Highland Park Recorder Society, Inc., and the
Garden State Sinfonia, Chamber Orchestra
431 Lincoln Ave.,
Highland Park, NJ 08904
(732) 828-7421

January 2007

Dear Prospective Member,

With this letter we extend to you a warm invitation to join or renew yourmembership in the Highland Park Recorder Society (HPRS). We celebrate our20th anniversary this year with exciting new repertoire and a new workcommissioned by the Society for its annual concert, Cultural Crossroads:Spanish, Sephardic and Latin American Music.

On April 22, 2007, at 3:00 P.M., the Highland Park Recorder Society,represented by its performing group Musica Dolce and friends will present adynamic concert in collaboration with Zorzal Music Ensemble, a 7-membervocal and instrumental group under the Artistic Direction of composer LynnGumert. Zorzal specializes in the performance of early Spanish and LatinAmerican music with a multicultural flair. You can be part of this uniqueevent!

The concert will feature a world premiere by Dr. Gumert inspired by thepoetry of the earliest known Spanish woman poet, Florencia del Pinar, whowas active in the court of King Ferdinand and Queen Isabela (1479-1516).Other works on the program will reflect how musical elements from Spain areinfluenced by and influence other cultures, particularly African, NativeAmerican, Arab, Sephardic, and European cultures.

Rehearsals for recorders will begin on Wednesday, January 17 at 7:30 P.M. and continueon the following Wednesdays until the concert. They will take place at the United Methodist Church on George Street at Livingston Avenue in New Brunswick, NJ. Rehearsals will culminate in concerts on Saturday April 21, 2007 at 8:00 P.M. at the First Presbyterian Church, Perth Amboy and Sunday April 22, 2007, at 3:00 P.M. in the United Methodist Church, New Brunswick, New Jersey. We look forward to yourparticipation! For more information, please call Donna at (732) 828-7421.

We welcome professional string players, and recorder players at all levels of proficiency, people who reflect the ethnic, racial, and cultural diversity of our demography, professionals, students, and adults of all ages. Our rehearsal space is handicapped-accessible, and we welcome people with disabilities. Directions to the church are on our web site, http://www.hprecorder.org.

In light of our artistry, caliber, and service to the community, we have been awarded grants for at least fourteen years from the Middlesex County Cultural and HeritageCommission/Board of Chosen Freeholders, through funding in part from the NewJersey State Council on the Arts/Department of State, a Partner Agency ofThe National Endowment for the Arts. This year we have been awarded a grant to support our presentation of Cultural Crossroads: Spanish, Sephardic and Latin American Music. We also received an Artistic Innovation award to support our commission of a new work.

The Society was founded in 1987 as a chapter of the American Recorder Society (ARS), and was later transformed into an ensemble of winds and strings, the Garden State Sinfonia. We are an educational, not-for-profit organization that meets regularly to make music. We are a member of Early Music America and of GEM, the Guild for Early Music (www.guildforearlymusic.org), a consortium of early music presenters.

Our purpose is to cultivate an appreciation of the art, history, literature, and uses of the recorder and to raise the level of proficiency in its performance. We choose repertoire that showcases various schools of music within a variety of historical periods. We offer members and friends the opportunity to improve musicianship under the expert leadership of our conductor, Dr. Lynn Gumert. We welcome any person who subscribes to these purposes.

Our Society has regularly presented annual public concerts as the Garden State Sinfonia, Chamber Orchestra of the Highland Park Recorder Society. The Society provides players the opportunity to do outreach performing for under-served populations, such as disabled children and adults, senior citizens, inner-city children, disabled New Jersey Veterans, and residents of nursing homes.

Our Society provides educational opportunities for hundreds of children through members giving lecture-demonstrations in inner-city public schools and music institutes for ethnically diverse at-risk children from low-income single-parent households.

Our Society provides educational opportunities for adults by sponsoring workshops, such as workshops two years ago in Baroque and non-European music for recorders, strings, and singers, and hands-on workshops in Gamelan, music of Bali, Indonesia, and Javanese music in the tradition of a sultan's court.

Those who have participated in the past year's rehearsals and concerts will recall the warmth and joy we experienced in bringing to life works of some of the greatest composers of our musical heritage. We hope you will join us this year for more fun and music making.

Sincerely,

Donna Messer, Founder and President
Tel. (732) 828-7421
Email:
Web Site: http://www.hprecorder.org