Release Date: May 29, 2008
Kennesaw State announces season of Grammy Award-winning performers
Contact: Cheryl Anderson Brown, Assistant Director of Public Relations, 770-499-3417 or cbrown@kennesaw.edu
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Alpin Hong performs on the All-Steinway School Celebration on Nov. 15. Photo by Steve J. Sherman |
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eighth blackbird performs Feb. 7. Photo by Luke Ratray |
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Jennifer Larmore performs on March 1. Photo by Ken Howard |
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James Ehnes performs April 18. Photo by Anna Keenan |
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Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Chamber Chorus performs May 2. |
KENNESAW, Ga.—The Kennesaw State University Department of Music has announced that the 2008-2009 Premiere Series will include performances by Grammy Award-winning artists eighth blackbird, Jennifer Larmore and James Ehnes, as well as a celebration of Steinway pianos and a concert by the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Chamber Chorus.
The season opens on Nov. 15, 2008 with the Steinway Gala: A Celebration of the Piano, in recognition of Kennesaw State’s recent designation as an All-Steinway School following the donation of 26 Steinway pianos by Dr. Bobbie Bailey. The evening includes performances by pianists Robert Henry, Alpin Hong, Joseph Meeks, Sarah Stedman, David Watkins and the KSU Orchestra, under the direction of Michael Alexander.
The second Premiere Series event will take place on Feb. 7, 2009 and features Grammy-winning new music ensemble eighth blackbird performing Steve Reich’s “Double Sextet” and “singing in the dead of night” by composers David Lang, Michael Gordon and Julia Wolfe with stage direction by Susan Marshall. Described by The New Yorker as “friendly, unpretentious, idealistic and highly skilled,” eighth blackbird is widely lauded for its performing style—often playing from memory with virtuosic and theatrical flair—and its efforts to make new music accessible to wide audiences. There will be a pre-concert talk by Alex Ross, music critic for The New Yorker whose book, “The Rest is Noise: Listening to the Twentieth Century” was the winner of the 2007 National Book Critics Circle Award in criticism and a finalist for the 2008 Pulitzer Prize in general non-fiction.
The third Premiere Series event will take place on March 1, 2009 and will feature returning favorite mezzo-soprano Jennifer Larmore accompanied by pianist Antoine Palloc. Larmore, originally from Marietta, is returning to KSU for her fourth appearance. With more than 70 recordings and performances with the most renowned opera companies and orchestras of the world, Larmore is known for the astonishing range, flexibility and color of her instrument as well as her insightful interpretations of the operatic repertoire. Larmore recently won a best opera recording Grammy for her performance of Humperdinck’s “Hansel und Gretel” with the Philharmonia under the baton of Sir Charles Mackerras.
The fourth Premiere Series event will take place on April 18, 2009 and will feature violinist James Ehnes. Having made his solo debut with the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal at age 13, Ehnes has won numerous awards and prizes, including the first-ever Ivan Galamian Memorial Award, the Canada Council for the Arts' prestigious Virginia Parker Prize, and a 2005 Avery Fisher Career Grant. He has made more than 20 recordings including a 250th anniversary tribute to Mozart in 2006, which included the composer’s complete oeuvre for violin and orchestra.
The final Premiere Series performance will take place on May 2, 2009 and will feature the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Chamber Chorus, under the direction of Norman Mackenzie. The ASO Chamber Chorus has a rich history that includes participation with the ASO in Telarc recordings of masterworks by Bach, Golijov, Handel, Haydn, Mozart, Schubert and Vivaldi, an appearance on national television in 1987 performing Handel's “Messiah” with Robert Shaw, and several Carnegie Hall appearances.
All Premiere Series events take place in the Dr. Bobbie Bailey & Family Performance Center. For ticketing information, contact the box office online at 770-423-6650 or online at www.kennesaw.edu/arts.
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A member of the 35-unit University System of Georgia, Kennesaw State University is a comprehensive, residential institution with a growing student population of more than 20,000 from 132 countries. The third-largest university in Georgia, Kennesaw State offers more than 60 graduate and undergraduate degrees, including new doctorates in education and business.
The KSU College of the Arts is one of only four Georgia institutions to have achieved full national accreditation for all of its arts programs.