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News Release

THE ORCHESTRA AT WILLIAM PATERSON UNIVERSITY ADOPTS NEW NAME AND NEW ARTISTIC LEADERSHIP FOR 2003-2004 SEASON

• Decision to change name to High Mountain Symphony reflects the orchestra’s regional significance
• Paul Hostetter, a prominent conductor and musician, is named conductor and music director

The Orchestra at William Paterson University embarks on an exciting new direction during the 2003-2004 season, signified by its new name – High Mountain Symphony at William Paterson University – and fresh artistic leadership brought by new conductor and music director Paul Hostetter.

Established in 1986 as the Wayne Chamber Orchestra, the High Mountain Symphony at William Paterson University is the only professional orchestra in New Jersey in permanent residence at a university. It represents an exciting collaboration of musical talent drawn from the University’s faculty artists and gifted student instrumentalists in performance with established metropolitan area professional musicians.

The new name for the ensemble refers to a local and well-known nature preserve in Wayne that borders the University’s campus. “We believe this name more appropriately refers to the region the orchestra serves,” explains Ofelia Garcia, dean of the University’s College of the Arts and Communication.

Hostetter, a prominent conductor and musician, has been named conductor following a search that encompassed the 2002-2003 season. He will conduct the Symphony’s four-concert 2003-2004 season that opens October 25 at 8 p.m. with a concert titled “Journey Around the World.” Additional performances are scheduled for November 23, 2003 and February 21 and April 24, 2004. The concerts will be held in Shea Center on the William Paterson University campus in Wayne.

“All orchestras derive a portion of their character from the conductor – Paul Hostetter is a talented, exciting conductor whose love of music and interest in sharing it is very strong,” says Garcia. “We look forward to his artistic leadership.”

The conductor of the New Jersey Youth Symphony, Hostetter serves as artistic director for the Winter Sun Music Festival in St. Petersburg, FL, and music director for the Festival Orchestra at the Stony Brook Summer Festival in Stony Brook, New York. He has appeared as a guest conductor with orchestras including the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, the American Composers Orchestra, Philharmonia Virtuosi, the Sequitur Ensemble, and the Delaware Symphony Orchestra, as well as opera companies including the New York City Opera and the Genesis Opera Company. On Broadway, he was the associate conductor for Leonard Bernstein’s “Candide,” where he led over 40 performances. Hostetter has collaborated with Jim Hall, Pat Metheny, and Joe Lovano with strings from the Orchestra of St. Luke’s in a recording for Telarc, as well as with Heidi Grant Murphy and members of Aureole and the Metropolitan Opera for Koch. He also has recorded for the CRI, Zadick, Mode, Albany, and Milkin Archive labels, and has premiered more than 30 works by well-known composers.

Hostetter, who will also serve as an associate professor of music at William Paterson, has been a consultant to Carnegie Hall’s educational division and has appeared as a guest conductor with the Manhattan School of Music. He has presented master classes at The Juilliard School, Mannes College, The Peabody Conservatory, New York University, and Sao Paulo State College (Brazil), and is the conductor for the New York Premiere Ensemble with whom he has presented numerous performances of Raphael Mostel’s “The Travels of Babar” to critical acclaim in both English and French.

The opening concert of the season on October 25 at 8 p.m. will feature pianist Aaron Wunsch as guest soloist for De Falla’s “Nights in the Gardens of Spain.” Other works include Bernstein’s “Overture to Candide,” Bartok’s “Romanian Folk Dances” and Respighi’s “Pines of Rome.”

A special concert geared to families will be held on November 23 at 3 p.m. Titled “The Lost Elephant: A Comedy Concerto,” the program will feature Dan Kamin as a zookeeper who shows up at a concert of animal-inspired music by such composers as Handel, Stravinsky, Rossini and others. One hour before the concert there will be an instrument “petting zoo” in the lobby of Shea Center where adults and children will have the opportunity to meet many of the Symphony’s musicians and play a variety of instruments.

On February 21, the Symphony will present a concert titled “Legends and Myths” at 8 p.m. Works include Beethoven’s “Creatures of Prometheus,” Bizet’s “Carmen” in an arrangement for strings and percussion, Sibelius’ “Valse Triste” and Stravinsky’s “Pucinella.”

The final concert of the season on April 24 at 8 p.m. features the finalists in the symphony’s seventh annual Mae and Fletcher Fish Young Artist competition. It will also include the New Jersey premiere of “A Flourish,” composed by John Link, a William Paterson associate professor of music, and music by Puccini and Ravel.

Subscriptions for the four-concert season are $80. Individual tickets are $25, $20 for senior citizens and William Paterson faculty, staff and alumni, and $8 for William Paterson students and those ages 17 and younger.

The High Mountain Symphony is underwritten, in part, by William Paterson University. It is also funded, in part, by the Passaic County Cultural and Heritage Council at Passaic County Community College through the State/County Block Grant Program of the New Jersey State Council on the Arts/Department of State, a Partner Agency of the National Endowment for the Arts.

For information on subscriptions or individual tickets, call the Shea Center Box Office at 973-720-2371.

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For Further Information, contact:
Mary Beth Zeman, Director, Public Relations 973-720-2966

8
/12/03