In celebration of the 99th birthday of William H. Scheide

William H. Scheide

Bill Scheide is a musician, philanthropist and humanitarian. His life long support of the arts, education, civil rights, health, and poverty relief programs express Bill’s belief that each member of the human family deserves a free and enlightened life. However, without avenues to good health, freedom and enlightenment may not be achievable.

An only child, Bill was born on January 6, 1914. He grew up in a household passionate about music, culture, rare books and the well-being of humanity. His father played the piano, and his mother sang. At age 6, Bill began piano lessons, and his passion for music has not diminished. Bill is a Bach Scholar who majored in history at Princeton (Class of 1936) because there was no music department and then earned an M.A. in music at Columbia in 1940. He was the first American to be published in the Bach Jahrbuch, a journal of Bach scholarship. In 1946, Bill founded and directed the Bach Aria Group, a vocal and instrumental ensemble that performed and recorded for 34 years.

Renowned for his interest in and collection of rare books, Bill is the owner of the Scheide Library, now housed in Firestone Library at Princeton University, which contains books and manuscripts that he, his grandfather, Willam T. Scheide, and his father, John H. Scheide (Class of 1896) acquired. The Scheide Library holds copies of the first four Bibles ever printed; materials on the invention and history of printing; books and manuscripts on the early voyages to the Americas; and musical manuscripts of J.S. Bach, Beethoven, Schubert, and many others. Among recent acquisitions is a collection of birthday greetings assembled by Samuel Barber for Mary Curtis Bok Zimbalist’s 75th birthday, performed for the first time at this concert.

Last year’s birthday concert honored the Princeton Public Library — the community’s living room; this year it will pay tribute to the Community Park Pool — the community’s summer playground. As Bill’s 100th year nears, he hopes that audience members of all ages will come together to provide enduring support for the jewel of the Princeton Recreation Department.

Mark Laycock

Since Maestro Laycock’s debut, at age 21, with the Philadelphia Orchestra — an orchestra he has subsequently conducted on many occasions — international invitations have come from a wide array of orchestras and companies in Asia and Europe, as well as Israel and North and South America. Mark Laycock’s recent productions with Opera New Jersey include Don Pasquale, The Barber of Seville, and H.M.S. Pinafore, all of which received sparkling response from audiences and critics alike. Additionally, a concert of Mendelssohn’s rarely performed Symphony No. 2 (“Lobgesang”) with the combined forces of Opera New Jersey and the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra excited an enthusiastic review in The New York Times.

Mr. Laycock appears regularly with the Wiener KammerOrchester, Orquesta Filarmónica de Bogotá, and the Georges Enescu Philharmonic Bucharest, to all of which he will return for re-engagements in the spring of 2013.

In addition to having conducted more than 2,000 works, Mr. Laycock is a published composer, with works performed by the Philadelphia Orchestra and others. He is currently working on a new commission based on the Via Dolorosa for orchestra, chorus, and soprano.

Mark Laycock was Music Director of the Princeton Symphony Orchestra for more than 20 years, transforming the orchestra from a small chamber orchestra into a full and critically acclaimed professional symphony orchestra awarded Citations of Excellence for two consecutive years from the State Arts Council of New Jersey for “exhibiting the highest standards of artistic excellence.” He was also Associate Conductor of the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra from 2000-2003. This evening marks his first appearance with the English Chamber Orchestra. www.marklaycock.com

Stephanie Gonley

Stephanie Gonley made her first appearance with the English Chamber Orchestra (ECO) as a soloist in 1990, which led to her appointment in April 1991 as one of its leaders. She is the youngest person to hold this position and only the fourth leader in the Orchestra's history.

Stephanie was a scholar at London’s Guildhall School of Music and Drama, where she was a pupil of David Takeno. She continued her studies with Dorothy DeLay at the Juilliard School in New York, and later with Ilan Gronich at the Hochschule in Berlin. Amongst other awards, she was a winner of the prestigious Shell-LSO National Scholarship. She is currently a Professor of Violin at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.

She is now firmly established as one of the leading British violinists of her generation, and appears as a soloist with many of the leading orchestras both in the UK and abroad. Stephanie was leader of the Vellinger Quartet (winners of the 1994 London International String Quartet Competition) and is leader of the ECO Ensemble, performing chamber music in the UK and abroad.

With the ECO Stephanie appears regularly as both director and soloist and her solo recordings with the Orchestra include Dvorak's Romance for EMI with Sir Charles Mackerras, hailed by Gramophone as “a winner ... the playing polished and beautifully balanced” and Bach’s violin concertos and Brandenburg Concertos. Solo concert appearances with the ECO include Bernstein’s Serenade, Bruch’s Violin Concerto No.1, Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante (in which she appears as viola soloist on some occasions, and violin soloist on others), Vivaldi’s ‘The Four Seasons’ and Mozart’s Concertone for two violins (in which she was partnered by Maxim Vengerov).

She has directed the English Chamber Orchestra in concerts across the UK as well as on tour in Moscow, China, Taiwan, South Korea, Turkey, Germany, France and Italy.

Malcolm Gets

Malcolm Gets is delighted to return to Princeton for this performance with the English Chamber Orchestra. He appeared here last summer in Opera New Jersey’s production of Gilbert and Sullivan’s "HMS Pinafore" — as Sir Joseph — conducted by Mark Laycock. This was preceded by an appearance at McCarter Theater in "Ten Cents a Dance" directed by John Doyle.

Mr. Gets has been nominated for a Tony Award and has won an Obie Award for his work in NY theater. His credits include "Amour", "The Story of My Life", "A New Brain", "Hello, Again", "Merrily We Roll Along", "The Two Gentlemen of Verona"; as well as the "The Boys From Syracuse" and "The Apple Tree", both for the Encores! Series at City Center.

He spent four very happy years playing Richard, the tortured artist, on NBC's "Caroline in the City", opposite Lea Thompson. He was recently seen on "The Good Wife", and "Blue Bloods", both for CBS, and has previously appeared on “Law and Order”. He played Gould on HBO's Emmy-winning "Grey Gardens" opposite Jessica Lange. Mr. Gets’ film credits include "Sex and the City", "Adam and Steve", "Thirteen Conversations About One Thing", and "Love in the Time of Money".

Mr. Gets can be heard on a dozen Original Cast CD's, including Barbara Cook's "Mostly Sondheim" — his Carnegie Hall debut. His first solo CD, "The Journey Home", is available on iTunes and Amazon. www.MalcolmGets.com

Andrew Sun

Born and raised in West-Windsor, New Jersey, pianist Andrew Sun continues to thrill audiences across the tri-state area with his performances as soloist, collaborative pianist, and chamber musician. He has appeared multiple times at Carnegie’s Weill Recital Hall and Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall. Recent New York engagements have included solo performances at the World Financial Center’s Winter Garden, Greenwich House Music School, and the historic Provincetown Playhouse. Orchestral appearances have ranged from the Westfield Symphony Orchestra to the local Bravura Philharmonic;
in 2011, audiences were treated to an outstanding performance of the seldom-heard Dvořák Piano Concerto with the NYU Symphony Orchestra, with
Mr. Sun as soloist.

Mr. Sun’s 2011-2012 season also saw the world broadcast premiere of the recently-discovered Albumblatt by Johannes Brahms — on WPRB Princeton’s “Towe on Thursday” — which earned him a citation in Bärenreiter’s newly published edition of the work edited by Christopher Hogwood.

Mr. Sun is currently in his final year of undergraduate study at New York University where he studies with Eduardus Halim, the last pupil of Vladimir Horowitz. Andrew Sun continues to host radio shows on WPRB Princeton, where he has conducted live interviews with distinguished pianists, among them Ilya Itin, Edna Golandsky, and George-Emmanuel Lazaridis. 

English Chamber Orchestra

The English Chamber Orchestra is the most recorded chamber orchestra in the world, its discography containing 860 recordings of over 1,500 works by more than 400 composers. Recordings made in 2012 included music spanning five centuries, from Vivaldi through Mozart, Elgar, Villa Lobos and Schulhoff to two concertos by David Heath, recently commissioned and premiered by the ECO.

The ECO has also performed in more countries than any other orchestra, and played with many of the world’s greatest musicians. The American radio network CPRN has selected ECO as one of the world’s greatest ‘living’ orchestras. The illustrious history of the orchestra features many major musical figures. Benjamin Britten was the orchestra’s first Patron and a significant musical influence. The ECO’s long relationship with Daniel Barenboim led to an acclaimed complete cycle of Mozart piano concertos as live performances and recordings, followed later by two further recordings of the complete cycle, with Murray Perahia and Mitsuko Uchida.

Highlights in 2012/13 include tours including Spain and Italy with Sir Colin Davis, concerts in London and Europe with Maxim Vengerov and Kiri Te Kanawa, tours to Moscow, Switzerland and Norway, and a return visit to the Rostropovich Festival in Azerbaijan with Maxim Vengerov. Previous USA visits include ECO tours with Barenboim, Stern and Zukerman, and the Orchestra is delighted to be returning to the USA with Mark Laycock for this very special concert in Princeton.

The ECO has been chosen to record many successful film soundtracks including Dario Marionelli’s prizewinning scores for Atonement and Pride and Prejudice, and several James Bond soundtracks, and has taken part in a variety of other film and television projects.

The Orchestra is proud of its outreach programme, Close Encounters, which takes music into communities and schools around the UK and overseas.

You can also now become a fan of ECO on Facebook and Twitter (@ECOrchestra)

Princeton Recreation Department

Community Park Pool has long-been the summertime gathering place where families, friends and neighbors from all corners of our community come together. The CP pool complex opened in 2012 through the efforts of both Governing Bodies, The Joint Recreation Board, The Princeton Parks & Recreation Fund and the generosity of hundreds of local families, businesses and partners. The collective effort to get the pool built is a testament to the vital piece of our community’s fabric that Community Park Pool has become over the years.

The Princeton Recreation Department was created in 1964 to serve the recreational needs of residents in both Princeton Borough and Township. The department’s mission of enhancing the quality of life through recreational, cultural and educational opportunities for Princeton residents has held true for nearly 50 years. Through a user-based fee system and a far-reaching financial assistance program, the Joint Recreation Board has successfully kept to its charge of keeping program fees to a minimum, affording all members of our community the chance to participate.

The Princeton Parks & Recreation Fund, established in 2008 and managed by the Princeton Area Community Foundation, continues to raise funds to offset construction costs of the new pool. Every dollar raised helps to ensure that membership fees stay at an affordable level for every family in our community, both now and into the future.