AVALON — The Bay-Atlantic String Quartet will present a free concert of chamber music masterpieces by Franz Schubert, Franz Joseph Haydn, and Antonín Dvořák on Sept. 14, at 7 p.m., at the Avalon Elementary School, 235 32nd St., Avalon, NJ.
The ensemble will perform Schubert’s Quartettsatz in C minor, D.703, the beautiful first movement of his unfinished String Quartet No. 12; Haydn’s String Quartet in G Major, Op. 77, No. 1, one of the composer’s last string quartets and one that looks ahead to the music of Beethoven; and Dvořák’s String Quartet No. 12 in F major, Op. 96, “American,” a rich blend of the musical style of the composer’s native Bohemia and American folk idioms.
The members of the Bay-Atlantic String Quartet are violinists Ruotao Mao and Nancy Jan, violist Ana Tsinadze, and cellist Jie Jin. In addition to being elite string players in the Bay-Atlantic Symphony, they have performed as soloists and as members of ensembles and orchestras in this country and abroad.
Seating will be on a first-come, first-served basis. No tickets will be required.
For more information, call the Bay-Atlantic Symphony office at (856) 451-1169, visit the Symphony’s website at www.bayatlanticsymphony.org, or visit them on Facebook.
Violinist Ruotao Mao, a native of Beijing. China, serves as the concertmaster of the Delaware Valley Philharmonic Orchestra, Riverside Symphonia, and Edison Symphony Orchestra, in addition to that same post in the Bay-Atlantic Symphony. He has appeared as soloist with a number of orchestras in the New York/New Jersey area, including the Bay-Atlantic Symphony. He is also one of the founding members of the former Beijing Piano Quartet and of the highly-acclaimed Amabile String Quartet, the quartet-in-residence at Rutgers University.
Violinist Nancy Jan has been the associate concertmaster of the Bay-Atlantic Symphony since 2000. She is an active chamber and orchestral musician in the South Jersey and Greater Philadelphia area, having performed in the Reading Symphony, the Harrisburg Symphony, the Delaware Symphony, Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, the Opera Company of Philadelphia, the Philly Pops, Orchestra 2001, Vox Amadeus, and the Salute to Vienna Orchestra. In 2012, she recorded two musical compositions never yet recorded—Robert Russell Bennett’s Water Music (1932), and String Quartet (1956) with the members of the Bay-Atlantic Symphony.
Ana Tsinadze, from Tbilisi, Republic of Georgia, she performed as a soloist with the State Symphony Orchestra there and was offered assistant principal positions with the State Symphony Orchestra and the Tbilisi Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra. After coming to the United States in 1995, she joined the Honors String Quartet at Rowan University in Glassboro, NJ. She is a former member of the Serafin String Quartet and is an active teacher. Her performances were showcased by WXPN Radio and are on the Centaur label.
Cellist Jie Jin has performed with the Cleveland Orchestra, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Houston Symphony Orchestra, and the New World Symphony, and has held principal cello positions with the National Repertoire Orchestra, Mansfield Symphony Orchestra, and the orchestras of the Cleveland Institute of Music and Shepherd School of Music at Rice University. She has also been invited to numerous music festivals in this country and abroad. In addition to her principal position with the Bay-Atlantic Symphony, Jin performs with the Baltimore Chamber Orchestra, Delaware and Harrisburg Symphony Orchestras, and the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia. She is also the cellist of the Pyxis Piano Quartet, the ensemble-in-residence at the Delaware Art Museum.
Now entering its 30th year, the Bay-Atlantic Symphony is praised for its astonishing level of artistry and precision and is also viewed throughout New Jersey as a model for how professional orchestras can become a vital focus and source of identity in their communities.
The Bay-Atlantic Symphony is the resident orchestra of the Stockton College Performing Arts Center and the Guaracini Fine and Performing Arts Center at Cumberland County College, as well as being the orchestra-in-residence at the Cape May Music Festival since 2003. Avalon is the summer home of the Symphony, which is orchestra-in-residence of the resort’s “Symphony By The Sea” series.
The Symphony has received worldwide exposure through its appearances on National Public Radio’s Weekend Edition, Voice of America, and WWFM’s Celebrating our Musical Community. Their first commercial label recording, of She Comes to Shore–concerto for improvised piano and orchestra by the contemporary Hong Kong-born, Canadian-based composer and pianist Lee Pui Ming, was recorded Aug. 2010 and is available on the Innova label, distributed by Naxos.
This summer, the Bay-Atlantic Symphony inaugurated this year a five-concert classical summer series at the Music Box at Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa, in Atlantic City, NJ.
The Symphony will present its 2013-14 gala spectacular season opener—Live and Let Die: A Symphonic Tribute to the Music of Paul McCartney on Sept. 22, at 3 p.m., at the Borgata.