(Image Source: Cierra Byrd Official Website)

The New Jersey Youth Symphony is set to present “A Concert for Peace” on Feb. 26, 2022.

The showcase, which will take place at the Union County Performing Arts Center in Rahway, will feature a performance of Bernstein’s Symphony No. 1 “Jeremiah” for Orchestra and Mezzo-soprano as well as the East Coast premiere of Marvin Hamlisch’s “Anatomy of Peace, A Symphonic Suite in One Movement.”

The orchestra, which will play under the direction of Hehen H. Cha-Pyo, will be joined by mezzo-soprano Cierra Byrd, who is a member of the Met Opera’s Lindemann Young Artist Development Program and made her Met Opera debut in “Fire Shut Up in My Bones.”

“Two celebrated American master composers are featured in what is to be an amazing and very special concert,” said Peter H. Gistelinck, Executive Director at the Wharton Institute for the Performing Arts, in an official statement. “We all know music is truly an international language and therefore an ideal vehicle to communicate the message of peace on a global scale.”