NHS Student To Offer Classical

Guitar Recital January 8

Newtown High School Junior Yossi Kohrman-Glaser will perform a classical guitar recital on Sunday, January 8, at 2 pm, at St John’s Episcopal Church, 5 Washington Avenue in Sandy Hook. The performance, he told Newtown Bee Education Editor Eliza Hallabeck recently, will be the culmination of his NHS Junior/Senior Project course.

“I wanted an opportunity to share classical guitar with the community,” said Yossi, who said the recital came together after he learned about the NHS course, which allows students to choose a topic to study and establish a project for the topic.

The event is free and open to the public. Attendees are being asked to bring non-perishable food donations for FAITH Food Pantry, which is situated in the basement of the church. Although located at St John’s, the non-ecumenical pantry is open to all residents of Newtown.

The 16-year-old has been playing guitar since he was 5 years old.

The recital was created based on the concept of college seniors performing recitals as the end product of their studies. The performance will offer a coherent mix of classical music that will build up as the event unfolds, said the young performer.

Along with studying classical guitar with Andrew LaFreniere at the Suzuki Talent Education School, Yossi has also studied with nationally acclaimed performing artist Jason Vieaux.

Yossi also took first place in the 2009 Guitar Foundation of America’s International Youth Competition, and at 12 years old he was a soloist with Danbury Symphony Orchestra. He has also been playing piano since he was 4 years old, and studies piano with Patricia Lanes.

He has been composing his own music since kindergarten and has composed for piano, classical guitar, recorder, string quartet and symphonic orchestra.

Newtown Bee readers may recognize his name from a number of 2011 special events he was involved in, beginning with participation in the second annual Little House That Roared, a special event in March that featured Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter Tom Chapin and local rising young stars; being  the featured guest in June when Congregation Adath Israel kicked off a series called The Little House That Roared Coffee House, and even continuing in December when he was one of the featured musicians during the Annual Newtown Holiday Festival.

Snow date for the classical guitar recital is January 15.

For additional information, or if the weather is questionable on January 8, call 203-426-3112.