The High Mountain Symphony Presents its Season Finale on April 24

The High Mountain Symphony at William Paterson University will present “A Youthful Celebration,” a program that includes the New Jersey premiere of “A Flourish” by John Link, an associate professor of music at William Paterson. The 2004 Mae and Fletcher Fish Young Artist Competition finalists will also perform.
The performance closes its 2003-2004 season on Saturday, April 24 in an 8 p.m. concert at the Shea Center for Performing Arts on campus in Wayne.

Paul Hostetter, the Symphony’s conductor, will lead the program, which also features Giacomo Puccini’s “Manon Lescaut: Intermezzo from Act III” and Maurice Ravel’s “Daphnis and Chloe Suite No. 2.”

Three young musicians have been selected to perform as finalists in the 2004 Mae and Fletcher Fish Young Artists Competition. Jerry Chiu, a violinist from East Brunswick, will perform movement one of Henri Wieniawski’s “Concert No. 2, Op. 22.” Movement one of Edouard Lalo’s “Symphony Espagnole” will be presented by Stacy Chu, a violinist from Towaco, and Soo Yeon Kim, a violinist from Palisades Park, will perform movement one of Jean Sibelius’ “Concerto Op. 47.” The competition is open to high school-aged musicians who will be in grades 9, 10, 11 or 12 and reflects the Symphony’s commitment to promoting youth education and participation in the arts.

This professional orchestra is underwritten, in part, by William Paterson University, and 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.

Hostetter will also host an informal session with audience members about the night’s selected pieces, prior to the concert, in Shea Auditorium 101 at 7 p.m.

Tickets are $25 standard, $20 for senior citizens and members of the William Paterson community, $8 for William Paterson students (limit two per ID) and youth 17 and under. For additional information on the concert, please call the Shea Center for Performing Arts Box Office at 973.720.2371.
(Biographical information on finalists below).

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FINALISTS IN THE 2004 MAE AND FLETCHER FISH YOUNG ARTISTS COMPETITION

Jerry Chiu (East Brunswick, New Jersey)
Jerry Chiu, born in Taiwan in 1988, began to study music and play the piano at the age of four. At the Kuang Ran Private Music School, Chiu began his professional training at six years old and immigrated with his family to the United States at age 11. Chiu is currently studying with Masao Kawasaki in the Juilliard Pre-College Division. He won first place in the East Brunswick Young Musician Competition in 2002 and was the runner-up in William Paterson’s concerto competition of 2003. Chiu was also the winner at the New Jersey American String Teachers Association’s competition. He currently attends East Brunswick High School.

Stacy Chu (Towaco, New Jersey)
Stacy Chu has been studying the violin with Leslie Webster since she was eight years old. Currently a sophomore at Montville High School, she won the 2004 Summit Symphony Young Artists Concerto Competition and will perform with the Summit Symphony Orchestra at its spring concert. Chu was a recipient of the Hartwick College Summer Music Festival Scholarship and a grant recipient from the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation for her Music Makers Community Services Project.

Soo Yeon Kim (Palisades Park, New Jersey)
Soo Yeon Kim was born in Korea in 1990 and is an eighth grade honor student at St. John Middle School in Leonia, New Jersey. She began studying the violin at the age of four and performed the “Lalo Symphonie Espagnole” with the Korean Synphonietta when she was nine years old. The following year, she won the annual audition of the Korea National Orchestra and performed the “Mendelssohn Concerto” in E minor as a soloist. In April of 2001, she won the distinguished E-Wha Kyung Hwang Newspaper Competition. As a scholarship student of Stephen Clapp, Kim began her studies at the Juilliard Pre-College Division in 2002. She also won The Juilliard violin competition as a first-year student.
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For Further Information, contact:

Mary Beth Zeman, Director, Public Relations 973-720-2966

3/29/04