RESILIENCE
WHEN: Saturday, March 5, 2022, 7:30 PM 9:30 PM; March 6th at 3:00 p.m.
WHERE: Morristown Methodist Church, 50 South Park Place, Morristown
(map)
Tickets are on sale now at: http://www.harmonium.org/tickets
Harmonium Choral Society’s live concert RESILIENCE will celebrate the resilience of singers, composers, and young people in the time of COVID.
The acclaimed choral group will perform diverse music from Heinrich Schütz to Lili Boulanger, and from Adolphus Hailstork to Alice Parker, all celebrating adaptability and hope. The concert will include the winning compositions of the 2021 High School Choral Composition Contest, finally being performed live.
Our 2021 Grand Prize-winning piece, Alchemy, was composed by Asher Shectman. Asher (also 2020’s Runner-Up) is a senior at Cranford High School. He is a self-taught pianist, bassist, guitarist, drummer, arranger, and composer. He plays percussion in his school’s concert and marching bands, and also participates in the concert choir, madrigal choir, jazz band, musicals, and a cappella group. Recently, he has decided he will study composition at Berklee College of Music. Music is his source of joy, and he loves to share that joy with others in any way he can. Of Alchemy, Asher writes: “[The piece] is heavily inspired by the text of the same name. Its gentle rubato reflects the delicacy of a daisy, while the triumphant yet expressive harmony symbolizes overcoming grief and withstanding the rain. The text carries a much-needed sentiment for the state of the world today.”
Second Prize (tied) winner Katie Nieto, a senior in Kinnelon, is a performer and composer who specializes in musical theatre. She has been playing piano since she was six years old and singing for as long as she can remember. Katie has participated in county, region, and statewide ensembles (including the New Jersey All-State Treble Choir) since she was in 6th grade and has ranked in the top five as a Soprano 1 on multiple occasions. She has also performed in various productions in Off-Broadway theatres in NYC, as well as Paper Mill Playhouse’s New Voices Conservatory since 2019. As a music director and arranger, Katie has worked with the Breaking Barriers Theater Company on their production of Spring Awakening and various cabarets. As a composer, she just finished writing the book, lyrics, and score for her first original musical. She would like to thank Harmonium for this incredible opportunity.
Second Prize (tied) winner Lux Onigman is a senior at Morristown High School. Lux loves making music and sings in several choirs including New Jersey Youth Chorus, HaZamir International Jewish Teen Choir, and Harmonium itself! They participated in a virtual Young Women Composers Camp over the summer and the solo voice piece they wrote for that program was purchased by the National Youth Rights Association to display on their website. In addition to music, they enjoy fencing, learning new (and dead) languages, writing poetry, reading, and bike riding.
Third Prize winner Barron Brothers is a senior at Hopewell Valley High School. He is a member of his school’s concert and jazz bands, and the Princeton Boychoir. Barron started composing when he was ten and taught himself basic music theory. Says Barron: “In high school, I not only further developed my style with more advanced music theory and ventured into the 20th-century realm, but also realized that every piece I composed must have a purpose ― I could copy Bach, Mozart, or Shostakovich, but for what? So, I compose with purpose, making every one of my pieces more meaningful to change people and the world.”
Honorable Mention goes to Henry Marinovic, a senior at Madison High School. He began playing piano at age four and studied with Paul Zeigler. He sings bass in his school chorus, plays keyboards with the Madison Marching Dodgers, plays piano in Madison High School’s jazz band, sings with Grace Church’s teen male a cappella group The Gargoyles, and has played piano, mallets, and violin in other ensembles. From a very young age, Henry has been fascinated with theory, composition, and improvisation, and has composed many pieces for piano and strings, including several piano works that received accolades in the Eric Steiner Composition Contest conducted by NJMEA. In 2016, he performed his piano composition, Misty Day Prelude, at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall. Henry received an Honorable Mention in 2018 and was tied for First Place in the 2019 Harmonium Composition Contest.
All singers are vaccinated and will perform masked and socially distanced to ensure safety for all concert goers. The audience must also present proof of vaccination and ID to be admitted and must wear masks during the concert. The venue is large and allows for social distancing for the audience. Please be sure to check our website for updated requirements. Program notes are now available on the website as well.
Harmonium is committed to making its concerts accessible and safe for all concertgoers; accessibility information is available on the website. Requests for assistance or large print programs can be submitted to manager@harmonium.org or by calling 973-538-6969.
Funding has been made possible in part by Morris Arts through the New Jersey State Council on the Arts/Department of State, a Partner Agency of the National Endowment for the Arts.
MORE ABOUT HARMONIUM CHORAL SOCIETY
Harmonium Choral Society, based in Morris County, is one of New Jersey's leading choral arts organizations. The 100-voice choral society has been recognized for its musical excellence and innovative programming, and has commissioned and premiered works by Amanda Harberg, Matthew Harris, Elliot Z. Levine, Sarah Rimkus, and Harmonium's composers-in-residence Mark Miller and Martin Sedek, among others.
Directed by Dr. Anne J. Matlack of Madison, Harmonium’s season consists of four subscription concerts, as well as numerous special events and partnerships. Harmonium, known for its eclectic programming, choral excellence, and community spirit, sponsors commissions and musicianship workshops, as well as an outreach chorus that performs in schools, nursing homes, and other venues. Harmonium has toured internationally to England and Wales, Eastern Europe, Northern Italy, Spain and Portugal, Greece and Turkey, and most recently the Baltics in the summer of 2016. A tour of the Balkans is planned for the summer of 2022.
Third Prize winner Barron Brothers is a senior at Hopewell Valley High School. He is a member of his school’s concert and jazz bands, and the Princeton Boychoir. Barron started composing when he was ten and taught himself basic music theory. Says Barron: “In high school, I not only further developed my style with more advanced music theory and ventured into the 20th-century realm, but also realized that every piece I composed must have a purpose ― I could copy Bach, Mozart, or Shostakovich, but for what? So, I compose with purpose, making every one of my pieces more meaningful to change people and the world.”
Honorable Mention goes to Henry Marinovic, a senior at Madison High School. He began playing piano at age four and studied with Paul Zeigler. He sings bass in his school chorus, plays keyboards with the Madison Marching Dodgers, plays piano in Madison High School’s jazz band, sings with Grace Church’s teen male a cappella group The Gargoyles, and has played piano, mallets, and violin in other ensembles. From a very young age, Henry has been fascinated with theory, composition, and improvisation, and has composed many pieces for piano and strings, including several piano works that received accolades in the Eric Steiner Composition Contest conducted by NJMEA. In 2016, he performed his piano composition, Misty Day Prelude, at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall. Henry received an Honorable Mention in 2018 and was tied for First Place in the 2019 Harmonium Composition Contest.
All singers are vaccinated and will perform masked and socially distanced to ensure safety for all concert goers. The audience must also present proof of vaccination and ID to be admitted and must wear masks during the concert. The venue is large and allows for social distancing for the audience. Please be sure to check our website for updated requirements. Program notes are now available on the website as well.
Harmonium is committed to making its concerts accessible and safe for all concertgoers; accessibility information is available on the website. Requests for assistance or large print programs can be submitted to manager@harmonium.org or by calling 973-538-6969.
Funding has been made possible in part by Morris Arts through the New Jersey State Council on the Arts/Department of State, a Partner Agency of the National Endowment for the Arts.
MORE ABOUT HARMONIUM CHORAL SOCIETY
Harmonium Choral Society, based in Morris County, is one of New Jersey's leading choral arts organizations. The 100-voice choral society has been recognized for its musical excellence and innovative programming, and has commissioned and premiered works by Amanda Harberg, Matthew Harris, Elliot Z. Levine, Sarah Rimkus, and Harmonium's composers-in-residence Mark Miller and Martin Sedek, among others.
Directed by Dr. Anne J. Matlack of Madison, Harmonium’s season consists of four subscription concerts, as well as numerous special events and partnerships. Harmonium, known for its eclectic programming, choral excellence, and community spirit, sponsors commissions and musicianship workshops, as well as an outreach chorus that performs in schools, nursing homes, and other venues. Harmonium has toured internationally to England and Wales, Eastern Europe, Northern Italy, Spain and Portugal, Greece and Turkey, and most recently the Baltics in the summer of 2016. A tour of the Balkans is planned for the summer of 2022.
