The fall 2004 Technology and Society Forum Series will conclude on Wednesday, December 8^th with a winter concert featuring musical groups from NJIT, Rutgers-Newark, Essex Community College, and UMDNJ. The concert, scheduled from 7:30 – 9:30 PM in the Jim Wise Theatre at Kupfrian Hall on the NJIT campus, is open to the entire Newark community.

The concert features internationally-known musical artists performing the Brahms Piano Trio in C major. The trio’s violinist and pianist, Amiram and Alice Sheffet, are Julliard graduates, and Dr..Sheffet is a faculty member at UMDNJ. The cellist, Semyon Fridman, was a first prize winner of the Concert Artists Guild New York Competition.

Other performers include the Rutgers-Newark MOSAIC Jazz Ensemble, thirteen musicians from Rutgers-Newark led by Leo Johnson. Johnson, who has performed throughout the U.S. and Europe, was recently described by the Star-ledger as one of New Jersey’s greatest jazz musicians.

Well-known concert-pianist Richard Alston will conduct the Essex County College Choir in a classical and gospel repertoire. Alston has performed with the New Jersey Symphony in a commemoration of composers of African descent and has created a popular lecture series on the piano works of African-American composers.

The December 8^th concert also marks the debut of NJIT’s newly formed student chorus, directed by Robert Felstein. Felstein’s varied career includes jazz and classical music and over 50 equity theatrical productions.

For more information, contact Dr. Jay Kappraff at 973-596-3490 or kappraff@adm.njit.edu