St. Mary’s will be home of state youth orchestra

Outstanding students from Monmouth & Ocean counties combine talents

BY PATRICIA YOCZIS Correspondent

The New Jersey State Youth Orchestra (NJSYO) has a new home. The approximately 170- member orchestra will rehearse at St. Mary’s Church, Route 34, Colts Neck, starting with its 2008-09 season.

Christa Dalmazio, 14, of Middletown, plays viola with the New Jersey State Youth Orchestra chamber music players. Christa Dalmazio, 14, of Middletown, plays viola with the New Jersey State Youth Orchestra chamber music players. Previously, the orchestra rehearsed in three locations: the Trinity Episcopal Church, Red Bank, the Red Bank Charter School and the Lutheran Church, Holmdel. Space and conflicting schedules started the search for a new home.

“When St.Mary’s completed its expansion project a former parishioner, Ted Dalmazio, asked if there was room for the orchestra,” said Monty Matrisciani, the church’s pastoral chairman. “I asked the pastor, the Rev. Thomas Triggs, for his OK and he was highly in favor of the idea. That’s how the mutual arrangement came to be.”

In exchange for free rehearsal space, he said, the church will receive a free NJSYO benefit concert as well as the orchestra’s participation in services, such as at Easter and other events, including the benefit luncheon of the church’s Martha/Mary Guild at the Battleground County Club, Manalapan, on March 29.

Frances Lin, 18, of Holmdel, plays flute with the orchestra. Frances Lin, 18, of Holmdel, plays flute with the orchestra. Matrisciani said the orchestra has rehearsed at the church already but will do so permanently starting in September. Also, he said the orchestra performed a benefit concert in December 2007 that was attended by more than 400 people. Another concert is scheduled for this December, he said.

“The orchestra’s presence at St. Mary’s benefits our church, our community and the music students,” said Matrisciani, of Colts Neck. “It’s a win-win all around.”

Dalmazio, who requested the space at St. Mary’s, was a vice president of the NJSYO and now is its president-elect for the 2008-09 season. He succeeded the 2007-08 season president, Lyn Kasiske, of Jackson.

“The master musicians originally wrote music for church services and they were performed there,” said Dalmazio, of Middletown. “People were introduced to music through church music. The orchestra at St. Mary’s is a good fit.”

The NJSYO was established in 1997, he explained. It offers students in elementary school through high school, mostly from Monmouth and Ocean counties, a venue to explore and study music. It does this through its chamber music and learn to play programs, the senior youth and string orchestras and summer music camps.

“The orchestra fills a void in music instruction from middle school to high school,” Dalmazio said. “High schools in many areas do not have a lot of classical string instruction.”

Volunteers, mostly dedicated parents and family, form the backbone of funding for the orchestra, he said. Corporate sponsors, donations and grants aid its programs, as well as student tuition.

Dalmazio said scholarships are available for students, but all must audition. About three or four NJSYO students a year choose music as a career, he said.

His involvement in the NJSYO came through his two daughters, Christa, 14, and Trinity, 7. Christa’s viola and piano instructor, John Balme, of Middletown, told him about the orchestra.

“Christa is a principal viola player in the intermediate string orchestra and plays the harp and recorder as well,” said Dalmazio. “She wants to study at Yale University’s music program. Trinity is studying piano.”

He credits his wife for their daughters’ music ability.

“Sue has an ear for music,” he said. “She sings and plays the flute, too.”

Age and ability groups the students in three orchestras: the Preparatory String Orchestra (PSO), the Intermediate String Orchestra (ISO) and the Senior Youth Orchestra (SYO).

Roy D. Gussman, of Neptune, has been the SYO conductor for seven years. A former music teacher in the Wall Township schools for 30 years, he is currently the music director of the Monmouth Symphony, as well as the principal clarinet and assistant conductor of the Orchestra of St. Peter-by-the-Sea.

“The students are very serious about their music,” said Gussman, who received a master of arts degree in clarinet performance from the New England Conservatory of Music, Boston. “But I try to make it fun for them. There are never any discipline problems, only scheduling problems to fit in rehearsals and performances. They are the greatest kids.”

Gussman said close ties are formed among the approximately 75 SYO members and members keep in touch when they leave to pursue careers.

“As a long-range goal we are planning to have our alumni perform and support a gala concert at Carnegie Hall in New York,” he said.

Free NJSYO performances that are open to the public include the Freehold Township Senior Center, Jackson Mills Road, Freehold Township, on March 20 and the Great Auditorium, Ocean Grove, on June 1.

NJSYO is a nonprofit 501(C)3 organization and is a New Jersey registered charity. For further information click on www.njsyo.org or call (732) 866-0212.