
Five talented music students from South Middle School have been selected to perform at the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center Young Ensembles Concert on Thursday, May 26, at 11 a.m.
Pianists Eugene Hong and Benjamin Rossen will perform Wolfgang A. Mozart’s Sonata for Two Pianos in D Major, K.448 (First Movement). The ensemble of Jeffrey Ma, oboe; Christiana Claus, flute; and Michelle Foo, oboe, will perform Johann Joseph Fux’s Sinfonia in F Major for Flute, Oboe and Keyboard (IV. Allegro).
“Chamber music is pure collaboration, teaching our students to listen to each other’s ideas and direction,” said Alan Schwartz, South Middle music department chair. “The teacher’s role is purely to act as a moderator. The students are the ones who deserve the credit for their product. They must learn the art of self-assessment, self-reflection and compromise in order to achieve the highest level of mastery.”
This marks the eighth year in a row that South Middle students have been selected for the prestigious Young Ensembles Concert. Out of the many submissions from the tristate area, only eight chamber music groups were selected to perform.
The Young Ensembles Program is an opportunity for advanced middle school musicians to perform among selected chamber ensembles and to receive coaching from professional musicians involved with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. Chamber ensembles considered for this opportunity spend numerous hours preparing a chamber piece, recording it and submitting an application through their school’s music department.