The Times Herald (Norristown, PA)
Sinfonia welcomes new conductor
FORT WASHINGTON » A Fort Washington-based chamber orchestra will soon be showing off its new conductor in a new venue.
The Independence Sinfonia, under the direction of Maestro Daniel Matsukawa, will present a concert Nov. 12 at 3 p.m. at Temple University Ambler Campus in the Learning Center Auditorium. The program will include Brahms’ “Academic Festival” Overture, Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 21 featuring Debra Lew Harder as soloist, and Dvorak’s Symphony No. 9, “From the New World.”
This is Matsukawa’s first year as the music director and conductor for the orchestra, said Margery Hesney, associate concertmaster of Sinfonia.
The principal bassoon of the Philadelphia Orchestra, Matsukawa made his orchestral conducting debut in Japan in 2009 at the 20th anniversary of the Pacific Music Festival, founded by Leonard Bernstein and comprising musicians from around the world. His debut garnered famous conductor Maestro Christoph Eschenbach’s appraisal of him as a new “conducting star,” accord-
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ing to a Sinfonia news release.
A member of the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music and Temple University’s Boyer College of Music, Matsukawa has also conducted a number of concerts at the Curtis Institute and made his professional conducting debut in the United States with the Virginia Symphony Orchestra in the 2016-17 season.
“We’re very impressed with him,” said Hesney, a violinist with the orchestra for 18 years. “He’s very easy to work with and is bringing out the best in all of us.”
A retired owner and director of a music school, Hesney is one of four Upper Dublin residents in the orchestra and has performed with the Old York Road Symphony for 29 years and the Abington Orchestra for 10.
Independence Sinfonia, founded in 1995 by musicians from the Delaware Valley, comprises talented musicians from all walks of life, including professional musicians, music teachers, doctors, college professors, lawyers, accountants and scientists, all of whom are united in the love of music, Hesney said. Some attended music conservatories such as Julliard, Esther Boyer College and others.
With 50 members, Sinfonia previously performed at Or Hadash synagogue, but outgrew that space, she said. This is the first year the orchestra will be performing at Temple Ambler.
“We are frequently joined by prominent professional musicians as soloists,” Hesney said.
For the Nov. 12 concert, pianist Debra Lew Harder, who has performed with orchestras throughout the United States and given solo recitals all over the U.S., England and Germany, will play Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 21. Harder holds doctorates in both medicine and music, the latter at Ohio State University, teaches at Haverford and Bryn Mawr colleges, is a host on WRTI-FM, and performs with her piano trio, Trio MiReSol.
Admission to the concert is $20 for adults, $15 for seniors, students free with ID. Tickets can be purchased at the door.
For more information, visit www.independencesinfonia.org. this space provides.”
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