On Friday, April 10, the Eastern University Music Department will be holding their 12th Annual Music Gala at the Church of the Savior in Wayne. The concert will start at 7:30p.m. and feature Eastern’s piano quartet, the university choir, and both music faculty and student performances. The cost of the concert is $20 for patron seats, $30 for preferred seats, and $40 for premium seating. There will be a discount for the Eastern University community of $5 off any ticket.
The piano quartet consists of Ron Matthews, David Bryant, Erikson Rojas, and Jim Correnti, all of whom serve within Eastern’s music department.
The university choir is led by music department chair, Ron Matthews, and consists of students from across the majors offered at Eastern.
The Gala has a special guest appearance this year: Ying Fu is a violinist originally from Shanghai, China. Currently he is residing in Philadelphia as the Associate Concertmaster of the Philadelphia Orchestra. In the Gala’s program, Mr. Fu’s biography states that he earned “his Bachelor’s of Music from the Shanghai Conservatory of Music in China and earned his Master’s of Music in the Shepherd School of Music…at Rice University in the United States.” Mr. Fu has won multiple violin competitions, and it is an honor to have him join the music department in this year’s Gala.
This year, the Gala will also be presenting the 2015 Music Alumna of the Year award to Jean McIntire. McIntire graduated from Eastern College, as it was then known, in 1971 with a Bachelor’s Degree in Music Education. She went on to earn “her Master’s Equivalency in Music Education and voice at Temple and West Chester Universities. She also earned a M. Ed. from Cabrini College.” Over the years, she has been teaching music in various public schools. The Eastern Music Department presents this award “to acknowledge with deep appreciation [her] Christian faith, service, and contribution in the field of music.”
The Music Gala first began in 2004 when it was held as a fundraiser for the university choir’s first European tour. The Gala went so well that the music department decided to keep the tradition going. Dr. Ron Matthews states that the Gala “supports music in ways operational development doesn’t.” Over the years, money raised from the Gala has helped to fund the choir’s international tour, the Steinway piano that you see on the stage of the auditorium in McInnis and other special projects such as these. A long-term goal for the music department would be to have a larger facility where students have more space to practice their skills. Matthews states “our goal right now is to keep the idea of a new facility present.” The restricted fund provided by the Music Gala supports this idea and keeps the music department in consideration of how best to spend money given to them through gifts or fundraisers such as the Gala.