Bernardsville Library Celebrates Seniors

Friday, June 4 is Bernardsville Public Library’s eighth annual Seniors’ Day. Community seniors are invited to a free continental breakfast and a chance to socialize at 10:00 am followed by a musical performance by Mary Elizabeth Young on her harp.

Ms. Young, a long-time, now retired, teacher and librarian at Bernards High School, has been playing the harp since she was a sophomore in high school. She studied for four years at Oberlin Conservatory where she was a member of a five harp ensemble that traveled around Ohio to perform. She went on to study with Carlos Salzedo, a well-known French-American harpist and composer who moved to New York and was first harpist of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. He inaugurated the harp department at the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia and founded the Salzedo Harp Colony at Camden, Maine.

Ms. Young will play a variety of classical pieces by Bach, Mozart, and Handel as well as some pieces composed by Salzedo especially for harp. She will comment on the music and talk about the harp—how it produces music and how the pedals work. Her own harp was one of the last harps to be made before World War II by Lyon & Healy Harps, one of the first major harp manufacturers in the United States. Her father purchased it for her when she was in high school.

Seniors wishing to sign up for the program can call the library at 908-766-0118 or register online at www.bernardsvillelibrary.org and follow the link under Programs/Activities. Advance registration is required to attend.