String quartet a warm-up for NPAC gala

For me, this entire season of music and performing arts has been leading up to our big gala celebration on April 1 with The Boston Pops Esplanade Orchestra and Bernadette Peters at the Niswonger Performing Arts Center.

This past Saturday night, we presented Broadway & Beyond and it was a magnificent program featuring J. Mark McVey and Heartland Sings.  I could not have been more pleased with the final product we were entertained with Saturday night.

This Sunday afternoon, we are very fortunate to witness and hear three outstanding string players from the Detroit Symphony Orchestra.  The Detroit Symphony Orchestra String Trio, comprised of the principal violinist, violist, and cellist from that respected orchestra will be giving a recital concert at the First Presbyterian Church in Van Wert.  It starts at 3 p.m. and is free and open to the public as part of The Van Wert County Foundation Sanctuary Music Series.

A friend of mine I play with in the Lima Symphony who is now working on his Doctorate of Music degree at the University of Toronto, asked if I could find a performance venue for this talented trio. We don’t get the opportunity very often to hear world-class string players in our neck of the woods. It has been since the early 1970s when string instruments were even taught in our schools around here.

It is interesting however, that there is still an interest by many in our area to learn how to play a string instrument.  I often get asked if I know a string teacher who they could learn from.  Well, if you ever wanted to be inspired by some of the best, this Sunday is your chance.  Cellist Wei Yu, violinist Yooshin Song (what an appropriate last name!), and violist Eric Nowlin comprise this talented trio.  Their credentials are world-class.

I invite you to enjoy an afternoon of Classical string music at First Presbyterian Church this Sunday at 3 p.m.  We thank the Presbyterian Church for playing host to this special engagement.

Broadway & Beyond got you in the mood for Broadway music and the Detroit Trio will get you in the mood for The Boston Pops.  Someone asked me last Saturday night if the Gala concert could top this.  My thought was, if you liked five string instruments playing backup to a Broadway singer, just imagine what a whole orchestra will sound like backing up Bernadette Peters.  In The Boston Pops Orchestra, you will hear full string sections filled with players like the three who will play this Sunday at First Presby.  There will be nothing like it!

The Boston Pops Esplanade Orchestra rarely tours the Midwest.  We are so fortunate to have them in the area, let alone to have them right here in our city of Van Wert, Ohio.  We have a few tickets remaining for our Gala concert as well as our After-glow at the Wassenberg Art Center following the concert.  I sincerely hope you can join us as we celebrate “Ten Years of Wow” at the Niswonger Performing Arts Center.

Until then, we have provided and will continue to provide smaller snippets of what you will be in store for on April 1.

London, Kansas City, Missouri, Chicago, Illinois, Indianapolis, Indiana: these are some of the other places you might see and hear the concerts we have in Van Wert. Save yourself some travel and money and catch them here in your own backyard!

FINÉ.