The Holiday Music Festival begins with a Jazz Night from 7-9:30 p.m on Friday. The festivities and special events continue on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m and Sunday 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Free and open to the public, the Holiday Music Festival includes international foods, boutique shopping, and of course, music. The event is the largest fundraiser for the school, and helps The Friends of Hoff-Barthleson raise money for the school’s annual fund and financial aid program. Visitors can bid in a silent auction that includes items such as an Apple iWatch Sport, Amazon GC, Bose, Soundlink mini wireless speaker, and more; eat international foods and purchase items at boutiques.
The Festival is rich with music performances and activities including classical and jazz ensembles at the school. The festival includes a performance by the Hoff-Barthelson Symphonette, led by Music Director Robert Schwartz, on Sunday starting at 1:45 p.m. Click here for a complete list of musical performances throughout the weekend.
Among the items in the silent auction are music accessories, jewelry, tickets to sporting events and theater shows, and dinner with Executive Director Joan Behrens Bergman and a mystery musical guest. Click here for complete information on the Music Festival.
Hoff-Barthelson Music School’s Festival Orchestra, the School’s premier ensemble, will perform a concert on Saturday, Dec. 12 at 7 p.m. at the Community Unitarian Universalist Congregation at 468 Rosedale Ave. in White Plains. Featuring the internationally acclaimed violinist Ida Kavafian in Mozart’s 4th Violin Concerto, the program will also include works by Chabrier, Bartók, and Beethoven’s “Pastoral” Symphony No. 6.
The Festival Orchestra is a full symphony orchestra for high school students at the highest level of technical ability and musical artistry. The Festival Orchestra has been lauded as one of the finest high school orchestras in the United States by the New York State Council on the Arts. Selected by the New York Philharmonic as a partner in its new Philharmonic Academy Jr. Program in 2014, Hoff-Barthelson is the only music school in Westchester County and the tri-state area to hold this honor.
Kavafian is an artist-member of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and former violinist of the Beaux Arts Trio. She has been artistic director of Music from Angel Fire in New Mexico, is a founder of the Bravo! Colorado festival and co-founded several chamber ensembles.
Click here for more information about Hoff-Barthelson Music School.