The Star Fish Project
The Department of Music at Gustavus Adolphus College is pleased to feature its annual concerto/aria competition winners in the Gustavus Symphony Orchestra’s spring concert, under the direction of Conductor Ruth Lin, Saturday, May 12 at 1:30 p.m. In addition to the performances by the competition winners, the concert will be a special concert for the members of the Symphony as it is a fund-raiser for the Star Fish Project, a non-profit charity founded at Gustavus that provides school supplies and clothes to children in southern Africa. The Symphony toured in South Africa in January and delivered over 300 pounds of supplies and clothes to schools in the townships surrounding Cape Town as part of the Star Fish Project. Admission to the concert is free. Donations will be accepted in the lobby following the performance in Jussi Bjorling Recital Hall.
The Star Fish Project was founded in 2006 by Gustavus Professor Lois Peterson after returning from a faculty development trip to Namibia and South Africa. Through numerous fund raising efforts sponsored by a diverse collection of campus groups, the Star Fish Project has raised funding to send thousands of dollars worth of library books and supplies to schools, orphanages and hospitals, along with Christmas gifts annually, to the Megameno Orphanage in Windhoek, Namibia. While on tour in South Africa in January, the members of the Gustavus Symphony Orchestra, with the support of the Star Fish Project, delivered school supplies, books and coats to the John Parma Elementary School in Guguletu Township, Cape Town, South Africa. Through personal contacts with Gustavus students, faculty and staff, the Star Fish Project will continue to provide educational supplies and living necessities for children in southern Africa.
The winners of the 2012 concerto/aria competition are Erianna Reyelts, soprano, a senior sociology and anthropology major and music minor from Duluth; Anthony Cesnik, oboe, senior chemistry major and music minor from Rice Lake, Wisconsin; and Ally Mason, ‘cello, a junior biology major with minors in music and in gender, women and sexuality studies from Woodbury. Each will perform with the Symphony in Saturday’s concert.
The Symphony will open the event with the four movement Suite Algerienne by Camille Saint-Saens. Next on the program is oboist Anthony Cesnik who will present Mozart’s Concerto in C Major for Oboe and Orchestra followed by soprano Erianna Reyelts’ vocal performance of Charles Gounod’s “Jewel Song” (Ah! Je ris de me voir) from the opera Faust. ‘Cellist Ally Mason will conclude the concert with the concerto Hungarian Rhapsody for Cello and Orchestra by David Popper.
Saturday’s concert and fund-raiser for the Star Fish Project by the Gustavus Symphony Orchestra will begin at 1:30 p.m. in Jussi Björling Recital Hall. The performance, which features the 2012 concerto/aria competition winners and the Gustavus Symphony under the direction of Conductor Ruth Lin, is open to the public at no charge. Gifts to the Star Fish Project will be accepted following the performance.