TICKETS ON SALE NOW FOR JAN. 13 FRIENDS OF MUSIC CONCERT IN SHEPHERDSTOWN

The Friends of Music will present the third concert of their 2017-2018 season on Saturday, January 13.
The concert will feature the Two Rivers String Quartet. It will be held at 7:30 p.m. at Trinity Episcopal Church in Shepherdstown.
Entitled “Contrasting Passions,” it will include two works:

• Bedřich Smetana (1824-1884) — String Quartet No. 1 in E minor, From My Life (Z mého života)
• Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847) — String Quartet No. 2 in A minor, Op. 13

Jed Gaylin, the Music Director of Friends of Music, says both works show great passion, but their styles are very different. He says the Mendelssohn piece is “virtuosic, fleet, and intense, with moments, such as the final chorale, of magnificent serenity.” On the other hand, he says, Smetana’s quartet “is earthy, rooted in Slavic folk music traditions.”
Admission to the concert will be free for Friends of Music members. The ticket price for others will be $20 per person ($18 before December 31).
Tickets can be purchased on the Friends’ website at www.friendswv.org or by mail (FOM, PO Box 220, Shepherdstown, WV 25443). Visa and Master Card will be accepted.
If there is snow that makes travel difficult on January 13, the concert will be rescheduled to January 20.

FRIENDS OF MUSIC HELP FUND STUDENT PARTICIPATION IN CARNEGIE HALL PROGRAM

The Friends of Music have awarded $250 scholarships to two Spring Mills High School students to help them cover the cost of their participation in a prestigious New York City program for elite high school musicians.
The students, Rhea Ming and Travis Weller, are among 700 students from around the world who have been selected to be part of the 2018 Carnegie Hall High School Honors Performance Series. More than 18,000 students had applied. Ming and Weller are the only West Virginia students who will be participating.
The Performance Series will be held February 1-5. Participating students will gather together for three days of rehearsals with renowned conductors and a concert performance in the main hall at Carnegie Hall. They will also have opportunities for networking with each other and for chaperoned sightseeing activities.
The cost of participation is about $2,000 per student plus travel to and from New York. Ming and Weller have each set up Go Fund Me pages to cover these costs (“www.gofundme.com/rheas-going-to-carnegie-hall” and “www.gofundme.com/traviswellerNYC”).
Friends of Music President Linda Walker and Friends board member Andrew McMillan presented checks to Ming and Weller at the High School on December 6. The accompanying photo shows Ming and Weller in the center, with McMillan on the left and Walker, right.
Walker said the scholarships to Ming and Weller are part of a larger effort by the Friends of Music to help support music education in local schools.
Ming and Weller are both sophomores.
Ming is a viola player. She has played in the All-County Orchestra since middle school. She has also played in the 2017 West Virginia University high school honors orchestra and the West Virginia Music Educators Association All-state Orchestra. She is a member of the Tri-M Music Society.
Weller plays bass. He is a member of the Spring Mills High School String Orchestra and the All County Symphony Orchestra; where he is the first-chair bassist. He also plays in the Shepherd University Community Orchestra and has played with the West Virginia All State High School Orchestra.
The Friends of Music is a Shepherdstown-based, non-profit organization that was founded in 1999 to support and promote musical excellence. It supports the Two Rivers Chamber Orchestra, the only professional classical music orchestra in the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia, and one of only three of such orchestras in the state.