Despite playing “The Star Spangled Banner” a hundred times at Lafayette High School, Class of 2019 alum Noah Korenfeld has never played it on national television.

At least until last February, when Korenfeld, along with the Boston Pops Orchestra and opera singer Isabel Leonard, performed the United States national anthem at the 4 Nations Face-Off hockey championship between the U.S. and Canada.

“In terms of the music itself, that’s something I’ve done many times, but experiencing something on a stage like that was really awesome,” Korenfeld said.

Before he was a professional musician, Korenfeld began his career in sixth grade at Rockwood Valley Middle School where he played trombone and met Lafayette band director Brad Balog.

“I’ve known Noah since he was 11 or 12 years old. He was an incredibly hardworking, incredibly kind person, and he was always willing to lend a hand to anybody who needed it,” Balog said.

In eighth grade, Korenfeld’s parents asked Balog to recommend their son a private music tutor.

“My parents were like, ‘I think Noah needs lessons because he’s not very good.’ That’s probably not what they said, but I was really bad,” Korenfeld said.

Despite taking lessons, Korenfeld was not a good trombone player and he also had little interest in continuing band.

“I told myself my freshman year of high school I need to get my fine arts credit done and then I’m going to leave band,” Korenfeld said.

But he, in fact, did not leave band; instead, he became more involved in the music program at Lafayette. By senior year, Korenfeld was in the marching band, the jazz band, two concert bands, an AP music theory class and a guitar class. He also picked up the french horn as his second brass instrument. 

“I felt so confident in the education that the school would give me that I basically made my whole life based around music at Lafayette, and so I did every single thing I could,” Korenfeld said.

Korenfeld received all-state honors for his trombone playing along with multiple other players at Lafayette

“I think three or four of the trombonists at Lafayette were all-state, which is pretty crazy,” Korenfeld said. “We were all competitive at a state level, and what produces that is not just great education, it’s being around other people who push you, so I felt super immersed in people who cared at Lafayette.”

By his senior year at Lafayette, Korenfeld knew he wanted to pursue a career in music. After playing in all-state bands and orchestras, Korenfeld had opportunities to go to music school. 

“Anybody that needs to establish a career in music has to be ready to work their tail off.

To be honest, it’s not a lot different from professional sports,” Balog said. “He had support here [at Lafayette] of us encouraging and helping him build his weak spots and encourage his growth and celebrate his successes.”

After applying to multiple music schools across the country, Korenfeld was accepted to the highly selective New England Conservatory of Music in May of his senior year. Then, he moved to Boston where his freshman year of college was cut short by COVID-19.

After taking a gap year to wait out the pandemic, Korenfeld completed his four years at the conservatory.

“I was surrounded constantly by greatness. Water seeks its level, and when you’re around greatness, it elevates you both in terms of what your standards are, but also being around greatness pushes you to greatness,” Korenfeld said.

Out of college, Korenfeld was given an opportunity to play with the local Boston Pops Orchestra.

“They thought I was good enough to give me a shot to play with the Boston Pops, and I guess I made them happy enough with how I played that they have continuously called me back,” Korenfeld said.

The 4 Nations Face-Off final was not the only sporting event he played at with the Pops; Korenfeld also played the national anthem last September at the New England Patriots vs. Pittsburgh Steelers football game.

“Both of those experiences were amazing. I got a call the day before for both. The guy who hires people for the Boston Symphony, he called me, he said, ‘Hey Noah, what are you doing tomorrow night?’ I said, ‘I don’t know, what am I doing?’” Korenfeld said. 

After performing at the U.S. vs. Canada game, Korenfeld checked his cell phone.

“I’m used to playing in front of many people, but I’ve never in my life played or had a performance where afterwards, I look back at my phone, and I’ve got probably 50 texts from people I haven’t heard from in years asking, ‘were you just playing at the hockey game?’” Korenfeld said.

One of those texts was from Balog, who is a big hockey fan and was watching the game live from his house.

“I saw Noah standing there playing, and I was just ecstatic to see a former student on national TV at the biggest hockey game in who knows how long, so I immediately texted him, and I was like, ‘did I just see you on national television?’” Balog said.

According to Korenfeld, performing at the hockey game was the greatest gig he has ever done.

“Our job as teachers and everybody in this building is to give kids opportunities to succeed,” Balog said. “And so, to see that living, breathing in that moment, to know his dream has been to play professionally, and he got to play, that was special.”