Teen Idol winner Tatiana Andino-Mendez sang her way to the top

In recent weeks, local teens have serenaded the Glen Cove community with their vocal skills as part of a contest for Downtown Sounds Teen Idol contest. The contest wrapped up its second year, naming Tatiana Andino-Mendez as the winner, who only auditioned for the contest after some encouragement from her friends and choir teacher Ed Norris.
But Andino-Mendez came close to not competing at all.
Last April, Andino-Mendez came home feeling tired after visiting her doctor’s office at the Glen Cove Hospital. She had just been diagnosed with diabetes, and wanted to unwind from her long stressful day, but she knew she had one night left to submit her video audition for the Downtown Sounds Teen Idol contest. She made two separate recordings for her audition, and after reviewing her audio, she submitted herself singing “The World Caves In,” by Matt Maltese.
“The message is so heartbreaking but so real, but not in a sense that it’s so tragic,” Andino-Mendez said. “Nobody thinks about the end of the world, and I just gravitated towards it because of the lyrics; it’s just such a beautiful song.”
For more than 20 years, live music has been a staple of Friday nights in downtown Glen Cove. As part of the Glen Cove Business Improvement District’s plan to revitalize the city’s businesses, the Downtown Sounds initiative started in 1997 as a free concert series called Jazz in the Square, which was held every Friday in July, located at the intersection of Glen and School streets. The concerts traditionally showcase local musicians and businesses.

Throughout the years, the concert series has grown with the help of sponsors. To accommodate the various musical preferences of the community and to attract a greater audience, the musical series evolved into Downtown Sounds, which was first coined by former BID executive director Francine Koehler.
Patricia Holman, the former executive director of the Glen BID, decided to create the contest to support the silver anniversary of the concert series.
When she started the contest, the intention was twofold — to offer something for teens and engage the audience.
“The contest not only gave our talented teens a platform to perform but the entire community is invested and can’t wait to see what happens next,” Holman said.
The Teen Idol contest featured four contestants ages 13 to 18 from the Gold Coast area. Every Friday at 7 p.m. before the Downtown Sounds concert series, attendees were treated to four performances as each contestant took the stage to perform. A panel of judges decided who would move on to the next week, along with the judges, each week audience members were encouraged to help by voting for who they believed should be this year’s Teen Idol.
This year’s contestants competing against Andino-Mendez were Charlotte Dilgard-Clark, a 14-year-old from Glen Cove’s Robert M. Finley Middle School, Stasia Kulpa, a 16-year-old student at Our Lady of Mercy Academy, and Tammy Pattugalan, a 17-year-old from Our Lady of Mercy Academy.
Andino-Mendez has loved music since her childhood. She joined the children’s choir at St. Patrick’s church until her freshman year in the Glen Cove City School district, and fondly remembers the excitement she felt singing outside her church. As her talents blossomed, she became a first soprano just before graduating from the high school in June.
As the winner of the contest, Andino-Mendez received $1,500 and four hours of recording time at Tiki Recording Studios in the city’s downtown.
Andino-Mendez said she’s wanted to create a YouTube channel for some time but was too nervous about it. Now that she has time available to her in the recording studio, she’ll use that opportunity to springboard her channel.
Andino-Mendez said she’s taking a small break from academia after graduation but is excited to resume classes at Nassau Community College next year where she will study art and criminal justice.