The Alternative Press

Performing at Wharton Music Center on Friday, March 22 at 8:00 p.m. is mezzo-soprano Laurie Rubin. Accompanying Ms. Rubin is Jennifer Taira on piano. Tickets to the concert are $10 and $5 for children under 16 by calling 908 790-0700 and $15 at the door. The concert takes place in Wharton Music Center’s Performance Hall located at 60 Locust Avenue in Berkeley Heights and is open to the public.

Ms. Rubin has presented concerts at London's Wigmore Hall, the Parco Auditorium della Musica in Rome, The Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center, and the White House, with conductor John Williams and opera star Frederica von Stade. She has performed numerous operatic roles with New York City Opera',s Vox Festival and the Greenwich Music Festival. Her latest album, Do You Dream in Color? is listed in the American Record Guide’s Best of 2012 and coincides with her memoir of the same name. This year brings a North American book and concert tour, a performance at the International Human Rights Conference in Switzerland, and the Lucas Artist Residency Program’s Composers & Musicians Fellowship at the Montalvo Arts Center, where she will write and record her new album, The Girl I Am.

Wharton Music Center, located at 60 Locust Avenue in Berkeley Heights, provides music, theater, and dance instruction, educational programs, and performances for children, teens, and adults. WMC’s Musical Theater Department is under the direction of Angela Beaton, who teaches voice in styles ranging from musical theater, pop, and classical. In addition to instruction in all instruments and voice, WMC offers classes in musical theater, drama, choral music, vocal music, music theory, audio recording, early childhood music, and music for children with special needs. Offering a range of musical genres including classical, rock, jazz, and blues, WMC is one of New Jersey’s largest independent non-profit community music centers serving students in Union, Morris, Essex, Somerset, Middlesex, and surrounding counties.

WMC offers orchestral and ensemble music education for grades 3 through 12 through New Jersey Youth Symphony (NJYS) located at 570 Central Avenue in New Providence. NJYS, one of the foremost youth orchestras in the state, has ten orchestras and ensembles for which auditions are held annually. NJYS’s premiere orchestra, Youth Symphony, has performed in internationally-renowned concert halls such as Carnegie Hall in New York City and Musikverein in Vienna.

For more information, visit www.WhartonMusicCenter.org or www.NJYS.org. Wharton Music Center is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization.