Event Calendar
Arts at St. John’s: Omri Barak, Jenny Chen, & Eric Gombert
Tuesday, April 23, 2019, 12:10 pm
GREAT MUSIC IN A GREAT PLACE!
St. John's Lutheran Church
37 S. 5th Street in Allentown
Programs are open to the public and free of charge.
Free-will donations are graciously accepted.
Omri Barak, trumpet | Allentown Symphony Orchestra, Principal Trumpet
Jenny Chen, piano | Guest Musician
Eric Gombert, organ | St. John's Evangelical Lutheran Church, Director of Music
P R O G R A M
DEBUSSY The Girl with the Flaxen Hair
TOMASI Triptyque
BACH Concerto for Harpisichord after Vivaldi
Eric Gombert, organ
DIBERARDINO With Pinions of Immense Desire
BÖHME Concerto for Trumpet
GERSHWIN Rhapsody in Blue
Artist Biographies
Omri Barak, 21, began his musical studies with the piano at 5, violin at 6, and finally the trumpet at age 8. He has been the principal trumpet of the Allentown Symphony since 2016. Omri is also a student at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. All students at Curtis receive merit-based, full-tuition scholarships, and Omri holds the Abigail Rebecca Zubrow Cohen Memorial Fellowship.
As a soloist, Omri has appeared with the Allentown Band, River City Brass Band, and the Edgewood Symphony. This past summer, Omri was a fellow at the Tanglewood Music Center, and has played in the past with the New World Symphony, the Breckenridge Music Festival, and as a member of the National Repertory Orchestra.
Jenny Chen debuted with the Taipei Symphony Orchestra at age nine and was accepted into the Curtis Institute of Music the next year, studying with Gary Graffman and Eleanor Sokoloff. She also holds a Master's Degree from Yale School of Music under the pedagogy of Robert Blocker and Melvin Chen and is a doctoral candidate and teaching assistant at Eastman School of Music, mentored by Douglas Humpherys. Chen joined the staff pianist panel at Curtis Institute in September 2018 and made her solo recital debut at Carnegie Hall in March 2019.
At age 12, Chen debuted with the Philadelphia Orchestra playing Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 3 and appeared as orchestral soloist with Taipei Symphony Orchestra, National Repertory Orchestra, Pacific Symphony, New York Downtown Sinfonietta, Harrisburg Symphony Orchestra, and Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra. As a chamber musician, Chen has collaborated with esteemed artists Anne-Marie McDermott, Arnold Steinhardt, and Peter Wiley.
Chen has been an artist in residence at festivals including Bravo! Vail, Mainly Mozart, Ocean Reef, Sejong International, Lincoln Center's Chamber Music Encounters, and Tippet Rise. She also won top prizes at the New York International Piano Competition, Eastman Piano Competition, Music Teachers National Association Competition, Young Concert Artist Award, and International Franz Liszt Piano Competition.
Eric Gombert, Cantor at St. John’s Evangelical Lutheran Church, began his ministry at St. John’s June 1, 2017. Eric began his music studies at a young age, first studying piano and later most woodwind instruments prior to beginning organ lessons while in the seventh grade. He was born and raised in the Lehigh Valley area where he graduated from Whitehall High School and studied both piano and organ with Emerson Harding. Eric holds a Bachelor of Music degree with a concentration in Sacred Music from Westminster Choir College of Rider University in Princeton, NJ, where he was an organ student of Dr. Donald McDonald. Eric is a member of the American Guild of Organists and the Association of Lutheran Church Musicians. In addition to working at St. John’s, he also teaches piano and organ, directs the Brittany Pointe Songsters, and occasionally performs as accompanist or solo in the community. Eric and his husband, Matthew, enjoy spending time with their Great Dane.