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The show is being coordinated by Darren McManus, RVCC Art Gallery Coordinator and Full-time Instructor. Gallery hours for the exhibition are Mondays, 3-8 p.m.; Tuesdays, 10 a.m.-3 p.m.; Wednesdays, 3-8 p.m.; Thursdays, 10 a.m.-6 p.m.; and Fridays, 1-4 p.m. The gallery will not open until 6 p.m. on Friday, March 28

Next Tuesday (March 25), the wonderful Dalí  String Quartet will be visiting the college for an 8:00 p.m. concert, part of the Scarmolin Chamber Concerts series.   The concert will be in the Nash Theatre.  Tickets are $10 for all RVCC students, faculty and staff.  Tickets can be purchased at the door, or  in advance from RVCC box office, 908-725-3240. 


The Dalí String Quartet's program will feature Mozart’s elegant String Quartet in D Major, K. 575. The program will pay tribute to the composer after whom the concerts are named with a performance of Scarmolin’s tuneful Quartet for Strings, Opus 174. The program also will include a selection of lighter Spanish and Latin-American works.

John Sichel has received a 2014 Fellowship in composition from the New Jersey State Council on the  Arts.  His "The Little Dutch Opera" was premiered in April of 2013 by Joy Hermalyn, Jason Barrameda and the Raritan Valley Community College Chorale.  His "Masque: 2012" was premiered in Berlin and Essen, Germany in August of 2012 by violinist Vladimir Tsypin and guitarist Yevgeny Beleninov.  Mr. Tsypin and guitarist Colin Davin gave the work its US premiere on a New York Philharmonic Ensembles concert in January, 2013.  Other recent compositions include the song cycle "These Messages," "The Fishbowl Diaries" for violin and narrator, and the last two of a set of 12 piano sonatas.

John’s String Quartet #4 was premiered by the Amphion String Quartet in October, 2011.  His "Songs of a Mannequin," for solo guitar, was premiered by Guitarist Christopher Kenniff in May, 2011.  His Sonata for Solo Violin, was premiered in Mendoza, Argentina in April, 2010 by Vladimir Tsypin and his  "Two Suburban Madrigals" were premiered the following month by the Madrigal Singers in Montclair, New Jersey.   Dr. Sichel’s String Quartet #3 received its premiere on January 28, 2007 at an ‘Artistic Club Luba’ concert in Englewood, New Jersey.  New York Philharmonic musicians Vladimir Tsypin, Lisa G. Kim (violins), Kathy Greene (viola) and Sumire Kudo (cello) were the featured performers.    The first performance of Dr. Sichel’s Piano Trio occurred on April 30, 2006, on a New York Philharmonic Ensembles program with Lisa G. Kim, Eric Bartlett and Susan Walters performing. 

"Francesca Da Bimini," commissioned by the National Symphony, was premiered by that orchestra in December of 2003, with Leonard Slatkin conducting.  Pianist Lenore Fishman Davis gave the first performance of Mr. Sichel’s "Concerto Mystico II" in March of 2003, with the New Philharmonic of New Jersey, Leon Hyman conducting.  Other recent works were written for and performed by The New Jersey Youth Symphony, The New Jersey Music Teachers Association, Duo Fresco (Christopher Kenniff, guitar and Brett Deubner, viola) and the Toy Piano collection of the University of California at San Diego.
  
A recording of John 's String Quartets #3 and #4, and his Piano Trio, featuring the Amphion String Quartet and pianist Hsin-yi Tsai, was recently released on CDBaby.  In 2008 Vladimir Tsypin and pianist Patricia Vila recorded Eight Miniatures for Violin and Piano.  The recording is awaiting release on the Tradition label.  A compact disc of Dr. Sichel’s solo works and duets was released in 2002 on the Musician’s Showcase label (MS 1071, entitled “Oiseaux Ordinaires”).  Two of his "Five Chamber Marches" were included on the album “Frantic Antics” by the wind band Nobles of the Mystic Shrine (Newport Classics NPD 85644) and his "Three Places in New Jersey" was recorded by the Slovak Radio Orchestra, Joel Suben conducting, for Opus One Records (CD #170).  His orchestrations of music by the 20th Century composer Anthony Scarmolin have been recorded for the Naxos and Centaur labels.  His music is published under his own imprimatur, Great Horned Music and also by Ludwig Music.

Dr. Sichel studied at the Yale School of Music, where his teachers included Jacob Druckman, Nicholas Maw and Martin Bresnick, and from which he received his Doctor of Musical Arts degree in 1990.  He is a member of the full-time music faculty at Raritan Valley Community College, where he is conductor of the college Chorale, and also teaches theory, composition, piano, music history. He is also music director of the Madrigal Singers, a Renaissance vocal ensemble based in Cranford, New Jersey.  A lifelong resident of the Garden State, he currently lives in Union County with his wife and two sons.  His hobbies include birding and astronomy and he has self-published science fiction under a pen name which he might reveal to you if you ask him nicely.

Nobles of the Mystic Shrine Wind Band - John Sichel, Chamber March No 3: The Stars that Keep Their Distance.

Chamber Music of John Sichel - String Quartet #4, 3rd movement. Performed by the Amphion String Quartet

Oiseaux Ordinaires; solos and duets by John Sichel. Piano Sonata in E minor - performed by Tomoko Harada.