Jacob MacKay to give Impromptu Concert performance at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church on Jan. 21

Impromptu’s 2018 Rising Star Jacob MacKay, a talented young cellist from New Hampshire,will visit Key West for an Impromptu Concert performance at 4 p.m. on Sunday, Jan. 21, at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, 401 Duval St.
The concert will be the second of Impromptu’s 2018 season, celebrating the centennial of Leonard Bernstein, a frequent visitor to Key West.
MacKay has performed both as soloist and chamber musician throughout the United States, Europe, and the Middle East. Recently he participated in music festivals in Israel, the Festivale Internationale de Musique de Chambre in France, and numerous New Hampshire-based festivals, including the Monadnock Music and Electric Earth Concerts.
Prior to college MacKay was awarded a scholarship at the prestigious Apple Hill Center for Chamber Music and performed extensively with ensembles, including the New Hampshire Philharmonic Orchestra, the Keene Chamber Orchestra, the Ciompi and Lydian String Quartets, Triple Helix Piano Trio, Apple Hill Chamber Players, and Silk Road Ensemble.
He continues to experiment in a wide range of world music styles while interacting with musicians from a variety of countries and backgrounds. After a recent and very well-received trip to Jerusalem and the West Bank for the Palestine Sacred Music Festival last year, MacKay already plans to return to the area next year, and he hopes to take his cello to other corners of the world.
““f you give me the plane ticket, I’ll go anywhere,” he said.
MacKay is a recipient of the coveted Leonard Bernstein Music Fellowship Award from Brandeis University, a distinguished and highly selective instrumental music program. His decision to attend Brandeis was ultimately influenced by his acceptance as a Leonard Bernstein Fellow (LBF).
MacKay was chosen to be the principal cellist of the Brandeis-Wellesley Orchestra while enjoying the opportunity to collaborate with similarly talented young musicians. In 2016, he graduated Summa Cum Laude with highest honors in combined majors of both Music and Environmental Studies.
At the Jan. 21 concert at St. Paul’s, MacKay and pianist Charlie Tauber will perform a program that includes Lied Ohne Worte, op. 10, by Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy; 5 Stücke im Volkston, op. 102, by Robert Schumann; 3 Meditations from Mass, by Leonard Bernstein; and the Sonata in G minor, op. 19, by Sergei Rachmaninoff. With its variety of compositions and dazzling virtuosity, this performance promises to be a very entertaining event.
For more information visit www.keywestimpromptu.org
Tickets for the concert cost $20, and are available at www.keystix.com, or at the door on the afternoon of the event. Cash, checks, or credit/debit cards accepted. Students admitted free. Seating is on a first-come, first-served basis. Attendees are asked to kindly silence all cell phones and refrain from the use of unauthorized recording equipment and flash photography during the performance.
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