The New Canaan Men’s Club Friday will hear how the Norwalk Symphony Orchestra is reaching out to the Fairfield community, while enjoying musical selections performed by Jonathan Yates, its music director and conductor, and Gunnar Sahlin, the orchestra’s principal cellist.
The Men’s Club will meet at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, 111 Oenoke Ridge, beginning at 10 a.m. Yates and Sahlin will begin their presentation around 10:40 a.m.
The Norwalk Symphony’s upcoming concert, “Music For All Ages,” featuring works by Tchaikovsky and Prokofiev is scheduled for March 17 at 3 p.m. in Norwalk City Hall. On May 3, the orchestra will celebrate with its 85th Anniversary Soiree at the Shorehaven Golf Club.
Aside from its active in concert schedule, the Norwalk Symphony has performed summer concerts at Waveny Park and accompanied the New Canaan Academy of Dance in its holiday performances of Swan Lake.
Yates made his professional orchestral conducting debut at the age of 23, leading the National Symphony Orchestra in a Millennium Stages Concert. The following year, he made his Carnegie Hall debut as a pianist in the Isaac Stern Chamber Music Workshop.
Yates is also music director for the Norwalk Youth Symphony, open to young musicians in fourth grade through high school, and is the conductor of its Principal Orchestra. Its European concert tours, scheduled every other year, have drawn large audiences for recent performances in Spain, Germany, Vienna and Salzburg.
Yates received his graduate diploma in conducting from the Julliard School and has collaborated, both as a pianist and as a conductor, with internationally known musicians, such as violinist Midori and cellist David Finckel.
Sahlin, along with his position as principal cellist with the Norwalk Symphony, is assistant principal cellist with the Ridgefield Symphony and serves as artistic director and conductor of the Fairfield County Symphony Society. After studying at the Academy of Music in Prague, he joined the Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, touring throughout Europe and the U.S. Locally, he also has an active teaching schedule.
The Men’s Club has openings for new members, men 55-years old and above. For information, email ncmens@ncmens.info.
