(NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ) -- The New Jersey Youth Symphony (NJYS) will perform an inaugural concert at the State Theatre New Jersey on Sunday, April 7. The concert features performances by NJYS Youth Symphony, Fortissimo Flutes, Clarinet Ensemble, and Concertino Winds as well as the 2019 NJYS Concerto Competition winner, violinist Kingston Ho performing Sibelius Violin Concerto in D minor, Opus 47.
In addition to works by J.S. Bach, Debussy, Hindemith and more, audiences will experience Hold Fast to Dreams by Dana Wilson, a piece commissioned three years ago by a consortium of 18 youth, high school, and college orchestras around the country organized by former NJYS Artistic Director, Jeffrey Grogan. The title of the work is the first line of both verses of the poem Dreams by Langston Hughes.The concert will take place at 3:00 p.m.
Says Helen Cha-Pyo, Artistic Director and Conductor, “I am very excited to have our NJYS musicians on the stage of the esteemed State Theatre New Jersey. To my knowledge, NJYS has not performed in this hall in our forty-year history and I am proud to present this program featuring Youth Symphony and Kingston Ho playing the Sibelius Violin Concerto. This is an extremely difficulty concerto, rarely played by a high school violinist, but Kingston is an exceptional talent and you won’t want to miss his performance.Our concert will conclude with Hindemith’s Symphonic Metamorphosis, which is his most lively and entertaining piece in my opinion.”
Tickets are $20 for adults and $15 for students and seniors, available online at www.stnj.org or by calling 908-771-5544. The State Theatre is located at 15 Livingston Avenue in New Brunswick, New Jersey.
In addition to the State Theatre New Jersey, NJYS ensembles will grace stages this season including Princeton University’s Richardson Auditorium, Montclair State University, Union County Performing Arts Center, Chatham United Methodist Church, Dolan Hall at the College of St. Elizabeth, Drew University, and the New Jersey Performing Arts Center.
A senior at the Academy for Allied Health Sciences in Scotch Plains, Kingston Ho studies violin with New York Philharmonic’s Duoming Ba and has served as concertmaster for the NJYS Youth Symphony for two years. He is a member of the NJYS String Quartet, a flagship chamber ensemble representing the best of NJYS, chosen by Cha-Pyo and coached by esteemed members of the Emerson String Quartet, Shanghai Quartet, and Harlem Quartet, among others.
Last summer marked Ho’s second year as a member of Carnegie Hall’s National Youth Orchestra of the United States of America (NYO-USA). Working with conductor Michael Tilson Thomas and soloist Jean-Yves Thibaudet, piano, the ensemble performed at Carnegie Hall and venues in Asia including Beijing, Shanghai, Taipei, Seoul, and Daejeon. In 2017, he performed with the orchestra at Carnegie Hall and toured Mexico, Ecuador, and Colombia under the baton of Marin Alsop. He was selected to be the concertmaster of the inaugural NYO2 orchestra and will tour Europe with NYO-USA this summer. He was a semifinalist at the 2018 Johansen International Competition for Young String Players and held the position of concertmaster of the New Jersey All-State Orchestra from 2014-2016. As a soloist, Ho has appeared at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall, the New Jersey Performing Arts Center, and the Rose Theater at Lincoln Center. From 2015-2017, Ho was the concertmaster of the InterSchool Orchestras of New York, a full scholarship youth orchestra.
Helen H. Cha-Pyo is in her first season as the Artistic Director of the Wharton Institute for the Performing Arts and Conductor of the New Jersey Youth Symphony. She is also serving currently as the Visiting Associate Professor of Orchestral Studies and Conductor of Montclair State University Symphony Orchestra at John J. Cali School of Music (NJ).
For 16 years as Music Director and Conductor of the Empire State Youth Orchestra, Cha-Pyo has inspired hundreds of young musicians to perform at the highest levels, resulting in Empire State Youth Orchestras being recognized as one of the nation’s premier music organizations for youth. Ms. Cha-Pyo’s creative programming has resulted in 3 prestigious ASCAP awards and a $100,000 grant to partially fund a music festival that commissioned nine works, one for each ESYO ensemble. She has conducted the orchestra in outstanding concert halls including Troy Savings Bank Music Hall, Zankel Hall, EMPAC, Tanglewood’s Ozawa Hall, and Carnegie Hall. She has led the orchestra on three international tours: to Europe in 2008, China and South Korea in 2012, and Portugal in 2016. Cha-Pyo’s vision was instrumental in the founding of ESYO CHIME in 2015, a music education program dedicated to serving underprivileged youth in Schenectady and Troy, NY. ESYO has established the Helen Cha-Pyo Golden Baton Award and Scholarship for students who embody Cha-Pyo’s passionate commitment to music as a means to uplift and enrich the community.
From 1996 to 2002, Cha-Pyo served as Artistic Director and Conductor of the Riverside Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir and Associate Director of Music at The Riverside Church in New York City. She has released 3 recordings with the Riverside Choir (JAV Recordings). A committed music educator, she pioneered the Riverside Music Educational Program, which served thousands of New York City public school children in Districts 4, 5 & 6.
Born in Seoul, Cha-Pyo immigrated to the US when she was 12. She studied piano and organ in the Pre-College Program at The Juilliard School. She holds a Bachelor of Music degree in Organ Performance from Oberlin Conservatory and a Master of Music degree in Conducting and Organ Performance from the Eastman School of Music. She served as assistant conductor to Eastman Philharmonia and the Britt Festival Orchestra (OR). She has also won conducting fellowships at Aspen Festival and Yale School of Music. Her conducting mentors include David Effron, Peter Bay, Murry Sidlin, Lawrence Leighton Smith, Benjamin Zander and Kurt Mazur. She is a frequent guest conductor and clinician for All State and Regional Festival Orchestras throughout the country and is a conductor at Kinhaven School (VT) in the summer. This season, she will appear as guest conductor and clinician for the Nebraska All-State Festival Orchestra, ASTA National Orchestra Festival, Newport Youth Orchestra Festival (OR) and NJ ASTA String Orchestra Festival.
“At NJYS, we strive to provide musical experiences that embrace more than just excellence in music,” says Cha-Pyo. “We believe music is a powerful agent that transforms individuals, communities, and the world, and through our partnerships with local social service organizations we aim to use music as a tool to connect with the communities we live and serve.”
In celebration of the New Jersey Youth Symphony’s 40th Anniversary, the youth organization is partnering with social services in the communities where NJYS will perform throughout the season. For the April 7 concert, NJYS will partner with Elijah’s Promise of New Brunswick and take in-kind donations of paper products (plates, bowls, cups and napkins), cleaning supplies, and grocery store gift cards.
The Wharton Institute for the Performing Arts’ mission is to provide the highest quality performing arts education to a wide range of students in a supportive and inclusive environment, where striving for personal excellence inspires and connects those we teach to the communities we serve.
Wharton is New Jersey’s largest independent non-profit community performing arts education center serving over 1,500 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. Beginning with Out of the Box Music and Pathways classes for young children, Wharton offers private lessons, group classes, and ensembles for all ages and all abilities at the Performing Arts School. With the belief in the positive and unifying influence of music and the performing arts and that arts education should be accessible to all people regardless of their ability to pay, Wharton teaches all instruments and voice and has a robust musical theater program. Based in Paterson, New Jersey, the Paterson Music Project is an El Sistema-inspired program of the Wharton Institute for the Performing Arts that uses music as a vehicle for social change by empowering and inspiring children through the community experience of ensemble learning and playing.
Wharton Institute for the Performing Arts 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 our students to achieve their personal best.
or region of New Jersey
click here for our advanced search.
