Tramm to Conduct the Adelphi Orchestra in Ocean Grove's 'Grace and Peace'

Jason C. Tramm will conduct New Jersey's Adelphi Orchestra, organ virtuoso Gordon Turk, featured soloists Soprano Monica Ziglar, Mezzo-Soprano Martha Bartz, Tenor Ronald Naldi and Bass Justin Beck with the 100 member Great Auditorium Choir in works by Leonard Bernstein, Felix Mendelssohn, and Antonio Vivaldi on Sunday August 23 at 7PM at The Great Auditorium, Ocean Grove, New Jersey.

While the music performed in "Grace and Peace" is written by composers of different eras and entirely different backgrounds, Tramm, who is Director of Music at Ocean Grove, was struck by the composers' common expression of the "human need for peace in an uncertain and often chaotic world. "The prayer for peace echoed by these composers is just as needed today as it was when Vivaldi penned his Gloria in the first decades of the 1700's" said Tramm.

The evening's program features three works whose texts are inspired by prayer or scripture in an invocation of peace. Tramm's selections include Felix Mendelssohn's eloquent 1831 piece Verleih uns Frieden gnädiglich, the text of which is Martin Luther's prayer "Mercifully grant us peace, Lord God, in our time." Luther's prayer was a German translation of the Latin prayer "Dona nobis pacem" written at the time Reformation in the vernacular with the intent of empowering the everyday man in his spiritual journey.

The second piece, Antonio Vivaldi's 1715 Gloria, takes a prayer central to three different liturgical rituals spanning the first three centuries AD. "Gloria in excelsis" was featured in the Syrian version of the Nestorian Liturgy as well as the Greek version from the Byzantine liturgy and became most visible to western civilization as a result of the Latin Vulgate version which led to its incorporation in the Ordinary of the Roman Catholic Mass. The words are taken from the New Testament's account of the angels' message to the mankind at the birth of Christ, "Glory to God in the highest, and peace to men of goodwill."

The third work of the program is Leonard Bernstein's Chichester Psalms. Bernstein composed the piece in 1965 while on sabbatical from his post as Music Director of the New York Philharmonic. "This period in Bernstein's life reflects the composers' struggles with his own world view consequent to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, and the growing tensions and conflicts in the young state of Israel" said Tramm. The text of Chichester Psalms is written in Hebrew, a clear indication that Bernstein intended the work be performed in original language of the Old Testament's Psalms 100, 101, 23, 133 and 131 which are incorporated in his composition. From the work's opening musical motive, the music and text combine in a visionary plea for reconciliation and unity throughout the world before concluding in a final Amen.

Inspired by Leonard Bernstein's artistic mandate "This will be our reply to violence: to make music more intensely, more beautifully, more devotedly than ever before, " Grace and Peace is the second concert in Tramm's 2015 Peace Trilogy performances designed to underscore humanity's universal connection through music. The first concert in the trilogy, "Prince of Peace," took place at Ocean Grove's 61st Annual Choir Festival Sunday July 12th. "A Prayer for Peace" the third concert of the series, a joint venture of the MidAtlantic Opera and Seton Hall University, will take place on October 17th at Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage Carnegie Hall.

Jason C. Tramm has held the podium at Ocean Grove as Director of Music for nine seasons. Sacred music has been central to his career from a very early age, beginning as a boy soprano soloist. Featured in Symphony Magazine's 2012 Issue of Emerging Artists and hailed as a conductor to watch, he is recognized as one of the most dynamic young conductors on the podium today. In 2013, Maestro Tramm was appointed as the Artistic Director/Principal Conductor of the Mid Atlantic Opera, with whom he will make his Carnegie Hall debut on Oct. 17, 2015 in a program entitled " A Prayer for Peace." From 2008-2012 he served as Artistic Director of the New Jersey State Opera, receiving wide audience and critical acclaim. Maestro Tramm was named Artistic Advisor and Conductor of the Adelphi Orchestra.

Tramm currently serves as Assistant Professor and Director of Choral Activities, College of Communication and the Arts at Seton Hall University where he directs the University Chorus, Chamber Choir, and the University Orchestra and teaches courses in performance and music education. In 2003, he joined the ranks of Metropolitan Opera stars Renée Fleming and Stephanie Blythe when he was honored with the Rising Star Award from the SUNY Potsdam Alumni Association. A frequent guest conductor, Maestro Tramm has led operatic and symphonic performances in Italy, Romania, Albania, and Hungary.