PRINCETON, NJ Stores and Shopping Guide Announcement

Princeton Symphony Orchestra Announces PSO BRAVO! Masterclass Offered in New Partnership with Westminster Conservatory

Henry Crocker of Montgomery High School

Princeton, NJ — The Princeton Symphony Orchestra (PSO) announces a new PSO BRAVO! masterclass partnership with Westminster Conservatory, the community music school of the Westminster College of the Arts of Rider University. The orchestra’s Saturday, January 23, 2-5 pm PSO BRAVO! Master It! class with PSO principal horn player Douglas Lundeen is the first of a series of masterclasses to be offered in partnership with the Conservatory. The masterclass is open to the general public, and will be held at the Westminster Choir College’s newly refurbished Robert L. Annis Playhouse. Attendees will observe four horn students from area schools as they are coached by Mr. Lundeen on polishing repertoire pieces for performance. The students are Elizabeth Ferrara of Thomas Grover Middle School; Matthew Li, of Crossroads Middle School South; Katrina Luo of West Windsor-Plainsboro High School South; and Henry Crocker of Montgomery High School.

“PSO masterclasses are opportunities for young musicians to receive guidance and insights from internationally renowned guest artists and orchestra members,” said PSO Executive Director Marc Uys. “Joining forces with the Westminster Conservatory will allow us to present these events - fascinating afternoons for participants and audience alike - more frequently. This will benefit the entire Princeton area.”

PSO BRAVO! Master It! horn coach Douglas Lundeen is equally at home as a soloist, chamber player, and orchestral musician on the modern horn. He is also well known as a performer on the valveless natural horn. Since winning First Prize in the Natural Horn Division of the 1987 American Horn Competition, he has gone on to play principal horn with leading period instrument orchestras in New York City, San Francisco, Chicago, Montréal, Boston, and Washington, D.C, and has recordings on the Sony, Koch, Titanic, Centaur, and Musical Heritage Society labels. Dr. Lundeen is principal horn of the Princeton Symphony Orchestra and is Associate Professor of Horn and Chair of Performance at the Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University. He received his doctorate of musical arts from Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (CCM), where he was a student of Lowell Greer.

The student musicians selected by their teachers to participate in the masterclass are:

Elizabeth Ferrara (11), 6th grade at Thomas Grover Middle School
Performance Piece: Koepke – La Chasse
Elizabeth has been playing horn since she was nine. She performs with her school’s sixth and seventh grade bands and the Grover Pops. In addition to the French horn, she plays the piano, sings, dances, and is involved in theater. EJ comes from a long line of musicians and may possibly be a fourth generation band director one day. She is currently a student of Shannon Ferrara.

Matthew Li (12), 7th grade at Crossroads Middle School South
Performance Piece: Ostransky – Two Outdoor Scenes
Matthew has been playing the French horn since the 4th grade and is currently a member of Wind Ensemble in his school. He played in the Music in the Parks Festival in Hershey Park last year. He was inspired to play music by his brother who was the drum major of the South Brunswick High School marching band. He is currently a student of Craig Levesque.

Katrina Luo (17), 12th grade at West Windsor-Plainsboro High School South
Performance Piece: Dukas – Villanelle
Katrina is a senior in her school’s Wind Ensemble. She has played in the Youth Orchestra of Central Jersey and the Bravura Youth Orchestra. This year will be her third year in the New Jersey Region II Orchestra. Although originally a pianist and a flutist, she is now settled on French horn. In the future, she hopes she can continue her musical activity in college while pursuing a career in engineering. She has studied with Shannon Ferrara for six years.

Henry Crocker (17), 12th grade at Montgomery High School
Performance Pieces: Schumann – Adagio (from Adagio and Allegro) and Françaix – Canon in Octave
Henry has been playing French horn for 7 years. He is a member of his high school’s Wind Ensemble, Chamber Orchestra, and Marching Band, and is Principal Horn in the Greater Princeton Youth Orchestra. He has also played in pit orchestras for school musical productions and in the Youth Orchestra of the Princeton Opera Alliance. He currently studies with Dr. Craig Levesque at Westminster Conservatory, where he is also a Young Artist in the Conservatory’s Honors Music Program.

The PSO BRAVO! Master It! masterclass with Douglas Lundeen is free and open to the public. Reservations for free tickets can be made online at princetonsymphony.org and by phone at (609) 497-0020.

The PSO encourages masterclass participants and attendees to purchase tickets to the March 13 Beholding Brahms concert, Sunday, March 13, 4 pm at Richardson Auditorium. Brahms’ Symphony No. 1 in C Minor, which contains prominent solo passages for horn, is featured on the program alongside works by Sibelius and Caroline Shaw. Tickets are available at princetonsymphony.org.

ABOUT PSO BRAVO! EDUCATION PROGRAMS

The Princeton Symphony Orchestra’s acclaimed PSO BRAVO! education programs reach more than 10,000 students each year. Meet the Orchestra! establishes PSO musicians in teaching partnerships at more than 30 public, private, and special-needs elementary schools throughout Central New Jersey, and stages full-orchestra performances for elementary school students each spring. At the middle school level, Listen Up! invites students to attend Classical Series concerts and create visual art and literary works in response to the music they hear. Through Master It!, advanced high school and college instrumentalists participate in public masterclasses with world-renowned artists. In October 2011, in partnership with the Princeton University Art Museum, PSO BRAVO! presented the first Festival of Music and Art, an afternoon of cultural activities for families to enjoy together. From kindergarten through college, PSO BRAVO! inspires the next generation of musicians and audiences.

The PSO offers deep discounts to BRAVO! families to encourage attendance at the orchestra’s Classical Series concerts. Currently, over 35 area schools participate in PSO BRAVO! programs. While all these programs are offered at no cost to the schools and families, they are not free to produce, manage, and administer.  PSO BRAVO! is funded privately through foundations and individual donations. If you’d like to show support, consider a gift via princetonsymphony.org/support.

About the Princeton Symphony Orchestra

Whether performing classical masterworks, introducing music by modern-day masters, or hosting students at their first live orchestral performance, the Princeton Symphony Orchestra (PSO) is a cultural centerpiece of the Princeton community and one of New Jersey’s finest music organizations. Led by Music Director Rossen Milanov, the PSO offers orchestral, pops, and chamber music programs of the highest quality, as well as lectures and other events to complement these concerts. Through PSO BRAVO!, the orchestra produces wide-reaching and innovative education programs, carried out in partnerships with local schools and arts organizations. With considerable community support and funding for excellence from the National Endowment for the Arts, the PSO is also a multiple-year recipient of the New Jersey State Council on the Arts’ highest honors. In addition, the PSO has been recognized for its commitment to new music with an ASCAP Award for Adventurous Programming and a Copland Fund Award. The only independent, professional orchestra to make its home in Princeton, the PSO performs at historic Richardson Auditorium on the campus of Princeton University. Find the PSO online at www.princetonsymphony.org; on Facebook at www.facebook.com/princetonsymphony; and on Twitter at www.twitter.com/psomusic.