(PLAINFIELD, NJ) -- Plainfield Symphony Orchestra has announced its launch of a new concert initiative, “Plainfield Symphony Presents.” The series will feature all types of music in various venues. The series launches on Sunday, February 23, 2020 with Schubert’s Cello Quintet at Plainfield’s historic Quaker Meeting House, 225 Watchung Avenue, Plainfield, NJ. An afternoon tea will be held immediately following the concert in the newly completed Community Wing of the Meeting House.

“Plainfield Symphony Presents gives us the opportunity to offer a variety of musical performances in varying venues,” said Rebecca Perkins, president of the Plainfield Symphony Orchestra. “This concert will feature four PSO musicians with the addition of a guest performer.  We’re also thrilled to perform in the Quaker Meeting House, an historic Plainfield venue over 200 years old.  It ties in nicely with PSO’s own centennial celebration.”

The performance of Schubert’s Cello Quintet will feature Evelyn Estava, PSO concertmaster, and Rebecca Harris-Lee on the violin; Michael Avagliano, PSO’s principal second violin, and Jameson Platt, PSO’s principal cellist.  They will be joined by Alan Harris, distinguished professor of cello at the Eastman School of Music.  

Immediately following the performance, afternoon tea (included in the admission cost) will be served in the Meeting House’s newly completed Community Wing.  “The afternoon tea gives us a wonderful combination of a longstanding PSO tradition and the new addition to the Meeting House. The blend of old and new is what makes Plainfield, and PSO, so vibrant.”

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.