Jason Tramm's 2nd Peace Trilogy Concert 'Grace and Peace' Set for 8/23

Inspired by Leonard Bernstein's artistic mandate "This will be our reply to violence: to make music more intensely, more beautifully, more devotedly than ever before, " Grace and Peace, the second concert in Tramm's 2015 Peace Trilogy performances underscoring humanity's universal desire for peace and connection through music, will take place Sunday August 23 at 7PM at the Great Auditorium, Ocean Grove.

The first concert in the trilogy, "Prince of Peace," took place July 12th with 1000 performers and over 3,000 people in attendance. "A Prayer for Peace" the third concert of the series, a joint venture of the MidAtlantic Opera and Seton Hall University, will take place on October 17th at Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage Carnegie Hall.

"Grace and Peace" will feature selections by Leonard Bernstein, Felix Mendelssohn, and Antonio Vivaldi, works inspired by prayer or scripture in an invocation of peace. Despite the fact these composers are from different eras and entirely different backgrounds, Tramm was struck by the composers' common expression of the "human need for peace in an uncertain and often chaotic world." "The prayer for peace echoed by these composers is just as needed today as it was when Vivaldi penned his Gloria in the first decades of the 1700's" said Tramm.

Noted soloists Monica Ziglar soprano, Martha Bartz mezzo-soprano , Ronald Naldi tenor and Justin Beck bass will join the 100 member Great Auditorium Choir, with the Adelphi Orchestra and organ virtuoso Gordon Turk under Tramm's baton in the performance of Felix Mendelssohn's eloquent 1831 piece Verleih uns Frieden gnädiglich based on Martin Luther's German translation of the Latin prayer "Dona Nobis Pacem"; Antonio Vivaldi's beloved 1715 Gloria whose lyrics incorporate a prayer central to the Syrian, Byzantine and Roman liturgical tradition; and Leonard Bernstein's 1965 composition Chichester Psalms. Bernstein's complex work, which Tramm will also explore in his October 17th Carnegie Hall performance, blends Biblical Hebrew verse and the Christian choral tradition.

Currently celebrating its 50th Anniversary year, Chichester Psalms was commissioned by Walter Hussey, an important patron of the arts and Dean of the Cathedral of Chichester in Sussex, England, for the Cathedral's 1965 music festival. Chichester Psalms was actually first performed in New York's Philharmonic Hall on July 15, 1965, conducted Bernstein himself. Written during a time reflecting the composers' struggles with his own world view consequent to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy and the growing tensions and conflicts in the young state of Israel, the piece is ultimately an optimistic expression of Bernstein's hope for brotherhood and peace. Constructed as a prayer from the work's opening musical motive, the music and text combine in a visionary plea for reconciliation and unity throughout the world concluding in a resounding Amen.

Jason C. Tramm has held the podium at Ocean Grove as Director of Music for nine seasons. Sacred music has been central to his career from a very early age, beginning as a boy soprano soloist. Featured in Symphony Magazine's 2012 Issue of Emerging Artists and hailed as a conductor to watch, he is recognized as one of the most dynamic young conductors on the podium today. In 2013, Maestro Tramm was appointed as the Artistic Director/Principal Conductor of the Mid Atlantic Opera, from 2008-2012 he served as Artistic Director of the New Jersey State Opera, receiving wide audience and critical acclaim.

Tramm currently serves as Assistant Professor and Director of Choral Activities, College of Communication and the Arts at Seton Hall University where he directs the University Chorus, Chamber Choir, and the University Orchestra and teaches courses in performance and music education. In 2003, he joined the ranks of Metropolitan Opera stars Renée Fleming and Stephanie Blythe when he was honored with the Rising Star Award from the SUNY Potsdam Alumni Association. A frequent guest conductor, Maestro Tramm has led operatic and symphonic performances in Italy, Romania, Albania, and Hungary.

"Sacred Masterworks Concert "Grace and Peace" Sunday August 23rd at 7PM, Great Auditorium, Ocean Grove, NJ. Free and open to the public. Seating available on a first come, first served basis. For further information visit http://oceangrove.org/box-office

"A Prayer for Peace Concert" Saturday October 17th at 8PM, Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage at Carnegie Hall. General Admission $15 - $100. For tickets visit the Carnegie Hall website http://www.carnegiehall.org/

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