WHARTON INSTITUTE FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS PRESENTS PIANO MASTER CLASS WITH DR. MIN KWON

Professor of Piano at the Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University, Dr. Min Kwon will give a piano master class in Berkeley Heights on Friday, February 21.

BERKELEY HEIGHTS—The Wharton Institute for the Performing Arts will present a piano master class with Dr. Min Kwon on Friday, February 21 from 4:00 to 6:00pm at the Performing Arts School located at 60 Locust Avenue in Berkeley Heights. The event is free and open to the public.

The piano master class will feature seven outstanding young students selected from Wharton’s Performing Arts School and New Jersey Youth Symphony. Charlotte Bandekow, age 13, of Chatham; James Schadt, age 15, of Califon; Michael Pack, age 14, of Basking Ridge;  Isabel Zarbin, age 14, of Chatham; Benson Liu, age 17, of Morristown; Joie Kuan, age 13, of Somerset; and Sarah Ouyang, age 16, of Basking Ridge, will perform works by Schumann, Chopin, Schubert, Debussy, Schedrin, and Joplin.

“Master classes offer so many benefits for performers and audience members alike,” said Artistic Director and Principal Conductor Helen H. Cha-Pyo. “We are so fortunate to welcome Dr. Min Kwon to the Performing Arts School this month. Her in-depth musical knowledge combined with positive energy will bring many ‘a-ha’ moments to everyone in attendance. I highly encourage all pianists in our region to come and see a master teacher at work!”

Professor of Piano at the Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University, Dr. Min Kwon is a winner of the Gina Bachauer International Award. Kwon holds a D.M.A. and M.M. from The Juilliard School, where she served as the first alumnus on The Juilliard Council. She is the Founder and Director of CME Center for Musical Excellence, a non-profit dedicated to mentoring and providing financial and professional opportunities to young artists. A Steinway Artist, Kwon can be heard on RCA/BMG Red Seal and MSR Classics.

For more information, visit www.WhartonArts.org.

The Wharton Institute for the Performing Arts’ mission is to provide the highest quality performing arts education to a wide range of students in a supportive and inclusive environment, where striving for personal excellence inspires and connects those we teach to the communities we serve.

Wharton is New Jersey’s largest independent non-profit community performing arts education center serving over 1,500 students through a range of classes and ensembles including the 15 ensembles of the New Jersey Youth Symphony, which serve 500 students in grades 3 – 12 by audition. Beginning with Out of the Box Music and Pathways classes for young children, Wharton offers private lessons, group classes, and ensembles for all ages and all abilities at the Performing Arts School. With the belief in the positive and unifying influence of music and the performing arts and that arts education should be accessible to all people regardless of their ability to pay, Wharton teaches all instruments and voice and has a robust musical theater program. Based in Paterson, New Jersey, the Paterson Music Project is an El Sistema-inspired program of the Wharton Institute for the Performing Arts that uses music as a vehicle for social change by empowering and inspiring children through the community experience of ensemble learning and playing.

Wharton Institute for the Performing Arts is located in Berkeley Heights, New Providence and Paterson, NJ and reaches students from 10 counties. All of Wharton’s extraordinary faculty members and conductors hold degrees in their teaching specialty and have been vetted and trained to enable our students to achieve their personal best.