Hoff-Barthelson's Festival Orchestra Season-Opening Concert To Feature Works By Mozart And Mendelssohn

Works by Mozart and Mendelssohn will be performed at Hoff-Barthelson Music School's Festival Orchestra's 2021-2022 season opening concert on Saturday, December 11, 2021, at 7:30 pm at the Community Unitarian Universalist Congregation, 468 Rosedale Avenue, White Plains, NY.

Under the direction of Jun Nakabayashi, the orchestra will perform Mozart's joyful Overture to the Marriage of Figaro as well as his strikingly original Violin Concerto No. 5 in A Major, K 219 (Turkish). "This concerto is unsurpassed for brilliance, tenderness, and wit . . . the first and last movements are full of surprises," wrote Alfred Einstein, one of the great Mozart authorities. 14-year-old rising star Kento Hong joins the Festival Orchestra as guest soloist. The concert will conclude with Mendelssohn's Symphony No. 4 in A Major, Op. 90 (Italian).

Admission and Important COVID-19 Information

There is a suggested admission of $20 for adults; Students may attend free of charge. Program and artist subject to change. Masks are required for all persons over the age of 2.

Hoff-Barthelson Music School's Festival Orchestra is a full symphonic orchestra for high school students at the highest level of technical ability and musical artistry. Lauded as one of the finest high school orchestras in the United States by the New York State Council on the Arts, the Festival Orchestra, under the direction of Jun Nakabayashi, performs three concerts annually; two are with guest artists of international stature. Members of the Orchestra also participate in sectional coachings with members of the New York Philharmonic.

Kento Hong, born in New York, started his violin studies at age 6 in Los Angeles, California with Aimee Kreston. He had his debut orchestra performance in Los Angeles in the "Young Stars of Tomorrow Gala Concert" with The-Dream Orchestra at the age of 7.

Kento moved back to New York, studying under Dr. Ann Setzer, and was accepted to Juilliard Pre-College at age 10. He has won first place in numerous competitions including the International Virtuoso Competition, The Chappaqua Orchestra Concerto Competition, the 20th NY YWCA Music Competition, and Camarata Artists International Competition, and performed with their orchestras as a soloist. He was chosen to perform in a sextet for the Juilliard Benefit event in Alice Tully Hall. Most recently, Kento won 4th place in the 2020-2021 Yehudi Menuhin International Violin Competition.

Kento has performed at Carnegie and Merkin Halls and has participated in master classes with Anne Akiko Meyers, Almita, and Roland Vamos and had lessons with Elmar Oliveira.

For additional information: 914-723-1169, hb@hbms.org, www.hbms.org.