Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association to Present FRENCH CONNECTION Classical Recital Featuring All French Composers

Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association will present "French Connection," a classical concert featuring French composers, performed by Merynda Adams (harp), Byung Kook Kwak(violin) and members of the Solisti Ensemble, on Thursday, July 28 (7:30 pm) at the Great Auditorium. Tickets are $17.50 and can be ordered online at www.oceangrove.org/stars. The Great Auditorium is located at Pilgrim and Ocean Pathways in Ocean Grove NJ. All facilities are handicapped accessible.

"French Connection" will offer selections by French composers, including Claude Debussy, Maurice Ravel, Gabriel Faure, Camille Saint-Saëns, Guy Ropartz and Marcel Grandjany.

The performers are harpist Merynda Adams, Byung Kook Kwak (Violin), Christine Kwak (Violin), Andy Lin (Viola) and Nan-Cheng Che (Cello.)

Order of Program

(Subject to Change)

Debussy's String Quartet in G Minor (1st Movement)

Ravel's String Quartet in F Major (1st Movement)

Debussy's "Arabesque" #1 for Solo Harp

Granjany's Aria in Classical Style for Harp and Strings

Debussy's "Danse sacrée and Danse profane" for Harp and Strings

Saint-Saëns' "Fantaise in A Major for Harp and Violin

Ropartz' Prelude Marine et Chanson for Harp and Strings

Faure's "Sicilienne" Opus 78 for Harp and Cello

Debussy's "En Bateau" for Harp and Violin

Performers Bios

Merynda Adams (Harp) has been described by the Newark Star-Ledger as "having played the harp with color and great facility," and a NY Times review stated: "Those four Irish tunes, delicately accompanied...by harpist Merynda Adams, were the highlight of the night." Performances have taken her to London, France, Belgium, The Netherlands, Canada, Puerto Rico and throughout the United States appearing in Carnegie Hall, Avery Fisher Hall, Off-Broadway in "The Fantasticks," St. Patrick's Cathedral, NYC, the Celtic Woman tour and for Eddie Murphy, Andrea Bocelli and Beverly Sills. She has performed with the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, New York Grand Opera, New Philharmonic, Lyrica Chamber Music, Northeastern Philharmonic, Colonial Symphony, Westfield Symphony, NJ Festival Orchestra and Lake Placid Symphonietta as well as weekly at Chilton Medical Center. Ms. Adams is a 1994 winner of the Artists International Competition and the Goldblatt Award. She holds a Bachelors Degree in Harp Performance from the Manhattan School of Music, has studied at the Hilversums Conservatorium in the Netherlands and performed in masterclasses in Paris and Nice, France.

Byung-Kook Kwak (Violin) enjoys a versatile career as a soloist, chamber musician, and educator. At a recent performance, he was described by Anthony Tomassini of The New York Times as "A distinguished artist." "The violinist Byung-kook Kwak brought warm, penetrating sound and tasteful expressivity to Mendelssohn's violin concerto."

Byung has received critical acclaim for his performances with orchestras such as Baltimore Symphony, Atlanta Symphony, American Symphony, and the Los Angeles Chamber Symphony. In Europe, he has appeared as a soloist with Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra, Cologne Radio Orchestra, Bamberger Symphony, Rotterdam Philharmonic, and French National Orchestra. An active chamber musician, Mr. Kwak is a member of the Sea Cliff Chamber Players. He is also very active as a concertmaster and appears in that capacity with virtually every major symphony orchestra around the Metropolitan New York area. He has been an assistant to Aaron Rosand at Mannes College of Music for ten years, and he is currently a faculty member at Manhattan School of Music Pre-College, Lehman College, Queens College, Westchester Conservatory of Music, and chairman of strings at Jewish Academy of Fine Arts.

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