OCGMA Presents HOLIDAY ENCORES

Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association (OGCMA) will present "Holiday Encores" on Monday, September 3rd at 7:00 pm in the Great Auditorium. The concert will feature Organist Gordon Turk, Tenor Ronald Naldi, Bass/Baritone Kevin Short and Pianist Hugh Sung.

The program will include duets from Verdi's "Don Carlo and Bizet's "Pearl Fishers," plus solo arias TBA. Organ/Piano duets will include: "The Wedding Day at Troldhaugen" by Edvard Grieg; "Sicilienne" by Gabriel Faure; "Lord of the Dance" - an Appalachian Folk melody; and movie themes by composer Charles Williams. Tickets are $14.00 and can be ordered at www.oceangrove.org, or by calling 732-775-0035.

About the Performers

Dr. Gordon Turk, a critically acclaimed concert organist, has performed throughout the United States, and around the world. He has won the John Cerevalo Prize for "Excellence in the performance of the music of J. S. Bach," and has been a prizewinner in the national improvisation competition of the American Guild of Organists. He has also collaborated with numerous orchestral musicians in concert. Turk has made TV appearances in concert in the US and abroad, and has played live concert broadcasts for NPR. He has conducted master classes for universities in the US and Europe, as well as conventions of the American Guild of Organists, which he has served as Dean of the Philadelphia chapter.

Dr. Turk is Auditorium Organist and Artist in Residence of the historic Auditorium at OGCMA. In the exceptional acoustics of this spacious hall he plays weekly recitals during the summer season on what is one of the largest organs in the world, built in 1894. During his tenure he has overseen the restoration of the original historic pipes (14 ranks and 1,500 pipes), a grand-scale instrument for the 7,000-seat Auditorium. Turk had a vision for an instrument suitable for large singing congregations, an ambitious choral program, concerts with orchestras, and organ recitals. The organ now has 202 ranks of pipes - over 12,700 pipes controlled by a console of five manuals (keyboards) and pedals. Turk is also Founder and Artistic Director of OGCMA's Summer Stars Chamber Music Festival. In addition, Dr. Turk is Organist and Choirmaster of St. Mary's Episcopal Church in Wayne, PA.

Ronald Naldi (Tenor) is an internationally acclaimed lyric tenor who has performed with The Metropolitan Opera, Verona Opera, Opera da Camera of Rome, L'Opera Francais, New Jersey State Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, and the Salzburger Landestheater. With St. Luke's Chamber Ensemble he has sung over 200 performances of Haydn, Mozart, Offenbach, Rieti, Bakst, Fioravanti, and Rossini. He has performed with over 25 symphony orchestras and has an extensive repertoire of more than 30 oratorios. Mr. Naldi has worked under the baton of the world's most famous maestri and has been a colleague with such artists as Placido Domingo and Luciano Pavarotti. For 42 years, he has been the tenor soloist and Artist-in-Residence at OGCMA.

Hugh Sung (Piano) has been hailed as one of the finest collaborative pianists of his generation. Hugh has performed and recorded with the likes of violinists Aaron Rosand, Hilary Hahn, and Leila Josefowicz; flutists Julius Baker, Jeffrey Khaner, Jasmine Choi, and Gary Schocker; and composers Jennifer Higdon, Robert Maggio, and Harold Boatrite. He has also worked extensively with the Philadelphia and Baltimore Symphony Orchestras. Hugh served on the faculty of The Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia for 19 years as its Director of Student Recitals and Instrumental Accompaniment. In 2014, Hugh joined the roster of ArtistWorks, the premiere online music and art school that teaches students through the use of extensive video curriculum and the innovative Video Exchange system, enabling him to work directly with students anywhere in the world.

Versatile American bass-baritone Kevin Short is thrilling audiences around the globe in a wide range of repertoire ranging from the depths of Mozart's Die Entführung aus dem Serail and Monteverdi's L'Coronazione di Poppea to Verdi's Attila, Carmen's Escamillo and Wagner's Der Fliegende Holländer.

A sampling of his North America appearances include performances with the Metropolitan Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Houston Grand Opera, Los Angeles Opera, Washington Opera, Seattle Opera, Opera Company of Philadelphia, Opera Pacific, Florida Grand Opera, Opera Festival of New Jersey, Sarasota Opera Company, Spoleto Opera Festival, Canadian Opera Company, Vancouver Opera, Edmonton Opera, Santa Fe Opera, and the Opera de las Americas.

His European and Asian credits include appearances with multiple opera companies, orchestras, and festivals. A few of which include Paris' Opera Comique, Welsh National Opera, Kazan State Theater-Russia, Theatre Caen, Grand Theatre du Luxembourg, Oper der Stadt Köln, Stadttheater Stuttgart, Theater Aachen, Theater Basel, Theater Bern, Theater St. Gallen, Teatro Nacional de Sao Carlos, Savonlinna Festival-Finland; Bregenzer Festspiele-Austria, Baden-Baden Festspiele-Germany, Festival d'Aix-en-Provence-France, Festival Montpellier-France, l'Opéra de Rouen-France, l'Opéra de Reims-France, Saito Kinen Festival in Matsumoto, Japan and festivals in Beijing, China; Hanoi, Vietnam; and Granada, Valencia, and Santiago de Compostela, Spain.

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