Saturday night was soprano Marcelina Roman’s debut performance with the NJFO.
WESTFIELD, NJ — The audience took in the musical world of turn-of-the-century Vienna on Saturday night at The Presbyterian Church in Westfield.
The New Jersey Festival Orchestra, the Westfield-based professional orchestra conducted by music director Maestro David Wroe, and guest soprano Marcelina Roman received a standing ovation for its program of music by iconic Viennese composers, including Johann Strauss and Gustav Mahler.
The program began with sweeping waltzes, dances and operetta selections.
Audience member Alice Dillon of Westfield, who attended with her neighbor, said she had come to hear Mahler’s Symphony No.4 in G major, and was surprised that she was just as delighted by the first half the program, which featured lighter fare including waltzes, dances and operetta selections.
While singing “Heia, Heia” (The Gypsy Princes) by Emmerich Kalman, Roman stepped down from the stage and danced and sang in the aisles.
“I love. I love it,” Dillon said. “She was amazing.”
Roman had been cast as the lead singer in the NJFO’s production of “I Pagliacci,” which had its dress rehearsal on March 20, 2020. Because of the COVID lock down, it was never performed in front of an audience.
That meant that Saturday night was Roman’s debut performance with the NJFO.
“This moment has taken some time in coming,” Maestro Wroe said.
The audience give soprano Marcelina Roman and the New Jersey Festival Orchestra a standing ovation. Feb. 22, 2025.
Photo Credit: Jackie Lieberman/TAPinto Westfield
