MAC Classical Festival & Academy
Music Director Faith Wasson
The first annual MAC Classical Festival & Academy brings professional musicians from around Pennsylvania together with selected Pennsylvania high school ensembles and student players. Students will participate in a master class during the day and a performance in the evening.
Audiences can expect a high level concert by the student ensembles followed by a program performed by Master Class Instructor and The Pennsylvania Chamber Musicians. The Master Class Instructor will explain and show the audience what they worked on with the students and will also perform with the students.
A goal of this festival is both to give students a chance to learn and grow from experienced professionals while performing in a setting outside of their schools and for audiences to gather a deeper understanding of music in a relaxed and open atmosphere.
The Festival is taking place over three days
Friday, April 19th at Stoneleigh: A Natural Garden: Organist Tim Evers & The Faith Wasson Studio Ensemble
Saturday, April 20th at The Media Theater: The Philadelphia Chamber Musicians & Penncrest HS Chamber Ensemble
Sunday, April 21st at the Tyler Arboretum: The Philadelphia Chamber Musicians & Upper Darby HS String Ensemble
April 19th: Stoneleigh 7:00
Tim Evers, Organist
And The Faith Wasson Studio Ensemble
Program:
The Faith Wasson Flute Studio Ensemble
Invention for Flute and Oboe - Bach
Gaelic Offering - McMichael
Swans - Saint-Säens
Finlandia - Sibelius
Tim Evers, Organ: The House Organ Experience
Residence organs, like Stoneleigh’s magnificent 1931 Aeolian-Skinner offered in-home entertainment for those who could afford them. This program will include repertoire that would have been played on this organ in the 1930’s as well as timeless favorites including:
Crown Imperial March - Walton
“Nimrod” from Enigma Variations - Elgar
Nun Danket Alle Gott - Karg-Elert
Largo from New World Symphony - Dvořák
April 20th Saturday, Media Theatre 7:00
The Pennsylvania Chamber Musicians
Featuring Violinist Joseph Kauffman
And the Penncrest High School String Ensemble
Program:
Penncrest String Ensemble
String Symphony No. 2 in D Major - Mendelssohn
Elsa's Procession to the Cathedral - Wagner
Red Rhythmico - Mosier
Symphony No. 25 in G minor - Mozart
Suite for flute and Orchestra Overture - Telemann
The Pennsylvania Chamber Musicians: Piano, Violin, Flute Trio
Duex Interludes - Ibert
Montagnarde - Benoit
Medailles Antiques - Gaubert
Five Pieces - Shostakovich
Suite en Trio - Mel Bonis
Aria - Ibert
Fantaisie Americain - Doppler
April 21 Sunday, Tyler Arboretum 5:00
The Pennsylvania Chamber Musicians
Featuring violinist Joseph Kauffman
and The Upper Darby High Chamber Ensemble
Program:
Upper Darby String Ensemble
Eine Kleine Nachtmusik - Mozart
La Bruja - Vargas
You Are Amazing - Balmages
The Pennsylvania Chamber Musicians: Viola, Flute, Cello Trio
Trio - Roussell
Trio No. 1 - Giordani
Trio No. 1 - Devienne
Faith Wasson: Fluatist and festival music director is a full-time performing musician and educator living in Glenside, PA. She also manages a monthly chamber music series entitled Flute with Faith & Friends, featuring an array of diverse repertoire and instrumentation. She teaches flute, piccolo and chamber music at her private studio and is currently the piccolo/3rd flutist with the Southeastern Pennsylvania Symphony Orchestra. She is MAC’s 2023-2024 artist in residence and the music director for the MAC Classical Festival and Academy.
Tim Evers: master class instructor and organist is the Director of Music Ministries at Westminster Presbyterian Church in West Chester. Since receiving his Master of Music in Organ performance from West Minster Choir College he has led choir tours throughout Europe, performed in many of the great music halls in the United States and served as Dean of the Philadelphia Chapter of the American Guild of Organists. Tim is passionate about teaching the younger generation of musicians and making classical music relatable to everyone.
Dr. Joseph Kauffman: master class instructor and Violinist/Violist, performs with The Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, Opera Philadelphia, Philadelphia Ballet, Academy of Vocal Arts, Reading Symphony Orchestra, iPalpiti Artists International, and is concertmaster of the Wayne Oratorio Society, Germantown Oratorio Choir, and Haverford-Bryn Mawr Chorale. He is an Artist in Residence and adjunct professor of violin and chamber music at Temple University and serves as the Orchestra Artistic Director at Cornerstone Christian Academy in Southwest Philadelphia. Kauffman is also the founder and Artistic Director of the Music Transforms concert series and conducts the Wayne Chamber Orchestra in Wayne, Pennsylvania. Kauffman lives in South Philadelphia with his wife, cellist Elena Kauffman.
The project is funded in part by the Foundation for Delaware County.
