Music Man Blog Recongizes Epernay Restaurant's Support of Young Music Students

I want to share with my readers the wonderful experience I had over the last couple of months putting the public spotlight on some great young student singers from the Northern New Jersey area.  I am  involved in a French Restaurant in Montclair called Epernay.  I wanted to find a way to give young students the opportunity to get some experience performing in a small, intimate, public setting. At the same time, give our customers something special and exciting to listen to that would add to their dining experience. So we established the Tuesday night "Epernay Supper Club Series".

It took a long time to find the right students and put together a plan to have the students sing a song every 5 to 10 minutes during the (3 hour) prime dining hours.  The purpose was to spotlight the student singers while the customers enjoyed their dinner.  The experiment has proven to be an outstanding success for all involved. Epernay was very lucky to have two wonderful students star in the opening of the "Epernay Supper Club Series".

Our first student singer was Joe Longthorne who lives in Essex Fells, NJ and is currently a student at "The Boston Conservatory Of Music".  Joe did 4 performances at Epernay and each one got rave reviews from our customers. We hope to have Joe again when he is back home on school vacations.

 

Joe Longthorne

Our second student is a music major Freshman at Montclair State University in Montclair, NJ.  His name is Michael Robinson and it was thrilling to listen to this young man sing not only songs from the Great American Songbook but also do several great Broadway show songs.  Michael performed for 4 Tuesdays and did an outstanding job.  We intend to bring Michael back whenever his busy school schedule allows.

Michael Robinson

The management at Epernay is fully committed to providing an opportunity for young music students to get experience performing before a real live audience and are planning to continue our Supper Club Series in the future.  It is exciting to find talented young people who have learned to love and sing songs from the "Great American Songbook".  

I know all my readers love to listen to all kinds of music as I do.  We listen to great sounds on our ipods, our radios and our CDs.  But as good as these sources are, there is nothing that will ever replace the emotional thrill of listening to live music.  Let's all do what we can to support live performances so they will continue to be an important part of our lives.  Epernay is looking for other talented students who would like the opportunity to perform for a very appreciative live audience.  If you know anyone please let me know.

Montclair State University's Kaleidoscope 2010 Is An Explosion of Music

I thought the circus was the "Greatest Show On Earth" but I just found out there are now two "Greatest Shows".  Friday night I attended "Kaleidoscope 2010" at the Alexander Kasser Theater on the Montclair State University Campus that featured both students and faculty of the John J. Cali School of Music.  This performance, that was "Sold Out", was part of the "Peak Performances @ Montclair" series that presents performances of dance, theater and music throughout the year. The audience was treated with over 300 performers, playing, singing and dancing a rainbow of wonderful music from Puccini's Tosca sung beautifully by faculty member Stephen Oosting to "Symphonic Dances from West Side Story" performed by the MSU Wind Symphony and the BFA Musical Theater Dancers. There were also performances by various Ensembles from Brass to Percussion that were finely done.  For me, the highlight of the evening was the performance of "Samba" by "The Shanghai Quartet" that featured faculty member David Singer on clarinet. This suburb piece of music was written by Robert L. Aldridge, the Chairperson of the School of Music at MSU. I loved the music that was a perfect marriage of Classical and a Jazz-like arrangement fitting together like a glove. The level of dexterity performed by faculty clarinetist David Singer can only be described as breathtaking.  Montclair State University is definitely fortunate to have the gifted composer Robert L. Aldridge chairing its School of Music.  I believe this piece of music has just been recorded by "The Shanghai Quartet" and when I get more information I will share it on my blog.

Overall, I totally enjoyed the 90 minutes of non-stop music and loved the fact that the audience not only got to experience the level of musical skills of the current students of the School of Music but also  the exceptionally talented faculty.  My congratulations to the students and faculty for putting on such a professional performance.  "Peak Performance @ montclair" continues with programs all through the academic year, and you can get additional information @www.peakperfs.org.