1995–1996 Festival Series
Click here to see past festival series events!
Ying String Quartet
Saturday, September 30, 1995
“It was, quite simply, the most amazing string quartet playing I7rs sve ever heard.” – Kansas City Star
Since its inception at the Eastman School of Music in 1988, this talented group of siblings has won the Cleveland Quartet Competition, debuted at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall and received rave reviews for its “ precision and unanimity of sound.” The quartet has been featured on “CBS Sunday Morning” and on National Public Radio’s “St. Paul Sunday Morning.” Winner of the prestigious 1993 Naumberg Competition, the group also placed second in the Banff International String Quartet Competition.
Recent participants in the unique National Endowment for the Arts Rural Residency Intiative, the group lived and performed in tiny Jessup, Iowa, sharing its music everywhere from living rooms to one-room Amish schools and hopsitals. We are pleased to host this dynamic quartet in a weeklong residency immediately precieding its Festival Series appearance.
London Brass
Friday, October 27, 1995
“The classiest brass act going…always enjoyable.” – Los Angeles Times
A Festival Series favorite, the internationally acclaimed London Brass returns to Bowling Green for its third visit. Formerly known as the Philip Jones Brass Ensemble, the group has commanded international respect and admiration for more than 35 years.
The 10-piece ensemble performs a vast range of musical styles while retaininng a very distinctive sound. Actively touring, recording and commissioning new works for brass in recent years, the London Brass has more than 50 recordings to its credit and has gained recognition in every corner of the world.
Join us for a reunion with our good friends from Merry Old England!
The Parsons Dance Company
Friday, November 17, 1995
“The members of the company weren’t simply dancing; they appeared to be throwing a party on stage. They were obviously having fun, and they were fun to watch.“ – New York Times
With a repertory of 29 works—nine with commissioned scores—the Parsons Dance Company has given more than 500 performances around the world, including such prestigious venues as Lincoln Center, Maison de la Dance-Lyon and the Kennedy Center. Artistic director David Parsons is a former lead dancer with the Paul Taylor Dance Company and a choreographer for Paul Taylor, the American Ballet Theatre and Ballet Chicago, among others. Community-based residencies are a specialty of this eight-member company which will perform on the Festival Series as a finale to a residency collaboration with the University’s Arts Unlimited. Their performance is sponsored in part by GTE and the Dance on Tour program of Arts Midwest.
Chanticleer
Saturday, December 9, 1995
“Pure of tone and intonation, musically confident in the most difficult of music and consistently responsive to its singer-conductor Joseph Jennings.” – New York Times
The only full-time vocal ensemble in the U.S., Chanticleer has developed a remarkable reputation for its interpretation of vocal literature from Renaissance to vocal jazz and from gospel to venturesome music. With its seamless blend of male voices ranging from countertenor to bass, Chanticleer has earned international renown as “an orchestra of voices,” performing more than 100 concerts annually. If you are a lover of fine choral singing, don’t miss this event.
Prague Chamber Orchestra
with Simone Pedroni
Monday, March 11, 1996
The Lois M. Nitschke Memorial Concert
“Extraordinary artistic discipline. Perfectly beautiful, expressive, compelling playing that leaves its glow and mark.” – San Francisco Chronicle
Extremely versatile, the Prague Chamber Orchestra performs an extensive repertoire with amazing technical proficiency, perfect balance, clearly audible inner voices and clean, incisive attacks. The 36-member ensemble is joined in this performance by the newest Gold Medalist of the Ninth Van Cliburn International Piano Competition. Pedroni, now age 24, has already toured extensively in his native Italy, performering with the RAI Symphony Orchestra and I Pomeriggi Musicale in Milan, the RAI Symphony Orchestra of Naples and the Bologna Symphony Orchestra. He appeared with the Oslo Philharmonic after taking first prize at the Queen Sonja International Competition and in Tel Aviv with the Arthur Rubenstein Orchestra when he won second prize and the chamber music prize at the 1992 Arthur Rubenstein International Piano Competition. As a Cliburn Gold Medalist, he will spend two yars on the international concert circuit, record on the Philips Label and debut in Carnegie Hall.
This concert was made possible by a generous gift from Norman Nitscke.
Arturo Sandoval
and the Jazz Arts Group
Wednesday, April 10, 1996
“Catch him now at the glorious stage in his career when, for phyiscal ‘chops’ and quick-thinking invention he can blow any other trumpeter in the world right off the bandstand.” – London Standard
One of the world’s most acknowledged guardians of jazz trumpet and flugelhorn, this Cuban-born trumpet virtuoso and Dizzy Gillespie protégé amazes audiences with his cheek-popping, exhilarating Afro-Caribbean style of play. A founding member of the Grammy Award-winning group Irakere, Sandoval has performed with Woody Herman, Herbie Hancock, Michel Legrand and John Williams at the Boston Pops. He has made numerous recordings, including performing for the Dave Grusin soundtrack of Mambo Kings.
Sandoval and the 17-piece Jazz Arts Group big band are a fitting finale to our 15th season of Festival Series events!