(NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ) -- The New Jersey Youth Symphony (NJYS) will present Enchanting Musical Storytelling on Sunday, April 27, 2025 at the Nicholas Music Center at Rutgers University in New Brunswick. Showtime is 8:00pm.

Audiences are invited to join the NJYS Youth Symphony under the baton of Helen H. Cha-Pyo for a captivating performance featuring Gabriela Lena Frank’s Three Latin American Dances and Rimsky-Korsakov’s mesmerizing Scheherazade. The final signature concert of the season will also showcase the exceptional talents of the 2025 NJYS Concerto Competition winner, cellist Rowan Mendel, in Tchaikovsky’s Variations on a Rococo Theme.

“This concert marks the culmination of a dynamic season that has brought together outstanding young musicians from across the state to perform masterworks of the orchestral repertoire in a supportive and inclusive environment,” said Helen H. Cha-Pyo, Artistic Director and Principal Conductor.

“From the vibrant rhythms and cultural richness of Gabriela Lena Frank’s Three Latin American Dances, to the expressive brilliance of our concerto competition winner Rowan Mendel, and the sweeping, timeless storytelling of Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade, this performance is a celebration of musical excellence, disciplined dedication, and the shared joy of making music together,” continued Cha-Pyo. “It’s also a bittersweet moment as we honor the remarkable journey of our graduating seniors and the bright futures that await them.”

Tickets are $25 for adults and $15 for students and seniors, and are available for purchase online. Nicholas Music Center is locatd at 85 George Street in New Brunswick, New Jersey.

Rowan Mendel of Sparta has been playing cello for nine years and studies with Jonathan Spitz of the NJ Symphony and Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University. He has also studied with Elad Kabilio at the Manhattan School of Music (MSM) and spent two summers in the MSM program.

Recent summer programs have included the Castleman Quartet Program and the Cello Classics course in Tuscany, Italy, studying with Raphael Wallfisch. During the summer of 2024 he studied at Boston University’s Tanglewood Institute. In addition to the Sparta High School Honors Philharmonic, he has performed as Principal Cellist with the New Jersey Youth Symphony for the last three years and the Sussex County Youth Orchestra for the last seven years.

In 2023 and 2024, Rowan performed in the North Jersey Group 1 Regional Orchestra as well as the NJ All-State Orchestra. He has traveled with the New Jersey Ambassadors of Music and performed in Sussex, England; Caen, France; and the Luxembourg Gardens in Paris, France. Rowan is the recipient of the 2022 New Sussex Symphony Legacy Fund Scholarship Award and has been inducted into the Tri-M Music Honor Society. When not playing cello, Rowan enjoys soccer and is a National Chess Champion. He plans to continue his music studies in college.

Wharton Arts is New Jersey’s largest independent non-profit community performing arts education center serving over 2,000 students through a range of classes and ensembles. The 5 ensembles of the New Jersey Youth Chorus, an auditioned choral ensemble program for students in grades 3–12, encourage a love and appreciation of choral music while nurturing personal growth and creative development. The 15 ensembles of the New Jersey Youth Symphony, which serve nearly 600 students in grades 3–12 by audition, inspire young people to achieve musical excellence through high-level ensemble training and performance opportunities.

The mission of Wharton Arts is to offer accessible, high quality performing arts education that sparks personal growth and builds inclusive communities. Their vision is for a transformative performing arts education in an inclusive community to be accessible for everyone.

Based in Paterson, the Paterson Music Project is an El Sistema-inspired program of Wharton Arts that uses music education as a vehicle for social action by empowering and inspiring young people to achieve their full potential through the community experience of ensemble learning and playing. From Pathways classes for young children to Lifelong Learning programs for adults, the Wharton Performing Arts School has a robust musical theater and drama program and offers both private and group classes for instruments and voice for all ages and all abilities. With the belief in the positive and unifying influence of music and that performing arts education should be accessible to all people regardless of their ability to pay, Wharton Arts offers need-based scholarships.

Wharton Arts is located in Berkeley Heights, New Providence, and Paterson, NJ and reaches students from 12 counties. All of Wharton Arts’ extraordinary teaching artists, faculty members, and conductors hold degrees in their teaching specialty and have been vetted and trained to enable our students to achieve their personal best.