NJIT Musicians Unite in Inspiring Performance: 'Don't Stop Believin'
Members of NJIT's string, jazz and wind ensembles are showcasing their collective spirit with a new inspirational performance for the university community.
Student-musicians of NJIT’s Music Initiative have collaborated to digitally stage a performance of Journey's "Don’t Stop Believin’," featuring an original arrangement by Dave Rimelis, NJIT jazz ensemble conductor and artist-in-residence for the New Jersey State Council on the Arts.
Students of Rimelis and other NJIT ensemble instructors, Christine Sweet (string ensemble and the video’s project director) and Nick Santoro (wind ensemble), produced the pre-filmed concert presentation in place of the university’s annual spring concert series.
Video: The Don’t Stop Believin’ Project was conceived of and directed by Christine Sweet, music arranged by Rimelis, and performed with support of Santoro and students from NJIT’s string, wind and jazz ensembles. Video production created by Brennan Sweet.
“In response to the global pandemic, [we] want to spread a message of hope and inspiration to the NJIT community through music and present a virtual concert consisting of NJIT music students collaborating from all of the ensembles,” said Sweet. “The process of creating these videos has also provided a valuable musical learning experience for the students.”
"It's definitely different from what we've done in the past," said Joshua Jen ’22, a computer science major and cello player for NJIT’s string ensemble. "I think the best thing about it is that regardless of the distance between all the participants, we were still able to connect and work together to put this performance together.”
NJIT's spring concert series is supported by the NJIT Music Initiative, Theatre Arts and Technology program, Student Senate and Society of Musical Arts, the Frank and Lydia Bergen Foundation, grants from Getting to Know Europe (euintheus.org/gtke), and with the generous assistance of the Rauch Family Foundation Charitable Trust Concert Series at NJIT.
For more on the performance and NJIT’s Music Initiative, visit http://theatre.njit.edu/music or contact music@njit.edu.
