This concert is dedicated to the memory of Anna

Drago

(1934–2022)

New Jersey Symphony Trustee and Amadeus Circle Leader

“Imagine life without music—I know I couldn’t. The New Jersey Symphony has been enriching my life [since the 1970s]. I’ve been a loyal and devoted supporter for all this time, not only because of my love for music, but because I know that this oustanding symphony orchestra is crucial to the vitality of New Jersey—and the quality of life and sense of self-worth of its citizens. . . .” —Anna

Drago

Today, we celebrate the life and legacy of a remarkable woman and friend to the New Jersey Symphony Youth Orchestra—Anna Drago.

Anna gave so much to the Symphony in so many ways—as a trustee, volunteer, educator, advocate, audience member and donor. She was particularly committed to supporting the musicians of the orchestra and the students participating in our education programs.

Over five decades, Anna devoted her time, talents and treasure to a variety of programs, including the Young Artist Auditions student concerto competition and the Central New Jersey Friends of the NJSO volunteer league. Her contributions were recognized when she was named Symphony Volunteer of the Year in 2004. Most recently, Anna made a major commitment to endow the Artistic Director chair of the New Jersey Symphony Youth Orchestra.

This free-spirited, strong-minded, caring, and supportive wife, mother, grandmother, and friend will be deeply missed.

About the artists

José Luis Domínguez is a prominent talent on international orchestral and operatic stages. His conducting is described as “unrivaled, magnificent and with exemplary gesturing” (El Mercurio), and he frequents prominent stages across the globe.

He serves as artistic director of the New Jersey Symphony Youth Orchestra, music director of the Bucks County Symphony Orchestra and as adjunct conducting faculty/artist-inresidence at Temple University-Boyer College of Music. He is a regular guest conductor with the Opéra Saint-Étienne and New Jersey Symphony and is artistic director of the Musical Encounters International Music Festival in La Serena, Chile.

The Library of Congress has selected Domínguez’s Gratias Tibi for physically distanced orchestra and choir, a New Jersey Symphony commission, for inclusion in its collection of works created in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Other commissions include the ballet La Casa de Los Espíritus (The House of Spirits); Domínguez conducted its acclaimed 2019 premiere at the Municipal de Santiago-Ópera Nacional de Chile with the Ballet de Santiago and Orquesta Filarmónica de Santiago. His Concerto for Oboe premiered in 2020 with Jorge Pinzón and the Orquesta Filarmónica de Bogotá in Colombia to critical acclaim.

Notable conducting engagements include the Buenos Aires Philharmonic Orchestra, Frutillar Musical Weeks at Teatro del Lago, Houston Symphony, National Symphony Orchestra of Colombia, Staatsoper Orchester de Braunschweig in Germany and Symphony Orchestra of the Principality of Asturias in Spain. Domínguez has collaborated with Renée Fleming, Andrés Diaz, Ray Chen, Sergio Tiempo, Ai Nihira, Verónica

Villarroel, Luciana D’Intino, Woo-Yun Kim and Daniel Binelli. He has released critically acclaimed Naxos recordings of his own, The Legend of Joaquín Murieta and the music of Enrique Soro with the Orquesta Sinfónica de Chile.

A member of the New Jersey Symphony since 1991, violist Henry Kao occasionally also performs with the orchestra as a violinist. He received bachelor’s and master’s degrees in violin performance from the Manhattan School of Music, where he studied with Raphael Bronstein and Ariana Bronne; he earned a Professional Studies Certificate in viola performance from the Mannes College of Music under Sol Greitzer’s tutelage. He attended both the Manhattan School and the Mannes College as a full scholarship student.

In addition to his activities as a member of the New Jersey Symphony, Kao has performed as principal violist in the New York City Opera’s National Company, as well as several Broadway musicals. Kao was the founding conductor of the Greater Newark Chamber Orchestra, now the Chamber Orchestra of the New Jersey Symphony Youth Orchestra, and he continues to serve in that position today. He has taught masterclasses for Rutgers’ Mason Gross School of the Arts summer music program.

Kao teaches privately, coaches chamber music groups and performs both solo and chamber music across the tristate area. Many of Kao’s students have gone on to attend music conservatories, and others have been principals in youth orchestras across New Jersey. Kao considers educating the next generation to be one of his greatest passions in life.

A native of Westchester County, New York, violinist Naomi Youngstein attended the Manhattan School of Music Precollege Division and later received bachelor’s and master’s degrees in violin performance from the school. As a student of Burton Kaplan, Youngstein won the school’s concerto competition and the Ravel Academie competition, for which she was awarded a trip to France to attend master classes at the Ravel Academie. While a student at the Manhattan School, she performed with the school’s orchestra (as concertmaster) and the Manhattan Contemporary Ensemble. Youngstein attended the National Repertory Orchestra festival for two seasons; in her second season with the ensemble, she was assistant concertmaster and performed a concerto with the orchestra.

Youngstein is first violinist and assistant personnel manager of the New Jersey Symphony. She serves as leader of the New Jersey Symphony Youth Orchestra String Ensemble, violin coach for the Academy Orchestra and is a mentor and teacher in the Coach-in-Residence Program. She has taught at the Thurnauer School of Music of the Jewish Community Center in Tenafly and at Rutgers Prep School, and she has coached for the New Jersey Youth Symphony. Recently she has led a series of workshops at the Wharton School of Music on “How to Practice.” For several years she has been a chamber music coach and instrumental class leader at the American String Teachers Association (ASTA) summer Chamber Music Institute at Rutgers University, and she is the current treasurer of ASTA NJ. She teaches violin privately at her home studio in West Orange. ***

Terrence Thornhill is the Assistant Conductor & Curriculum Specialist for the New Jersey Symphony Youth Orchestras, working closely with Artistic Director José Luis Domínguez.

Thornhill also serves as the instrumental music director at Kent Place School in Summit.

Thornhill earned his bachelor’s degree in music education at Montclair State University, studying cello with Nicholas Tzavaras, cellist of the Shanghai Quartet. He received his master’s degree in cello performance from SUNY Purchase College, studying cello with Julia Lichten, cellist of the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra. He also studied conducting with Ken Lam, conductor of the Charleston Symphony and Illinois Symphony Orchestra.

As an educator, Thornhill maintains a diverse private cello studio in the New York metro area, teaching students from young children to adults. In addition to his private studio, He is the conductor of the Varsity Youth Orchestra, JCC String Camerata and Harambee Chamber Orchestra, which is dedicated to performing work by underrepresented composers, specifically composers of color and women, while raising money for community passion projects. Thornhill is an original teaching artist and lead conductor for the Paterson Music Project, an El Sistema program serving over 250 students in Paterson, and the lead conductor at the Opportunity Music Project, which serves El Sistema students in New York City.

Thornhill’s credits include the inaugural John J. Cali School of Music Alumni Achievement Award in 2018. The same year, Thornhill was selected for the faculty at the Youth Orchestras of Los Angeles National El Sistema Festival sponsored by the Los Angeles Philharmonic. He also maintains a busy career as a performer, most recently in the Broadway musical Hadestown.