Program Book Insert - Shanghai Opera Symphony Orchestra

Sunday, February 17, 2019

THE SHANGHAI OPERA SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA Zhang Guoyong, Principal Conductor Hua Hui, Violin PROGRAM Overture to Nabucco Giuseppe Verdi Butterfly Lovers Concerto Chen Gang and He Zhanhao Hua Hui, violin ---- INTERMISSION ---Symphony No. 5 in D Minor, Op. 47 Dmitri Shostakovich

Moderato Allegretto Largo Allegro non troppo * PROGRAM SUBJECT TO CHANGE*

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SHANGHAI OPERA SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA Zhang Guoyong, Principal Conductor FIRST VIOLIN Zhang Le Chen Yangyuetong Zhang Shaonan Zhang Hui Jin Meidan Sun Yanjie Tan Yingying Li Yaqin Xue Yuanjia He Bin Liu Yang Zhang Yuqian Lim Hui Gao You Mo Jie SECOND VIOLIN Chen Xin Shi Wei Gao Yutong Yu Mingjia Wang Tong Zhang Yaowei Li Chen Xiao Jing Xiong Chenxi Jin Quingyao Liu Chenchen Liu Zhaohui VIOLA Sun Yang Huang Yaorong Yao Jia Liu Mo Yang Weiya Liu Chang Yang Dan Yu Qingqing Liu Chen Lan Tiantian

CELLO Xie Liujia Chen Xiaolong Ma Ke Li Menglu Liu Quingqu Zhao Beibei Wu Yue Jiang Yiji BASS Pan Haifeng Cao Fei Zhao Yundi Zhu Zhengzheng Jiang Fang Hou Xiaoyun FLUTE Zhang Zhenyi Fei Xuanxuan Zhang Shengjie (Piccolo) Xie Wen (Piccolo) OBOE Fu Li Goh Tzuming (English Horn) Yang Difan (English Horn) Zhu Zhen CLARINET Zhao Chao Li Xueyuan Xiong Zijun Zhang Tuo BASSOON Yun Yongjin Wang Xin Yao Shan Sun Chengyao

HORN Vadim Shvedchikov Wang Peng Kong Jieying Wang Shuyi Li Hanchi TRUMPET Luo Yinpeng Hao Xin Bai Mulin Song Shihui TROMBONE Andriy Grebelyuk Zhao Zhunan Xie Yishan Hu Jiwen TUBA Ye Yizhou Li Kai HARP Guan Ling Tang Wenxuan TIMPANI Zhou Jianhua Du Meng PERCUSSION Li Yan Zhang Yiyan Li Quang Lu Xi Zhu Maoran KEYBOARD Yang Song

EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT Jianping Fan VICE PRESIDENT Qinqxin Zhang ORCHESTRA MANAGER Lei Liu STAGE MANAGER Huaixiang Chen PUBLIC RELATIONS MANAGER Wenwen Shen TRANSLATORS Ning Han Xiaofen Liang Tingting Xu COLUMBIA ARTISTS MANAGEMENT LLC. Tour Direction: R. Douglas Sheldon Executive Vice President & Managing Director Karen Kloster Tour Coordinator Emilia K. Albarano Executive Assistant Renee O'Banks Tour Manager James Putnam Driver DebCo Travel Consulting Hotels

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2019 Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901) Overture to Nabucco (1841) Giuseppe Verdi received his earliest music education from the local maestro di cappella in Busseto, Italy, where his father was an innkeeper. In 1832, when the small town raised scholarship funds for Verdi to attend the Milan Conservatory, the school rejected him as being too old to enroll and insufficiently trained, so he studied privately instead. Verdi convinced Milan’s renowned Teatro alla Scala to stage his first opera, Oberto, in 1839, and the production proved to be a hit. 54 years later, when the same theater presented Verdi’s twenty-eighth and final opera, Falstaff, the composer was by then a treasured hero in the new nation of Italy and an opera icon throughout the world.

Verdi’s second opera, a comedy, was a rare flop, and it took another eighteen months before he returned to the stage with his third opera, Nabucco. This time Milan went wild for the young composer, launching an impressive run of 16 new operas in the next 11 years.

To begin Nabucco, named for the Babylonian king known in English as Nebuchadnezzar, the Overture transports the audience to Jerusalem six centuries before Christ. After an imposing introduction dominated by the brass instruments, a humble tune first presented by oboe and clarinet previews an enduring highlight of the opera, the “Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves” from Act III. Chen Gang (born 1935); He Zhanhao (born 1933) Butterfly Lovers Concerto (1958) Chen Gang and He Zhanhao were fellow students at the Shangai Conservatory when they co-composed a violin concerto that merged aspects of traditional Chinese music with the symphonic tone palette of Western Classical music. With seven sections stitched together in a single movement, the concerto conveys a tragic love story, using the violin to represent the female protagonist. Dressed as a boy, she leaves her childhood home to attend school, where she develops a close bond with a boy—an unrequited love, for now. It is only once she has returned home and been forced into an engagement to another young man that her schoolmate realizes his longtime companion is a girl; a sweet duet for violin and

cello represents the blossoming of their mutual love. Alas, the lovesick boy dies when he cannot be with his beloved, and she follows suit by committing suicide, plunging into his grave.

They transform into butterflies, and together they fly off to their inseparable future.

With musical roots in folksong, fiddling and traditional opera, the Butterfly Lovers Concerto was one of the earliest works to successfully integrate Chinese traditions into the Classical canon. It received a special boost when the Chinese figure skater Lu Chen performed to it at the 1998 Winter Olympics (earning a bronze medal), and it has since entered the repertoire of violinists worldwide, including superstar Gil Shaham, who paired it with Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto on a 2007 CD release.

Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975) Symphony No. 5 in D Minor, Op. 47 (1937) On January 26, 1936, Joseph Stalin walked out of Shostakovich’s opera Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District during the third act. Two days later, the newspaper Pravda published a scathing review titled “Muddle instead of Music.” The critic decried, “Here we have ‘leftist’ confusion instead of natural human music. The power of good music to infect the masses has been sacrificed to a petty-bourgeois, ‘formalist’ attempt to create originality through cheap clowning. It is a game of clever ingenuity that may end very badly.”

At a time when Stalin’s enemies were disappearing by the millions, the warning that Shostakovich’s embrace of modernism “may end very badly” was no idle threat. He was understandably cautious with his next works, withdrawing his Fourth Symphony before the planned debut in 1936 and shelving his only other major work of the year, Four Romances on Poems by Pushkin, until 1940.

Shostakovich began his Fifth Symphony in April of 1937, and he completed the scoring that fall. No established conductor would take on the score, so the task of preparing the debut fell to Yevgeny Mravinsky, a young conductor who had recently joined the Leningrad Philharmonic.

The debut of the Fifth Symphony on November 21, 1937, was a watershed moment in Shostakovich’s career, capped by curtain calls that night lasted some thirty minutes,

THE SHANGHAI OPERA SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA until the stunned composer was escorted out of the hall. It was a remarkable redemption for Shostakovich, coming less than two years after his official rebuke.

“Rebirth” was in fact central to Shostakovich’s plan for the Fifth Symphony. In the finale, he quoted a song by that name, one of his recent Pushkin settings. Pushkin’s text begins: “An artist-barbarian with his lazy brush / Blackens the painting of a genius.” In the poem, the work of the “genius” endures while the damage inflicted by the “artist-barbarian” sloughs away.

The symphony strikes an ominous tone from the beginning. In the first four measures, the strings introduce three gestures of central importance to the rest of the movement: a leaping figure with a snapping, dotted rhythm; a sequence of descending, sigh-like fragments; and a closing motif of three repeated notes.

With this material laid out, the violins intone a quiet, nervous melody over an accompaniment built from the leaping motive. Music of a contrasting character arrives with a recurring figure that repeats a long-short-short rhythm, itself a variant of the earlier “sighing” motive. At first this marching music is sweet and docile, but later the same rhythmic pattern supports a frightful journey to a harrowing climax.

The scherzo comes next, and at first the heavy bass line promises more of the first movement’s intensity, but ultimately a juxtaposition of bombastic and silly music creates a carnival-like atmosphere.

The Largo third movement echoes the opening of the symphony, beginning with strings alone, subdivided here into eight sections to create a rich, layered sound. Offsetting the somber gravity of the strings, passages featuring solo woodwinds and flecks of harp and celesta cut through like beams of light.

The finale is a brutish march that again toes the line between sincerity and parody. On one level it appears to be a model example of “Socialist Realism,” glorifying Soviet might in an accessible language that the proletariat could relate to; and yet at the same time, a more cynical spectator might sense mockery and sarcasm of that same heavy-handed ideal.

construction of the famous Shanghai Opera House. The Shanghai Opera Symphony Orchestra is renowned for its interpretation of classical symphony repertoire. The orchestra performs the masterpieces of the world’s most historic composers such as Beethoveen’s symphonies No. 6 and No.7, Tchaikovsky’s symphonies No. 4, 5, 6 and 9; Mozart’s Symphony No. 41 and Violin Concerto No.3; Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique; Mahler’s symphonies No 1 and 4; Dvorak’s Symphony No. 9 (From the New World) and 8; Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 1, 5 and 7; Liszt’s Piano Concerto No.1; Sibelius’ Violin Concerto, Finlandia and Symphony No. 2; Brahms Symphony No. 2 and 4; and Respighi’s Rome Series. The Shanghai Opera Symphony Orchestra additionally plays the works of famous Chinese composers such as Xian Xinghai’s Yellow River and He Zhanhao & Chen Gang’s Butterfly Lovers. The Orchestra also presents numerous overtures and music of operas and ballets.

The Orchestra has been conducted by renowned maestros such as Daniel Oren, Lorin Maazel, John Nelson, Thomas Sanderling, Markus Stenz, Zoltan Kocsis, Maurice Peress and Jan Latham-Koenig. The Orchestra has toured to Finland, Italy, UK, Germany, Hong Kong and Macao. Its Principal Conductors are Zhang Chengjie, Lin Yousheng, and Zhang Guoyong.

The 2019 USA tour will be the Shanghai Opera Symphony’s debut at the concert halls of North America.

Zhang Guoyong, Principal Conductor Zhang Guoyong began his study in conducting at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music under the direction of the famous conductor, Prof. Huang Xiaotong. After graduation in 1983, he remained as a teacher there until 1993, when he was sponsored by the Chinese government a four years’ study at the Moscow State Conservatory named after Tchaikovsky, where he studied under the world-famous conductor G. Rozhdestvensky.

Zhang Guoyong is now the Professor and the Dean of Conducting Department of Shanghai Conservatory of Music, Principle Conductor of Shanghai Opera Symphony Orchestra, Vice Chairman of China Musicians Association.

Shanghai Opera Symphony Orchestra The Shanghai Opera Symphony Orchestra He has cooperated with many well-known was established in 1956 along with the orchestras including Russian State Orchestra,

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2019 Russian Philharmonic, Ukrainian State Symphony Orchestra, Tokyo Philharmonic, Hong Kong Philharmonic, Macau Symphonic Orchestra, Kuopio Symphony Orchestra (Finland), Cannes Symphony Orchestra, Theatre Colon, etc. He is expert in Russian works, especially Shostakovich’s symphonies.

Apart from the symphony orchestras, he also worked with opera houses both at home and abroad in numerous operas, such as Turandot, Rigoletto, Don Pasquale, Cavalleria Rusticana, Pagliacci, Madama Butterfly, Il Trittico La Boheme; La Traviata, Carmen, Otello, Pearl Fisher, the Nose, ballets like Swan Lake, Giselle, Don Quixote. Nutcrackers, symphonic choruses like Beethoven’s Symphony No.9, Mozart’s Requiem, Song of the Forest, Stabat Mater, Carmina Burana and so on. In 2006, he was invited to be the jury of the 8th Cadaques International Conducting Competition in Spain. Same year, he led the opera Thunderstorm adapted from a famous Chinese novel, which caused tremendous response in the music industry.

It is well known that Zhang Guoyong is a master of symphonies with Russian style and he has also conducted many works composed

by Russian musicians these years. In 2014, he conducted works by Rachmaninoff with orchestra of China National Centre for the Performing Arts. In 2016 and 2017, he also respectively led concerts for Russian music and Tchaikovsky in Macau and Shanghai, which both received great response from the audience.

He also dedicated to conducting and promoting Chinese traditional music. In 2013, he cooperated with National Chinese Orchestra Taiwan (NCO), and presented many classic works of china, such as excerpts from Peking Opera Farewell My Concubine and the Oscar winning film Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, and so on.

Hua Hui , Violin Soloist Hua Hui, violin soloist, graduated from Shanghai Conservatory of Music under the direction of Prof. Yu Lina and Wang Zhijiong.

Taught by the famous violin educator Xu Duoqin, he started playing violin at the age of three,

since when has he shown great musical talent.

In the December of 2005, he won the first prize and the special prize in Na-merry International violin competition held in Kazakhstan, and then in 2013 in Germany, he won the 15th Kloster Schöntal International competition for violin.

After being admitted to Shanghai Conservatory of Music with exemption from the entrance examinations, he was immediately appointed as the vice concertmaster of the college’s affiliated symphony orchestra. In his college years, he was awarded twice the National Scholarship and evaluated as the most potential young artist in the 4th International Violin Master Class & Violin Sonata Competition of Shanghai Conservatory of Music. In 2015, he won the Golden Bell Award for Music, which is identified as the highest music award in China. And in the next year, he held his solo concert named “Full Bloom” and received high acclaims. Last year, he was invited as the guest artist and soloist to perform the opening concert of Shenyang Symphony Orchestra’s 2017 music season.

Hua Hui is also enthusiastic about international cultural communication and on behalf of Shanghai Conservatory of Music, he participated in many international exchange events, concerts and activities co-held by Royal Academy of Music, Royal Danish Academy of Music, San Francisco Conservatory of Music, etc. His brilliant performances have received great comments from prestigious musicians such as Lin Cho-Liang, Ning Feng, He Wei, Shanghai Quartet, Vadim Repin, Oleg Krysa, Johannes Meissl, Tim Fredeniksen.

Deeply influenced by his mentor Prof. Yu Lina, who was the lead violinist at the premiere of the famous Chinese violin concerto “Butterfly Lovers”, Hua Hui is very keen to perform the violin music of Chinese style. Not only does he pursue the technical virtuosity, but also he’s devoted to convey the passion, the infinite imagination, as well as the cultural connotation implied in the music. Besides, he’s active in all kinds of public benefit activities and endeavors to advocate the beauty and joy music brings to our life and society.

Mayo Performing Arts Center FEBRUARY

OUTSTANDING ORCHESTRA MEMBERS Milind Bangalore Grade 9, Morristown High School; Morristown; Nominated by Norma Davis Milind is a dedicated member of the Morristown High School Orchestra, where he serves as violin section leader. He devotes many hours to practicing and developing his musicianship, and he is highly involved in the music program at Morristown High School. Milind is in the 9th grade, and has been selected on violin for the Senior Region I High School Orchestra, which is a tremendous achievement. In addition to the MHS Orchestra, Milind is a member of the select Chamber Orchestra and plays first violin in his Camerata ensemble. He is also a dedicated member of the Delbarton Abbey Orchestra and the NJSO Youth Orchestras. Milind is an accomplished violinist who enjoys being challenged and strives for excellence in his musical endeavors. He is always enthusiastic, eager to learn, and shows exceptional commitment. Milind is an outstanding orchestra member who brings energy, artistry, and collaboration to his craft.

Zoe Bohensky Grade 8, Madison Junior School; Madison; Nominated by Kathleen McCormick Zoe has been a violinist in my orchestra since 6th grade where she has consistently performed, is respectful of her teacher and peers and is someone who always gives her best effort. Last year she began rising to the top of the curve in her performance evaluations, the result of her independent practice at home as she does not receive private lessons. She earned principal positions within her sections and was recommended to take summer instruction to continue her rapid progress. This year, she has earned membership into my 8th grade honors octet which is a featured performing group for our concerts, graduation and community events. I am very proud of Zoe's progress as a musician at the Madison Junior School and happy to give her the opportunity to be Music Student of the Month as my Outstanding Orchestra member.

Patrick Calderon Grade 8, John Hill School; Boonton; Nominated by Yvonnce Manca Patrick is an outstanding flute player in the JHS band. Patrick has been playing flute since 5th grade and has excelled in all areas of music. This year I put him on bass clarinet for a challenge and he plays it with such confidence and agility. He is a very enthusiastic student and always comes to his lessons prepared and ready to go. Patrick is an asset to the music program at JHS. He also sings in the choir and is in drama club too.

Allison Connuck Grade 9, Randolph High School; Randolph; Nominated by Eric Schaberg Allison is a 9th grade violinist in Randolph High School this school year. She just successfully auditioned for Jr. Region 1 Orchestra and was accepted into the 1st violin section which was awarded based on a challenging audition against the best string players in Northern NJ from grades 7-9. Allison also auditioned for the most advanced string ensemble and was accepted into "Arietta" back in October in Randolph High School. The reason Allison is being nominated is not just because of these accolades, but because she comes to every rehearsal and lesson with a smile and a positive attitude and uses every opportunity to further her knowledge for just the love of learning. Allison will frequently come down during her lunch hour to spend a little extra practice time on her violin and she absorbs all of the information presented to her like a sponge.

I wish every Orchestra Director had a student like Allison in their orchestra, because they would look forward and enjoy their rehearsals like I do. I think Allison has that passion for music that we hope all of our students would have and she is always very respectful to everyone she works with.

The 2018-2019 Music Student of the Month program is supported by The Walter F. and Alice Gorham Foundation, Inc.

OUTSTANDING ORCHESTRA MEMBERS Nicolas Gritz Grade 10, Delbarton School; Morristown; Nominated by Robert Butts Nicolas first came to my attention (as Conductor and Music Director of The Baroque Orchestra of New Jersey) in 2014. He was named the youngest recipient of the Sylvia Plath Award for Musical Education, which my orchestra has sponsored since 2009. Since then he has been an active contributor to the Orchestra. Next year, he will perform a concerto with us. Nicolas began his music career at age 5 and won his first competition as the first place winner of the Princeton Steinway Society at age 7. He has since won many competitions including the Cecilian Society, MEA High Honors, Golden Key, Crescendo, National League of Performing Arts, IMPACT, Morristown Rising Star and NJ Society of Arts and Letters. His music was featured on the Classical Radio Station WWFM. In addition to having played piano in his school’s Jazz Band at Delbarton, over the last six years he has contributed his talents in the community and school at church services, fundraising events, open houses, concerts, department Honor Societies, and at local retirement communities.

Nicolas uses the multiple musical scholarships he has won to hone his talents for his pure love of music and also to contribute to the community and bring the beauty of music to all.

Auden Gu Grade 10, Hanover Park High School; East Hanover; Nominated by Helen Britez Auden is new to my program. Despite that, not only has he made himself at home, but he has made all the other students feel at home as well. He is our concert master (he's quite accomplished and was just accepted into the North Jersey Region Orchestra). The other students and I rely on him to help troubleshoot fingerings, instrument repair, interpretation, etc. I often ask him to demonstrate for the class, and he can be depended on to run efficient sectionals without my supervision. Auden is active in other activities as well, and is just an all-around great guy. A pleasure to have in class.

Niki Kalathur Grade 12, West Morris Mendham High School; Mendham; Nominated by Mary Daly Niki, a WMMHS senior, has also been in the WMMHS Orchestra for four years. She has been an outstanding member of our Select Strings as well. Nikita is also a fabulous section leader. I rely on Nikita to assist in perfecting the viola in all aspects of musicianship. I can rely on the viola section to know their material and perform with musical conviction. Nikita is a team player. She works toward the goal of improving not only her section but working with other string sections outside of class to make the selections the play together a cohesive musical experience.

Yoo Jin Kang Grade 8, Robert R. Lazar Middle School; Montville; Nominated by Janice Scharf Yoo Jin is an outstanding young lady who enjoys performing on her instrument, violin. She is a very dedicated orchestra student. She has been playing for only 5 years and is already performing at the level of a college student. But the real reason I would like to nominate her is because, for the past 3 years that I’ve taught her she has taken it upon herself to help others around her. She helps her partner with their music, she walks around beginning of class while I’m tuning and help with tuning -- even if it’s the string bass! I truly feel this is part of her nature to help others. She has helped accompany with the orchestra for piano too. This is my way of letting her know, I greatly appreciate what she does because it is way beyond what any other student would ever do. I also credit her parents with teaching her everyday values, to help people in general. We do need more people like Yoo Jin. Maeve Kelly Grade 8, Mountain View Middle School; Mendham; Nominated by Bradley McMurray Maeve is the most enthusiastic orchestra student. She is always excited to show me new pieces she starts and the progress she has made in the music we are working on. She studies cello privately and consistently shows good practice and rehearsal technique. Maeve switched to cello at the beginning of last year while continuing to play her previous instrument, the violin. She was able to catch up and exceed expectations while also continuing practice on her other instrument.

Andrew Madonna Grade 11, Delbarton School; Morristown; Nominated by Norma Davis Andrew is a Junior at Delbarton School where he is very actively involved in the music department.

Andrew has been a devoted member of the Delbarton Abbey Orchestra for the past three years. He

OUTSTANDING ORCHESTRA MEMBERS is an excellent double bass student who enjoys performing with other musicians and sharing his musical talent with the audience. During every rehearsal, Andrew is focused, hard-working, and enthusiastic. Andrew was selected for the NJSMA Region I High School Orchestra in 2017, 2018 and 2019. He earned the assistant principal bass chair in Region Orchestra this year, representing Delbarton School at the recent performance in Paramus. In addition to the Delbarton Abbey Orchestra, Andrew devotes many hours to playing the bass in the Pit Orchestra for the school musical each year. He is also a dedicated member of the school Jazz Ensemble, and he performs each spring at the Delbarton Arts Council Festival. Andrew is reliable, generous with his time, and demonstrates a deep passion for music. As a bass player, he brings depth, rhythmic intensity, energy and power to the sound of the group. His commitment to the school music program, excellent musicianship, and positive attitude make him a role model for his peers.

Patrick Martin Grade 12, West Morris Mendham High School; Mendham; Nominated by Mary Daly Patrick is a well rounded performer who has participated in the WMMHS Orchestra and the Select Strings Ensemble for four years. Patrick, a senior at Mendham High School, is our WMMHS Orchestra Concert Master. While Patrick certainly has the skill-set for orchestral music, he also shines in his ability to perform jazz, blues, and other alternative music forms. I introduced Dave Brubeck’s Rondo Ala Turk for strings arranged by Jeremy Cohen, to my Select Strings Ensemble.

Patrick came in for morning lessons and worked hard to get the rhythmic feel and phrasing of his demanding solo. Our Select String Ensemble performed this selection as three venues and each time they were enthusiastically received. In May of 2019, WMMHS Orchestra will be performing Louie Prima’s Sing Sing Sing. Patrick will be our violin soloist. I know he will do a fantastic job due to his passion and his commitment to excellence!

Matthew Mullen Grade 8, Ridgedale Middle School; Florham Park; Nominated by Mike Leone Matt began his time at Ridgedale Middle School as a member of our String Orchestra in sixth grade. It was quickly apparent that he had great musical talent. Music came to him naturally, and it showed in how quickly he grasped concepts and improved on his instrument. In the beginning of his eighth grade year, he decided to unveil his piano skills and joined our Jazz Ensemble as one of our pianists. This even further bolstered his standing as one of Ridgedale’s most gifted musicians and invaluable contributors to our program. Matt is not only a great musician, but he is also a respectful and kind student who is always polite to teachers, staff and other students.

Joanna Peters Grade 8, Randolph Middle School; Randolph; Nominated by Genevieve Sallemi Joanna Peters is an 8th grade student at Randolph Middle School and has been playing the violin since she was four years old. She is a member of the Randolph Middle School 8th grade orchestra and the select strings ensemble, Con Brio. She was selected to be the concertmaster of the NJ All State Intermediate Orchestra last year. A member of the New Jersey Youth Symphony, Joanna played at Stern Hall in Carnegie Hall. During the summer of 2017, she participated in the Summa Cum Laude International Music Festival in Vienna, where the New Jersey Youth Symphony was awarded first place. Along with the orchestra, she played at the Musikverein and the Muth in Vienna, as well as Bela Bartok National Concert Hall in Budapest. She is currently a member of the Mannes Prep program in New York City. Joanna loves music and aims to pursue a music-related career. At school, Joanna goes above and beyond to support her peers in orchestra, giving help where needed and always showing a positive attitude. She has stayed after school and come into class during lunch to practice and to help others learn their orchestra parts and new techniques and she is a shining example of how music can make a difference in everyone’s life.

Ian Zhang Grade 6, Black River Middle School; Chester; Nominated by Kenneth Piascik Ian Zhang is the definition of a well rounded, dedicated and talented musician. Mr. Zhang joined our music department in the 6th grade and has continued to develop our program above and beyond. His energy, positive attitude, helpfulness, leadership, and passion inspire us all. Not only is Mr. Zhang in the Orchestra, but he also participates in our Honors Music, “Encore” Jazz Ensemble, Theory Program, and is a member of the trombone section in our Symphonic Band. Where there is music in Black River, you will find Mr. Zhang close by.