Warm up your winter with a celebration of music and community
Date: Saturday, January 26, 2019
Time: 3:00 PM
Location: Crescent Avenue Presbyterian Church, 716 Watchung Avenue, Plainfield, NJ
Admission is free: no reservations or tickets required. Walk-in admission only.
For information: 908-561-5140 / www.plainfieldsymphony.org
PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS:
Saxophonist Dr. Paul Cohen, soloist on a South American work
David Rimelis, NJPAC teaching artist, with music to educate and delight children
Two 2018 Young Pianist Competition of New Jersey prize winners
Plainfield, NJ – As part of its mission to provide educational opportunities through youth and family-oriented concerts, the Plainfield Symphony Orchestra will present its annual free family concert on Saturday, January 26, 2019 at 3:00 pm at Crescent Avenue Presbyterian Church in Plainfield, NJ. Under the baton of Maestro Charles Prince, the program will feature two noted soloists and two 2018 Young Pianist Competition of New Jersey Prize winners.
“As New Jersey’s oldest community symphony, we have brought music education to the Plainfield area for 99 seasons,” said Peter Lomonaco, PSO President. “Both children and adults will enjoy and learn from this season’s free family concert.”
In a return PSO performance, Dr. Paul Cohen, one of America’s most sought-after saxophonists for orchestral and chamber concerts and solo recitals, will be the featured soloist on Fantasia for saxophone, three horns, and strings, W. 490 by Villa-Lobos. This brief work in three movements was written in 1948 by Heitor Villa-Lobos, a Brazilian composer who has been called the best-known South American composer of all time.
David Rimelis, artist-in-residence for the New Jersey State Council on The Arts and teaching artist for the New Jersey Performing Arts Center, also returns to PSO with three of his informative and entertaining pieces for young audiences: Symphony Street, Melody-Harmony-Rhythm, and Jazz is Just a Child of the Blues.
The program will begin with performances by two 2018 Young Pianist Competition of New Jersey Prize winners. Pianist Sarah Ouyang will perform the third movement, Rondo Allegro Scherzando, of Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 1 in C Major, Op.15. and 13- year-old pianist Jeffrey will present the first movement of Shostakovich’s Concerto in C minor for Piano, Trumpet, and String Orchestra, Op. 35. Ms. Ouyang has participated in and won numerous prestigious piano competitions and appeared in major venues throughout the metropolitan area as well as in Italy, and Mr. Xu has won numerous competitions, most recently the Gold Prize in both the Young Artist and Concerto divisions of the Young Pianists of Central New Jersey competition.
As New Jersey’s oldest community symphony and the third oldest continuously operating community symphony in the United States, the Plainfield Symphony Orchestra represents the highest standard in musical excellence in programs designed to educate and uplift local audiences. Funding has been made possible in part by the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, Department of State, a partner agency of the National Endowment for the Arts, through a grant administered by the Union County Office of Cultural and Heritage Affairs. Additional funding has been received from a 2018 HEART (History, Education, Arts Reaching Thousands) Grant from the Union County Board of Chosen Freeholders.