Kenji Haba and Gregory Durozel Perform at Downtown Concert Series

St. Peter’s Episcopal Church hosted the second installment of the Downtown Concert Series on Saturday, Feb. 12. Classical guitarist Kenji Haba and violinist Gregory Durozel performed to a full house.

Haba, a native of Japan, moved to New York in 2001 to study business. He subsequently discovered a love of classical guitar after hearing the music of Andres Segovia. After a year of study, he was accepted to the Manhattan School of Music in 2007. Durozel began playing the violin when he was 10 years old. He received bachelor’s degree from the Manhattan School of Music in 2010 and has been accepted into the master’s program at the Juilliard School.

The special Valentine’s Day-themed concert included selections from the works of Niccolò Paganini, Gabriel Fauré, Friedrich Burgmüller, Pytor Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Barbara Kolb and Ástor Piazzola. For the encore, Haba and Durozel played Elvis Presley’s “Love Me Tender.”

After the concert, attendees had the opportunity to meet Haba and Durozel at the American Hotel.

St. Peter’s will host the Freehold Borough Arts Council’s inaugural concert on Friday, Feb. 25 at 7:30 p.m. Operatic bass Gregory Sheppard will perform with Byron Sean on the piano.

The Downtown Concert Series will next return to St. Peter’s on Saturday, May 7 at 7:30 p.m. with tenor Eduardo Villa singing.

For more information about music at St. Peter’s, contact the church’s Director of Music Mark Hyczko at 732-431-8383.