Jillian Johnson

with GADI LEHAVI, piano, PABLO MENARES, bass and KUSH ABADEY, drums

Lawrence Memorial Chapel

Friday, May 12, | 8:00 p.m.

GRAMMY-nominated saxophonist and composer Melissa Aldana has garnered international recognition for her visionary work as a band leader, as well as her deeply meditative interpretation of language and vocabulary.

She was recently signed with Blue Note Records and releases her debut album with the historic label titled 12 Stars in March 2022. “Melissa Aldana is one of the foremost musician/composers of her generation,” says Blue Note President Don Was.

Aldana was one of the founding members of ARTEMIS, the all-star collective that released their debut album ARTEMIS on Blue Note this past Fall. The album featured Aldana’s simmering composition “Frida,” which was dedicated to Mexican painter Frida Kahlo, who inspired the musician through “her own process of finding self-identity through art.” Kahlo was also the subject of Aldana’s celebrated 2019 album Visions (Motéma), which earned the saxophonist her first-ever GRAMMY nomination for Best Improvised Jazz Solo, an acknowledgement of her impressive tenor solo on her composition “Elsewhere.” In naming Visions among the best albums of 2019 for NPR Music, critic Nate Chinen wrote that Aldana “has the elusive ability to balance technical achievement against a rich emotional palette.”

Saturday, April 22, 2022, 8:00 p.m.
Lawrence Memorial Chapel

The Calmus Ensemble, founded by former members of the St. Thomas Boys Choir in Leipzig/Germany, celebrated its 20th anniversary in 2019. Raised in the tradition of the music by Bach, Mendelssohn and other great German composers who lived and worked in Leipzig, Calmus is now one of the world’s most renowned vocal ensembles. With about 1200 concerts in more than 30 countries these five singers are bringing their passion for vocal music alive. 

Being at home in all styles of classical vocal music, Calmus loves to go beyond boundaries in their programs which can be heard on more than 20 CDs and in lots of different collaborations with amarcord, the Lautten Compagney Berlin, the Raschèr Saxophone Quartet, the Frankfurt Radio Big Band and others. Part of their work is devoted to encouraging the up-and-coming generation, so teaching, workshops and masterclasses are part of their regular schedule, both at home in Leipzig and on their travels around the world.

Friday, April 14, 2023, 8:00 p.m.

Please visit the box office for discounted LU student, faculty and staff tickets with your LU ID.

Known for their adrenalized performances, original compositions, and notorious music videos, GREG ANDERSON and ELIZABETH JOY ROE are revolutionizing the piano duo experience for the 21st century.

Described as “the most dynamic duo of this generation” (San Francisco Classical Voice), “rock stars of the classical music world” (Miami Herald), and “the very model of complete 21st-century musicians” (The Washington Post), the Anderson & Roe Piano Duo aims to make classical music a relevant and powerful force around the world.

Their five critically acclaimed albums have spent dozens of weeks at the top of the Billboard Classical Charts, while their Emmy-nominated, self-produced music videos have been viewed by millions on YouTube and at international film festivals. 

2022 marks the 20th anniversary of Anderson & Roe’s debut. Since forming their dynamic musical partnership as students at The Juilliard School, Anderson & Roe have toured extensively worldwide as recitalists and orchestral soloists; appeared on NPR, MTV, PBS, and the BBC; presented at numerous international leader symposiums; and served as hosts of “From the Top” and the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition. A live performance by Anderson & Roe was handpicked to appear on the Sounds of Juilliard CD celebrating the school’s centenary.

Monday, April 3, 2023 – 8:00 p.m. 
Harper Hall

Fusing traditional influences with a global sensibility, award-winning Taiwanese ensemble A Moving Sound (Sheng Don聲動) has built a worldwide following through their joyous mix of original music and dance. Featuring the distinctive timbres of the erhu (Taiwanese fiddle) and zhong ruan (lute), and coupled with the transcendent vocals of Mia Hsieh, A Moving Sound has devised a unique and compelling style that is all their own—a whirlwind of musical expression that veers between the meditative and the exuberant with irrepressible spirit. 

A Moving Sound has been featured on BBC Radio 3, National Public Radio in the U.S., and on The Discovery Channel. They have performed and taught in twenty countries including The Kennedy Center, W.O.M.A.D. (picked as a festival highlight by London Financial Times) and the Melbourne International Arts Festival, and have led educational residency programs worldwide specializing in Taiwanese dance, music, and culture. A Moving Sound’s self-titled CD is internationally distributed by Motema Music.

Open to all students, faculty and staff. Free tickets with an LU ID can be purchased at the Lawrence University box office or by phone at 920-832-6749.

Presentation & Performance

Presentation

“Using Your Identity to Create a Relevant Voice in Music”
Thursday, March 2 – 5 p.m.
Harper Hall

This presentation will answer questions about intertwining music and activism through looking inward at the self, outward toward the world, and through the structures of society. It is open to students, faculty, and staff.

Performance

Friday, March 3 – 8 p.m.
Lawrence Memorial Chapel

Memphis Symphony Orchestra acting principal flutist and Concert Artists Guild roster member Adam Sadberry is known for his radiant, lyrical playing. He’s committed to expanding the Black diaspora in the classical music world through promoting equity, representation, music education, and commissioning music that tells stories of the Black diaspora—in other words, creating musical journalism. Adam is extremely motivated to continue the legacy of his late grandfather L. Alex Wilson, an important journalist and unsung hero of the Civil Rights Movement.
 
As an orchestral player, Adam has performed as principal flute with the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra and Detroit Symphony Orchestra and in the sections of the Minnesota Orchestra, Albany Symphony Orchestra, Omaha Symphony, Sphinx Symphony Orchestra, and the New World Symphony. As a concerto soloist, he has performed with the Clear Lake Symphony, Conroe Symphony Orchestra, Cordancia Chamber Orchestra, and the Detroit Chamber Orchestra, and he has also made guest appearances at Oakland University, University of Memphis, University of South Florida, National Flute Association, and the New York Flute Club to give recitals, masterclasses, and presentations. Adam’s presentation Using Your Identity to Create a Relevant Voice in Music lays a foundation for using one’s experiences and perspectives as a catalyst for generating change through music.

Sunday, March 5, 2023
2 p.m.
Lawrence Memorial Chapel

Gamelan Kucing Liar, Children’s and Family Gamelan, Gamelan Sekar Kemuda, and Gamelan Cahaya Asri present traditional and contemporary gamelan music from Bali. The concert will include meditative traditional ceremonial pieces and vibrant contemporary works by Balinese composers.

The concert is free; no tickets required.

Can’t make it to the Lawrence Memorial Chapel? Catch the live webcast here:
https://livestream.com/lawrenceuniversity

Wednesday, January 11, 2023, 7:00 p.m.
Esch Studio, Warch Campus Center
Free admission

Sandra Paola and Chris began exploring interdisciplinary improvisation as performance practice in 2011 creating in2improv, a research/performance duo that quickly grew into an organization that under its new name, the Institute for Improvisation and Social Action (ImprovISA), has generated a variety of public programs and performances centered at the U.S.-Mexico border in cities of El Paso, TX and Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua. They have taught and performed as a duo and as part of the Koan ensemble in the United States, Mexico, Colombia, France, Denmark and Germany.

Akropolis Reed Quintet

Friday, September 30, 2022

Lawrence Memorial Chapel

8 p.m.

Ticket Information

Purchase tickets at the Lawrence University Box Office, located in the Music Drama center, at 420 East College Ave, Appleton, WI 54911 or call the box office at 920-832-6749. Discounts available for LU students, faculty and staff with an LU ID.

The box office will be open Monday through Saturday from 1:00pm until 6:00pm and an hour prior to events.

About Akropolis Reed Quintet

Celebrating their 13th year making music with “faultless detail and refreshing artistry” (I Care if You Listen) as a “collective voice driven by real excitement and a sense of adventure” (The Wire), Akropolis has “taken the chamber music world by storm” (Fanfare). As the first reed quintet to grace the Billboard Charts (May 2021), the untamed band of 5 reed players and entrepreneurs are united by a shared passion: to make music that sparks joy and wonder.

Winner of 7 national chamber music prizes including the 2014 Fischoff Gold Medal, “the performance standards of Akropolis are award winning for a reason” (Fanfare). Remaining the same 5 members since their founding in 2009, Akropolis delivers 120 concerts and educational events worldwide each year and has premiered and commissioned over 130 works by living artists and composers. They are the first ensemble of their kind to grace the stage on noteworthy series like Oneppo (Yale University), Chamber Music San Antonio, Phillips Collection (Washington, D.C.), Summerwinds Münster (Germany), Flagler Museum (Palm Beach), and many more. The “rise of the reed quintet” (Chamber Music America) and Akropolis’ “infallible musicality and huge vitality” (Fanfare) make them one of the most sought-after chamber ensembles today.

Experimenters and creators at their core, “there’s nothing tentative in their approach, and that extends to their programming of multifariously challenging and imaginative new works” (The Wire). Akropolis has collaborated with poets, a metal fabricator, dancers, small business owners, string quartets, pop vocalists, and more. Currently, Akropolis is collaborating with GRAMMY-nominated pianist/composer Pascal Le Boeuf and drummer Christian Euman on an album and touring program drawing classical and jazz idioms together to reflect on American identity, entitled, Are We Dreaming the Same Dream?

Akropolis’ chief collaborators are youth and their Detroit community. Winner of the 2015 Fischoff Educator Award and a nonprofit organization which has received 5 consecutive grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, Akropolis runs a summer festival in Detroit called Together We Sound and holds an annual, school year long residency at Cass Tech, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Detroit School of Arts high schools. Akropolis believes anyone can compose great music and during their 20-21 season premiered and recorded more than 30 works by youth aged 12-22 alone.

An engine perpetually generating new sounds and ideas, Akropolis’ 22-23 season will include world premieres by Pulitzer Prize finalist Augusta Read Thomas and Omar Thomas; imaginative renditions of music by Ravel, Bernstein, Rameau, Shostakovich, and Gershwin; Storm Warning, a concerto grosso for reed quintet and wind band by Roshanne Etezady; and touring their recently released 4th album, Ghost Light, lauded for its “range, agility, and grace” (The Whole Note), by “exploring everything from the Egyptian Book of the Dead to racial violence in their native Detroit” (AnEarfull).