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Free Topanga Symphony Concert, August 26
To begin the 30th Season of the Topanga Symphony, Music Director Jerome Kessler is especially proud to present its next free concert featuring both of his daughters as soloists. PHOTO COURTESY OF JENNIFER KESSLER Jennifer Kessler is a featured soloist on French horn at the Topanga Symphony on Sunday, August 26. PHOTO COURTESY OF AMY NEYER Amy Neyer on flute and piccolo will solo under the baton of their father, Jerome Kessler, who conducts the 30th season of the Topanga Symphony on Sunday, August 26.
Jennifer Kessler on French horn and Amy Neyer on flute and piccolo will appear together for the first time. Each has been a soloist with the orchestra in years past but have never performed in the same concert. 
Kessler will perform the Horn Concerto #1 in D, K.412 by Mozart, and Neyer will perform a piece that her father composed for her entitled Orca, that uses both the flute and the piccolo.
Kessler, the father, will also be conducting Finlandia by Sibelius, Prelude to Afternoon of a Faun by Debussy, Die Moldau by Smetana, the Adagietto, from Symphony #5 by Mahler, and Dances from Galanta by Kodaly.
During the last ten years, Jennifer Kessler has combined an international career as a French horn player with a passion for creating music programs for young people. She completed a Bachelor of Music at Northwestern University before relocating to Germany to study with Fergus McWilliam of the Berlin Philharmonic and has performed with ensembles and festivals including the Berlin Philharmonic.
She held the Associate Principal Horn position with the Israeli Symphony Orchestra Rishon LeZion from 2007-2008. She has presented music for social change at conferences at the Los Angeles Philharmonic and at Harvard University.
She is currently Director of Education at the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, a chamber orchestra in New York City, where she develops and oversees the orchestra’s education and community initiatives. Her last performance with the Topanga Symphony was in August 2004. She lives in Brooklyn with her jazz musician boyfriend and their two cats.
Neyer has been a flutist for more than 20 years, and has soloed in the flute section with the Topanga Symphony, as well as with other community orchestras, chamber music ensembles and local recording artists. 
Music has been a wonderful complement to her professional and academic life. Upon graduating from UCLA, she spent the last three years studying to become a physical therapist and will graduate in October with her Doctorate in Physical Therapy, focusing on neurologic rehabilitation. She lives with her husband, John, in Redondo Beach, and together they enjoy playing beach volleyball, hiking and traveling.
Beginning his third decade with the Topanga Symphony, Jerome Kessler will again present an entertaining evening of classical music performed by the always-exceptional Topanga Symphony members.
This concert will certainly emote a heartfelt family feeling as the conductor’s daughters show that “the apple never falls far from the tree.” Come, watch and hear how the love for classical music extends into the next generation of musicians.
The Symphony performs on Sunday, August 26, 7:30 p.m., at the Topanga Community House, 1440 N. Topanga Canyon Blvd., Topanga CA 90290.
