Gail Hsiu-Wen Lee of West Windsor will conduct a concert by the New Jersey All State Orchestra on Sunday, November 18, at 3 p.m., at New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark. They performed in the Atlantic City Boardwalk Hall on November 9.##M:[more]##
Musicians from High School North include Philip Yu and Katherine Lee on violin, Katherine Yang on double bass, and Yining Han on clarinet. High School South musicians include Charlene Seto and Diana Zhu on violin, and Dorothy Ahn on French horn.
The orchestra is performing Morton Gould’s Latin American Symphonette and Berlioz Symphonie Fantastique. They will also perform Triumphal March from Verdi’s Aida with the All State Chorus.
Lee was born in Taiwan, graduated from Rutgers University, and received a master’s degree in orchestral conducting from Northwestern. Past positions include assistant professor at Alfred University, conductor of the Alfred University Orchestra, and artistic director and conductor of the New Brunswick Chamber Orchestra.
Lee works extensively in North America, Europe, and Asia as a conductor. She has worked with Seattle Symphony, the Women’s Philharmonic (San Francisco), the National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra, the Kaohsuing City Symphony (Taiwan), the North Hungarian Symphony Orchestra, Miskolc (Hungary), the Filharmonie Hradec Kralove, the Janacek Filharmonie Ostrava, the Silesian Opera Theatre (Czech Republic), and the Varna State Philharmonie (Bulgaria).
She has a long relationship with the National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra, formerly known as Taiwan Symphony Orchestra. During her tenure there, she conducted numerous concerts of many genres including opera, ballet, and its Youth Festival Orchestra.
Lee is also artistic director and conductor of Sinfonietta, a group performing a free concert on Tuesday, November 20, at 8 p.m. at the Nicholas Music Center on the Douglass Campus in New Brunswick. Lee is engaged by New Jersey Music Educators Association this year to conduct the New Jersey All State Orchestra. She has been director of music ministries at the First Presbyterian Church of Dutch Neck since 2001.
Lee and her husband, Joseph Hetman, have lived in West Windsor since 2000 He has his own music-related endeavor, selling specialty lubricants for brass instruments. She is starting an orchestra called Sinfonietta Nova. The group will have its first concert in February. — Lynn Miller
All-State Orchestra and Chorus, New Jersey Performing Arts Center, Prudential Hall, Newark, 888-466-5722. www.njpac.org. Concert prsentd by New Jersey Music Educators Association features a 100-piece orchestra and a 350-voice chorus. $11. Sunday, November 18, 3 p.m.
