[IMMERSIVE EXPERIENCE] Voices from the Arctic at First United Methodist Church Westfield

Maestro Wroe is Music Director of the New Jersey Festival Orchestra, Principal Conductor at Phoenicia International Festival of the Voice in New York, and a frequent conductor of L’Orchestre Régional de Normandie in France. From 2000-2014 he was a regular conductor with New York City Opera, leading and assisting in numerous productions. Orchestras conducted include the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Saint Louis Symphony, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, L’Orchestre National de Lille, Opera de Toulon, New Jersey Symphony L’Ensemble de Paris, Symphony Nova Scotia, Kansas City Symphony, Santa Fe Symphony, New York City Ballet, Neue Brandenberg Symphony, L’Orchestra Lamoureux with cellist Mstislav Rostropovitch, Opera de Toulon, Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, Das Loh-Orchester Sondershausen, Philharmonische Orchester der Stadt Heidelberg, Delaware, Harrisburg, Huntsville, De Moines Symphony, and numerous tours of Western Austria with Vorarlberg Symphony and at the Bregenz Frühlings Festival. Maestro Wroe is a preferred conductor in Asia, having directed the Taiwan National Symphony, Pusan Philharmonic, Shenzhen, Macau, Hangzhou, Nanjing, Wuhan, Zhejiang, Guiyang, and The Taipei and Taijung Symphony Orchestras. He was Music Director of Music on the Mountain: Garrett Lakes Arts Summer Festival in Maryland from 2000 – 2006, and Music Director and Founder of the Kansas City Camerata from 1990-1996. Maestro Wroe was Seiji Ozawa’s Assistant Conductor at the Boston Symphony Orchestra, leading the Orchestra in Tanglewood (with Joshua Bell) in Boston’s Symphony Hall (with Horacio Gutierrez), collaborating with Jesse Norman’s recording of “Phraeda”, and Itzhak Perlman’s recording of Benstein’s Serenade, and touring Europe with the Boston Symphony Orchestra Chamber Players. 2007 marked Maestro Wroe’s recording debut with L’Orchestre National de Lille on the TransArt label with pianist Bruno Fontaine, and numerous broadcast recordings, through Austrian Broadcasting Authority (ORF), with the Vorarlberg Symphony. In addition to his residency at New York City Opera, Maestro Wroe was Resident Conductor at Oper der Stadt Heidelberg (1998-2002), Principal Conductor at Opera Delaware (2000 – 2005), and directed the summer ‘Opera Under the Stars’ series at the 7000 seater Garden State Arts Center in NJ. From 2005-10 he was Music Director of Opera Teatro Gratticielo in NY, opened for the newly formed Fresno International Grand Opera, and served as Judge with Anna Moffo for the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. Maestro Wroe, through the NJ Festival Orchestra, has diverse experience in cross-over genres, having collaborated with Kristin Chenoweth, Mannheim Steamrollers, Celtic Women, The 3 Irish Tenors, Natalie Merchant, Joan Rivers, Don Rickles, Bob Newhart, Jackie Evancho and Celtic Thunder, and a return guest at Ocean City Pops Orchestra, to name but a few. Maestro Wroe devotes considerable time to aspiring musicians. In 2014 he held a residency at Brown University Symphony Orchestra (Rhode Island) as its Interim Music Director, was Principal Conductor at N.Y. University Symphony Orchestra (2008-2011), and Director of Orchestras at Montclair State University, NJ (2000-2005). He led the Boston Symphony Orchestra Youth Concerts, the Taipei Symphony Orchestra Summer Youth Festival, given master-classes at New England Conservatory, Harvard University, Rutgers University and University of Alabama. He has served as Judge for the Music Assistance Fund administered by the League of American Orchestras, and was the Chairman of the Jury of the New Jersey MTA State Concerto Competition. Awards are numerous, including the Seiji Ozawa Fellowship at Tanglewood, a citation in United States Congress for community commitment, and finalist in the 1st Bernstein International Conducting Competition. He attended Lancing College, has a BMus from Manchester University (England), a MM from Northwestern (Chicago), and studied with Gustav Meier and Victor Yamposky.

South Korean violinist Jaewon Kim has been chosen as a 2nd Concertmaster of the Tonhalle Orchester Zurich at the age of 24, she was working in the orchestra under the direction of the chief conductor, Paavo Järvi until 2021. She studied with NamYun Kim in Seoul at the Korea National University of Arts and did her Master and Artist Diploma in Paris at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris(CNSMDP) with Svetlin Roussev and Roland Daugareil. She won the main awards and the special prizes of many international violin competitions such as Lipizer in Italy, Brahms in Austria, Schoenfeld in Hongkong, Sofia Young Virtuoso in Bulgaria, Kloster Schöntal in Germany. She was an Artist-in-residence of the Foundation of the Banque Populaire in France 2017-2019 and she was an academician of Radio France Philharmonic Orchestra and l’Opera de Paris during her study time in Paris. She was the guest 2nd Concertmaster of the l’Orchestre National de Lille in France, And the 1st Concertmaster of the One Korea Youth Orchestra under the direction of maestro Myung-whun Chung. She was invited to give a recital in Italy, France, Switzerland and Korea(Seoul Kumho Prodigy Recital Series and in Busan). She was invited as an artist and performed at the Radio France, Charolais-Brionnais Chamber Music Festival and Giverny Music Festival in France, Pyeongchang International Music Festival(Rising Star Series), Seoul Art Center Summer Music Festival, Busan Classic Music Festival and she plays many chamber music concerts with the musicians from the Tonhalle Orchester Zurich. She has performed chamber music concerts with Olli Mustonen, Ilya Rashkovskiy, Andreas Janke, Nikita Boriso-Glebsky, Diyang Mei, Vladimir Bukac, Psophos Quartet, Michel Strauss, among others. As a soloist, Jaewon Kim has been performed with the Busan Philharmonic Orchestra, Busan World Philharmonic Orchestra, Busan Symphony Orchestra, Busan Sinfonietta, Ulsan Philharmonic Orchestra, KNUA Orchestra, China Youth Symphony Orchestra, Spain Bomberg Philharmonic Orchestra with conductors such as Xincao Li, Alexander Anissimov, Chi Yong Chung, among others. She is an assistant artistic director of Busan Classic Music Festival.