Cafe Cabaret, a benefit concert for the Capital Singers of Trenton and the Trenton Community Singers, presents “Rhapsody in 2,” a cabaret showof Broadway tunes and standards performed by John Nanni and Christine Giglio Nanni, on Saturday, October 4, at 7 p.m., in the First Presbyterian Church of Plainsboro. $15 includes desserts and non-alcoholic beverages.##M:[more]##
The event was organized by Stan Szalewicz, the organist of the church and a Plainsboro resident. He has been playing the organ for 42 years, since he was 10. Prior to that he studied accordion for three years. He also plays piano, although he did not study formally until college and graduate school. “The instruments may seem very similar, but the technique necessary to play each well is very different,” he says.
Szalewicz studied church music through a cooperative program with St. Vincent College and Seton Hill College, both in Pennsylvania. He later pursued graduate studies in music theory and organ performance at West Virginia University but left sans degree to accept a full-time position as director of music at Immaculate Conception Church in Irwin, Pennsylvania, the largest congregation in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Greensburg.
“Over time, I regretted my decision not to complete the master’s degree program at WVU,” Szalewicz says. “So after working for the church for 10 years, I resigned my position to become a full-time student (Indiana University of Pennsylvania) once again.”
After being encouraged to consider a career in music librarianship, Szalewicz relocated to Bloomington, Indiana, to work toward a master of library science degree with specialization in music librarianship. He received his degree in late 1993 and accepted his first professional position as a cataloger of 78-rpm records of early jazz and blues at IU’s Archives of Traditional Music. He also held positions as a music cataloger at the Online Computer Library Center, in Dublin, Ohio, and the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County.
Szalewicz moved to Plainsboro 2001 for a position at Westminster’s Choir College’s Talbott Library, where he is now an associate professor-librarian. While his principal responsibility is the selection and cataloging of sound and video recordings that support Westminster’s curriculum, he is also the bibliographer for organ music and foreign language books. Szalewicz, who is single, accompanies the weekly choir rehearsal and plays one Sunday service. He also plays for weddings and memorial services as needed.
He has organized two other concerts at First Presbyterian. In June, 2005, Szalewicz hosted the Caritas Chamber Chorale, a mixed ensemble of voices performing a cappella music by composers from the Renaissance through the present.
Szalewicz, who has sung tenor with Caritas since its inception, is the chorale’s repertoire consultant.
The second concert at the church was held in conjunction with a celebration of Szalewicz’s 50th birthday in December, 2005. “I had considered a number of possible ways to mark that milestone birthday, but hosting a dinner party didn’t appeal to me,” he says. “I opted instead to present a concert of holiday music that featured a performance of ‘Brother Heinrich’s Christmas,’ a fable with music by John Rutter. Reverend Anita Milne, pastor of First Presbyterian, was the narrator. The program also included solo singing and carols sung by the audience. A candlelight dessert reception followed in the fellowship hall with seasonal music played by a harpist.”
John Nanni and Christine Giglio Nanni, who met in 1998 at singing camp in the Berkshire Mountains, married in 2000 and have been making music together ever since. They both sing with the Capital Singers of Trenton, while also serving on their executive board. Together they have performed with chorales in South Jersey, the Ocean City Pops, the Boheme Opera, and with an Off-Broadway cabaret ensemble.
Capital Singers of Trenton members include Szalewicz and Suzanne Kazi of Plainsboro. Trenton Community Singers include Jonathan Falzon and Michelle Marie of Plainsboro and Norm Bergstrom, Brenda Mihan, Susan Roszel, Clay Spence, and Sally Stillwell of West Windsor. All proceeds benefit the two choral groups.
— Lynn Miller
Rhapsody in 2, Capital Singers of Trenton, First Presbyterian Church of Plainsboro, 500 Plainsboro Road, Plainsboro, 609-208-2119. www.capitalsingers.org. $15 includes desserts. Saturday, October 4, 7 p.m.
