Before the concert. 8/27/23.   Soon magnificent sounds will begin and be heard inside and outside the Great Auditorium with its open doors. Paul Goldfinger photo. 8/28/23

Sitting in the back reading the program while awaiting Maestro Jason Tramm to come on stage. Paul Goldfinger chasing the light.

View from outside the Great Auditorium Masterwork concert 8/27/23. Paul Goldfinger photo. Click to enlarge photos.

By Paul Goldfinger, MD.   Editor Blogfinger.net.    Ocean Grove, NJ 8/28/23/.

I was walking across the Wegmans  parking lot this morning when a voice said, “How did you like the concert?”

It was Janet, a Grover  who wanted to chat about last night’s Masterworks Sacred Gems Concert.

I told her that it was a beautiful event with the OG Choir, vocalist quartet, orchestra and organ. There was something magical about this particular concert, and Dr. Jason Tramm gets credit for that.  He spoke to the audience more than usual, and that was a treat.

Janet told me that she brought a 17 year old ballerina, a relative,  to the concert, and that young artist loved it.

And I thought, “How do young people today learn about such music.? ”  I got it at home to some degree and also in the school bands.  In college we played big band jazz. Music appreciation wasn’t much help.

It’s best if young people can participate in music like the young ballerina, and then there were two wonderful young female singers last night, and I told Janet that I enjoy when young performers appear in the Auditorium.  It’s part of the “Youth Underground” showing up lately in the Grove  throughout town. And bringing young music students at cut rates would help fill seats and promote serious music like this.

I especially enjoyed the appearance by Dr. Tim Sharp, a composer and conductor who had appeared before in the Great Auditorium.  His work is so unique, and he conducts the orchestra and choir with a banjo at his side.

His work, “The High Lonesome Mass–Kyrie” with its roots in the mountains of Kentucky and Tennessee was captivating.

I can’t do justice to audio with my iPhone, so here is a YouTube which will give you an idea.

We really should also mention several little known composers whose work was beautifully shown last night: Haydn, Gounod, and Rossini.

And finally there are magnificent performances by  the Solo Quartet with Ronald Naldi (tenor), Kara Goodrich (soprano), Justin Beck (baritone), and Laura Zahn(mezzo-soprano,) The Great Auditorium Choir,   the Mid-Atlantic Philharmonic Orchestra, and Gordon Turk on the Hope Jones organ.   Jason Gonzalez was the tenor section leader.

Susan Heerema, the Concert Master, did fine  playing bluegrass with Tim Sharp.