(L-R) Joseph Young, photo by Jared Platt; Adé Williams, photo by Emma Wernig
(CAMDEN, NJ) -- New Jersey-based professional training orchestra Symphony in C concludes its 2022-23 season with Mendelssohn Italian Symphony on Saturday, May 6, 2023 at 8:00pm at the Rutgers-Camden Center for the Arts in Camden, New Jersey.
The concert features guest conductor Joseph Young leading the Symphony in Dvořák’s Serenade for Winds,Op. 44, B.77, D Minor, which evokes the lighter, delicate style of the Rococo period. Violinist Adé Williams,who was Assistant Concertmaster of Symphony in C from 2017-2019 and called a “singular sensation” by The Grand Rapids Press, joins the Symphony in performing Mendelssohn’s final and most renowned Violin Concerto in E minor, Op. 64.The concert concludes with Mendelssohn’s evocative Symphony No. 4 in A Major, Op. 90, “Italian,” which brings the composer’s musical memories of the color and atmosphere of 1830 Italy to us today, as fresh and alive as it was then.
Tickets range from $25-$52 and are available for purchase online.
Violinist Adé Williams is a two-time Sphinx Competition laureate (1st place, Junior Division, 2012; 2nd place, Senior Division, 2019). She has won numerous other competitions in the US and Europe, beginning at age eight, and has placed in several chamber music competitions.
Adé has enjoyed a thrilling solo career, from her debut with the Chicago Sinfonietta at age six to her concerts with over 50 American orchestras including the Philadelphia and Cleveland Orchestras, the Detroit, Pittsburgh, New World, Indianapolis, and Nashville Symphonies, and Buffalo and KwaZulu-Natal Philharmonics (South Africa) by age 18. Most recently, she has made her debuts with the Lansing Symphony and with the Chineke! Orchestra at Southbank Centre’s Queen Elizabeth Hall in London, which was recorded and produced by Signum Records. In 2017, Adé premiered Guardian of the Horizon: Concerto Grosso for Violin, Cello, and Strings by Jimmy Lopez, a work commissioned by Carnegie Hall and New World Symphony. The New York Concert Review praised her as “an absolute winning champion of the work.” Adé made her White House debut in 2015 and Carnegie Hall debut in 2013 where she has since returned five times. She has attended the Pacific Music Festival (Japan), the Astona International Music Festival (Switzerland), Cambridge International String Academy (England), and the Chautauqua Institution (US).
Sought out as a classical music and humanitarian leader, Adé has participated in Rachel Barton Pine’s Music by Black Composers project as a recording artist, in the Milken Institute’s “Why Wait? Young People Blazing Trails” program as a panelist, and at University of Michigan as a guest lecturer. In 2012, she produced her first Adé & Friends benefit concert in support of a new school on Chicago’s south side, where she is also a charter member of the Junior Division of the Chicago Music Association. In 2004, Adé founded SugarStrings, a string trio of cousins known for exhilarating performances on 98.7 WFMT, CNN/Essence, NBC Nightly News, ABC7, WTTW’s Chicago Tonight and at numerous civic and charitable events around the US. She continues her work with young musicians by teaching in her joyful, expanding private studio.
Adé has received many honors, awards, and fellowships, including the Linda and Isaac Stern Charitable Foundation Award in memory of Isaac Stern, the first William Warfield Scholarship, and the Rachel Elizabeth Barton Foundation grant and instrument loan programs. She is a graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music where she served as concertmaster of the Curtis Symphony Orchestra in the 2018-2019 season and studied with Ida Kavafian. Prior to Curtis, Adé studied with Almita and Roland Vamos, Marko Dreher, and Rachel Barton Pine.
Joseph Young is one of the most gifted conductors of his generation. The 40 year-old American balances a vibrant guest conducting career with leadership roles as the Music Director of the Berkeley Symphony Orchestra, Artistic Director of Ensembles for the Peabody Conservatory, and Resident Conductor of the National Youth Orchestra–USA at Carnegie Hall.
Recognized for the “eloquence of his programming choices” (San Francisco Chronicle), Joseph marries his reverence for the Western canon with his commitment to amplifying voices, both historic and contemporary. In this capacity, he has presented works by Juan Pablo Contreras, Brian Raphael Nabors, Julia Perry, Florence Price, and Carlos Simon, alongside established greats including Adams, Bernstein, Brahms, Dvořák, and Prokofiev, to great acclaim.
His 2022–2023 season is marked by major debuts, beginning with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl and continuing with Washington National Opera and the National Symphony Orchestra, both at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. In July 2023, he makes his Carnegie Hall debut leading the National Youth Orchestra.
Earlier in his career, Joseph served as the Assistant Conductor of the Atlanta Symphony under Robert Spano, and Music Director of the Atlanta Symphony Youth Orchestra, where he was the driving force behind the ensemble’s artistic growth. He has served as Resident Conductor of the Phoenix Symphony and the League of American Orchestras Conducting Fellow with the Buffalo Philharmonic and Baltimore Symphony Orchestra.
Joseph began his steady ascent in the orchestral world while serving as an educator in South Carolina. Self-guided, self-funded study led him to a conducting workshop with Marin Alsop who, recognizing his raw talent, created the BSO– Peabody Conducting Fellowship to facilitate his artistic and professional growth. He has since been mentored by giants of the orchestra world, including Jorma Panula, Robert Spano, and Alsop, with whom he continues to maintain a close artistic partnership. Now a mentor and role model himself, Joseph helps to shape the future of classical music through his dynamic engagements with major symphony orchestras, his steadfast commitment to teaching in classrooms and concert halls, and his service on the board of New Music USA.
Rutgers-Camden Center for the Arts is located at North 3rd Street & Pearl in Camden, New Jersey.
Symphony in C has also announced its annual gala, The Grand Tour: A Musical Tour of Europe to be held on Sunday, April 30, 2023 at 5:00pm at the Collingswood Grand Ballroom in Collingswood, NJ. Guests will enjoy a virtual tour from Paris to Vienna and beyond with cocktails, a gourmet dinner with wine, a silent auction, and dancing to the sounds of the Elegance Electric String Quartet, emceed by former Haddonfield Mayor, Jack Tarditi. Proceeds from the gala will support the Symphony’s professional development internship program, summer music camp, regional youth orchestra, and after-school instrumental music programs in Camden and the region.
Symphony in C provides the next generations of musicians and composers with experiences in performance and in engaging with the community, helping musicians to develop skills and experiences for professional success. The Symphony seeks to support musicians in achieving their visions in the changing world of symphonic music.
Founded in 1952 as The Haddonfield Symphony, Symphony in C began as a community orchestra allowing amateur musicians to pursue their love of music by performing for the Haddonfield and southern New Jersey communities. Its debut performance was in January 1954 under music director Guido Terranova. Since then, it has grown into one of only three professional training orchestras in the United States preparing musicians and conductors who are on the cusp of world-class careers through concert, educational outreach and professional development programs.
Symphony in C performances and programs are made possible in part by funds from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, the William G. Rohrer Charitable Foundation, The Presser Foundation, Holman Automotive Group, The Horizon Foundation for New Jersey, South Jersey Charitable Foundation, TD Charitable Foundation, and Subaru of America. Symphony in C is a member of the South Jersey Cultural Alliance (SJCA).
