MIDDLETOWN, N.Y. – The SUNY Orange Community Orchestra will welcome piano soloist Julian Lazaro, a sophomore at Pine Bush High School, when it holds its annual winter concert at 3 p.m., Sunday, Feb. 23 at the Paramount Theatre in Middletown.

Lazaro, winner of the orchestra’s Concerto-Aria contest, will perform the piano solo from Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s “Piano Concerto No. 24 in C Minor, K.491.” The remainder of the evening program includes “Slavonic Dance, Op. 46, No. 8” by Antonín Dvořák, “Fiddle-Faddle” by Leroy Anderson, “March of the Belgian Paratroopers” by Pierre Leemans, and “Symphony No. 6 in F Major, Op. 68 (‘Pastoral’)” by Ludwig van Beethoven.

Lazaro has been playing the piano since the age of six and is currently under the tutelage of Ada Margoshes in Newburgh. He was a finalist at the Steinway Hall Broadway Tunes 2017 competition, winner of the 2017 Orange County Regional Medical Center’s Got Talent, and winner of the 2019 Honors Recital Auditions at SUNY New Paltz. He has also performed at the Grand Montgomery Chamber Music Series, the Paramount Theater for Touro College’s White Coat Ceremony, and earned a perfect score for a Level 6 selection at the New York State School Music Association (NYSSMA) Festival this past year. 

In his spare time, he volunteers and plays piano at several nursing homes in Sullivan and Orange counties He is also an active member of the Pine Bush High School’s Math Club and Jazz Band.

The Concerto/Aria contest is intended to provide solo opportunities for talented young local instrumentalists and vocalists from within Orange County. Eligibility was open to SUNY Orange students and local high school students, as well as residents of Orange County who were age 23 or younger as of Jan. 1, 2020. Entrants auditioned for a panel of faculty from SUNY Orange and professional musicians from the Hudson Valley.

The Paramount Theatre, located at 17 South Street in Middletown, is universally accessible. Tickets are $10, general admission; $5, senior citizens (age 60 and over) and all non-SUNY Orange students with school ID); and free for active duty military personnel, children under 12 and all SUNY Orange students with valid ID. Tickets can be purchased at the Paramount Theatre Box Office.

This concert is sponsored by SUNY Orange’s Arts and Communication Department. The orchestra, under the direction of Rich Milan Simons, is comprised of SUNY Orange students and members of the general community. For more information, call (845) 341-4787. For updates on all cultural and artistic events at SUNY Orange, visit “The Arts at SUNY Orange” Facebook page.