Youth arts festival raises funds for orchestra, chorale

BY PATRICIA YOCZIS Correspondent

Folk songs, opera, classical symphonic music and chorale singing will be performed at the Youth Arts Festival 2009 presented jointly by the New Jersey State Youth Orchestra (NJSYO) and the Concordia Youth Choral (CYC) at St. Mary’s Church, Phalanx Road and Route 34,, Colts Neck, on March 29.

The fundraising festival for both organizations will showcase the musical and singing talents of more than 250 students from kindergarten through high school in a 4 p.m. afternoon performance and in a 7:30 p.m. evening performance.

Ted Dalmazio, the president of the NJSYO that is based at St. Mary’s, said the two performances offer two different programs.

“In the afternoon, our younger students from both organizations will perform,” he said. “The next day is Monday, a school day, and we don’t want to keep them out too late.”

The afternoon program will include the NJSYO Preparatory String Orchestra playing selections from Isaac’s “Apollo Suite” and Mozart’s “Serenade and Dance.” The Concert Youth Orchestra’s selections will include the 4th movement of Brahms’ “Symphony No.1” and Saint-Saens’ “Bacchanale” from “Samson and Delilah.”

The Treble Makers, the CYC students from kindergarten through second grade, will sing French, English and Austrian folk songs for their afternoon performance. The Concordia Junior Chorale (Grades 3 through 6) will continue with Irish songs, some in Gaelic, and Italian songs of the sea, including “Santa Lucia.”

The Concordia Opera Lab (teenagers interested in the opera) will present selections from Gilbert and Sullivan’s “The Mikado,” Mozart’s “The Marriage of Figaro” and Bizet’s “Carmen.”

For the evening performance, the NJSYO Chamber Players will offer a selection from Mozart’s “Piano Concert in A Major” and later join with CYC’s intermediate and senior members for a rendition of Glick’s “Psalm Trilogy.”

NJSYO’s Senior Youth Orchestra will continue the evening’s presentation with the overture from Mozart’s “The Magic Flute” and later join the chorale members with selections that include Ayres’ “Cantate Domino.”

“The NJSYO has performed benefit and free concerts for a variety of organizations,” said Dalmazio, who credits his wife, Suzanne, and daughters, Christa and Trinity, for the musical talent in the family. “This joint concert is a major fundraiser for us and will provide about 5 to 10 percent of the NJSYO budget.”

While tuition, donations, grants and strong parent support forms the financial backbone for the NJSYO, he said the concert proceeds will help with operating costs, conductor and coaches fees, as well as purchasing instruments, subsidizing tuition costs and providing scholarships.

“Our mission is to offer students a venue to explore and study music. We give scholarships to students who go on to study for a music degree in college,” said Dalmazio. “About three or four students a year choose music as a career.”

According to John Balme, who directs the Concordia Youth Chorale (CYC) with his wife, Cynthia Springsteen, a leading opera singer, the March 29 concert proceeds will go directly into the organization’s touring fund.

“We are a self-supporting organization that is a touring chorale,” he said. “Our motto is ‘Singing great music in great places’ and we try to have all our members go on tour.”

The CYC was established eight years ago and has certainly proved its motto by singing in Carnegie Hall and St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City, as well as throughout Europe, including Canterbury Cathedral in England and St. Mark’s Church in Venice and St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome, Italy.

In May, the chorale will makes it debut appearance with the Monmouth Symphony Orchestra at the Count Basie Theater in Red Bank and it is set to perform at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., in 2010.

“Teaming with the NJSYO is a good fit for the CYC,” said Balme, who was the general director of the Boston Lyric Opera and served on the faculty of the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston. “It is a match made in heaven. I hope this concert is an enjoyable experience for the performers as well as for the audience.”

The NJSYO and the CYC, which is based is Middletown, are New Jersey registered nonprofit 501(c)3 charities.

Tickets for the 4 p.m. March 29 performance are $10, and $8 for children 12 and under and people age 65 and older. For the 7:30 p.m. performance, tickets are $15, and $10 for children and seniors.

For more information about the concert or tickets that will be available at the door if space permits, call 732-495-7993 or click on www.concordiayouthchorale.org.