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Professional Musicians Get In Tune For Oakland Concert Series

OAKLAND, N.J. – Aaron Copland, known to many as “the Dean of American Composers” spent a few months in the 1940’s living in an Oakland farmhouse and composing his famous "Violin Sonata."

Laura Hamilton, Elizabeth Martyn and Lanny Paykin will perform this weekend to kick of the Sunday Afternoon Concert Series in Oakland.

Laura Hamilton, Elizabeth Martyn and Lanny Paykin will perform this weekend to kick of the Sunday Afternoon Concert Series in Oakland.

Photo Credit: Laura Hamilton

This Sunday, people will have the opportunity to listen to a current Oakland resident, who also is the principal associate concertmaster of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra in Manhattan, perform the piece.

“I have been looking for an opportunity to actually perform it in Oakland because it is really neat to think that the piece was conceived while he was staying in our town,” said Laura Hamilton.

Hamilton said, as she practices, she tries “to imagine him being inspired by the landscape and the church bells … He is bringing this little slice of 1940’s wartime Oakland to his music.”

Hamilton will perform the piece during the “Mozart, Beethoven and Copland” program that is kicking off the upcoming Sunday Afternoon Concert Series presented by the New Friends of the Oakland Public Library. Other performers for the kick-off concert include Craig Mumm on viola, Lanny Paykin on cello and Elizabeth Martyn on piano.

The concert will take place at 4 p.m. Sunday in the sanctuary of the Presbyterian Church of New Jersey, 222 Ramapo Valley Road, Oakland. It is free, but donations are being accepted.

Hamilton, who serves as the artistic director of the Sunday Concert Series, said she is “excited about” the professional musicians that will be preforming during the five-concert series. Future concerts are:

  • Nov. 13: Mezzo-soprano Tammy Hensrud and Richard Thomas on piano perform “The Great American Songbook meets Cabaret.”
  • Feb. 12: Four cellists led by Oakland resident Lanny Paykin perform during the “CelloMania” concert.
  • March 19: Metropolitan Opera Bass Richard Bernstein and Soprano Korliss Uecker perform arias and duets from the operatic canon. Martyn joins them on the grand piano for the “Opera Matinee.”
  • April 23: The American Brass Quintet, one of the pre-eminent chamber music ensembles in the world, will perform.

For more information, contact the Oakland Public Library at 201-337-3742. 

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