TO BE RELEASED WED., JANUARY 26
Carbondale--Southern Lights Entertainment brings the finest artists of the classical music world to Southern Illinois. On Friday, March 4, the Vienna Boys Choir returns to Shryock Auditorium with an eclectic program featuring composers from Bach to Michael Jackson. Next, Camerata Ireland, one of Europe’s leading ensembles combines forces with internationally-acclaimed pianist-conductor, Barry Douglas, to perform "A Magical Evening of Mozart & More," with time-honored masterpieces by the Viennese genius, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and favorites by the some of the most beloved composers of classical music. This performance at Shryock Auditorium is on Wednesday, March 9.
Then, on Friday, April 15, the world-famous Tokyo String Quartet graces the Shryock stage for a program of chamber music, as part of the festivities to celebrate the installation of Dr. Rita Hartung Cheng as the twenty-second Chancellor of Southern Illinois University Carbondale. All three concerts begin at 7:30 PM.
Bryan Rives, Director of SIU Event Services, said, “we are honored and proud to have so many incredibly brilliant stars of this level treat our community to their special quality of music. We know that those in attendance will remember their experiences for a very long time to come.”
Southern Lights Entertainment invites everyone to register for a chance to win a pair of free tickets to all three concerts. To enter, simply text “CONCERT7” to 30364 or register on-line at SouthernLightsEntertainment.com.
---About the Vienna Boys Choir---
Here is what the critics have said about the Vienna Boys Choir:
“Their tone is pristine, their dynamics perfectly rendered, but of course it is their youth and pure soprano voices that make them unique.” -Charleston Post and Courier
“...the Vienna Boys Choir is a world treasure, not just an Austrian one.” -Fort Worth Star Telegram
“...totally disciplined voices tempered by a singular sense of ease and consistency, and a sound conveying ebullience, humor or solemnity as the music called for.” -Washington Post “bright, light voices through the centuries” -The New York Times
Boys have been singing at the court of the Holy Roman Emperor since the early 15th century. In 1498, more than half a millennium ago, Emperor Maximilian I moved his court and his court musicians to Vienna. He gave instructions that there were to be six singing boys among his musicians. Historians have settled on 1498 as the foundation date of the Vienna Hofmusikkapelle and - in consequence - the Vienna Boys Choir. Until 1918, the choir sang exclusively for the imperial court, at mass, at private concerts and functions, and on state occasions.
Musicians like Heinrich Isaac, Paul Hofhaimer, Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber, Johann Joseph Fux, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Antonio Caldara, Antonio Salieri and Anton Bruckner worked with the choir. Composers Jacobus Gallus and Franz Schubert, and the conductors Hans Richter, Felix Mottl and Clemens Krauss were themselves choristers. Brothers Joseph and Michael Haydn were members of the choir of St. Stephen’s Cathedral, and frequently sang with the imperial boys’ choir.
In 1918, after the breakdown of the Habsburg Empire, the Austrian government took over the court opera, its orchestra and the adult singers, but not the boys’ choir. The Vienna Boys Choir owes its survival to the initiative of Josef Schnitt, who became Dean of the Imperial Chapel in 1921. Schnitt established the boys’ choir as a private institution: the former court choir boys became the Wiener Sängerknaben (Vienna Boys Choir), the imperial uniform was replaced by the sailor suit, then the height of boys’ fashion. Funding was not enough to pay for the boys’ upkeep, and in 1926 the choir started to give concerts outside of the chapel, performing motets, secular works, and - at the boys’ request – children’s operas. The impact was amazing: Within a year, the choir performed in Berlin (where Erich Kleiber conducted them), Prague and Zurich. Athens and Riga (1928) followed, then Spain, France, Denmark, Norway and Sweden (1929), the United States (1932), Australia (1934) and South America (1936).
Present--
Today there are around 100 choristers between the ages of ten and fourteen, divided into four touring choirs. The four choirs give around 300 concerts and performances each year in front of almost half a million people. Each group spends nine to eleven weeks of the school year on tour. They visit virtually all European countries, and they are frequent guests in Asia, Australia and the Americas.
Together with members of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra and the Vienna State Opera Chorus, the Vienna Boys Choir maintains the tradition of the imperial musicians: as Hofmusikkapelle they provide the music for the Sunday Mass in Vienna’s Imperial Chapel, as they have done since 1498. Gerald Wirth took over as the choir’s artistic director in 2001.
Repertoire--
The choir’s repertoire includes everything from medieval to contemporary and experimental music. Motets and lieder for boys’ choir form the core of the touring repertoire, as do the choir’s own arrangements of quintessentially Viennese music, waltzes and polkas by Strauss, Lanner, and Lehar.
Both the choir and the Hofmusikkapelle have a long tradition of commissioning new works. Austrian composers Heinz Kratochwil, hk Gruber (himself a former chorister), Ernst Krenek and Balduin Sulzer have written works for the choir.
The Vienna Boys Choir performs major choral and symphonic works, sometimes as part of the Hofmusikkapelle, sometimes with other orchestras and men’s choirs. They are regularly asked to supply soloists for large choral and orchestral works, such as Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms, Mahler’s Das klagende Lied . In recent years, they have performed with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, the Vienna Symphony Orchestra, the Staatskapelle Berlin, the Oslo Philharmonic and the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. Recent guest conductors include Pierre Boulez, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Mariss Jansons, Zubin Mehta, Riccardo Muti (honorary member of the Hofmusikkapelle), Kent Nagano, Seiji Ozawa and Simone Young. Choristers also take part in opera performances at the Vienna State Opera, the Vienna Volksoper, and the Salzburg Festival.
Program
VIENNA BOYS CHOIR
Wiener Sängerknaben
Kerem Sezen, Choirmaster
Carl Orff (1895 – 1982) - O Fortuna / Fortuna Imperatrix Mundi (Fortune, Empress of the world)-----from Carmina Burana
Gabriel Fauré (1845 – 1924) - Ave verum corpus (Hail, true body), Op. 65, No. 1
motet for two equal voices and organ
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685 – 1750) - Wer Gott bekennt aus wahrem Herzensgrund (Who acknowledges God wholeheartedly)
from the cantata Es ist dir gesagt, Mensch, was gut ist, BWV. 45
Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (~1525 – 1594) - Adoramus te Christe (We praise you, Christ)
Anton Bruckner (1824 – 1896) - Virga Jesse (The Rod of Jesse), WAB 52
Arthur Bliss (1891 – 1975) - Prayer of Saint Francis of Assisi, F. 47
Anton Heiller (1923 – 1979) - Ave Maria (Hail Mary)
Giovanni Battista Pergloesi (1710 – 1736) - Four pieces from Stabat mater
Wolfram Wagner (1710 – 1736) - Mr. Double Bass (2010)
Zoltán Kodály (1882 – 1967) - Ének Szent István királyhoz (Hymn to King Saint Stephen) from Bozóky Songbook
Johannes Brahms (1833 – 1897) - Und gehst du über den Kirchhof (And if you cross the church yard), Op. 44, No. 10 from Jungbrunnen (Fountain of Youth)
Engelbert Humperdinck (1854 – 1921) - Abendsegen (Evening prayer) from the opera Hänsel und Gretel, EHWV 93
Franz Schubert (1797 – 1828) - Im Abendrot (At sunset), D. 799
Bruno Coulais (b. 1954) - Two selections from the motion picture Les choristes (2004)
Caresse sur l'ocean (Sea breeze)
Cerf-volant (Kite)
Philip Norman (b. 1953) - The Earth We Share
from the musical Footrot Flats (1983)
Michael Jackson (1958 – 2009)and Lionel Ritchie (b. 1949) - We Are the World
Justus Wilhelm Lyra (1822 – 1882) - Der Mai ist gekommen (May has arrived)
TRADITIONAL - Yodelling song from Austria
Johann Strauss II (1825 – 1899) - Pizzicato Polka, Op. 234
Josef Strauss (1827 – 1870) - Dorfschwalben aus Österreich (Village swallows from Austria), Op. 164
(Program and artists subject to change.)
############
---About “A Magical Evening of Mozart & More” with Camerata Ireland---
Critics rave:
“Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 14 showcased Douglas' riveting versatility. He is an eminently gifted musician with an easy charm and the charisma of a rock star. Watching him simultaneously conduct the orchestra and perform as a piano soloist has to be one the unique pleasures of the concert.” --Worcester Telegram & Gazette
“Their playing was spot-on, offering an engaging display of carefully shaded dynamics, beautiful tone, and genial enthusiasm. With elegantly shaped phrases and limpid, songful tone, Camerata Ireland gave it a truly extraordinary performance.” --American Record Guide
“Douglas charmed the large and appreciative audience with his charismatic presence and sure musicianship. His orchestra sounded polished and together.” --New York Concert Review
“The 25-piece chamber orchestra handled each piece with precision and remarkable musicianship, the color of their sound transforming easily to fit the character of each work. …The orchestra’s strings showed mastery of a breathtaking dynamic range, as the pieces’ pulsing themes rose and fell.” --South Bend Tribune
“It was no surprise to hear him [Douglas] excel as soloist with his own group in the Mozart Piano Concerto No. 14, with a singing touch and an easy technique that spun out one nice phrase after another…His no-nonsense technique clearly rivets the attention of his players, even when Douglas also is at the keyboard.” --The Seattle Times
With their performance of A Magical Evening of Mozart & More,” featuring some of the most famous works of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and other great composers of the classical repertoire, Camerata Ireland brings Irish musicians together from all over the world to celebrate the wealth of musical talent that abounds in Ireland and beyond. The chamber orchestra is under the artistic and musical direction of acclaimed pianist Barry Douglas, and is entirely comprised of exceptionally talented Irish musicians, many of whom also play in top positions in other premier orchestras, including the London Symphony Orchestra, the Hallé Orchestra, the RTE Orchestras and the Ulster Orchestra. Camerata Ireland is honored to have the joint patronage of Mary McAleese, President of Ireland and HRH Queen Elizabeth II.
Camerata Ireland gave its inaugural concerts in April 1999 at Stormont Parliament Buildings in Belfast and in Dublin Castle. Both concerts were presented in association with Co-operation Ireland, the leading charity working to bring a lasting peace to the island of Ireland, which inspired Barry Douglas to create the ensemble.
Camerata Ireland enjoys an active touring schedule, and has presented concerts on four continents, including performances in China, Poland, England, France, Italy and Germany, among others. Their critically acclaimed tour of South America, with concerts in Uruguay, Brazil and Argentina marked the first Irish classical music ensemble to visit those countries. The ensemble made its second tour of the United States in the 2005/06 season, with concerts in New York, California, Arizona, Texas, New Mexico, Colorado and Wyoming. Highlights of their domestic tours included concerts at the National Concert Hall in Dublin, the Waterfront Hall in Belfast, which marked the final performance of the 1999 International Belfast Arts Festival, and a gala performance to celebrate the new Cultural Centre in Armagh, the historic and ecclesiastical center of Ireland.
Program
"A Magical Evening of Mozart & More"
CAMERATA IRELAND
Barry Douglas, Artistic Director and Piano
Celine Byrne, Soprano
Rossini : Overture to The Silken Ladder
Mozart: Aria from The Marriage of Figaro, Porgi Amor
Field: Aria and Nocturne for Piano and Orchestra
Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 23 in A major K. 488
Barber: Adagio for Strings
Mozart: Aria from The Shepard King, L‘amerò, sarò constante
Mozart: Symphony N° 40 in G minor, K. 550
(Program and artists subject to change.)
################
---About Tokyo String Quartet---
What the critics have said:
“The ensemble's balance, intelligence and style were beyond exemplary.”
—The Vancouver Sun
“If the Tokyo String Quartet isn’t the world’s greatest chamber music ensemble, it’s hard to imagine which group is.”
—The Washington Post
“This was a near faultless performance....Musical integrity, rather than theatricality, lies at the heart of the Tokyo String Quartet's
approach and it is more than worthy of its status as one of the world's great quartets."
—The Australian
“Quartet playing of the highest order!”
—The Times (Great Britain)
The Tokyo String Quartet has captivated audiences and critics alike since it was founded 40 years ago. Regarded as one of the supreme chamber ensembles of the world, the Tokyo Quartet—Martin Beaver and Kikuei Ikeda (violins), Kazuhide Isomura (viola) and Clive Greensmith (cello)—has collaborated with a remarkable array of artists and composers, built a comprehensive catalogue of critically acclaimed recordings and established a distinguished teaching record.
Officially formed in 1969 at the Juilliard School of Music, the quartet traces its origins to the Toho School of Music in Tokyo. Soon after its formation, the quartet won First Prize at the Coleman Competition, the Munich Competition and the Young Concert Artists International Auditions. An exclusive contract with Deutsche Grammophon firmly established it as one of the world's leading quartets. It has since released more than 40 landmark recordings, and now records on the Harmonia Mundi label.
The ensemble performs over a hundred concerts worldwide each season on the "Paganini Quartet", a group of renowned Stradivarius instruments named for legendary virtuoso Niccolò Paganini, who acquired and played them during the 19th century. The instruments have been on loan to the ensemble from the Nippon Music Foundation since 1995.
Program To Be Announced
####
For more information about the concerts, including photos, and complete ticket information, visit SouthernLightsEntertainment.com.
Southern Lights Entertainment is sponsored by Black Diamond Harley-Davidson and Walker’s Bluff Winery, with marketing support from River Radio, and The Southern Illinoisan.
Tickets for all three performances are on sale now to Star Club members and go on sale to the general public on Monday, January 31, 2011 at noon. Prices for all three concerts begin at $10 for students of all ages, limited seating in the Director’s Circle at $49 and all other tickets at $39. Tickets will be on-sale exclusively at SouthernTicketsOnline.com, via phone at (618) 453-6000, or at any Southern Tickets Online walkup location, including Shryock Auditorium and McLeod Theater.
####
About Southern Lights Entertainment:
Southern Lights Entertainment is the premier provider of arts and entertainment programming and performances in Southern Illinois. A program of SIU’s Department of Event Services, Southern Lights Entertainment was created as a vehicle for bringing top-notch performers and entertainment to Southern Illinois.
For All Marketing & Publicity Requests and additional artist and concert information:
Stephen Belth
Media Manager for SIU Event Services
Arts Marketing Network
Phone: (516) 359-2548| Email: sbelth@artsmarketing.net
Carbondale--Southern Lights Entertainment brings the finest artists of the classical music world to Southern Illinois. On Friday, March 4, the Vienna Boys Choir returns to Shryock Auditorium with an eclectic program featuring composers from Bach to Michael Jackson. Next, Camerata Ireland, one of Europe’s leading ensembles combines forces with internationally-acclaimed pianist-conductor, Barry Douglas, to perform "A Magical Evening of Mozart & More," with time-honored masterpieces by the Viennese genius, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and favorites by the some of the most beloved composers of classical music. This performance at Shryock Auditorium is on Wednesday, March 9.
Then, on Friday, April 15, the world-famous Tokyo String Quartet graces the Shryock stage for a program of chamber music, as part of the festivities to celebrate the installation of Dr. Rita Hartung Cheng as the twenty-second Chancellor of Southern Illinois University Carbondale. All three concerts begin at 7:30 PM.
Bryan Rives, Director of SIU Event Services, said, “we are honored and proud to have so many incredibly brilliant stars of this level treat our community to their special quality of music. We know that those in attendance will remember their experiences for a very long time to come.”
Southern Lights Entertainment invites everyone to register for a chance to win a pair of free tickets to all three concerts. To enter, simply text “CONCERT7” to 30364 or register on-line at SouthernLightsEntertainment.com.
---About the Vienna Boys Choir---
Here is what the critics have said about the Vienna Boys Choir:
“Their tone is pristine, their dynamics perfectly rendered, but of course it is their youth and pure soprano voices that make them unique.” -Charleston Post and Courier
“...the Vienna Boys Choir is a world treasure, not just an Austrian one.” -Fort Worth Star Telegram
“...totally disciplined voices tempered by a singular sense of ease and consistency, and a sound conveying ebullience, humor or solemnity as the music called for.” -Washington Post “bright, light voices through the centuries” -The New York Times
Boys have been singing at the court of the Holy Roman Emperor since the early 15th century. In 1498, more than half a millennium ago, Emperor Maximilian I moved his court and his court musicians to Vienna. He gave instructions that there were to be six singing boys among his musicians. Historians have settled on 1498 as the foundation date of the Vienna Hofmusikkapelle and - in consequence - the Vienna Boys Choir. Until 1918, the choir sang exclusively for the imperial court, at mass, at private concerts and functions, and on state occasions.
Musicians like Heinrich Isaac, Paul Hofhaimer, Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber, Johann Joseph Fux, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Antonio Caldara, Antonio Salieri and Anton Bruckner worked with the choir. Composers Jacobus Gallus and Franz Schubert, and the conductors Hans Richter, Felix Mottl and Clemens Krauss were themselves choristers. Brothers Joseph and Michael Haydn were members of the choir of St. Stephen’s Cathedral, and frequently sang with the imperial boys’ choir.
In 1918, after the breakdown of the Habsburg Empire, the Austrian government took over the court opera, its orchestra and the adult singers, but not the boys’ choir. The Vienna Boys Choir owes its survival to the initiative of Josef Schnitt, who became Dean of the Imperial Chapel in 1921. Schnitt established the boys’ choir as a private institution: the former court choir boys became the Wiener Sängerknaben (Vienna Boys Choir), the imperial uniform was replaced by the sailor suit, then the height of boys’ fashion. Funding was not enough to pay for the boys’ upkeep, and in 1926 the choir started to give concerts outside of the chapel, performing motets, secular works, and - at the boys’ request – children’s operas. The impact was amazing: Within a year, the choir performed in Berlin (where Erich Kleiber conducted them), Prague and Zurich. Athens and Riga (1928) followed, then Spain, France, Denmark, Norway and Sweden (1929), the United States (1932), Australia (1934) and South America (1936).
Present--
Today there are around 100 choristers between the ages of ten and fourteen, divided into four touring choirs. The four choirs give around 300 concerts and performances each year in front of almost half a million people. Each group spends nine to eleven weeks of the school year on tour. They visit virtually all European countries, and they are frequent guests in Asia, Australia and the Americas.
Together with members of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra and the Vienna State Opera Chorus, the Vienna Boys Choir maintains the tradition of the imperial musicians: as Hofmusikkapelle they provide the music for the Sunday Mass in Vienna’s Imperial Chapel, as they have done since 1498. Gerald Wirth took over as the choir’s artistic director in 2001.
Repertoire--
The choir’s repertoire includes everything from medieval to contemporary and experimental music. Motets and lieder for boys’ choir form the core of the touring repertoire, as do the choir’s own arrangements of quintessentially Viennese music, waltzes and polkas by Strauss, Lanner, and Lehar.
Both the choir and the Hofmusikkapelle have a long tradition of commissioning new works. Austrian composers Heinz Kratochwil, hk Gruber (himself a former chorister), Ernst Krenek and Balduin Sulzer have written works for the choir.
The Vienna Boys Choir performs major choral and symphonic works, sometimes as part of the Hofmusikkapelle, sometimes with other orchestras and men’s choirs. They are regularly asked to supply soloists for large choral and orchestral works, such as Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms, Mahler’s Das klagende Lied . In recent years, they have performed with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, the Vienna Symphony Orchestra, the Staatskapelle Berlin, the Oslo Philharmonic and the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. Recent guest conductors include Pierre Boulez, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Mariss Jansons, Zubin Mehta, Riccardo Muti (honorary member of the Hofmusikkapelle), Kent Nagano, Seiji Ozawa and Simone Young. Choristers also take part in opera performances at the Vienna State Opera, the Vienna Volksoper, and the Salzburg Festival.
Program
VIENNA BOYS CHOIR
Wiener Sängerknaben
Kerem Sezen, Choirmaster
Carl Orff (1895 – 1982) - O Fortuna / Fortuna Imperatrix Mundi (Fortune, Empress of the world)-----from Carmina Burana
Gabriel Fauré (1845 – 1924) - Ave verum corpus (Hail, true body), Op. 65, No. 1
motet for two equal voices and organ
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685 – 1750) - Wer Gott bekennt aus wahrem Herzensgrund (Who acknowledges God wholeheartedly)
from the cantata Es ist dir gesagt, Mensch, was gut ist, BWV. 45
Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (~1525 – 1594) - Adoramus te Christe (We praise you, Christ)
Anton Bruckner (1824 – 1896) - Virga Jesse (The Rod of Jesse), WAB 52
Arthur Bliss (1891 – 1975) - Prayer of Saint Francis of Assisi, F. 47
Anton Heiller (1923 – 1979) - Ave Maria (Hail Mary)
Giovanni Battista Pergloesi (1710 – 1736) - Four pieces from Stabat mater
Wolfram Wagner (1710 – 1736) - Mr. Double Bass (2010)
Zoltán Kodály (1882 – 1967) - Ének Szent István királyhoz (Hymn to King Saint Stephen) from Bozóky Songbook
Johannes Brahms (1833 – 1897) - Und gehst du über den Kirchhof (And if you cross the church yard), Op. 44, No. 10 from Jungbrunnen (Fountain of Youth)
Engelbert Humperdinck (1854 – 1921) - Abendsegen (Evening prayer) from the opera Hänsel und Gretel, EHWV 93
Franz Schubert (1797 – 1828) - Im Abendrot (At sunset), D. 799
Bruno Coulais (b. 1954) - Two selections from the motion picture Les choristes (2004)
Caresse sur l'ocean (Sea breeze)
Cerf-volant (Kite)
Philip Norman (b. 1953) - The Earth We Share
from the musical Footrot Flats (1983)
Michael Jackson (1958 – 2009)and Lionel Ritchie (b. 1949) - We Are the World
Justus Wilhelm Lyra (1822 – 1882) - Der Mai ist gekommen (May has arrived)
TRADITIONAL - Yodelling song from Austria
Johann Strauss II (1825 – 1899) - Pizzicato Polka, Op. 234
Josef Strauss (1827 – 1870) - Dorfschwalben aus Österreich (Village swallows from Austria), Op. 164
(Program and artists subject to change.)
############
---About “A Magical Evening of Mozart & More” with Camerata Ireland---
Critics rave:
“Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 14 showcased Douglas' riveting versatility. He is an eminently gifted musician with an easy charm and the charisma of a rock star. Watching him simultaneously conduct the orchestra and perform as a piano soloist has to be one the unique pleasures of the concert.” --Worcester Telegram & Gazette
“Their playing was spot-on, offering an engaging display of carefully shaded dynamics, beautiful tone, and genial enthusiasm. With elegantly shaped phrases and limpid, songful tone, Camerata Ireland gave it a truly extraordinary performance.” --American Record Guide
“Douglas charmed the large and appreciative audience with his charismatic presence and sure musicianship. His orchestra sounded polished and together.” --New York Concert Review
“The 25-piece chamber orchestra handled each piece with precision and remarkable musicianship, the color of their sound transforming easily to fit the character of each work. …The orchestra’s strings showed mastery of a breathtaking dynamic range, as the pieces’ pulsing themes rose and fell.” --South Bend Tribune
“It was no surprise to hear him [Douglas] excel as soloist with his own group in the Mozart Piano Concerto No. 14, with a singing touch and an easy technique that spun out one nice phrase after another…His no-nonsense technique clearly rivets the attention of his players, even when Douglas also is at the keyboard.” --The Seattle Times
With their performance of A Magical Evening of Mozart & More,” featuring some of the most famous works of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and other great composers of the classical repertoire, Camerata Ireland brings Irish musicians together from all over the world to celebrate the wealth of musical talent that abounds in Ireland and beyond. The chamber orchestra is under the artistic and musical direction of acclaimed pianist Barry Douglas, and is entirely comprised of exceptionally talented Irish musicians, many of whom also play in top positions in other premier orchestras, including the London Symphony Orchestra, the Hallé Orchestra, the RTE Orchestras and the Ulster Orchestra. Camerata Ireland is honored to have the joint patronage of Mary McAleese, President of Ireland and HRH Queen Elizabeth II.
Camerata Ireland gave its inaugural concerts in April 1999 at Stormont Parliament Buildings in Belfast and in Dublin Castle. Both concerts were presented in association with Co-operation Ireland, the leading charity working to bring a lasting peace to the island of Ireland, which inspired Barry Douglas to create the ensemble.
Camerata Ireland enjoys an active touring schedule, and has presented concerts on four continents, including performances in China, Poland, England, France, Italy and Germany, among others. Their critically acclaimed tour of South America, with concerts in Uruguay, Brazil and Argentina marked the first Irish classical music ensemble to visit those countries. The ensemble made its second tour of the United States in the 2005/06 season, with concerts in New York, California, Arizona, Texas, New Mexico, Colorado and Wyoming. Highlights of their domestic tours included concerts at the National Concert Hall in Dublin, the Waterfront Hall in Belfast, which marked the final performance of the 1999 International Belfast Arts Festival, and a gala performance to celebrate the new Cultural Centre in Armagh, the historic and ecclesiastical center of Ireland.
Program
"A Magical Evening of Mozart & More"
CAMERATA IRELAND
Barry Douglas, Artistic Director and Piano
Celine Byrne, Soprano
Rossini : Overture to The Silken Ladder
Mozart: Aria from The Marriage of Figaro, Porgi Amor
Field: Aria and Nocturne for Piano and Orchestra
Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 23 in A major K. 488
Barber: Adagio for Strings
Mozart: Aria from The Shepard King, L‘amerò, sarò constante
Mozart: Symphony N° 40 in G minor, K. 550
(Program and artists subject to change.)
################
---About Tokyo String Quartet---
What the critics have said:
“The ensemble's balance, intelligence and style were beyond exemplary.”
—The Vancouver Sun
“If the Tokyo String Quartet isn’t the world’s greatest chamber music ensemble, it’s hard to imagine which group is.”
—The Washington Post
“This was a near faultless performance....Musical integrity, rather than theatricality, lies at the heart of the Tokyo String Quartet's
approach and it is more than worthy of its status as one of the world's great quartets."
—The Australian
“Quartet playing of the highest order!”
—The Times (Great Britain)
The Tokyo String Quartet has captivated audiences and critics alike since it was founded 40 years ago. Regarded as one of the supreme chamber ensembles of the world, the Tokyo Quartet—Martin Beaver and Kikuei Ikeda (violins), Kazuhide Isomura (viola) and Clive Greensmith (cello)—has collaborated with a remarkable array of artists and composers, built a comprehensive catalogue of critically acclaimed recordings and established a distinguished teaching record.
Officially formed in 1969 at the Juilliard School of Music, the quartet traces its origins to the Toho School of Music in Tokyo. Soon after its formation, the quartet won First Prize at the Coleman Competition, the Munich Competition and the Young Concert Artists International Auditions. An exclusive contract with Deutsche Grammophon firmly established it as one of the world's leading quartets. It has since released more than 40 landmark recordings, and now records on the Harmonia Mundi label.
The ensemble performs over a hundred concerts worldwide each season on the "Paganini Quartet", a group of renowned Stradivarius instruments named for legendary virtuoso Niccolò Paganini, who acquired and played them during the 19th century. The instruments have been on loan to the ensemble from the Nippon Music Foundation since 1995.
Program To Be Announced
####
For more information about the concerts, including photos, and complete ticket information, visit SouthernLightsEntertainment.com.
Southern Lights Entertainment is sponsored by Black Diamond Harley-Davidson and Walker’s Bluff Winery, with marketing support from River Radio, and The Southern Illinoisan.
Tickets for all three performances are on sale now to Star Club members and go on sale to the general public on Monday, January 31, 2011 at noon. Prices for all three concerts begin at $10 for students of all ages, limited seating in the Director’s Circle at $49 and all other tickets at $39. Tickets will be on-sale exclusively at SouthernTicketsOnline.com, via phone at (618) 453-6000, or at any Southern Tickets Online walkup location, including Shryock Auditorium and McLeod Theater.
####
About Southern Lights Entertainment:
Southern Lights Entertainment is the premier provider of arts and entertainment programming and performances in Southern Illinois. A program of SIU’s Department of Event Services, Southern Lights Entertainment was created as a vehicle for bringing top-notch performers and entertainment to Southern Illinois.
For All Marketing & Publicity Requests and additional artist and concert information:
Stephen Belth
Media Manager for SIU Event Services
Arts Marketing Network
Phone: (516) 359-2548| Email: sbelth@artsmarketing.net