The Young Event Planners, an all-volunteer teenage community service group, present “Music in March: Mozart and More,” a benefit concert on Saturday, March 10, at 3 p.m., at Westminster Choir College’s Bristol Chapel, and a reception in Thayer Lounge follows. Admission is free, although donations will be collected for Camp Quality and the Discovery Orchestra, two non-profit organizations based in New Jersey.
Camp Quality provides free camping experiences and year-round support programs for children with cancer and their families. The Discovery Orchestra aims to educate the general public through music educational experiences.
The concert includes solo and chamber works of Mozart, Chopin, Schumann, and Rachmaninoff, performed by the young award-winning musicians Carl Aquino, Mark de Guzman, Julian Edgren, Jake Fridkis, Sam Lavery, Saraswathi Shukla, Andrew Sun, Farshad Tahvildar-Zadeh, and Molly Zhu. Sun and Zhu are both West Windsor residents.
Zhu, a sixth grader at Community Middle School, began piano study at age four in Westminster Conservatory’s Emi Tokunaga’s Suzuki piano program. She has been studying with Larissa Korkina since 2004. Over the years she has received many awards and has already performed at Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center several times.
Beginning in 2002, she was a winner for three consecutive years in the Young People’s Piano Competition sponsored by International Concert Alliance and she performed in Cami Hall in the finalist recitals. In 2003, she received second place in the Young Artists’ Competition for piano sponsored by the New Jersey Music Teachers’ Association (NJMTA). In 2004 she took second place in the 10th Westminster Conservatory Concerto Competition.
In 2005, as a finalist for the piano competition sponsored by the Piano Teacher’s Society of America, she performed in Weill Recital Hall in Carnegie Hall, and in the Hurricane Katrina Relief Concerts at Drew University. She also won the piano competition in the American Fine Arts Festival and performed again in Carnegie Hall. She was awarded high honors in the spring recital audition and third place in Young Musicians Competition for piano sponsored by the NJMTA. She was awarded first place in the Cecilian Music Club Piano Competition and performed in Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center in the finalist recital.
In 2006, she was awarded a scholarship for her piano study in Westminster Conservatory. She took first place in the Piano Concerto Competition sponsored by the Westminster Conservatory and was also awarded high honors in the spring recital audition piano competition by NJMTA.
Andrew Sun, a sophomore at High School North, enjoys a varied musical life as a pianist and violinist. Playing piano since he was six, he also studies with Korkina. One of the winners at the American Fine Arts Festival in November, 2005, he performed his winning piece at Carnegie Hall. Studying violin as well since the fifth grade with Margaret Banks, he has served as concertmaster of the orchestra at his high school, and the Youth Orchestra of Central Jersey.
Sun actively uses his talent to serve the community by performing for residents at the Merwick Rehabilitation Center in Princeton and the Gables at West Windsor. He is also the piano accompanist for the Chin Yun Chorus.
The Young Event Planners, formed in 2006, have run a number of fundraisers in the past year. In November, they organized a concert and a high tea, raising more than $2,”000 for Camp Quality and the Newtown Chamber Orchestra.The following month, the Young Event Planners helped the Tewksbury Women’s Club run “Community of Light” to fund the Women’s Crisis Center.
Classical Music for Kids with Cancer, Young Event Planners, Westminster Choir College, Bristol Chapel, Princeton, 908-439-2023. Young musicians, who have previously showcased their talents at Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center, present solo and chamber works of Mozart, Chopin, Schumann, and Rachmaninoff. Donations invited. Saturday, March 10, 3 p.m.
