by Brenda Kohn
by Brenda Kohn
Together We Celebrate ANNUAL GALA
Westmount Country Club, Woodland Park NJ
Cocktails at 6 PM, Dinner at 7:30 PM
Celebrating our Honorees: Paul Shaffer, Lifetime Achievement Award and Robbin Gordon-Cartier, Education Award
Contact Elizabeth Piercey, Director of Development
Elizabeth.Piercey@WhartonArts.org
by Brenda Kohn
The Smart Practicing Workshop will focus on helping students break away from bad practice habits and instead start building smart practice routines. We will focus on strategic ways to implement the most effective practicing methods in detail, so zoom in and let’s get smart! Open to All Musicians.
CLICK HERE to register for the FREE online workshop.
Soo Bae, master teacher
Praised for playing that is “rich and romantic, with crisp incisive technique” (The Strad), Canadian-Korean cellist Soo Bae has performed across the world from Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, Korea, New Zealand, Spain, Austria, Germany, Italy, South America, Canada and the US, including a sold-out debut recital at Carnegie’s Weill Recital Hall. A winner of the Concert Artist Guild International Competition, she received her BM from the Curtis Institute of Music; and MM and AD from the Juilliard School, where she served as an assistant faculty under Joel Krosnick. Recently served as a judge for the Juilliard School’s concerto competition and the Canada Council Instrument Bank Competition, she is a founder/director of Angelos Mission Ensemble chamber program in NJ, and also teaches at the Curtis Summerfest in Philadelphia. Ms. Bae plays the famed 1710 Guarneri cello, on a loan from a generous private donor.
by Brenda Kohn
From Representation to Belonging: Making Performing Arts Education More Inclusive
with Dr. Aaron Flagg, Chair and Associate Director of Juilliard Jazz Studies at The Juilliard School
Helen H. Cha-Pyo, Moderator
Dr. Flagg will discuss the importance of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion in music education and the performing arts followed by a panel discussion with student representatives from the Paterson Music Project, New Jersey Youth Symphony, and the Performing Arts School. CLICK HERE to register for the FREE event. Watch the livestream on WhartonArts.tv.
ABOUT DR. FLAGG
Dr. Aaron A. Flagg is the Chair and Associate Director of Juilliard Jazz Studies at The Juilliard School where he teaches and manages a highly selective undergraduate and graduate program. He holds undergraduate and graduate degrees from The Juilliard School and earned his Doctor of Musical Arts (DMA) from the University of Michigan. He has extensive experience as a performer, educator, consultant, and non-profit executive.
An accomplished trumpeter, Dr. Flagg’s diverse performing experience includes concerto, recital, orchestral, chamber, big band and small jazz ensemble performances around the world. He has performed with the New York Philharmonic, Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Brooklyn Philharmonic, Queens Symphony, Illinois Jacquet Big Band, Dance Theatre of Harlem, Absolute Ensemble, American Brass Orchestra, and New York Ragtime Orchestra among others.
Prior to his current role, Dr. Flagg was Professor of Music and Dean of The Hartt School at the University of Hartford; Executive Director of the Music Conservatory of Westchester; and Director of the Jazz Studies program at the University of Connecticut.
He has served on the governing board of the Stamford Symphony Orchestra, and currently serves on the governing boards of the League of American Orchestras and the Strategic National Arts Alumni Project (SNAAP): the former as Secretary and Chair of the Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Committee and the latter as Treasurer. In 2021, he was nominated by the Governor and approved by the State Senate to be a member of the New York State Council on the Arts.
His article Anti-Black Discrimination in American Orchestra was published in Symphony Magazine in the summer of 2020. He lectures and consults widely on diversity, equity and inclusion in the performing arts with foundations, orchestras, and educational institutions. He is married to collaborative pianist Cristina Stanescu Flagg. Both are the proud parents of a their son who is a SUNY-Purchase college junior.
by Brenda Kohn
Classical to Improv and Everything in Between! Featuring Violinist Yoojin Park
TWO SESSIONS @ 4:30 p.m. and 5:45 p.m.
4:30-5:30 p.m. Group A: Beginner/Intermediate
5:45-6:45 p.m. Group B: Intermediate/Advanced
Open to all strings! Participants will learn how to improvise, accompany others by creating percussive sounds with their bows (called “chopping”), and even write their own music through creative composition.
Yoojin Park is a New York City-based violinist and composer from South Korea. She’s a Universal Music Group International artist with her album release West End and has been performing music from her album with her band at venues including the Blue Note, Rockwood Music Hall, Smalls, and Jazz Gallery. On World Violin Day 2019, Blue Note celebrated Park by stating, “Today we celebrate violinists who have slayed the stage at Blue Note,” along with two other violinists. She has toured with DJ KSHMR at Ultra Korea, Ultra Singapore, Sunburn Festival in India, and IleSoniq in Montreal. She has worked with pop artists, been featured in music videos and recordings with artists such as YUNGBLUD and Madison Beer, and has performed with Josh Groban, Sarah Brightman, Debora Cox, and many more. She’s worked with many jazz greats and has performed at the Jazz Foundation of America’s Bird Call Show celebrating the 100th anniversary of the birth of Charlie Parker. Her album has been reviewed by popular jazz publications and blogs such as Jazztimes and All About Jazz, as well as being featured in Occhi Magazine as well as The Korea Herald.
Park graduated from The Korea National University of Arts with a Bachelor of Music in Classical Violin Performance in 2006 and earned a Diploma in Jazz Violin Performance in 2009 from the Berklee School of Music. After graduating from Berklee, she moved to New York City where she earned a Master’s in Jazz Performance from Queens College in 2011.
Park has been a teaching artist at the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra (NJSO) CHAMPS and has performed and taught at University Heights Charter School and Philip’s Academy Charter School from 2014-2019. She has been a coach at the NJSO youth orchestra training ensemble. Park was an artist-in-residence at the Cicely Tyson School of Performing & Fine Arts from 2015-2017 as well as at the John Bowne High School from 2011-2019. Since 2019, she has worked for the Paterson Music Project as a teaching artist, teaching after school programs at Public School 26, and more recently, she has worked for Opportunity Music Project in New York City.
by Brenda Kohn
Resuming in-person programming for the 2021-22 season, cabaret-style seating on stage with the performers in the Wharton Black Box Theater serves as the setting for an intimate concert featuring flutist Natasha Loomis and pianist Ryan Bridge. Works to be performed include William Grant Still’s Summerland and Mother and Child, Dora Pejačević’s Sonata for Flute and Piano, selections from Nikolai Medtner’s Forgotten Melodies, Op. 38, Ian Clarke’s Touching the Ether, and Henri Dutilleux’s Sonatine for Flute and Piano. CLICK HERE FOR TICKETS. Tickets also available at the door. $12/Adults, $6/Students & Seniors. FREE for WIPA Students. Mask wearing and proof of Full Vaccination Card required at the door.
Can’t attend in-person? WATCH THE LIVESTREAM ON WHARTONARTS.TV.
ABOUT NATASHA LOOMIS
Flutist Natasha Loomis is an engaging and versatile performer, a dedicated music educator, and a passionate proponent for new music. Loomis is committed to seeking out overlooked gems of the repertoire as well as commissioning new works, presenting programs that are both creative and captivating for audiences. She has performed as a solo, chamber, and orchestral artist throughout the United States, as well as in France, Austria, and Peru, and has performed at a diverse range of New York City area venues, including Weill Recital Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Merkin Concert Hall, the DiMenna Center, Radio City Music Hall, (le) poisson rouge, Bryant Park Stage, Shapeshifter Lab, the Firehouse Space, and Silvana Harlem. Past engagements include the XXXII Festival Internacional de Flautistas in Lima, Peru, where she was a guest artist and clinician, as well as performances with the Lake Tahoe Music Festival Orchestra, The Orchestra Now (TŌN), and the Asian Cultural Symphony, among others. Additionally, she has given performances at the National Flute Association Convention, Mid-Atlantic Flute Convention, the New York Flute Club Fair, and the NJ Flute Fair. Loomis has run a thriving private studio in NJ and NYC since 2009 where her students have successfully auditioned for region bands, pre-college programs such as Juilliard and Mannes, and top college music programs. As an educator, she strives to foster a love of the arts in her students while also giving them a solid foundation in both technique and self-expression. She previously served as Associate Director at New Jersey Woodwind Studio and as faculty at both Montclair State University and Rutgers University’s Extension Divisions. In addition to her work at NJYS, Loomis is the Assistant Director of Con Vivo Music in Jersey City, Adjunct Music Faculty at Kent Place in Summit, and is a founding member of PROTESTRA, an activist orchestra seeking to use classical music to raise both funds and awareness for current societal issues. Natasha received a Bachelor of Music with Honors from Franklin & Marshall College and a Master of Music degree in Flute Performance from Montclair State University, where she was a Graduate Teaching Assistant for Dr. Laura Dolp.
ABOUT RYAN BRIDGE
Pianist Ryan Bridge is a multifaceted artist whose work traverses a variety of musical genres. As a solo pianist, Bridge has performed in venues such as the Curtis Institute’s Field Hall, Manhattan School of Music’s Greenfield Hall, the Steinway Gallery of New Jersey, and Steinway Hall of New York City, and has participated in music festivals including the Beijing International Music Festival and Academy, Miami Music Festival, and the Philadelphia Young Pianists Academy. A believer in musical activism, Bridge organized a concert in May 2020 to raise funds for the Artist Relief Fund which provided grants for those working in creative fields who were put in dire financial situations by the COVID-19 pandemic. As a composer and improviser, Bridge’s music has been heard at the John Cage Centennial Festival in Washington D.C., the SoundSCAPE festival in Maccagno, Italy, and has been performed by the Montclair State University Wind Symphony. As a collaborator, Bridge has performed in numerous recitals and has collaborated with a number of opera companies and opera programs inproductions of Hansel und Gretel, Carmen, and Le Nozze di Figaro. In addition to his private teaching studio, Bridge is an instructor of piano at the Wharton Institute for Performing Arts and Virtu Academy.
