Oratorio Society Of NJ Plans Concerts In Newark, Montclair

ESSEX COUNTY, NJ — The following news release comes courtesy of the Oratorio Society of NJ. Learn more about posting announcements or events to your local Patch site.

The Oratorio Society of New Jersey will be performing their first live, in-person concerts since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic. The concerts will take place on Saturday, November 20, at 8 p.m. at Union Congregational Church, 176 Cooper Avenue in Montclair and Sunday, November 21, at 3 p.m. at Historic Grace Church, 950 Broad Street in Newark. The concerts will be conducted by OSNJ Music Director, Dr. Sándor Szabó. Tickets to attend the Montclair concert in-person can be purchased in advance at www.oratoriosocietynj.org @ $25, or at the door @ $30. Tickets to attend the Newark concert in-person can be purchased in advance at www.oratoriosocietynj.org or at the door @ $15, or @ $10 for students/seniors. The Montclair concert only will also be available for purchase to view via livestream at the same web address @ $10.

For both the Montclair and Newark concerts, face masks are required for all attendees, regardless of vaccination status; seating will be socially distanced.

The concert features a broad spectrum of choral music, from the Renaissance work of Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (c. 1524 – 1594), through the Baroque masters Antonio Vivaldi (1678 – 1741) and Henry Purcell (1659 – 1695), to twentieth century works by Benjamin Britten (1913 – 1976) and the Canadian-American Black composer Robert Nathaniel Dett (1882 – 1943). The variety of the program will demonstrate how the beauty of choral music has progressed, with each era influencing the ones to follow. More importantly, the concert will convey the power of the human voice to communicate commitment, hope, and joy through music. As we emerge from the isolation of the global pandemic, the members of OSNJ are thrilled to share their voices in live performance with the community.

This concert program launches a new partnership between OSNJ and Grace Episcopal Church in Newark. Historic landmark Grace Church is well-known for its long and active tradition of presenting fine music for its congregation and for the music-loving public in and around the city, regardless of religious affiliation. (For more information, visit www.gracechurchinnewark.org.) Through this partnership, OSNJ and Grace Episcopal Church are hoping to expand access to the choral music repertoire for both Essex county and surrounding communities. As part of this partnership, OSNJ will perform its fall and spring programs in both Montclair and in Newark at Grace Episcopal Church.

OSNJ wants to thank Union Congregational Church for their hospitality and support in opening their doors to provide the choir with a place in Montclair to rehearse and perform. More information about Union Congregational Church can be found at https://www.unioncong.org/.

OSNJ Music Director and Conductor Dr. Sándor Szabó is actively engaged as conductor, organist, pianist, harpsichordist, vocal coach, arranger and adjudicator. Choirs and orchestras under his leadership have toured throughout Europe, Canada, and the United States, and he has performed in major concert halls and cathedrals in Europe and North America. Dr. Szabó began his musical education in Yugoslavia. He graduated from the University of Novi Sad in 1984 with the diploma “Academic Musician in the Piano Art” and received a Master’s degree from the University of Music Arts, Belgrade.

From 1983 until his immigration to Canada in 1988, Dr. Szabó carried on a performing career while teaching piano at the University of Music Arts, Novi Sad, and working as assistant conductor/accompanist at the Serbian National Opera. Dr. Szabó has studied with many distinguished musicians, including conducting with Stanko Šepić, Ann Howard Jones and Joseph Flummerfelt; piano with Bordás Lajos, Jokuthon Mihajlović, Nevena Popović, Anthony di Bonaventura and Tong Il Han; organ with Max Miller, Eugene Roan and McNeil Robinson; and harpsichord with Mark Kroll.

Dr. Szabó holds Master’s degrees in organ performance and sacred music from Westminster Choir College, where he was awarded the full-tuition Currin scholarship, and earned a DMA in piano performance at Boston University. He also holds the Fellowship Certificate (FAGO) from the American Guild of Organists and is a member of Phi Beta Delta, an honor society for international scholars, as well as Pi Kappa Lambda, a national music honor society. Dr. Szabo has held the post of music director in prominent churches in Ontario, Canada, MA, NJ and NY.

Dr. Szabó is the music director and conductor of the Oratorio Society of New Jersey, Music Director/ Organist at Sacred Heart and Our Lady of Pompeii parishes, Dobbs Ferry NY, and organist/choir director at Temple B’nai Abraham, Livingston, NJ.

Founded in 1952, the Oratorio Society of New Jersey is an amateur ensemble dedicated to performing major works of the Western classical choral repertoire, from the Baroque era to the current century. Based in Montclair, choir members reside throughout Northern Jersey. Directed since 2005 by Conductor Sándor Szábo, OSNJ performs two programs each year, one in the fall and one in the spring, and presents an annual Community Messiah Sing in December. Recordings of numerous performances of OSNJ can be heard on the website www.oratoriosocietynj.org, and are also available on CD.

Further information is available at www.oratoriosocietynj.org

Funding for OSNJ has been made available in part by the N.J. State Council on the Arts/Department of State; and by the generosity of many other foundation, corporate and individual donors.

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