By Dave Hoger, Jackson Citizen Patroit, Staff Writer
Sunday February 3, 2002

Jesus Alfonzo - JSO Soloist

     Jesus Alfonzo was the first full-time artist-in-residence with the Jackson Symphony Orchestra.  He also was an integral part of the symphony's Community Music School.  Saturday night, it's the teacher's turn to show what he's got.
     Alfonzo, former principal viola player with the symphony, returns to Jackson as the featured soloist when the JSO presents its third subscription concert of the season.  "Spiritualism" which focuses on how music has played a part in spirituality and religion, begins at 8 p.m. in the Harold Sheffer Music Hall of the Potter Center on the Jackson Community College campus.
     Now a music professor at Stetson University in Florida, Alfonzo will be featured on Bach's "My Spirit be Joyful" and Bloch's "Suite Hebraique".  Mendelsohn's "Symphony No. 5 Reformation" and Rimsky-Korsakov's "Russian Easter Overture" are among the other pieces the symphony will perform.
     For Alfonzo, the concert offers an opportunity to again perform a piece he regards as "emotionally brilliant" and return to an organization of which he still feels a part, the miles notwithstanding.  "I have to be fair.  If I'm going to play this, it's as just another member of the orchestra, only with a solo part," he said from his home in Orlando.  He describes "Suite Hebraique" as a "very deep piece (that) explores the suffering of the Jewish people."
     Praised by JSO maestro Stephen Osmond as "an exceptional musician who has an incredible quality about making music and teaching music," Alfonzo carries some impressive credentials.  He earned undergraduate and post-graduate diplomas from the prestigious Julliard School of Music and a master's degree from Michigan State University, where he was studying while performing -- and serving as a full-time professional musician -- with the Jackson symphony.  He accepted the Stetson job in 2000.
     A native of Venezuela, Alfonzo has appeared with orchestras throughout South America, and has given recitals and chamber music concerts in Europe, South America and the United States.  In Venezuela, he served as principal violist in the Simon Bolivar Symphony and taught at Emil Friedman High School, which has one of the finest strings program in Latin America, according to Alfonzo.
     "The warmth of his personality comes through in his music making," praises Osmond, who added that Alfonzo was "critically important to the development of the (JSO music) school.  Students he worked with were indeed fortunate and made incredible progress.
     "If they were beginners or advanced students, he could cover the gamut.  Sometimes people can only work with one or the other.  Jesus loved teaching almost as much as he loved the music."

- Reach reporter Dave Hoger at dhoger@citpat.com or 517-768-4971.
borrowed from Jackson Citizen Patroit
February 3, 2002  (section C, page 3)

© 2002 Jackson Citizen Patriot.
All rights Reserved. Reprinted with permission