Internationally acclaimed tenor Lawrence Brownlee and trumpeter extraordinaire Ambrose Akinmusire headline an exceptional eight-concert line-up on Lawrence University’s 2015-16 Artist and Jazz Series.
Subscriptions for both the Artist and Jazz series are now on sale. Subscribers may choose from either series or a “Favorite 4” package, with discounts available to senior citizens and students. Single-concert tickets go on sale Sept. 16. For more information, contact the Lawrence Box Office, 920-832-6749 or boxoffice@lawrence.edu. All concerts are held in the Lawrence Memorial Chapel.
Boasting a voice as powerful as it is agile, Brownlee has established himself as one of the most sought-after tenors in the world performing the bel canto repertoire. He closes the four-concert Artist Series with an April 16 performance in the Lawrence Memorial Chapel.
Since making his professional stage debut in 2002 as Almaviva in Rossini’s “The Barber of Seville,” Brownlee has gone on to star regularly opposite many of contemporary opera’s leading ladies, Renee Fleming among them.
With a voice that has been described as “honey,” Brownlee enjoys a relationship with many prominent conductors and symphony orchestras and has been featured in nearly every major theater in the world, including New York’s Metropolitan Opera, Milan’s La Scala, Madrid’s Teatro Real and the Vienna State Opera.
Brownlee will sing the title role in the world premiere of Daniel Schnyder’s “Charlie Parker’s Yardbird,” for Opera Philadelphia in June.
The Ambrose Akinmusire Quartet plays the Memorial Chapel Friday, Feb. 19, the third of four Jazz Series concerts.
One of jazz’s most exciting new artists, Akinmusire began his professional career while still in high school. Inspired by legendary saxophonists Joe Henderson and Steve Coleman, he studied at the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz Performance, touring India and Vietnam in 2005 with jazz legends Herbie Hancock and Wayne Shorter.
He won the prestigious Thelonious Monk International Jazz Trumpet Competition in 2007 and released his debut CD, “Prelude…to Cora,” the following year.
Named best trumpet player in the 2012 and 2014 DownBeat International Critics Poll, Akinmusire has released two albums on the Blue Note label, “When the Heart Emerges Glistening” in 2011, which earned Akinmusire France’s Grand Prix l’Academie du Jazz, and 2014’s “the imagined savior is far easier to paint.”
Joining Lawrence on the Artist Series will be Eighth Blackbird, Oct. 2, violinist Rachel Barton Pine, Feb. 6, 2016 and pianist Jeremy Denk, April 8, 2016.
Eighth Blackbird, the Chicago-based, Grammy Award-winning sextet combines the finesse of a string quartet, the energy of a rock band and the audacity of a storefront theater company. Through provocative and mind-changing performances of master classical composers, Eighth Blackbird debunks the myth that contemporary music is only for a cerebral few.
The groups discography includes six critically acclaimed recordings with Cedille Records, three of which earned Grammy Awards: “strange imaginary animals” in 2008 for best chamber music performance; “Lonely Motel: Music from Slide” in 2011 for best small ensemble performance; and “Meanwhile” in 2012 for best small ensemble performance and contemporary classical composition.
Pine, who will be accompanied by pianist Matthew Hagle, has been hailed for her dazzling technique, lustrous tone and the infectious joy she brings to her performances. She has played as guest soloist with many of the world’s leading ensembles, including the Chicago Symphony, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Royal Philharmonic and the Netherlands Radio Kamer Filharmonie and has performed with musicians as diverse as Placido Domingo and Led Zeppelin’s Jimmy Page.
Known for her interpretations of great classical works, Pine became the youngest person — age 17 — and first American to win a gold medal at the prestigious J.S. Bach International Competition in Leipzig, Germany. She has recorded 25 albums and her most recent CD, 2013’s “Violin Lullabies,” debuted at number one on the Billboard classical chart.
Denk, a 2013 recipient of a MacArthur “Genius” Fellowship, has forged a reputation as an unusual and compelling artist thanks to his broad and thought-provoking repertoire. He received critical acclaim for his 2013 recording of Bach’s iconic “Goldberg Variations,” which Denk himself described as “maniacal, in the best way” and as “the biggest jazz riff ever written.”
A frequent recitalist at concert halls in New York, Washington, Boston and throughout the United States, Denk also performs regularly with many of the nation’s major orchestras, including the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Philadelphia Orchestra and the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra. His virtuosity has been recognized with the 2014 Avery Fisher Prize and Musical America’s 2014 Instrumentalist of the Year Award.
Joining Akinmusire on the Jazz Series will be singer Cyrille Aimée, Nov. 6; Rufus Reid’s Quartet with the Lawrence Jazz Ensemble Nov. 7 and the Kurt Rosenwinkel New Quartet May 13.
Aimée will open the Fred Sturm Jazz Celebration Weekend, newly renamed in honor and memory of its founder and Lawrence’s Kimberly-Clark Professor of Music and Director of Jazz Studies and Improvisational Music, who passed away in August, 2014.
Raised in the French village of Samois sur Seine, Aimée’s culturally rich background has provided her with the driving force of Dominican rhythm and the incredible swing of the French Gypsies.
Inspired by the musical legacy of renowned guitarist Django Reinhardt, Aimée has established herself as one of the most promising jazz singers of her generation as the winner of both the 2007 Montreux Jazz Festival’s Vocal Competition and the 2012 Sarah Vaughan International Vocal Competition. Her 2014 major label debut, “It’s a Good Day,” showcases Aimée’s incredible range of musical styles, eras, continents and moods.
Reid, a Grammy Award-nominated bass player whose performances span five decades, closes Fred Sturm Jazz Weekend with a Saturday night concert, featuring Lawrence’s own jazz ensemble under the direction of Jose Encarnacion.
The author of “The Evolving Bassist,” the definitive bible for every jazz bassist and the industry standard since 1974, Reid has lent this signature sound to the music of a veritable “Who’s Who” of jazz icons, including Thad Jones, Stan Getz, Benny Golson, Jack DeJohnette and Nancy Wilson, among others.
As a leader or co-leader, Reid has recorded more than 20 albums, including 2014’s “Quiet Pride – The Elizabeth Catlett Project,” which was inspired by the legendary sculptor and civil rights activist. He’ll be joined on stage by tenor saxophonist Tia Fuller, pianist Steve Allee and drummer Duduka Da Fonseca.
Guitartist Kurt Rosenwinkel closes the jazz series with his New Quartet, featuring pianist Aaron Parks, bassist Eric Revis and drummer Allan Mednard.
Rosenwinkel dropped out of Boston’s Berklee College of Music in 1990 to pursue a professional music career. He soon established himself as one of the East Coast’s most respected jazz guitarists. His floating lyricism, luminous tone and an ultramodern harmonic language has helped him redefine the instrument, leading AllAbout Jazz to call him “perhaps his generation’s most influential guitarist, spawning almost as many imitators as Pat Metheny.”
Since his debut album in 1996, “East Coast Love Affair,” Rosenwinkel has released a dozen more discs, including 2014’s “With Ojm: Our Secret World,” a collaboration with Portugal’s big band Orquestra Jazz de Matosinhos.
About Lawrence University
Founded in 1847, Lawrence University uniquely integrates a college of liberal arts and sciences with a nationally recognized conservatory of music, both devoted exclusively to undergraduate education. It was selected for inclusion in the Fiske Guide to Colleges 2015 and the book “Colleges That Change Lives: 40 Schools That Will Change the Way You Think About College.” Engaged learning, the development of multiple interests and community outreach are central to the Lawrence experience. Lawrence draws its 1,500 students from nearly every state and more than 50 countries.
