NJSO duo performs for summer-camp students

By Alex Klaassen

NJSO musicians Jonathan and Francine Storck walked in to the Freedom School summer camp at Bethany Baptist Church holding a bass and a violin, respectively. As they began to play, heads turned, and one girl’s foot started to tap.

For the 50 students from kindergarten to fifth grade, the two musicians played an assortment of multicultural songs with a focus on dance in a chamber music performance earlier this summer. These diverse works included songs from Austria, Cuba, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Japan, the Middle East, Russia and the United States. The repertoire included Johann Strauss’ “Pizzicato Polka” and “Vienna Life,” Tchaikovsky’s “Dance of the Little Swans,” a Bach minuet, Scottish reel, Irish jig, Cuban traditional “El Chaleco,” tango from Argentina, some ragtime music, Offenbach’s “Can-Can” and the Italian traditional “Tarantella.”

The “International Dance Party” is just one of the NJSO’s varied REACH (Resources for Education And Community Harmony) chamber music programs, which provide children and adults alike an opportunity to interact with NJSO musicians and learn more about classical music up close and personal in settings as diverse as schools, churches, libraries, senior centers and hospitals.

The NJSO has a long history with Bethany Baptist Church; the Orchestra collaborated with the church’s choir for a block party at NJPAC three years ago, has held the Greater Newark Youth Orchestras’ last two chamber music concerts there and has sent REACH string quartets to perform at the church’s Jazz Vespers and the Dodge Poetry Festival. This fall, the NJSO will feature Geri Allen, a well-known jazz pianist and Bethany member, on its opening-weekend concert program.

At the end of the July 30 performance, the musicians held a Q&A—which turned out to be even livelier than the concert. Hands flew in the air as children asked questions such as “What do you like to listen to?” “What do you like to play?” “When did you start playing?” and “What instruments do you play?” For Jonathan, Francine and other NJSO musicians who regularly perform REACH concerts, the kids’ interest not only in the cultures represented but also in the mechanics of music is all part of REACH’s goal of bringing classical music to communities across the state.

Learn more about local REACH programs.

Alex Klaassen is the NJSO’s summer communications intern.