Rider University Art Gallery Concerts Begin Oct. 12

Editor's Note: The following is a news release from Rider University.

Westminster Conservatory will present the first recital of the year in its Gallery Concerts series Friday, Oct. 12, at 12:15 p.m. in the Rider University Art Gallery.

The performers will be Westminster Conservatory faculty members Kevin Willois, flute and Kyu Jung Rhee, piano. The program, in observance of the 150th birthday of Claude Debussy, will feature music of France. It includes Debussy's Syrinx for solo flute and Clair de lune in a version for flute and piano. Admission is free. 

Kevin Willois, flute, earned a Bachelor of Music in education and performance from Mason Gross School of the Arts of Rutgers University, where he has also completed a master’s degree. At Rutgers he was a student of Bart Feller and served as the principal flutist of the Rutgers Orchestra and SummerFest Orchestra.

Mr. Willois is the principal flutist of Chelsea Opera and the Martina Arroyo Festival Orchestra. He is a member of the chamber ensemble trio@play. Mr. Willois teaches summer chamber music workshops in New Brunswick and at Westminster Conservatory. He is involved with the Westchester Philharmonic outreach program "Visiting Artist," which brings the experience of music to children in public schools, day care centers and therapeutic centers. For several years he performed and recorded with rhythm and blues groups. He is a regular reed player at Actor's Net and has recorded a CD of Brazilian music with Trio Vento.

Kyu-Jung Rhee, a native of Korea, received a Doctor of Musical Arts from Rutgers University. She is a winner of the Joanna Hodges International Piano Competition and the Corsi Internazionali in Italy, and she has received numerous scholarships, including the Eubie Blake Scholarship Award, Aspen Music Festival and the Nicholas Music Scholarship from Rutgers University.

As a chamber musician, Ms. Rhee was a founding member of I Medici Trio and has performed with the Essex String Quartet. As a soloist and accompanist, she has performed in the United States, Italy, and Korea. She has been invited to teach at Kon-Kuk University and Yewon School of the Arts in Seoul. At Westminster Conservatory she teaches piano and coaches chamber music. She is also music director at Princeton Presbyterian Church.

The Rider University Art Gallery, Professor Harry I. Naar, director, is located on the second floor of the Bart Luedeke Center of Rider University, 2083 Lawrence Rd. (Route 206) in Lawrence Township.

The current gallery show, John Suler – Photographic Psychology: Forces That Shape the Psyche, runs from Sept. 13 to Oct. 14.

Gallery Concerts is a Westminster Conservatory faculty series. For more or to receive a 2012-2013 season catalog of all Westminster and Rider performances, call the box office at 609- 921-2663 between 11 a.m. and 4 p.m. Monday through Friday.

For updates, visit Westminster’s Web site at www.rider.edu/arts