American folk music and traditional European classical music will be featured works of the Princeton String Academy’s annual spring concert on Friday, March 12, at 7 p.m. The free concert is at the First Presbyterian Church of Dutch Neck, 154 South Mill Road in West Windsor.
On the program for the violin and viola chamber ensembles are “Canon in D” by Johann Pachelbel, “Gavotte” by J. S. Bach, and the “Viola Concerto in G Major” by G. P. Telemann. Also on the program will be a variety of popular American hoedowns, including “Orange Blossom Special,” “Popcorn Party,” and “Boil Them Cabbages Down.”
The Academy’s class of 2004 — students ages three to six who began lessons in September, 2003 — will have their debut with a variation on the first work composed by W.A. Mozart, “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star.”
Music director Paul Manulik of West Windsor offers violin and viola instruction to students as young as three to adults at the Princeton String Academy, a private school founded in 2000, which has an enrollment of approximately 50 students. Using the Suzuki Method, students study in both private lessons and weekly group class.
Manulik was born in Kenosha, Wisconsin, and began to play the violin when he was ten. In college, he switched to the viola and holds a master’s degree in viola performance from University of Iowa. His bachelor’s degree is from the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee.
Manulik, and his wife, D’Anne Hotchkiss, who have two grown daughters, moved to West Windsor from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, three years ago. Hotchkiss runs a public relations agency, Ellsworth Kaye, and treats Princeton String Academy as she would any other client.
Manulik’s family is a musical one — his brother plays the string bass, and his sister the cello and piano. His daughters play the violin and cello and all of their cousins play musical instruments.
One of the Academy’s students, Jeffrey Kuan of West Windsor, recently won a statewide audition for the Sylvia and Jacob Handler Violin Masterclass music workshop. He will be one of eight students who will perform on Monday, March 8, in a workshop by concert artist Todd Phillips in Tenafly. Kuan, the son of Lihua Yeh and Chikuang Kuan, both natives of Taiwan, is a second grade student at Maurice Hawk Elementary School.
Jeffrey began playing the violin, 1/8 size, when he was four years old. He is now playing on a 1/4 size instrument. He studies writing, swimming, and drawing after school and is also a student at Kumon.
His brother, Jonathan, studies the viola at the Academy, and he is a fourth grade student at Village School. Because the music school teaches the Suzuki method, a parent is required to go to lessons and learn along with the child. The boys’ father, who had never studied music before, is learning along with them.
Chikuang Kuan, a graduate student at Temple University, is writing his dissertation to obtain his Ph.D. in finance. His wife, Lihua Yeh, is a programmer in New York City.
A reception follows the concert. For information about the school or the concert, call 609-987-1013 or visit www.stringacademy.net.
