Stretto Inaugural Gala '24
Auction Donation
Stretto Youth Chamber Orchestra is looking for auction donations for our Inaugural Gala! Have a sweet getaway home along the shore? Extra game tickets to a local major league sports team? Maybe a dozen chocolate chip cookies made using your grandma's secret recipe? Please donate! From experiences, popular items, gift cards, and even skills and services, we are looking for any auction donations you are able to give.
Please fill out the form by clicking the button below to make a contribution to our silent auction. We are so grateful to you and appreciate your support! Thank you!
Please fill out the form by clicking the button below to make a contribution to our silent auction. We are so grateful to you and appreciate your support! Thank you!
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Stretto, which includes Blue Mountain and Trinity Strings is holding its 1st Gala! Join us as we celebrate our past and work to secure our future! Enjoy an evening of renewed connection and performances by current students and alumni. Drinks and hor d'oeuvres will be served. We will be honoring our first concertmaster, Evan Shieh, with the "Alumni Achievement Award" and The Very Rev’d René John, Dean of Trinity Cathedral, with the "Service Leadership Award." |
Sponsorships
$250 - Unaccompanied Bach ~ $500 - 2-part Invention (Includes your logo on all event communication) ~ $1,000 - Fugue (Includes a poster of your organization at the event and your logo on all event communication) ~ $2,500 - String Quartet (Includes a poster of your organization at the event, your logo on all event communication, along with tickets and a reserved table for 5) ~ $5,000 - Chamber Orchestra (Includes a poster of your organization at the event, your logo on all event communication, along with tickets and a reserved table for 8 |
Alumni Achievement Award
Evan Shieh is an alumnus of Stretto from 2003-2007 as a violin concertmaster, soloist, and assistant conductor. As an alumni, Evan pursued a career in design. He was trained as an architect and urban designer at Harvard University's Graduate School of Design (GSD) from which he holds a Master of Architecture in Urban Design, and at the University of Southern California (USC) from which he received a Bachelor of Architecture.
Evan has practiced architecture and urban design professionally for over a decade in both the private and public sectors, eventually starting his own NY-based design practice Emergent Studio which operates at architecture's intersection with urbanism, landscape, and infrastructure. He also became a professor at New York Institute of Technology (NYIT) where he teaches full-time as an Assistant Professor of Architecture, after teaching at various other academic institutions including at the University of Virginia (UVA), Parsons School of Design, and the City College of New York (CCNY). As an emerging educator, he was awarded the national 2023 New Faculty Teaching Award by ACSA/AIAS, and the 2023 Presidential Excellence in Teaching Award by NYIT. He is the author of the book Autonomous Urbanism (AR+D, 2024) which explores the spatial impact autonomous vehicles will have on the future of cities, and his research & design work has been exhibited at international venues including at the Venice, Seoul, and Shenzhen Biennales of Architecture & Urbanism.
The artistry, creativity, discipline, and communication so crucial to music and Evan's music education through Stretto, shaped much of how he approaches design in his practice as well as his role as an educator. He lives, works, practices, and teaches in NYC, alongside his wife and their two dogs.
Evan has practiced architecture and urban design professionally for over a decade in both the private and public sectors, eventually starting his own NY-based design practice Emergent Studio which operates at architecture's intersection with urbanism, landscape, and infrastructure. He also became a professor at New York Institute of Technology (NYIT) where he teaches full-time as an Assistant Professor of Architecture, after teaching at various other academic institutions including at the University of Virginia (UVA), Parsons School of Design, and the City College of New York (CCNY). As an emerging educator, he was awarded the national 2023 New Faculty Teaching Award by ACSA/AIAS, and the 2023 Presidential Excellence in Teaching Award by NYIT. He is the author of the book Autonomous Urbanism (AR+D, 2024) which explores the spatial impact autonomous vehicles will have on the future of cities, and his research & design work has been exhibited at international venues including at the Venice, Seoul, and Shenzhen Biennales of Architecture & Urbanism.
The artistry, creativity, discipline, and communication so crucial to music and Evan's music education through Stretto, shaped much of how he approaches design in his practice as well as his role as an educator. He lives, works, practices, and teaches in NYC, alongside his wife and their two dogs.
Service Leadership Award
The Very Rev. René Rory John is the seventh Dean of Trinity Cathedral, Trenton, New Jersey. Elected October 2006. He has been an ordained priest for thirty nine years, and was originally ordained in the Diocese of Trinidad & Tobago at Holy Trinity Cathedral, Port of Spain, Trinidad.
He ministered in Trinidad & Tobago for five years before migrating to Brooklyn, New York in 1989 and New Jersey in 2007. In Trinidad & Tobago, New York and New Jersey, Dean René John served on various Diocesan Committees – Diocesan Council, Standing Committee, (President 1 year) Department of Stewardship, Department of Budget, Programs and Services and the Commission on Ministry. He has also served on many different Community Boards
Dean René John is a graduate of Codrington College and the University of the West Indies. He also attended General Theological to work on an STM in Christian Spirituality. He is a HUD certified Housing Manager, also certified trainer in multi-cultural and anti-racism work. He is an avid traveler and has conducted several pilgrimages, taking groups of persons to countries such as England, Israel, Egypt, Greece, Turkey, Ethiopia, Uganda, Ghana, and South Africa.
Dean René John is the proud father of three – twin daughters graduates of Stanford University, University of Delaware, University of Pennsylvania, and a son, a graduate of Tampa University. Dean John is married to Andrea Sandiford John, for the past forty years. Andrea is formerly of Barbados, West Indies. “I am so grateful to Andrea whose companionship, support and love along this journey. She has been a true partner in Ministry. A tremendous asset in all my Church & Community work.
Prior to becoming Dean at Trinity Cathedral fourteen years ago, Dean John served at St. Thomas’ in Brooklyn, (12 years) a congregation with twenty different nationalities represented among its members: Jamaica, Panama, Haiti, Montserrat, the Dominican Republic, Barbados, Trinidad, and the United States of America to name a few.
During Dean John’s tenure, St. Thomas faithfully served the community. Some of the many programs include: “Prison Fellowship Ministries”, welcoming International Students to the city and exposing them to different cultures, working with “God’s Love We Deliver” to take over 30,000 meals to persons afflicted with AIDS, providing space for Job Readiness and Computer
He ministered in Trinidad & Tobago for five years before migrating to Brooklyn, New York in 1989 and New Jersey in 2007. In Trinidad & Tobago, New York and New Jersey, Dean René John served on various Diocesan Committees – Diocesan Council, Standing Committee, (President 1 year) Department of Stewardship, Department of Budget, Programs and Services and the Commission on Ministry. He has also served on many different Community Boards
Dean René John is a graduate of Codrington College and the University of the West Indies. He also attended General Theological to work on an STM in Christian Spirituality. He is a HUD certified Housing Manager, also certified trainer in multi-cultural and anti-racism work. He is an avid traveler and has conducted several pilgrimages, taking groups of persons to countries such as England, Israel, Egypt, Greece, Turkey, Ethiopia, Uganda, Ghana, and South Africa.
Dean René John is the proud father of three – twin daughters graduates of Stanford University, University of Delaware, University of Pennsylvania, and a son, a graduate of Tampa University. Dean John is married to Andrea Sandiford John, for the past forty years. Andrea is formerly of Barbados, West Indies. “I am so grateful to Andrea whose companionship, support and love along this journey. She has been a true partner in Ministry. A tremendous asset in all my Church & Community work.
Prior to becoming Dean at Trinity Cathedral fourteen years ago, Dean John served at St. Thomas’ in Brooklyn, (12 years) a congregation with twenty different nationalities represented among its members: Jamaica, Panama, Haiti, Montserrat, the Dominican Republic, Barbados, Trinidad, and the United States of America to name a few.
During Dean John’s tenure, St. Thomas faithfully served the community. Some of the many programs include: “Prison Fellowship Ministries”, welcoming International Students to the city and exposing them to different cultures, working with “God’s Love We Deliver” to take over 30,000 meals to persons afflicted with AIDS, providing space for Job Readiness and Computer