Father Alphonse And 48 Talented Musicians Return To UCPAC For Orchestra Of St Peter By The Sea
On Saturday, December 1st at 8:00 PM, the Orchestra of St. Peter by the Sea, led by accomplished conductor, Father Alphonse Stephenson, will be bringing holiday spirit and cheer once again to the Union County Performing Arts Center. This performance will be early on in the Orchestra's December tour of New Jersey, and it has become a yearly must-see show for dedicated fans at the center.
The orchestra consists of a strings section (violin, cello, bass, viola), a brass section (trumpet, trombone, horn, tuba), a woodwind section (flute, bassoon, clarinet, oboe), and a percussion section (drums, timpani, harp). When counted altogether, the 48 musicians, who are all members of the American Federation of Musicians, have attended 177 universities and colleges. They've studied for 750 years collectively, and have performed in 57,000 recitals and concerts. Their experience and hard work comes across in exceptional, stunning performances.
Father Alphonse Stephenson is no stranger to conducting. He's conducted over 3,000 performances of A Chorus Line on Broadway, received a Doctorate of Music from Monmouth University, and acted as a guest conductor for such big names as the Metro Lyric Opera, Key West Pops Orchestra, The Greater Palm Beach Symphony Orchestra, the Fresno Philharmonic, and the Delaware Valley Philharmonic. He was taught by Dr. Robert Abramson of the Julliard School and George Schick of the Metropolitan Opera, and his conducting debut was with another Metropolitan Opera member: bass soloist Paul Plishka. In 1975 Father Alphonse was ordained a Catholic priest for the Diocese of Paterson, and his first orchestra was formed while he was serving at St. Malachy's, the Actor's Chapel, in New York's Theater District. His other accomplishments include serving as an Air National Guard Assistant to the Air Force Chief of Chaplains at the Pentagon and as Chaplain, Brigadier General, and Director of the Joint Chaplaincy Staff at the National Guard Bureau.
The great cause behind the Orchestra of St. Peter is called the Cecelia Foundation, and it was founded by Father Alphonse himself in1987. The Cecelia Foundation is a not-for-profit 501(c)3 charitable organization that brings the Orchestra to Catholic schools within the tri-state area and gifts scholarships and professional-quality instruments to talented, hard working students pursuing music. It is funded by private contributors and the sale of Christmas recordings by music enthusiasts, the Paul F. Zito, M.D. Foundation, and of course, The Orchestra of St. Peter by the Sea.
Tickets for the Orchestra of St. Peter by the Sea are $27 and can be purchased online at ucpac.org, over the phone by calling (732) 499-8226, or by stopping by the box office in person. The Union County Performing Arts Center is located in downtown Rahway at 1601 Irving Street and is easily accessible to major roads and public transportation.
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