Sunday's Internet Edition, May 11, 2008.
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| Jim Basta will conduct three performances by the Salem Community Orchestra at Unity Moravian Church this summer. |
Jim Basta, who has lived in Clemmons since 1982, is the music director at Unity Moravian Church in Lewisville. He also is director of the Salem Community Orchestra, which will perform three free concerts this summer at Unity Moravian.
The concerts are planned for June 25, July 23 and August 27 at 7:30 each evening.
Basta organized the orchestra in 1984, and prior to this summer, the Salem Community Orchestra concerts were held in Salem, first on the square and then for most of the ensuing years in the fellowship hall of Home Moravian Church.
“This season, we are fortunate to have David Lane, a pianist and composer, as well as serving as the assistant director of the Salem Orchestra,” said Basta. “He has two talented students, Sam and Alex Kritchevsky, identical twins, who will play in the July and August concerts. We needed a grand piano for the concerts.”
Basta said there is no baby grand piano in the Home Moravian fellowship hall, and there is one in Unity Moravian Church. “I asked and received permission from the Unity board and we chose to move the summer concerts here in Lewisville. I have my piano students concerts here at Unity.”
There are between 30 to 35 members in the Salem Orchestra. Basta said orchestra members come from Winston-Salem, Greensboro, Kernersville, Clemmons, High Point and as far away as Raleigh.
Basta graduated in 1956 from Eastman School of Music in Rochester, NY, where he majored in French horn and performance. He immediately joined... Subscribe to the Courier, P.O. Box 765, Clemmons, NC 27012.