Students enjoy College Night at State Theatre
The NJSO held its third and final College Night of the 2013–14 season on Saturday, April 5, at the State Theatre in New Brunswick. Nearly 200 students from colleges and universities across the state and beyond joined the Orchestra for Verdi’s Requiem—which featured the Montclair State University Chorale—and a post-concert all-student party.
In addition to the MSU Chorale, students came from Rutgers University’s Mason Gross School of the Arts, Rutgers School of Arts & Sciences Honors Program, Rutgers Business School, New Jersey Institute of Technology, Kean University, New Jersey City University and Mercer County Community College. William Paterson University student audience members included brothers of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia music fraternity and their visiting fraternity brothers from Kutztown University in Pennsylvania.
The post-concert College Night party featured live entertainment by student performing groups. A piano trio from Rutgers University’s Mason Gross School of the Arts opened the event; Phi Mu Alpha brothers from William Paterson University, Kutztown University and MSU performed songs from the fraternity’s songbook.
The party also featured the NJSO’s first College Night game show, dubbed “Polyphonic Pairs.” The “Newlywed Game”-inspired contest pitted four pairs of contestants vying for the ultimate prize of a 2014–15 season Star-Ledger/nj.com Class Pass Unlimited for students.
Each pair—one college student and one NJSO musician—spent some time getting to know each other before the game started and their knowledge of their partners was put to the test. William Paterson student Tim Malone and his partner, NJSO clarinetist Andrew Lamy, were ultimately victorious over their opponents: Angel Liu (Mason Gross) and NJSO Principal Cello Jonathan Spitz, Chris Mason (William Paterson) and NJSO Assistant Principal Viola Elzbieta Weyman, and William Smith (Kutztown) and NJSO Assistant Principal Cello Stephen Fang.
NJSO Music Director Jacques Lacombe welcomed students to the party and introduced the Requiem’s four vocal soloists and MSU Chorale Director Heather Buchanan.