Monroe-Woodbury cellist to be one of two soloists at SUNY Orange Ensemble’s Feb. 25 concert

MIDDLETOWN — Cellist Eric Bjorkman of Monroe-Woodbury High School and tenor Michael Kolb from Newburgh Free Academy will be the featured soloists for the SUNY Orange Community Orchestra’s upcoming concert at 8 p.m., Saturday, Feb. 25 at the Paramount Theatre in Middletown.

As winners of the college’s 10th Annual Concerto/Aria Contest, Bjorkman and Kolb earned the opportunity to perform solos. Bjorkman’s will perform the first movement of Joseph Haydn’s “Concerto in C Major, Hob. VIIb” while Kolb will sing “Comfort Ye My People” and “Every Valley Shall Be Exalted” from the first scene of George F. Handel’s “Messiah.”

Eric Bjorkman Bjorkman, a senior at Monroe-Woodbury High School, has studied cello for more than eight years. This past year, he has studied privately with Eileen Moon of the New York Philharmonic. Bjorkman performs in a variety of Monroe-Woodbury High School music ensembles including chamber orchestra, voice ensemble, combined symphony orchestra and a string quartet.

He is also a member of the high school drama club, having acted in “You Can’t Take it with You,” “Charlotte’s Web,” “Beauty and the Beast,” “Hairspray,” and the “Wizard of Oz.” Bjorkman participated in the 2009 and 2010 Souza Scholarship Productions of “Brigadoon” and “The Secret Garden.”

Musically, he has been an active participant in numerous all-county festivals and area all-state performances. He has been named an alternate for two consecutive years at the All-State New York State School Music Association Festival. He has attended the Ithaca College Summer Music Camp and the New York Summer Music Festival at SUNY Oneonta.

Bjorkman, a member of the SUNY Orange Community Orchestra since 2006, is also a member of the Jubilate Youth Choir of Warwick and has sung Carl Orff’s “Carmina Burana” at Carnegie Hall (2010) and John Rutter’s “Mass of the Children” (2012). He was a member of the Orange County Youth Symphony Orchestra, participating in concert tours in Beijing, China, and most recently Prague, Czech Republic.

In college, he plans to pursue a music education degree with a minor in history.

Michael Kolb Kolb is a senior at Newburgh Free Academy and has studied voice with Ron DeFesi for the past three years. He performs frequently with the Hudson Opera Theater, having sung the role of Mercury in Jacques Offenbach’s “Orpheus” and as Guccio in Giacomo Puccini’s “Gianni Schicchi.” In addition, he has participated in performances of Pietro Mascagni’s “Cavalleria Rusticana,” Camille Saint-Saën’s “Samson et Dalila,” Haydn’s “Paukenmesse,” Händel’s “Israel in Egypt” and Wolfgang Mozart’s “Requiem.”

This spring Kolb will perform in a fully staged production of Giuseppe Verdi’s “Aïda.” He also plays piano and guitar, and composes. He plans to continue studying voice and will attend college in the fall.