Joshua Suslak, who will soon graduate from High School South, will present his senior piano recital on Sunday, June 15, at 8 p.m. in Bristol Chapel on the Westminster Choir College of Rider University campus in Princeton. A reception follows. Free admission.##M:[more]##
His program will include Liszt’s Paraphrases on Rigoletto and Mephisto Waltz; Ravel’s Ondine; Chopin’s Etude Op.10, No. 4; Scriabin’s Nocturne for the Left Hand; and Prokofiev’s Satanic Apparition. He will be joined by the Mefisto Trio for some chamber works.
Suslak, pictured at right, a student at Westminster Conservatory since 2002, studied piano with Rita Shklar. He has been a recipient of numerous awards and top prizes at several prestigious competitions, including Eastman International Young Artists Competition.
He is a two-time winner of the New Jersey Music Teachers Association’s (NJMTA) Young Artist Fall State Competition and the Westminster Conservatory Concerto Competition. He has also been a winner of the Steinway Society Scholarship Competition, Westminster Conservatory Scholarship Competition, the Sixth Annual Cecilian Young Artist Competition, Golden Key Music and Arts Festival, American Fine Arts Festival Competition, and Rising Stars of New Jersey-Best Young Classical High School Musician.
Suslak was selected as the pianist for the New Jersey All-States Orchestra in 2005 and 2006. He also has been a recipient of high honors awards for the Spring NJMTA auditions from 1998 through 2007.
By the time he was 14, Joshua had given several performances in the major halls of New York, including Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall and Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall. He has also performed as a soloist with the Westminster Community Orchestra in Richardson Auditorium of Princeton University.
While enrolled in the Young Artist Program at Westminster Conservatory, he met two young musicians, violinist Evan Shieh and cellist Alan Chin, and they founded the Mefisto Trio. The group, which has been awarded high honors by the New Jersey Music Teachers Association, performed at Carnegie Hall in 2006 and presented recitals at Salon 33 and Bristol Chapel in Princeton.
Suslak is the piano accompanist for vocal students at the West Windsor-Plainsboro Community Education Department as well as the high school chorale and choir. He is a member of the philharmonic orchestra, a cappella groups, concert choir and chorale, jazz band, wind symphony, and symphonic band. He has been the student music director of the annual high school musical and served as the drum major and section leader of the marching band for four years.
For the past seven years he has also dedicated time to voluntarily perform at assisted living facilities and many township events, earning regional and national awards including the U.S. President’s Award for Community Service, the Prudential Spirit of Community Award, and the Trenton Times Jefferson Award.
This fall he will attend the Eastman School of Music at the University of Rochester, where he will study both music and the mathematical sciences.
Senior Recital, Westminster Choir College, Bristol Chapel, Princeton, 609-921-2663. Sunday, June 15, 8 p.m.
