NMS Students To Perform With Alexander String Quartet

Newtown Middle School music students have been practicing this week with retired Sandy Hook School teacher Cheryl Edelen and string instructor Keith Hedin for the upcoming Friends of Music outreach program with the Alexander String Quartet.

The students will perform a few Beethoven pieces in a public performance at The Homesteads of Newtown in a Monday, April 30, afternoon concert with the Quartet. The concert will begin at 1 pm.

Friends of the Music Outreach Program provides three kinds of opportunities for student musicians through student preparation, attendance at concerts, and visits by artists.

Ms Edelen prepared an interactive lesson for the middle school students to experience the life and works of composer Ludwig van Beethoven. Mr Hedin is helping the students learn a short piece by Beethoven while explaining the difference between orchestral music making and the art of string quartet playing.

The Alexander String Quartet has been playing together since 1981. The Quartet will perform on Sunday, April 29, at Edmond Town Hall at 3 pm in an all Beethoven program. Tickets are $14, $12 for students and seniors.

“We are delighted that we are able to bring this exceptional group to the schools,” Ellen Parrella, president of the Newtown Friends of Music, said. “We plan to continue the Outreach Program during our 2001-2002 season.”

Sixth, seventh, and eighth graders will have the time to learn about honing their skills and about the dedication, professionalism, and exuberance that professional musicians have to exhibit every time they give a live performance. The students will hear the Quartet explain and demonstrate their music. They will be able to question and interact with a respected, established, world renowned string quartet.

This is the second Outreach Program the Newtown Friends of Music have sponsored this year. High school students were able to work and perform with the Ying Quartet earlier this year.

“We’re very proud that, building on our long history of providing affordable, professional concerts, we are able to extend our efforts to these outreach programs,” Ms Parrella said. “The first Outreach Program, last November, at the high school, was such a success with both students and faculty that we have been asked to repeat the exercise. We feel very strongly that the benefit to the young people is of incalculable value and we shall endeavor to make it possible to repeat the program.”

A small group of middle school students will perform on Monday, April 30, at 1 pm with the Alexander String Quartet. The Quartet will perform this Sunday at 3 pm at Edmond Town Hall. For more information call 203-426-6470.