Press Release - May 4, 2011
Now in its 27th season of providing classical music concerts, the Bay-Atlantic Symphony performs concerts and educational programs in Cumberland, Atlantic, Gloucester, and Cape May counties.
It is the resident orchestra of the Guaracini Fine and Performing Arts Center at Cumberland County College, Stockton College Performing Arts Center, and Pfleeger Concert Hall at Rowan University. Avalon is the summer home of the Symphony, which is orchestra-in-residence of the resort’s “Symphony by the Sea” series. It has also been the orchestra-in-residence of the Cape May Music Festival since 2003 and has received worldwide exposure through its appearances on National Public Radio’s Weekend Edition and WWFM’s Celebrating our Musical Community.
Among world-renowned soloists collaborating with the orchestra have been Hilary Hahn, Eugenia Zukerman, the Eroica Trio, Stefan Jackiw, Awagadin Pratt, Shai Wosner, Chee-Yun, and Adam Neiman.
The Symphony’s first commercial label recording, of She Comes to Shore--concerto for improvised piano and orchestra by the contemporary Hong Kong-born, Canadian-based composer and pianist Lee Pui Ming, was recorded last August and is available on the Innova label, distributed by Naxos.
“The PNC Foundation has a long history of providing grants to non-profit organizations that strengthen and enrich the lives of our neighbors,” said Bill Mills, president of PNC for Philadelphia and Southern New Jersey. “We understand the valuable return that investing in the arts can deliver. Today more than ever, the businesses we attract, the jobs we create and the visitors who extend their stay are drawn by what South Jersey has to offer.”
The PNC Foundation, which receives its principal funding from The PNC Financial Services Group (NYSE: PNC), actively supports organizations that provide services for the benefit of communities in which it has a significant presence. The foundation focuses its philanthropic mission on early childhood education and community and economic development,
including the arts and culture. Through its signature cause, Grow Up Great, PNC has created a 10-year, $100 million initiative to enhance early childhood education and school readiness.
These concerts are also made possible through funding from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts and the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation.