Westfield's Mia Pafumi To Perform With NJ Festival Orchestra

Soprano Mia Pafumi will be back in Westfield to join Maestro David Wroe and New Jersey Festival Orchestra on Saturday, December 6 to present Home for the Holidays, a family festival of traditional and contemporary songs and music, sing-alongs and more guaranteed to make the season merry.

A graduate of Westfield High School, special guest Mia Pafumi will partner with NJ Festival Orchestra to perform both popular holiday favorites and winter curiosities. Many will remember Mia from her starring roles in Westfield High School theater productions. Now she is a fully professional soprano sharing her vocal talents far and wide.

Mia recently began her professional career as an Apprentice Artist for the Sarasota Opera’s Winter Festival season, which included Verdi’s Il Trovatore, Jersualem and Wagner’s Der Fliegende Holländer in Sarasota, Florida. Just this spring she took second place in the Violetta DuPont International Vocal Competition and received a grant from the Giulio Gari Foundation’s 2014 International Vocal Competition. She then performed throughout the summer with Josh Greene and Carol Yahr’s New York Summer Opera. A recent graduate from Montclair State University’s Cali School of Music, Mia also studied at the Giuseppe Verdi Conservatorio di Musica di Milano in Milan, Italy.

“We are thrilled that Mia is coming back to Westfield to join us for Home for the Holidays.” said Maestro David Wroe. “Our program will bring the entire community together to celebrate this unique time of the year and Mia, who many local people already know and love, is an inspiration to us all. Be sure to watch out for this rising young star in 2015!”

Other guest performers include over forty students from Westfield’s Wilson Elementary School who will add their voices to the favorites on the program including America the Beautiful, Leroy Anderson’s A Christmas Festival and the rousing finale presentation from It’s a Wonderful Life.

This seasonal stroll of timeless classics and sentimental holiday favorites, sure to bring joy, smiles, and distinctive memories to one and all, has been made possible in part by a Union County Heart (History, Education and Arts Reaching Thousands) Grant and generous support from The Westfield Foundation.

The concert takes place at 7pm at the Presbyterian Church in Westfield. Tickets prices range from $26 to $75 for adults and there is a special discount price of only $13 for students K-12 making this event a perfect start to the holiday season for the whole family.

Tickets are available on line at www.njfestivalorchestra.org. Tickets may also be purchased by calling (908) 232-9400 or visiting the office at 224 E. Broad Street, Westfield. Patrons are advised to avoid box office charges by purchasing tickets on line – it’s simple, secure, and possible to select seats and print tickets.