2018 QuickChek Festival of Ballooning   ” 2018 QuickChek Festival of Ballooning” is the largest summertime hot air balloon and music festival in North America and is the premier family entertainment attraction in New Jersey and took place on July 28th – 30th 2017.  The festival holds the dual distinction of being a recipient of The […]

This interview session with Shelley Borror Jackson, Head of the International Academy of New York, located in Manhattan, offered the marvelous opportunity to discover more about this diverse, global approach to childhood education. language skills and cross-cultural understanding. As Shelley reveals in the following fascinating discussion, she and her staff have truly created a vital and diverse, multicultural and multilingual environment in which young children can develop the varied talents, skills, knowledge, compassion and sensitivity needed to become true, valuable and ever-contributing citizens of the World.

The current Metropolitan Opera production of Les Contes d’Hoffman from composer Jacques Offenbach (1819-1880), is expertly performed by an outstanding cast and the MET orchestra, led by conductor Johannes Debus. This production is richly empowered by the vibrant, excellent vocal and dramatic artistry of principal singers, Vittorio Grigolo, Erin Morley, Anita Hartig, Oksana Volkova, Laurent Naouri, Tara Erraught and Christophe Mortagne. This last opera from Offenbach combines a vibrant and varied score and libretto with engaging stage sets and three diverse storylines to present a production that is at once embodied with exotic elegance, blatant grotesqueness, depths of heartache and light-hearted humor. Genuine beauty is offset, then balanced with ill-intended sentiments, jealousies and calculated rivalries.

  ” The QuickChek Festival Ballooning Best Ever” is the largest summertime hot air balloon and music festival in North America and is the premier family entertainment attraction in New Jersey and took place on July 28th – 30th 2017.  The festival holds the dual distinction of being a recipient of The New Jersey Governor’s Award […]

In her recent concert in the Stanley H. Kaplan Penthouse at Lincoln Center on Saturday evening, October 29, 2016, Jiaoyue Lyu enchanted and entranced her audience with a program rich in traditional Chinese poetic music selections. This enlightening concert was performed by Ms. Lyu on the ancient stringed instruments of Guqin and Zhu, both very significant in the traditions of Chinese music. Jiao’s exemplary affinity with and command of these fascinating instruments reveals their uniquely expressive and innately beautiful timbre and exquisite range of tonalities. As the evening progressed, she and her musician collaborators guided the concert with graceful expertise from ancient to contemporary music modes with the introduction of electronic amplification.

Roundup of the 50th edition of the famous Montreux Jazz Festival.

In the Foreword to her very engaging and informative new book, Dr. Jennifer Miceli reveals the many dimensions and unique diversity of her career path and experiences as a professional choral director, music educator, educator of music teachers, and as a performing musician. The choirs she has directed include musicians of varied levels of training and experience from youngsters of pre-school age and children with special needs to intergenerational and accomplished professional choirs and choral ensembles. Although every singer as musician within a choral group brings unique, creative skills and understanding to each rehearsal and concert, quoting Dr. Miceli, “As choristers we breathe together, intone the notes off the page, and unleash the glorious sound of human voices singing in harmony—it can be, and often is, transcendent.”

Article and Photos By: Len and Phil Rapoport “The QuickChek New Jersey Festival of Ballooning is the largest summertime hot air balloon and music festival in North America and is the premiere family entertainment attraction in New Jersey. The festival truly has something for everyone! From twice daily mass ascensions of up to 100 special […]

  “The QuickChek New Jersey Festival of Ballooning is the largest summertime hot air balloon and music festival in North America and is the premiere family entertainment attraction in New Jersey.  It holds the dual distinction of being a recipient of The New Jersey Governor’s Award for Best Special Event, as well as being designated, […]