Artists and students of the renowned Keys 2 Success program working with young pianists in Newark will be collaborating with The Baroque Orchestra of New Jersey in a historic concert Sunday, July 18, 2021 at 4:00 PM. The concert will be outdoors and free admission at The Madison Community Arts Center, 10 Kings Road, Madison, New Jersey 07940.
Jee-Hoon Krska is the founder of Keys 2 Success, a program that seeks to improve the lives of children growing up in the most underserved areas in Newark through music education. She studied piano in the Juilliard pre-college program and at MIT (Ph.D. EECS). She has performed in concerts including at Boston Symphony Hall, Lincoln Center, and with Yo-Yo Ma. Dr. Krska spent twenty years in the semiconductor industry. During that time, she was actively involved in a series of projects aimed at serving Newark youths. Through this experience, she saw firsthand the effects of generational poverty. She developed a passion for investing in youth''s lives, which ultimately led to her decision in 2016 to work full time with the children of Newark by founding Keys 2 Success.
Elijah Souels, Keys 2 Success Composer-in-Residence, is a native Newarker and a rare musical talent. He started playing drums at church as a young child. When the need arose for a pianist at his church, he switched instruments and taught himself how to play the piano. Elijah''s musical talent earned him entrance to Newark Arts High School as a piano major. He further pursued his music education at Essex County College, where he majored in Classical Piano Performance and Music Theory. He performs regularly in the tri-state area, including at NJPAC Jazz Festival. In addition to his teaching responsibilities, Mr. Souels is the creative force behind the piano ensemble arrangements performed by Keys 2 Success students.
Seraphina Taylor began playing the piano at an early age on her grandmother’s antique upright. As her mother recalls, the piece which caught her attention and inspired her to pick out the tune by ear at the age of 5 was the Moonlight Sonata theme - a piece she heard on the children’s TV series Goosebumps. Her mother quickly enrolled Seraphina in private piano lessons for classical music. At the age of 12, her passion for Jazz was ignited when she discovered the music of a Los Angeles-based pianist, producer and YouTube sensation, Kiefer Shackelford. Ms. Taylor is currently enrolled in Kiefer''s private studio and is a rising Junior at the Academy for Performing Arts. Seraphina discovered her love and passion for teaching music through teaching her younger cousins to play the piano and the guitar. She joined the teaching staff of Keys 2 Success in 2021 and plans to continue pursuing her musical career by attending college for music performance and education.
Héctor Falcón has been a member of the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra since 2000, and he regularly plays with the New York City Ballet, Opera Orchestra of New York, American Symphony Orchestra and Houston Symphony Orchestra. For the past 12 years, he has toured Japan with the New York Symphonic Ensemble. A busy soloist and chamber musician, Falcón has performed in prestigious music festivals, including the Pacific Music Festival of Japan and OK Mozart Festival. He made his solo debut with the NJSO in January 2012, performing François Dompierre’s Les Diableries. The Star-Ledger praised his “charismatic performance throughout, with fluid, silky tone and impressive precision.”
