Music Educators Association of New Jersey
Serving teachers and students since 1927
On July 4, Amanda Harberg's Suite for Wind Quintet will be performed on the Round Top Festival Institute Faculty Concert Series.
On June 26, the International Clarinet Convention will present Amanda Harberg's Suite for Wind Quintet, to be performed by the Aspen Winds.
Members David Witten and Sondra Tammam, Co-Directors of The 9th Taubman Piano Festival 2020 at the Cali School of Music, Montclair State University, announce this annual event to be held on Fri/Sat/Sun - June 26-28. Three daily sessions begin at 8:30 am until 4:45 pm. Free Concerts on Friday and Sunday at 5 pm, and Saturday Gala Concert at 8 pm with Yilan Zhao, 2019 Prizewinner Viotti International Piano Competition.
MEA members Dan Crisci, Dragica Ćurčić, and Nancy Modell are Festival Presenters featuring Open Workshops for students and teachers. Daily Master Classes for children. Guest Master Class teachers are Dr. Lisa Yui, Yamaha Artists, and Ass't Dean at MSM, Dr. Cristina Gerling, Dept. Chair Porto Allegre University, Brazil, and Father Paul Maillet, recognized Taubman Institute Faculty and former Fleisher student.
Jackie Herbein, NCTM, Alexander Technique and Certified Yoga teacher, will begin each day with Body Mapping participant warm-ups.
For registration and for more information, visit https://
Youn-hee Kim will perform The Lark by Glinka-Balakirev for the MEA Annual Piano Competition’s 50th Year Celebration Concert on April 16.
Professor Youn-hee Kim will give a recital and lecture at 10 AM on Wednesday, April 1 entitled “Etüdes as Character Portraits” for the Rockland County Music Teachers Guild in NY.
On April 1st, Birgit Matzerath will hold a presentation about J.S. Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier for the Pompton Valley Music Teachers Association.
On March 21 and March 23, the Philadelphia Orchestra Sound All Around series will perform Amanda Harberg's Sadie's Birthday Adventures (commissioned and premiered by the Philadelphia Orchestra Association in 2015) on four separate concerts: https://www.philorch.org/
Since September 2019, Birgit Matzerath has been presenting a "Listening Journey" through the complete 1st book of J.S. Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier 1. One Friday each month - usually 3rd Friday - interested listeners meet at the Ethical Culture Society of Essex County, 516 Prospect Street, Maplewood NJ to explore two Preludes and Fugues. Meetings begin at 7 PM and last for 60-75 minutes, followed by refreshments. The next date is Friday, March 20: No 13 and 14. Suggested donation $ 10 per session (final concert $ 25); to benefit the Ethical Culture Society and Interfaith Hospitality Network of Essex County.
The project will conclude with a complete performance of the WTC 1 on Friday, (2nd Friday!) on September 11 at 7:30 pm.
Birgit Matzerath will give a presentation of her memoir More than the World in Black and White - How Music came alive and my Life became Music at the Book House, 218 Essex Street in Millburn, NJ on Sunday, March 8 at 3 PM. Based on readings from the book, the talk will focus on the aspect of embracing uncertainty, followed by Q and A.
The Ars Vitalis series will present "The Music of Amanda Harberg" at Kean University's Enlow Recital on March 5 at 7:30 PM. This very special program will feature Dr. Amanda Harberg's award-winning Suite for Wind Quintet, for which she just received a 2020 New Jersey Council on the Arts Artist Fellowship. Dr. Harberg will be joined by the renowned Dorian Wind Quintet, Met Orchestra cellist Samuel Magill, New York Philharmonic flutist/piccoloist Mindy Kaufman, flutist Cobus du Toit, and clarinetist Ben Fingland. The concert is free and will be followed by a reception. Please see the attached flyer for details, or use this link: https://www.facebook.com/
The Harmonium Choral Society is premiering Thomas Parente’s new choral work entitled I Am in Need of Music (text by Elisabeth Bishop) on March 1 at 3 PM at the Presbyterian Church of Morristown (http://www.harmonium.org).
On Saturday 2/29 at 8 PM, Beatrice Long is performing with cellist Sophie Shao (winner of Avery Fisher Career Grant and Rostropovich Competition) at the Watchung Arts Center. Music is by Schumann, Beethoven, and Debussy.
On Thursday 2/27 at 7:30 PM, Beatrice Long will be performing Ravel's Concerto in G with the Brooklyn College Orchestra CUNY, with conductor George Rothman at the Leonard & Claire Tow Center for the Performing Arts.
On February 24, the Sylvan Winds performed Amanda Harberg's Suite for Wind Quintet in New York City as part of the Composers Now festival.
On February 16, the Mid-Atlantic Flute Convention presented an "All-Harberg" concert. Dr. Amanda Harberg performed her music with Philadelphia Orchestra flutist/piccoloist Erica Peel, and the Patagonia Wind Quintet performed her Suite for Wind Quintet.
On February 12, Amanda Harberg's award-winning Suite for Wind Quintet was performed by the UMass Faculty Wind Quintet in Amherst MA.
Dan Crisci will perform at Shanghai Jazz, Madison, from 7 to 9:30 PM, presenting several new songs from his recent albums. Sue Williams, bass, and Nick Scheuble, drums, will join Dan. Dinner reservations can be made by calling 973-822-2899 or just come and hear music from the bar.
Birgit Matzerath was invited to adjudicate at the Minneapolis Music Teachers Forum's Mozart Concerto Competition for piano students. She also held presentations and workshops for teachers and students at the Mac Phail Center for Music in Minneapolis, and at the monthly MMTF meeting.
Joan Bujacich’s piano composition Fantasy To Toad Hall has been chosen to be included in a retrospective sampling of composers from a New York concert series that was created in 1985 and flourished for over a decade. The concerts were presented at Cami Hall which was located at West 57th Street in NYC. Lee McClure, director of the Eclectix concert series, writes of Joan’s composition: "In looking for a good sampling of the 130 composers from Eclectix concerts, yours stood out: Jazz groove, moody slow; sudden changes; classical climaxes - all seamlessly woven together. Just a really major statement." He continues, "I thought of you a lot while making my sampling of Eclectix recordings called From The Ecelctix Stage for Youtube: It has 18 recordings. I include the first movement of your Fantasy At Toad Hall. It’s the 5th selection. If you click the blue ‘5:10’ it’ll jump to your recording."
You can hear the audio clip Here along with the other composers selected. Or if you prefer seeing the video of Joan’s performance, it is posted from her website video page (scroll down to the 5th clip) where you will find the three compositions she performed that evening along with other original compositions: https://joanbujacich.com/video.php.
Though many years have passed, it is nice to see that Mr. McClure, a composer himself, is keeping this music alive!
Dan Crisci is excited to present his new website: dancrisci.com. Dan designed the site to be a place to learn about his original music, to hear samples of his songs, and even hear some songs in their entirety (check out the Quite Zone for five songs that will take you away from the hustle and bustle of everyday life). Dan welcomes your feedback about the site.
Two of Thomas Parente’s piano trios were performed at the National Opera Center in Manhattan. Both Morphs on “Dona Dona” and “Korobushka" are two transcriptions for piano trio from a larger work for piano duo which upon completion will be entitled “The Seasons”. This work is comprised of Morphs (or compositional transformations) of international folk songs related to the weather that occurs in that specific country for that specific month. Hence there will be twelve pieces (there re eleven at present) - one for every month of the year. As an example, the colder months of December, January, and February’s draw upon the folk music of Russia, Iceland and Finland respectively. “Dona Dona”, as a much loved Jewish folk song by Sholom Secunda, relates to Israel, which represents June. “Korobushka”, is a popular Russian folksong and has been designated to represent December.
While most Americans were sitting down to Thanksgiving dinner, Westminster Choir College Associate Professor of Piano Thomas Parente was rehearsing for a performance of his compositions in Parana, Argentina. The Carmina Gaudii chorus, conducted both by Evangelina Burchardt and Dr. Parente, presented a concert of Parente’s music titled This Heavenly Night, which was taken from the chorale by the same name for three part women’s choir. The program included six choral works and three of his art songs, performed by soprano Cecilia Leyes, a Parana Conservatory faculty member. Pianist Luciano Stizzoli joined Parente to perform three of his piano duets. Read the entire story HERE.
Heart 'N Hands Mission is presenting The Songbird Trio, comprised of Kathy Knittel on lead vocals, Joan Bujacich on piano, and Joe Bilotti on guitar on November 24th at 3 pm, St Timothy Lutheran Church, 395 Valley Road, Wayne NJ. The Trio will be performing songs from Kathy’s 2017 CD, A Songbird's Christmas featuring Joan's fresh arrangements of holiday favorites, along with other selections. All proceeds benefit Heart 'N Hands Mission, a 501(c)(3) tax exempt organization whose mission is to collect and provide clothing and other necessities to the homeless and working poor of northeastern NJ servicing over 2,000 families per month. Tickets are $15.00 and are available at the door. To reserve tickets, please call St. Timothy Lutheran Church at 973-694-8316, select Mailbox #6 and leave a message, a volunteer will call to confirm. Visit The Songbird Trio Facebook page here and purchase here.
Sondra Tammam presented a Master Class Seminar at the Conservatorio G. Verdi of Milan.
MEA board member and Past President, Joan Bujacich, released a new CD of electronic compositions entitled, Seeing Sound, Hearing Color. She collaborated with artist/healer, Sandra Del Cioppio on this project. They will be exhibiting their project at the Nyack Holistic Fair on October 26. To learn more about this project which can “tune-up your aura”, visit Joan’s website Here. You can also visit their Seeing Sound, Hearing Color Facebook page for more details.
Sophia Agranovich will perform a solo recital at the 'floating concert hall' Bargemusic on September 7, 2019, at 6 PM. In the program: Sonata Op. 27 No. 2 ‘Moonlight' by Beethoven, Scherzo No. 4 in E Major by Chopin, Transcendental Etude 'Ricordanza' by Liszt, works by Mendelssohn and Debussy.
Address; Brooklyn Bridge Boulevard, 1 Water St. , Brooklyn, NY 11201
More information and tickets: https://bit.ly/2Z2EcpV.
Nancy Modell will conduct student master classes at the New Jersey Suzuki Workshop at The College of New Jersey on July 20-21.
Nancy Modell will teach ECC!© (Every Child Can!©) on July 7 from 1 - 7 PM, and conduct student master classes July 7-8 at the New Jersey Suzuki Workshop at the Lawrenceville School.
“My 15th birthday may be a distant memory,” Ingrid says, “but between 15 and 60 lie 45 years of inspiration that have affected my every day and every student that I teach now, too.”
David Witten and Sondra Tammam, Co-Directors, announce The 8th Taubman Piano Festival 2019 at the Cali School of Music, Montclair State University, Fri/Sat/Sun - June 28-30. MEA members, Dan Crisci, Dragica Ćurčić, and Nancy Modell are Festival faculty. Single day attendance is welcome! Come listen to our free evening concerts!
Birgit Matzerath will be playing a benefit recital for the Ethical Culture Society of Essex County on Saturday, June 22 at 7 PM, 516 Prospect Street. Maplewood, NJ 07040.
Helen Ryba will perform a solo recital on Saturday, June 8 at 5 PM at The Bronx River Art Center, 1087 E. Tremont Ave., Bronx, NY 10460
The program includes Bach’s Chaconne D minor from violin partita, transcribed for piano by Ferruccio Busoni, Viktor Kosenko’s Consolation Op. 9 and Allemande Op. 19 (from the 11 Etudes in The form of Old Dances). It also features E-minor Sonata by Florence Beatrice Price and Prelude and Fugue in F-major by Ukrainian composer Myroslav Skoryk.
Sophia Agranovich will perform a solo concert at the Watchung Arts Center, 18 Stirling Rd, Watchung, NJ on May 11 at 7:30 PM. In the program are works by Beethoven, Chopin, Liszt, Mendelssohn, and Debussy. More information: watchungarts.org.
Toni Russo is pleased to announce the publication of Thankful Me , a children's illustrated book taking children through a journey of things to be thankful for and happy about in their lives through images, the alphabet and rhymes.
A portion of the proceeds from sales of the book will be donated to the MEA-NJ.
The book is available at Barnes and Noble: Thankful Me
Nancy Modell will present a workshop for teachers at the conclusion of her presentation, Creative Composing for pianists: Empower Creativity, Nurture Musicality, at the 1st Suzuki Convention of the Americas, in Cancun, Mexico, May 1–5.
Youn-hee Kim was invited to perform on April 14 for the Richter Association for the Arts in Danbury, Connecticut.
MEA members Dan Crisci and Lisa Gonzalez are part of the 2019 Canticles for Life Concerts in March and April. The Triad Arts Ensemble presents three AIDS Benefit Concerts - Sunday, March 31st, 4 PM @ St Joseph Church in Maplewood NJ, Saturday, April 13th, 7 PM @ Parsippany United Methodist Church in Parsippany NJ, and Sunday, April 14th, 4 PM @ St Martin’s Episcopal Church in Bridgewater NJ. All proceeds to benefit The AIDS Resource Foundation for Children, The NAMES Project of Northern NJ and New Jersey AIDS Services. In addition to accompanying the chorus, Dan will perform a set with his jazz trio. Join us for a musical journey and celebration of the human spirit through song!
Concert details on the Canticles for Life website and on Facebook.
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The Music Educators Association of NJ is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization of private piano teachers founded in 1927. Our mission is to raise the standards of private music teaching throughout New Jersey, while encouraging musical excellence and instilling a love of music in our students.
