Music Educators Association of New Jersey

Judy Kessler is excited to announce that her CD, Secret Words, is now available on Amazon Music.  It's  9 original songs with music and lyrics that she composed. Judy hired a musical director/producer to put her studio band together, write parts for the other musicians, and handle the recording details. For more information about Judy, click HERE.

Judy Kessler was honored to recently be interviewed for her town's podcast, called Hawthorne Towncast.  The interviewer, Flavio Romeo,  a professional actor, and international businessman, made it a very fun and interesting conversation. Please click HERE to listen to it.

On February 14 at 12 PM Sophia Agranovich will be one of the featured performers at WWFM Classical Network program 'Piano Matters', hosted by David Dubal. She will play Nocturne in C minor Op. 48 No.1 and 1st movement of Sonata No. 2 in B♭ minor, Op. 35 by Chopin.

Nancy Modell is the instructor for the NJ Suzuki Workshop's online course, Every Child Can!, as part of the NJSW WinterFest. She will also conduct master classes as part of WinterFest, a one-day workshop for Suzuki music students.

Sophia Agranovich's new CD album dedicated to Beethoven's 250th Anniversary is released. Program: Fantasia in G minor/B Major, Op. 77; Sonata No.8 in C minor, Op. 13 'Pathetique'; Sonata No. 14 in C♯ minor ‘Quasi una fantasia’, Op. 27, No. 2 'Moonlight'; Sonata No. 17 in D minor, Op. 31 No. 2, 'The Tempest'. This album will be available in hard copies, downloads and streaming via all the major distributors and online radio stations. It already had received multiple rave reviews.  Purchase link: https://amzn.to/3j75dnI

Brazilian composer, Daniel Rofer, announces the publication of Experimental Works for Children, Strange Lands, a book of new repertoire featuring a great variety of new compositions for the young. In order to write such creative and educational pieces, Daniel Rofer draws inspiration both from his abilities as an excellent pianist-improviser and also from his broad experience as a music teacher. The fifteen songs he presents in Strange Lands are refreshingly imaginative, highlighting many of the most important technical and theoretical aspects of piano pedagogy at its best. There are many correlations in Strange Lands to other works for children: from the structures and textures of Robert Schumann’s Album for the Young; glimpses of the wittiness and calmness we normally hear from Erik Satie; the experimentalism, proportionality, and daring of Bela Bartok’s Mikrokosmos; or even the mischievousness and innocence of Villa Lobos’s Cirandinhas. In a more practical sense, many of these songs are very catchy, which is a plus for piano teachers who are looking for compositions their students will enjoy practicing. In Strange Lands, Daniel Rofer works with a large range of techniques and emotions, opening a window where we can visualize his brilliant future as a composer for all levels of players, as well as presenting us with a fun and relatable new set of songs. Experimental Works for Children, Strange Lands is available at Amazon. The playlist is here.

On February 10 at 10 PM, Sophia Agranovich will be one of the featured performers at WWFM Classical Network program 'Piano Matters', hosted by David Dubal. She will play Nocturne in C minor Op. 48 No.1 and 1st movement of Sonata No. 2 in B♭ minor, Op. 35 by Chopin.

Nancy Modell is teaching Suzuki student masterclasses and group classes at the Levine School in Washington, D.C., January 15-16.

Judy Kessler is pleased to announce the launch of her new website!  Please visit http://judykesslerpiano.com/ to learn more about her studio, her arrangements, sheet music, and more. 

Ingrid Clarfield is thrilled to announce that her newest book with Phyllis Lehrer, Classics for the Developing Pianist Study Guide Book 5, is finally available at Sheet Music Plus!!  This book contains great teaching tips for everyone's favorite advanced pieces. Ingrid believes MEA members would enjoy using both the Repertoire and Study Guide Books.

Artist, Kathy Knittel, continues her collaboration with Producer, Joan Bujacich, releasing two new holiday favorites, My Favorite Things, and Christmas Time  Is Here. In addition to all the major digital distribution centers (iTunes, Amazon, Spotify), both songs were also picked up on Pandora Radio which only accepts 3 to 5% of submissions!  The recordings feature Kathy Knittel-vocals, Joan Bujacich-Piano, Joe Bilotti-guitar,  Phil Butler-upright bass and Kevin Ellman-drums. (Kevin is on many recordings with Todd Rundgren’s Utopia.)

Kathy released a complete CD of holiday music in 2018, A Songbird's Christmas.  For easy access to digital distribution centers visit: https://kathyknittel.hearnow.

In NJMTA's 2020 Composition Competition, Danette Whelan's student won in the Senior division and Nancy Modell's student won in the Elementary division. Both students move on to compete in the Eastern division Competition! Nancy's student also received Honorable Mention in the Senior division and Sondra Tammam's student received Honorable Mention in the Elementary division.
https://www.njmta.com/news/2020-mtna-student-composition-competitions-results

Sophia Agranovich will release a new CD this month dedicated to Chopin's 210th Anniversary: Sonata No. 2 in B-flat minor, complete 4 Scherzi, Polonaise 'Héroïque'. It will be available in hard copies, downloads, and streaming via all major distributors. Two excellent reviews will be published in the November/December issue of the Fanfare Magazine.

On August 6, the National Flute Convention in Dallas TX will present a recital called "The Chamber Music of Valerie Coleman and Amanda Harberg", which will feature two world premieres of chamber music composed by Amanda Harberg.

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.

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/performances/our-season/events-and-tickets/2019-20-season/sound-all-around-ensemble/

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/events/1098004713657085/

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.