Music Lab signals the start of a new era in the history of CSI’s Music Program. The students’ musical education will be enriched by the hands-on training in the use of the latest audio technology, and will prepare them for a wide variety of careers in the field of music.

The lab consists of eight top of the line MIDI PC workstations, offering students the latest software and hardware in support of audio production, music theory, ear training, and electronic music composition.