Artist Series

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Piano Maestro Richard Goode Returns to Lawrence University Memorial Chapel Oct. 21

The musical mastery of pianist Richard Goode returns to the Lawrence Memorial Chapel Friday, Oct. 21 at 8 p.m in a Lawrence University Artists Series concert. Goode’s appearance marks his third performance at Lawrence and first since 2002.

Tickets, at $22-20 for adults, $19-17 for seniors and $17-15 for students, are available through the Lawrence Box Office in the Music-Drama Center, 420 E. College Ave., Appleton or by calling 920-832-6749.

Richard Goode

Acknowledged as one of today’s master musicians for the tremendous emotional power, depth and sensitivity of his music, the New York City native is renowned for his interpretations of Bach, Beethoven, Chopin, Mozart and Schubert. Goode, 68, probes the inner reaches of the works he performs, infusing every measure with the utmost expressivity. His musicianship combines boldness of the mind with depth of the heart.

“This is some of the most stunningly beautiful piano playing in the world today,” said Professor of Music Catherine Kausky, who teaches piano in the Lawrence conservatory, of Goode. “Impeccable sound, control and a sort of caring about every note that one rarely encounters. This is completely honest and committed music-making at its best.”

According to the New York Times, “It is virtually impossible to walk away from one of Mr. Goode’s recitals without the sense of having gained some new insight, subtly or otherwise, into the works he played or about pianism itself.”

His discography includes more than two dozen recordings, including Mozart’s solo works and concerti with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra as well as solo and chamber works of Brahms, Chopin, Schubert and Schumann, among others. He was the first American-born pianist to record the complete Beethoven Sonatas, which earned him a Grammy Award nomination.

Goode has appeared with many of the world’s greatest orchestras — Boston Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Symphony, San Francisco Symphony, New York Philharmonic, Toronto Symphony, Orchestre de Paris and the Vienna Symphony among then — and has been heard throughout Germany in sold-out concerts with the Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields.

He was presented the first Jean Gimbel Lane Prize in Piano Performance in 2006, an award that honor pianists who have achieved the highest levels of national and international recognition and earned a Grammy Award in 1982 for Best Chamber Music Performance with clarinetist Richard Stoltzman.

Following his Friday evening concert, Goode is generously conducting a master class at 10 a.m. and a lecture-recital at 3 p.m. on Saturday. Both events will be held in the Lawrence Memorial Chapel.

Founded in 1847, Lawrence University uniquely integrates a college of liberal arts and sciences with a world-class conservatory of music, both devoted exclusively to undergraduate education. Ranked among America’s best colleges, it was selected for inclusion in the book “Colleges That Change Lives: 40 Schools That Will Change the Way You Think About College.” Individualized learning, the development of multiple interests and community engagement are central to the Lawrence experience. Lawrence draws its 1,520 students from 44 states and 56 countries.

Turtle Island Quartet Homage to Jimi Hendrix Opens 2011-12 Artist Series Oct. 14

The classical/jazz fusion trendsetting Turtle Island Quartet celebrates the music of Jimi Hendrix Friday, Oct. 14 at 8 p.m. in the Lawrence Memorial Chapel. The quartet opens Lawrence University’s 2011-12 Artist Series with their dynamic “Have You Ever Been…?” program.

Tickets, at $22-20 for adults, $19-17 for seniors and $17-15 for students, are available through the Lawrence Box Office in the Music-Drama Center, 420 E. College Ave., Appleton or by calling 920-832-6749.

Turtle Island Quartet: David Balakrishnan (violin), Jeremy Kittel, (viola), Mark Summer (cello) and Mads Tolling (violin)

Through their exploration of jazz, classical and world music styles, the Turtle Island Quartet has taken audiences on journeys through many musical genres, eras and places, including the American landscape, Latin America, Europe and India.

The two-time Grammy Award-winning quartet latest trip ventures into Electric Ladyland, tackling works by legendary guitarist, songwriter and performer Jimi Hendrix. “Have You Ever Been…?” also explores compositions reflective of, and inspired by, Hendrix’s music, including TIQ founder David Balakrishnan’s new composition “Tree of Life.”

“These are not simple transcriptions of rock tunes for string quartet,” said Mark Urness, associate professor of music who teaches string bass at Lawrence.  “Turtle Island re-imagines the music of Jimi Hendrix: adding to the excitement and energy of the original the beautiful acoustic sonorities and precise ensemble performance of great string chamber music. The result is so natural on string instruments, you wonder if it was the sound of a violin that Hendrix was after with his sustaining overdrive and whammy-bar glissandos.”

Released in 2010, “Have You Ever Been …?” was the brainchild of violinist Balakrishnan, who credits the inspiration for the disc to a pair of Hendrix concerts he attended as a teenager at the Los Angeles Forum in 1969 and ’70. Shortly thereafter, he began playing Hendrix tunes on his violin.

At his creative peak in the late 1960s, Hendrix redefined the potential of the guitar as well as the entire rock genre, creating a blueprint that still is challenging guitarists in particular and musicians of all stripes more than four decades later.

Led by Balakrishnan, TIQ, which includes co-founder cellist Mark Summer, violinist Mads Tolling and newcomer violist Jeremy Kittel, has taken Hendrix’s cue in the course of its 25-year history by reexamining and reconstructing conventional genres of music and seeking new permutations of style, technique and composition. That mission was exemplified in its Grammy-winning 2007 recording “A Love Supreme: The Legacy of John Coltrane,” in which the quartet reinterpreted the music of one of jazz’s most pivotal figures by injecting it with their own signature rhythmic innovations and multicultural influences.

Founded in 1847, Lawrence University uniquely integrates a college of liberal arts and sciences with a world-class conservatory of music, both devoted exclusively to undergraduate education. Ranked among America’s best colleges, it was selected for inclusion in the book “Colleges That Change Lives: 40 Schools That Will Change the Way You Think About College.” Individualized learning, the development of multiple interests and community engagement are central to the Lawrence experience. Lawrence draws its 1,520 students from 44 states and 56 countries.

Season Subscriptions on Sale for 2010-2011 Artist and Jazz Performing Arts Series

The critically acclaimed Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra under the baton of musical director Edo de Waart and the first-ever all-Latin Jazz Celebration Weekend highlight Lawrence University’s eight-concert 2010-2011 Artist and Jazz Series.

Season subscriptions are currently on sale, with discounts available to senior citizens and students. Reserve tickets can be ordered for the Artist, Jazz or a “Favorite 4” series that allows subscribers to select any combination of four concerts from either series. Single-concert tickets go on sale Sept. 16. For additional ticket information, contact the Lawrence Box Office at 920-832-6749.

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Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra

Recognized as a pioneer in the world of new music among American orchestras, the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra’s 88 full-time professional musicians take the Lawrence Memorial Chapel stage Friday, April 1, 2011. Founded in 1959, the MSO conducts nearly 150 concerts a year and has performed on tour in Europe, Japan and Cuba, as well as Carnegie Hall and other venues throughout the United States.

Joining the MSO on the Artist Series schedule are the six-member Rhythm and Brass, which opens the series Saturday, Sept. 25; soprano Measha Brueggergosman performs Wednesday Feb. 9, 2011; and The Los Angeles Guitar Quartet closes the series Friday, April 16, 2011.

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Luciana Souza

For the first time in its 30-year history, Jazz Celebration Weekend goes all Latin, with Brazil’s Grammy-winning jazz singer Louciana Souza and her quartet opening the weekend Nov. 5. Raised in a family of bossa nova innovators, Souza has emerged as one of jazz’s leading singers and interpreters, creating a body of work with sophisticated lineage in world music that transcends traditional boundaries.

Trombonist Conrad Herwig performs Nov. 6 on the second night of Jazz Celebration Weekend along with the Lawrence Jazz Trio and the Lawrence University Jazz Ensemble. With series of “Latin Side” CDs, including tributes to John Coltrane and Miles Davis, Herwig has created a highly identifiable niche in contemporary jazz.

The remaining Jazz Series includes Donny McCaslin, who brings his sonorous tenor sax to the Lawrence Chapel stage Feb. 25, where he’ll be joined by The Lawrence Brass. The two-time Grammy Award-winning Vanguard Jazz Orchestra closes the series May 6.

Rhythm & Brass incorporates influences as divergent as Josquin Des Prez, Pink Floyd and Johann Sebastian Bach in creating musical presentations that cross time, geographic and cultural boundaries.

Canadian soprano Brueggergosman, one of today’s most vibrant performers, has earned international critical acclaim for her innate musicianship, voluptuous voice and supreme stage presence beyond her years.

The Los Angeles Guitar Quartet, a 2005 Grammy Award winner, brings a special energy to the concert stage with its eclectic programs and dynamic musical interplay. The quartet continues to break new ground with fresh interpretations of works from the contemporary and world-music realms.

McCaslin’s incisive twists and purposeful turns of his emotionally charged solos have wowed audiences and critics alike for the past decade. While he has recorded seven albums, his solo work with large ensembles has turned heads, resulting in a Best Jazz Instrumental Solo Grammy nomination in 2004.

The Vanguard Jazz Orchestra features some of world’s finest musicians, most of whom lead their own bands when not performing with the orchestra. Co-founded by legendary trumpeter Thad Jones and drummer Mel Lewis, the ensemble still plays virtually every Monday night at the renowned jazz club Vanguard Village, New York City’s most famous basement, where it got its start in 1966.

Grammy-Winning Tenor Anthony Dean Griffey Performs April 9 in Lawrence Artist Series Concert

Four-time Grammy award-winning tenor Anthony Dean Griffey brings his powerful, lyric voice to the stage of the Lawrence Memorial Chapel Friday, April 9 at 8 p.m.  Accompanied by pianist Warren Jones, Griffey performs in concert as part of Lawrence’s 2009-10 Artist Series.

Tickets, at $22-20 for adults, $19-17 for seniors and $17-15 for students, are available through the Lawrence Box Office, 420 E. College Ave., Appleton, 920-832-6749.

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Anthony Dean Griffey

Best known for his “achingly vulnerable and alarming interpretation” of the title character in Benjamin Britten’s “Peter Grimes,” Griffey has performed with leading symphonies and at prestigious opera houses around the world, including the Metropolitan Opera and the Opera Nationale de Paris.  Among his other starring roles, Griffey has performed as Mitch in “A Streetcar Named Desire” and Lennie Small in “Of Mice and Men.”

Steven Spears, assistant professor of music at Lawrence, says Griffey boasts three outstanding qualities that make him a bona fide star.

“First and foremost he has a sweet tone, which is not usual for a tenor voice of its size,” said Spears, who sang with Griffey at the Opera Theater of St. Louis in 1994.  “He also possesses a keen intellect and musicianship, which is necessary for more difficult repertoire, both vocally and musically.  And thirdly, he brings sensitive insight into the text and his character comes from a beautiful soul.”

A North Carolina native, Griffey added a pair of Grammy Awards to his collection in 2010 as the principal soloist on a live recording of the San Francisco Symphony’s performance of Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 and the Adagio from Symphony no. 10.  The recording earned Grammys for best classical album and best choral performance.

Griffey appeared on DVD in the Grammy-winning Los Angeles Opera production of “Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny,” which also aired on PBS and has been featured as Artist of the Week on A&E’s “Breakfast with the Arts.”

Jones, who accompanies many of today’s prominent singers, performing nearly all his music from memory, was recently named “Collaborative Pianist of the Year” for 2010 by Musical America.

A member of the faculty at the Manhattan School of Music in New York City, Jones leads a graduate degree program in collaborative piano and conducts frequent master classes around the country.  He also performs as principal pianist for the West Coast chamber music group Camerata Pacifica.

Paris-based Ebène String Quartet Opens North American Tour Feb. 5 at Lawrence University

Returning to the United States for the first time since May 2009, the Paris-based Ebène String Quartet opens its 2010 nine-city, North American tour Friday, Feb. 5 at Lawrence University as part of the college’s annual Artist Series. The quartet will perform a classical repertoire of Haydn, Brahms and Debussy at 8 p.m. in the Lawrence Memorial Chapel.

Tickets, at $20-22 for adults, $17-19 for seniors and $15-17 for students, are available through the Lawrence Box Office, 420 E. College Ave., Appleton, 920-832-6749.

Founded in France in 1999, the quartet is best known in Europe, where they have played many of the most prestigious venues, including Berlin’s Philharmonic, London’s Wigmore Hall, Vienna’s Musikverein. Along with their performances of classical music, the quartet has a strong love of jazz, often incorporating jazz styles into their classical performances. Seen most clearly in their arrangement of the music from “Pulp Fiction,” the group is known for their creativity, teamwork, and adventurous spirit.

Samantha George, associate professor of violin at Lawrence and former long-time concertmaster of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, says it’s the possibility of the unexpected that makes an Ebène String Quartet concert exciting.

“This group is notorious for being able to move between Haydn and jazz in the same concert and doing it all with eloquence, inspiration and honesty,” said George. “Their adaptability and versatility is inspiring. They are beautiful, accomplished musicians with a sense of whimsy and fun.”

London’s Daily Telegraph has hailed the Ebène String Quartet as “gifted…with something urgent and individual to communicate.”

The quartet’s most recent recording of Debussy, Ravel and Fauré received Gramophone’s coveted “Recording of the Year” as well as “Chamber Music Record of the Year” by ECHO-classik. A new disc, combining their interests in jazz and world music, is scheduled for release later this year.

Taking its name from ebony, the exotic wood used to make the fingerboards of stringed instruments, the quartet features Pierre Colombet and Gabriel Le Magadure on violin, Mathieu Herzog on viola and Raphaël Merlin on cello. Each member plays unique Italian instruments, including Merlin’s cello, which dates back to 1850 and once was owned by the famous French cellist and composer Paul Tortelier.

Lawrence University Announces 2009-10 Artist and Jazz Performing Arts Series

APPLETON, WIS. — An eclectic mix of renowned performers and rising stars, including the multi-talented Bobby McFerrin and pianist Simone Dinnerstein, bring their musical virtuosity to Appleton for the eight concert 2009-10 Lawrence University Artist and Jazz Series.

New York’s internationally acclaimed African-American quintet Imani Winds opens the Artist Series season Oct. 17. The Paris-based Ebène String Quartet, known for its careful attention to dynamic detail, comes to the Lawrence Memorial Chapel Feb. 5. Acclaimed operatic tenor Anthony Dean Griffey performs with renowned pianist Warren Jones April 9. Dinnerstein, “a phenomenon in the world of classical music” according to the Washington Post, closes the series April 30.

Audience favorite Steve March Tormé opens the Jazz Series Nov. 6, kicking off Lawrence’s annual Jazz Celebration Weekend with the Lawrence Faculty Jazz. The Wisconsin Homegrown Jazz Quintet performs the second half of Jazz Celebration Weekend Nov. 7. McFerrin brings his inimitable style to the stage Feb. 19 in a performance with the Lawrence University Jazz Ensemble. Bassist extraordinaire Christian McBride and his band Inside Straight closes the Jazz Series May 14.

Season subscriptions to either the artist, jazz or a “favorite 4” series that allows subscribers to select any combination of four concerts from either series, are currently on sale, with discounts available to senior citizens and students. Single-concert tickets go on sale Sept. 16. Contact the Lawrence Box Office at 920-832-6749.

Since its 1997 founding, the Grammy-nominated Imani Winds has carved out a distinct presence in the classical music world with its dynamic playing, culturally poignant programming and genre-blurring collaborations. With two member composers and a deep commitment to commissioning new work, the group is enriching the traditional wind quintet repertoire while bridging American, African, European and Latin American traditions.

The Ebène String Quartet — four young musicians from France all still in their 20s — has quickly become one of Europe’s most talked-about ensembles. The group made its American debut earlier this year in an eight-city concert tour to rave reviews. The New Yorker called their playing “so secure, alive, rich-toned, and profoundly musical that age ceased to be an issue.” The quartet is distinguished by its versatility, displaying equal facility in the classical repertoire and contemporary music.

Griffey, named one of 12 “exceptional singers of distinction” by Musical America magazine in 2005, added a pair of 2009 Grammy Awards (Best Opera Recording and Best Classical Album) in February to his impressive resume for his work on the Los Angeles Opera’s “Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny.” He has captured critical and popular acclaim on opera, concert, and recital stages worldwide and is perhaps best known for his portrayal of the title character in Benjamin Britten’s “Peter Grimes,” which he has performed with New York’s Metropolitan Opera and the San Diego Opera. Long-time vocal coach Warren Jones, who will be Griffey’s accompanist, has been praised as “a singer’s greatest partner.”

Dinnerstein has gained international attention as a commanding and charismatic artist since making a triumphant New York recital debut at Carnegie Hall in 2005. She has performed around the world, including the Salle Cortot in Paris, the Copenhagen Music Festival and London’s Wigmore Hall. Her recording of Bach’s “Goldberg Variations” was released in August 2007 and shot to No. 1 on the Billboard Classical Chart in its first week of sales. Piano Magazine hailed the disc as “precisely the kind of playing that the early 21st century most needs, infused as it is with a deep and pervasive sense of beauty and tenderness of heart.”

Tormé has spent the past three decades as a working musician since releasing his critically acclaimed debut record “Lucky” in the late 1970s. His concert repertoire spans the musical spectrum, from classic American standards to his own original music, which reflect the influences of the Beatles, Steely Dan and Todd Rundgren, among others. The New York Daily News has called Tormé “so personable, his voice so becoming and his performance so filled with élan, that he is always interesting.”

The Wisconsin Homegrown Jazz Quintet features five world-class instrumentalists all with state roots, including two with ties to Lawrence: bassist Ike Sturm, son of Lawrence’s director of jazz studies and improvisational music Fred Sturm, and drummer Zach Harmon, son of renowned composer John Harmon, the first director of Lawrence’s jazz studies program. The group’s members have worked with many jazz luminaries, among them Chick Corea, Herbie Hancock and Joshua Redman.

McFerrin, winner of 10 Grammy awards and creator of the iconic pop classic “Don’t Worry, Be Happy,” makes his fourth appearance at Lawrence in a performance of “Migrations” with the LU Jazz Ensemble. The work, which McFerrin commissioned Fred Sturm to write, is a “musical plea for world unity” that showcases 23 indigenous songs from 21 countries. In the work, McFerrin improvises and interprets Sturm’s scores of an aboriginal chant from Australia, a Mbuti Pygmy tribal song of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and an Inuit chant from Greenland, among others.

Despite not yet turning 40 years of age, McBride has been among the most omnipresent figures in the jazz world for 20 years. Bassist, composer, arranger and educator, McBride’s career collaborations read like a Who’s Who of music’s most dynamic artists, including Sonny Rollins, James Brown, R&B superstars Isaac Hayes and Natalie Cole, pop icons Sting and Don Henley, hip-hop’s Queen Latifah, opera legend Kathleen Battle and bass virtuoso Edgar Meyer. The quintet “Christian McBride & Inside Straight” is scheduled to release its first CD, “Kind of Brown,” this June.

Edgar Meyer, “Best Bassist Alive,” Performs April 17 at Lawrence University

APPLETON, WIS. — Three-time Grammy Award winning bassist Edgar Meyer puts the exclamation mark on Lawrence University’s 100th anniversary celebration of its 2008-09 Artist Series with a performance Friday, April 17 at 8 p.m. in the Lawrence Memorial Chapel.

Tickets for the concert, at $20-22 for adults, $17-19 for seniors and $15-17 for students, are available through the Lawrence Box Office, 420 E. College Ave., Appleton, 920-832-6749.

Hailed as “the best bassist alive” by San Diego Magazine, Meyer combines unmatched technical virtuosity with innovative composition to set new standards for the double bass, generating growing acceptance and popularity of the bass as a solo instrument in the process.

He has recorded several of Bach’s cello suites — once considered an unimaginable feat for the bass — and his classical solo performances have earned critical acclaim. But Meyer also steps outside the classical genre, collaborating frequently with a wide range of country, folk and bluegrass artists, among them the Chieftains, Garth Brooks, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Emmylou Harris, Lyle Lovett and Travis Tritt.

Much of his work is drawn from Appalachian and Celtic musical traditions and he traces his love of folk and bluegrass music to his childhood Tennessee roots and his choice of instrument to genetics.

“My father was a bass player, one of my father’s brothers was a bass player and my mother’s only brother was a bass player,” Meyer explained in an interview with National Public Radio. “The bass was a very natural way to spend [my] time.”

In 2002, Meyer was awarded a $500,000 MacArthur Fellowship, the so-called “genius grant” and he is the only bassist to receive the Avery Fisher Prize, which recognizes exceptional American classical musicians.

“Expect to be amazed,” said Mark Urness, Lawrence assistant professor of music who teaches string bass, of Meyer’s upcoming concert. “He is one of the world’s pre-eminent double bassists. But more importantly, Meyer transcends the instrument and creates incredible music by any measure. His concerts are infused with the diversity of music styles he loves: classical, bluegrass, and jazz.

“After hearing him perform,” Urness added, “you’ll understand why he has won multiple Grammys as well as the Avery Fisher Prize and the MacAurthur ‘genius’ award.”

Meyer’s discography includes “Appalachian Journey” with Yo-Yo Ma and Mark O’Connor, which earned a Grammy Award for best classical crossover album, “Perpetual Motion” with banjo virtuoso Bela Fleck, which earned two Grammys and “Short Trip Home” with Joshua Bell, Sam Bush and Mike Marshall, which received a Grammy nomination for best classical crossover album.

Lawrence University Artist Series Concludes With Ethos Percussion Group

The 2005-06 Lawrence University Artist Series will conclude on April 1 with Ethos Percussion Group. The concert, which takes place at 8:00 p.m., will be held in the Lawrence Memorial Chapel. Tickets are available at the Lawrence University Box Office, located in the Music-Drama Center, 420 E. College Ave., or by phone at 920-832-6749, and range from $15 for students to $22 for adults.

For more than 15 years, Ethos Percussion Group has inspired audiences throughout the country with its exceptional music-making and collective devotion to the diverse world of percussion.

Ensemble members Trey Files, Eric Phinney, Yousif Sheronick, and David Shively are accomplished classical and world music artists, each with a distinctive background and musical perspective. Their combined expertise is the source of Ethos’ innovative programming, which integrates global instruments and playing styles into the conventions of Western chamber music to create a visually and aurally compelling experience. The ensemble’s critically-acclaimed performances regularly feature numerous commissions and world premieres, traditional rhythms from India, West Africa, and the Middle East, and landmark works by composers such as John Cage, Lou Harrison and Steve Reich.

Individually, the members of Ethos have performed with Philip Glass, Branford Marsalis, Yo-Yo Ma, New World Symphony, New Music Consort, Manhattan Chamber Orchestra, Ensemble Sospeso, New York City Ballet, De La Guarda, and Mabou Mines.

Previous concert seasons have included shows across the United States and the United Kingdom, with major engagements at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center’s Walter Reade Theater, the Bermuda Festival, London’s Wigmore Hall and the Percussive Arts Society International Convention. Recent collaborations include the Kansas City Symphony, Grammy-winning frame drummer Glen Velez, and Indian tabla master Pandit Samir Chatterjee.

Ethos’ discography includes Sol Tunnels (2003), The Persistence of Past Chemistries (1999) and Ethos Percussion Group (1996).

For additional information on this and other “Performing Arts at Lawrence” series concerts, please visit www.lawrence.edu/news/performingartsseries.

Lawrence University Artist Series Presents Russian Pianist Olga Kern

The Lawrence University Artist Series will continue March 9 with pianist Olga Kern. The concert will take place at 8 p.m. in the Lawrence Memorial Chapel. Tickets are available at the Lawrence University Box Office, located in the Music-Drama Center, 420 E. College Ave., or by phone at 920-832-6749, and range from $15 for students to $22 for adults.

Kern’s career began in 2001 when she was awarded the gold medal at the 11th Van Cliburn International Piano Competition — the first woman to have achieved this distinction in more than 30 years. Since that time she has been captivating fans and critics alike with her passionately confident musicianship and vivid stage presence.

In 2004, Kern made her New York City recital debut at Carnegie Hall’s new venue, Zankel Hall. Eleven days later, she returned to New York to play again, this time on the stage of the Isaac Stern Auditorium at the invitation of Carnegie Hall.

Kern’s orchestral engagements include performances with the Delaware, Houston, Fort Worth, Youngstown, and Mobile Symphony Orchestras. Kern has given recital performances at the Kennedy Center Honors with Reneé Fleming, and in Atlanta, Boulder, Los Angeles, New Orleans, Portland, and San Juan. Internationally Kern has toured throughout Europe and Russia, and made an extensive tour of South Africa in 2002, where she returned to tour again in 2005.

She will be making her debut with the Taipei Symphony in June 2006; her debut at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall in Spring 2006; and in 2006-07, Kern will tour the United States with the National Philharmonic of Russia, under the director of Vladimir Spivakov.

Kern has performed in many of the world’s most important venues, including the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory, Symphony Hall in Osaka, Salzburger Festspielhaus, La Scala in Milan, Tonhalle in Zurich, and the Châtelet in Paris.

Kern, a Yamaha artist, records exclusively for Harmonia Mundi. Her releases include the Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 1 with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra and Christopher Seaman, a Rachmaninov recording of Corelli Variations and other transcriptions, and her newest recording, which was released in 2005, contains works by Rachmaninov and Balakirev. She was also featured in the award-winning documentary about the 2001 Cliburn Competition, “Playing on the Edge.”

For additional information on this and other “Performing Arts at Lawrence” series concerts, please visit www.lawrence.edu/news/performingartsseries.

Lawrence University Artist Series Presents the Empire Brass with Douglas Major

The Lawrence University Artist Series will continue with the Empire Brass Quintet. Joining the Empire Brass on stage will be Douglas Major, organist.

The concert takes place February 4 at 8 p.m. in the Lawrence Memorial Chapel. Tickets are available at the Lawrence University Box Office, 920-832-6749 and range from $15 for students to $22 for adults.

The Empire Brass enjoys an international reputation as North America’s finest brass quintet, renowned for its brilliant virtuosity and the unparalleled diversity of its repertoire. The five musicians, all of whom have held leading positions with major American orchestras, perform more than 100 concerts a year in cities such as New York, Boston, Chicago, Washington, D.C., London, Zurich and Tokyo.

The Empire Brass has been featured on CBS’s “Good Morning America,” NBC’s “Today Show” and “Sunday Today” and PBS’s “Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood.”

A series of best-selling compact discs on the Telarc label offers music that spans 500 years from a dozen different countries. The most recent of these are Romantic Brass, an anthology of Spanish and French music; Brass on Broadway; Class Brass – On the Edge, featuring works from Khachaturian, Prokofiev, Bernstein, and Copland; and Mozart For Brass, arrangements of Mozart works by Rolf Smedvig, one of the group’s trumpeters, with the collaboration of the electronic percussionist Kurt Wortman.

Organist Douglas Major has made solo appearances in major cities around the world and has performed with artists and ensembles ranging from Ravi Shankar, Aretha Franklin and Dave Brubeck to the National Symphony, the French National Orchestra, the Folger Consort, and the Marine Corps Band. Major plays many solo recitals and dedications of new organs in the United States as well. In May 2001, he participated in the first American Organists Festival in Kiev, Ukraine, playing recitals to standing-room-only audiences.

As a composer, Major’s works include anthems, canticles, and psalms for chorus; organ solo music; and music for synthesizers and choir, as well as piano and vocal compositions. His solo recordings include eight organ compact discs recorded on the Washington National Cathedral’s magnificent 185-rank Skinner organ. With the Empire Brass, Major has recorded “A Bach Festival” for Angel/EMI.

For additional information on this and other “Performing Arts at Lawrence” series concerts, please visit www.lawrence.edu/news/performingartsseries.