WIPA OFFERS AUDITION WORKSHOPS – FREE

 “This has not been an easy season for our young musicians as they had to pivot to online lessons and rehearsals. These instrument-specific audition workshops will provide extra support to help them hone their basic skills and prepare for upcoming auditions.” Helen Cha-Pyo, Artistic Director & Principal Conductor.

 The Wharton Institute for the Performing Arts (WIPA) offers a series of Audition Workshops from February 21 through April 30, including “Do You Know Your Scales & Arpeggios?,” “Tips for Making a Great Audition Video,” and “New Jersey Youth Symphony Audition Preparation Excerpt Workshops.”

Instrumentalists entering grades 3-12 from anywhere in the world are invited to take advantage of this series of virtual workshops to hone skills and prepare for orchestral auditions. The Audition Workshop series is free and open to the public. To register to attend, visit WhartonArts.org. For New Jersey Youth Symphony 2021-22 season auditions, visit NJYS.org.

 Wharton Arts Workshops

Do You Know Your Scales & Arpeggios?

Audition Workshops: Mondays 7:00 – 8:15 p.m. EST

February 21: Flute: Kathleen Neste

This workshop meets from 4:00 – 5:15 p.m. EST on Sunday, February 21.

February 22: Winds & Brass: Oboe, Meredyth Coleman; Clarinet, David Sapadin; Bassoon, Sasha Energren; Horn, Amy Larkey-Emelianoff; Trumpet, Valdemar Castillo; Trombone, Nicole Abissi; Tuba, Derek M. Fenstermacher

March 1: Strings: Violin, James Keene; Viola, Elizabeth Nowik; Cello, Tomoko Fujita; Bass, Ha Young Jung

March 15: Jazz Musicians: Saxophones, David Schumacher; Trumpet, Nathan Eklund; Trombone, David Gibson; Guitar, Charlie Sigler; Piano, Shamie Royston; Bass, Chris Berger

If you have missed a workshop with Wharton Arts, you can catch up with another from NJYS.

 Tips For Making a Great Audition Video with Engineer Joe DeVico

 Monday, April 5 | 7:00 – 8:15 p.m. EST

New Jersey Youth Symphony (NJYS) Audition Preparation

Excerpt Workshops: Fridays 4:00 – 5:15 p.m. EST

April 16: Flute, Oboe, Clarinet, Bassoon, Horn, Trumpet, Trombone & Tuba: Flute, Bart Feller; Oboe, Andy Adelson; Clarinet, Andy Lamy; Bassoon, Mark Timmerman; Horn, Michelle Baker; Trumpet, Eric Berlin; Trombone, Vernon Post; Tuba, Derek M. Fenstermacher

April 23: Violin, Viola, Cello, Double Bass & Percussion: Violin, Brennan Sweet; Viola, Garrett Fischbach; Cello, John Spitz; Bass, Ha Young Jung; Percussion, Joe Tompkins

April 30: Jazz Audition Workshop: Saxophone, Julius Tolentino and Drums, Matt Slocum

About Wharton Arts (WIPA)

The Wharton Institute for the Performing Arts (WIPA) is New Jersey’s largest independent non-profit community performing arts education center serving over 1,200 students through a range of classes and ensembles including the 15 ensembles of the New Jersey Youth Symphony, which serve 500 students in grades 3 – 12 by audition.

WIPA is located in Berkeley Heights, New Providence and Paterson, NJ and reaches students from 10 counties. All of Wharton’s extraordinary faculty members and conductors hold degrees in their teaching specialty and have been vetted and trained to enable their students to achieve their personal best.

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NJSO PMP COLLABORATE 

 

NJSO and Paper Mill Playhouse kicked off a series of at-home collaborative performances in January 2021 with Broadway veteran Rema Webb and an NJSO string quintet performing Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “You’ll Never Walk Alone” from ‘Carousel.’ Watch the video: youtu.be/_YsUxZlqlD8

‘Out There’ was the next collaboration of the two Performing Arts institutions on Feb 9. Broadway actor Jacob Keith Watson and an NJSO string quartet performed an at-home performance of “Out There” from beloved song of Disney’s “The Hunchback Of Notre Dame” on February 9 at 7 pm. Watch the video: youtu.be/UsK2oiA_Hsk

The performance videos are available on demand on the NJSO’s YouTube and social media channels, as well as at njsymphony.org/papermill

Future performances in NJSO/Paper Mill Playhouse collaborative series will be released online through April 2021.

Additional collaborative videos will air on March 2 and April 13 at 7 pm.

The March 2 performance features “Tonight” from ‘West Side Story’ sung by Belinda Allyn and Matt Doyle, and the April 13 performance features “Being Alive” from ‘Company’ performed by Tally Sessions.

This four-part collaboration is part of NJSO Virtual 20–21, the Orchestra’s digital season. For more information, visit njsymphony.org/virtual

Paper Mill Playhouse (PMP)

Paper Mill Playhouse (PMP), recipient of the 2016 Regional Theatre Tony Award, is a nationally renowned not-for-profit theater under the direction of Mark S. Hoebee (Producing Artistic Director) and Michael Stotts (Managing Director). A beloved NJ arts institution since 1938, Paper Mill creates and produces groundbreaking new musicals and reimagined classics. Several productions have gone on to Broadway and launched national tours, including Disney’s “Newsies,” “Les Misérables,” “Honeymoon in Vegas,” “A Bronx Tale” and “Bandstand.”

The theater is also the home of an award-winning center for musical theater education and artist training, with outreach programs that impact thousands of students each year. As one of the nation’s premier musical theaters, Paper Mill fosters a creative environment to advance the art form, educate students, develop future theater lovers, nurture inclusion, and provide access for all.

New Jersey Symphony Orchestra (NJSO)

NJSO, named “a vital, artistically significant musical organization” by ‘The Wall Street Journal,’ embodies that vitality through its statewide presence and critically acclaimed performances, education partnerships and unparalleled access to music and the Orchestra’s superb musicians.

 

Music Director Xian Zhang—a “dynamic podium presence” ‘The New York Times’ has praised for her “technical abilities, musicianship and maturity”—continues her acclaimed leadership of the NJSO.

 

The Orchestra presents classical, pops and family programs, as well as outdoor summer concerts and special events. Embracing its legacy as a statewide orchestra, the NJSO is the resident orchestra of the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark and regularly performs at State Theatre New Jersey in New Brunswick, Count Basie Center for the Arts in Red Bank, Richardson Auditorium in Princeton, Mayo Performing Arts Center in Morristown and bergenPAC in Englewood. Partnerships with New Jersey arts organizations, universities and civic organizations remain a key element of the Orchestra’s statewide identity.

 

 

In addition to its lauded artistic programming, the NJSO presents a suite of education and community engagement programs that promote meaningful, lifelong engagement with live music. Programs include school-time Concerts for Young People and the NJSO Youth Orchestras family of student ensembles, led by José Luis Domínguez. NJSO musicians annually perform original chamber music programs at community events in a variety of settings statewide through the NJSO Community Partners program.

 

The Orchestra’s online hub for free NJSO Virtual 20–21 content is njsymphony.org/virtual.

 Connect with NJSO:

 

Website:   njsymphony.org

Facebook, Twitter and Instagram: @NJSymphony

YouTube:  @NewJerseySymphony

Email:       information@njsymphony.org

(Mabel Pais writes on The Arts and Entertainment, Social Issues, Spirituality, and Health & Wellness)