The New Sussex Symphony features local musicians

NEWTON — The New Sussex Symphony will end its 56th season this coming Saturday, May 16, 7 p.m. at the First United Methodist Church on Ryerson Avenue in Newton. This concert features Sussex County’s own stars of the trumpet, euphonium and church organ.

Barbara Garrison
Barbara Garrison, euphonium soloist, will be performing Variations on a Neapolitan Song “Funiculi, Funicula” by Herman Bellstedt. Garrison is a 1970 graduate of Ithaca College in Ithaca, N.Y. She studied Euphonium with Donald Marrs throughout high school, and with Walter Beeler at Ithaca College, and was 1st Chair Euphonium in the Ithaca Concert Band for four consecutive years as well as being the featured soloist on the band’s annual spring tour.

A New Jersey native, she was a band director in New Jersey for 32 years, her last 23 years in Mountain Lakes and is now retired, teaching privately with 45 years of teaching experience.

Garrison made her Carnegie Hall solo debut in 1977 performing original works composed for her on the Euphonium. She has returned to Carnegie Hall five more times performing on the Alto Trombone, Tenor Trombone, and Bass Trombone as well as the Euphonium. Garrison has performed in major orchestras under the batons of: Leonard Bernstein, Igor Stravinsky, and Aaron Copland. Garrison, though now retired, served as a National Clinician for Besson Euphoniums, and has served as a consultant to the Yamaha Corporation on 4th valve design for Euphoniums and Tubas.

In 1991 Garrison received the New Jersey Music Educator’s Master Teacher Award and the Governor’s Award in Arts Education. She is an active performer in the orchestra pit for high school, college, and professional musical productions. She works with the International Festivals of Music every spring at their New York City festival locations.

Richard Dispenziere, trumpet, has been a member of the NSS since 2006. He is also a member of The Imperial Brass Quintet and free lances in the greater New York/New Jersey area. Mr. Dispenziere has also been the instrumental music teacher/band director at the Frankford Township School for the past 24 years. He makes his home in Wantage with his wife, Karen, and two daughters, Katelyn and Ashley.

Richard Barrieres
Richard Barrieres, trumpet, is currently Director of Bands at Jefferson Twp High School in Oak Ridge where he teaches band classes, AP Music Theory and all of the co-curricular instrumental ensembles. Additionally Barrieres is an Adjunct Professor at County College of Morris, teaching high brass lessons and assisting with the Wind Ensemble.

Barrieres holds a BA in Music Education from Fairleigh Dickinson University, a Master of Music Degree on Trumpet from New Jersey City University and has completed 46 doctoral credits toward a DMA in Music Education from Boston University.

Barrieres will be joining with Richard Dispenziere in the Concerto for Two Trumpets and Strings in C Major, RV 537 by Antonio Vivaldi.

Henry Repp
Henry Repp, a church organist for 48 years, began his organ studies with Alfred Mayer of Morristown and continued with Dorothe Lanning at First Memorial Presbyterian in Dover. He pursued advanced study with Robert MacDonald at the Riverside Church in New York City and the Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart in Newark, New Jersey. He has performed numerous organ concerts on a variety of organs including St. Thomas Church in Manhattan and the Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart in Newark. He was affiliated with the Pike County Choral Society for 10 years.

Repp became Director of Music and organist at First United Methodist Church in Newton on Sept. 1, 2012 and began the tradition of a Community Choir presentation on Palm Sunday afternoon. The first concert was The Seven Last Words of Christ by Dubois. The Unity Choir developed as a result of a snowstorm in December of 2013 which caused the cancellation of the Messiah concert at First Memorial Presbyterian Church in Dover.

The disappointed singers asked Henry if he would organize a concert in Newton, and the Unity Choir was born. The first presentation of Handel’s Messiah was in January 2014. The Unity Choir then presented Gounod’s St. Cecilia Mass last Palm Sunday. The 2015 concert of Handel’s Messiah featured 75 singers representing 27 churches.

This year’s Palm Sunday concert featured Requiem by Gabriel Fauré. Henry Repp first played a Messiah concert 40 years ago at First Memorial Presbyterian Church in Dover. In addition to accompanying on the three-manual Peragallo pipe organ for concerts, Repp also directs the singers.

The skill of an organist directing while playing has become a lost art, and Repp is a master of this art. In Saturday’s concert Repp will be featured as soloist in a performance of the Symphony No. 3 for Organ and Orchestra, Op. 78 by Saint-Saens.

Additional funding for the concert has been made available by the NJ State Council on the Arts/Department of State, a Partner Agency of the National Endowment for the Arts, through the State/County Partnership Block Grant Program, as administered by the Sussex County Arts and Heritage Council.

Ticket prices are $15 for adults, $10 for seniors and students. Children five years old and under are admitted free of charge. Although tickets may be purchased at the door, tickets are also available at Lou’s Music Center in Newton.

Further information can be obtained by calling 973-579-6465 or emailing to nssnj@ptd.net

The New Sussex Symphony was founded in 1959. Concert repertoire extends over four centuries, from the early 1700s to contemporary music. In addition to the formal concert series, the symphony acts as a resource to the county's musical community. This concert is the third and final in the concert series for the 2014/2015 season.