Fiddle-and-Fa-La-La-Fest to showcase El Sistema programs across NJ

Fiddle-and-Fa-La-La-Fest will bring together students from El Sistema-inspired music-instruction programs across New Jersey for a special performance on Saturday, June 7, at 1 pm at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC) in Newark. The student musicians of NJSO CHAMPS (Character, Achievement and Music Project) will perform with young musicians from the Union City Music Project, Paterson Music Project, Oakwood Avenue Project and Sister Cities Girlchoir.

The students in each program will perform a featured piece with their classmates; for the concert’s finale, all programs will combine for a special joint piece—a mash-up of Bob Marley’s “Three Little Birds” and Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy” arranged by David Rimelis specifically for this event.

Fiddle-and-Fa-La-La-Fest precedes the NJSO’s “Meet the Orchestra” family concert. NJSO Education & Community Engagement Conductor Jeffrey Grogan conducts Britten’s Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra, which highlights each section of the orchestra. Family series artist-in-residence Ben Steinfeld, a Broadway veteran and longtime NJSO audience favorite, narrates the Britten work and serves as concert host.

TICKETS
Fiddle-and-Fa-La-La-Fest is free to all ticketholders for the June 7 NJSO family concert. Concert tickets are $10 for children and $20 for adults, available for purchase online at www.njsymphony.org or by phone at 1.800.ALLEGRO (255.3476).

Learn more about the concert.

Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey sponsors the 2013–14 NJSO Family Series.