Poway teen to play in Macy’s parade

When Thanksgiving Day arrives this year, Poway resident Sofia Rosati will be marching in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York with about 200 band members from around the country.

“We watch the Thanksgiving Day parade every year,” said Sofia, a 15-year-old sophomore at Poway High School. “I wanted to do it because it looked like fun, so I looked it up online and auditioned.”

Sofia played a selection of music on her clarinet for several minutes then posted it on Youtube with an application for the judges to critique. After applying in January, she was notified by email in May that she was chosen to perform in the Macy’s Great American Marching Band during the Thanksgiving Day Parade on Thursday.

“I was really excited,” Sofia said. “We’ll go sightseeing, we’re going to see a Broadway show, there’s a leadership seminar and other things to do between rehearsals.”

Although this is the first time Sofia will perform in the parade, she expects she will join the other band members in playing upbeat music. The plan is to perform “Cheeseburger in Paradise” near the New York Macy’s store in Herald Square as a tribute to Jimmy Buffett and to march while playing Neil Diamond’s “Sweet Caroline,” she said.

Sofia was scheduled to arrive in New Jersey on Saturday and plans to rehearse with them throughout the week leading up to Thanksgiving Day. Then on the day of the event she’ll wake up at 2 a.m. with the other band members to get in last-minute practice for a couple of hours before going to breakfast.

“We’ll line up for our spot in the parade after that,” she said.

Her mom, Audra Rosati, said her family was confident Sofia would be selected the first time she tried out.

“I had hoped she would get it, but I’m not surprised she did,” Rosati said. “We think she’s amazing.

“It’s an amazing opportunity for her,” she added. “It’s something she took the initiative to find out about so we’re extremely proud of her.”

After the event, Rosati and her husband, Joe, along with their son, Joseph, 12, will join Sofia at a Thanksgiving night dinner dance where awards will be handed out. Other family members who will join the festivities are Sofia’s grandmother and aunt who live on the East Coast.

Rosati said the parade will be good practice toward Sofia’s ultimate goal of playing music in an orchestra pit on Broadway.

“We’re here to support her to do whatever she needs to do to get there,” she said.

Sofia began learning to play music when she was in the fifth grade. When she had her choice of instruments to play, she said she selected the clarinet because it seemed like it would be fun and easy to learn. Because orchestra pit musicians generally play two instruments, Sofia recently began branching out, learning to play the saxophone and flute, too.

During her weekly onehour music lessons, Sofia said she tries to balance all three instruments.

She has been a member of the Poway High Marching Band, where she plays the clarinet, since her freshman year.

“I saw the shows before I went to high school,” Sofia said of her interest in joining the marching band. “It looked really cool and I wanted to take the class. It can be hard sometimes, but it’s easy once you memorize the music.”

Sofia said it was difficult to memorize music her first year in the school band but this year it is easier.

“It also depends on the music,” she said. “Usually it’s pretty easy to memorize because you play it so many times over and over again.”

In March this year, Sofia had the chance to network with Broadway orchestra pit musicians when her family took a Broadway-themed cruise from New York City to Bermuda. While the family vacationed, they were able to meet Broadway performers and musicians and attend panel discussions about Broadway experiences.

“It was so much fun, especially because Sofia is so interested in it,” Audra Rosati said. “It was really great for her. It’s nice that she has a passion and wants to work towards it.”

Now the family is experiencing their next big adventure in New York City.

“Sofia really works really hard,” her mom said. “We’re excited that it’s paying off with opportunities. We’re super excited to be there and see her, we can’t wait.”

Sofia Rosati

In 2004, in one of the worst brawls in U.S. sports history, Ron Artest (now known as Metta Sandiford-artest) and Stephen Jackson of the Indiana Pacers charged into the stands and fought with Detroit Pistons fans, forcing officials to end the Pacers’ 97-82 win with 45.9 seconds left.

In 2012, President Barack Obama became the first U.S. chief executive to visit Myanmar, where he promised more American help if the Asian nation kept building its new democracy.

In 2013, the Disney animated feature “Frozen” had its Hollywood premiere.

In 2017, Charles Manson, the hippie cult leader behind the gruesome murders of actor Sharon Tate and six others in Los Angeles in 1969, died in a Bakersfield hospital at age 83 after nearly a half-century in prison.

In 2020, with the coronavirus surging out of control, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention pleaded with Americans not to travel for Thanksgiving and not to spend the holiday with people from outside their household.

In 2021, Kyle Rittenhouse was acquitted of all charges in the shooting deaths of two men and the wounding of a third during a night of protests over the shooting of a Black man, Jacob Blake, by a White police officer in Kenosha, Wis., in the summer of 2020.

Today’s birthdays

Talk show host Dick Cavett is 87. Broadcasting mogul Ted Turner is 85. Fashion designer Calvin Klein is 81. Sportscaster Ahmad Rashad is 74. Actor Kathleen Quinlan is 69. Actor Glynnis O’connor is 68. Journalist Ann Curry is 67. Former NASA astronaut Eileen Collins is 67. Actor Allison Janney is 64. Musician Matt Sorum (Guns N’ Roses) is 63. Actor Meg Ryan is 62. Actor Jodie Foster is 61. TV chef Rocco Dispirito is 57. Actor Jason Scott Lee is 57. Olympic gold medal runner Gail Devers is 57. Actor Erika Alexander is 54. Dancer Savion Glover is 50. Olympic gold medal gymnast Kerri Strug is 46. Director Barry Jenkins is 44. Actor Adam Driver is 40. Rapper Tyga is 34.