2011-2012 Performances

Burning River Brass

*Thursday, May 5, 2011

Burning River Brass has been dazzling audiences since 1996 with “power and virtuosity”, “harmonious blend”, and “consistently stirring performances.” Composed of twelve of the finest brass and percussion players in the country, Burning River Brass is an ensemble on fire!

In concerts from Alaska to Taiwan, Burning River Brass has been applauded for its style and precision, as well as for the infectious joy with which it performs. The group has released four CDs which have been praised for their energy, sound and style. The ensemble has been heard on NPR’s Performance Today and Sunday Baroque, as well as radio stations throughout the country and abroad.

The original inspiration behind Burning River Brass was to give great players, who were also good friends, a chance to play together on a consistent basis.  In concert, Burning River Brass strives to present a variety of music that the audiences find entertaining and which the ensemble enjoys playing. The group’s repertoire includes fresh arrangements of classic literature as well as original works written specifically for them.

“Burning River Brass is sophisticated and talented. But music should be enjoyable as well as serious. These 12 musicians had so much fun that the evening was a delight from start to finish”.~Anchorage Daily News~

Street Corner Symphony

*Monday, September 26, 2011

A new and exciting a cappella sextet based in Nashville has arrived on the contemporary a cappella scene and will raise the curtain on the 2011-2012 season.

Street Corner Symphony was accepted to compete in THE SINGOFF for 2010 – the hit reality show for vocal ensembles – on NBC TV. They ended up as the runner-up, after four weeks of intense competition from nine other great cappella groups.

The group is comprised of two sets of brothers, one of which are the grandsons of legendary gospel singer Bill Shaw from The Blackwood Brothers. Further, five of the members are preachers’ kids and grew up with great church music. Even with this religious and gospel background, Street Corner Symphony has an expansive repertoire, including songs from the Nylons, Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, The Beach Boys, John Denver, Stevie Wonder, Tears for Fears, Earth Wind and Fire, Michael McDonald, Elvis, The Beatles, and even current hit makers Train and U2. In addition, they have a good list of original songs. The members of the Street Corner Symphony are from all over the Southeast United States and include: Adam Chance, John Martin, Mark McLemore, Richie Lister, Jeremy Lister, and Jon McLemore.
 

Duo-pianists Anderson and Roe

*Thursday, October 27, 2011

Greg Anderson and Elizabeth Joy Roe are perhaps the most thrilling young four-hand piano duet team performing today, offering exciting classical concerts that are revolutionizing the piano experience for the 21st century. They have been described as “Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers” transposed from the dance floor to the keyboard.

Greg and Liz met in 2000 as freshmen at The Juilliard School and formed their dynamic musical partnership shortly thereafter. They have since toured North America with notable performances in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Portland, Salt Lake City, St, Paul, Fort Worth, Milwaukee, Orlando, and Washington DC, as well as in nearly every NYC venue from Carnegie Hall to children’s hospitals. Together they appeared on MTV and NPR, the Cliburn Concert Series, the Gina Bachauer International Piano Festival, and dozens of summer chamber music festivals. In recognition of their singular vision for the advancement of classical music, Greg and Liz have been invited to present at several international leader symposiums, including the 2008 and 2010 Entertainment Gatherings in Monterey, CA and the 2010 Imagine Solutions Conference in Naples, FLA.

The duo bring their joyous camaraderie and refined artistry to the concert stage, dazzling audiences around the world as a four-hand and two-piano team.
 

Fry Street Quartet

*Monday, March 8, 2012

Hailed as “a triumph of ensemble playing” by the New York Times, the Fry Street Quartet has perfected a “blend of technical precision and scorching spontaneity” (Strad). The ensemble has reached audiences from Carnegie Hall to Sarajevo and Jerusalem, and currently is touring small town America

”Fry Street” was the location of the quartet’s first rehearsal space in the Chicago neighborhood once ruled by Al Capone. They were founded in 1997 under the mentorship of Marc Johnson, cellist of the renowned Vermeer Quartet. They have received rave reviews as prizewinners in several major competitions including the Millennium Grand Prize at the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition in 2000. The foursome traveled to Israel to participate in the International Encounters Chamber Music Seminar in 2000 where they studied with Isaac Stern. He invited the quartet to the Isaac Stern Chamber Music Workshop in NYC and subsequently arranged for its Carnegie Hall debut in 2001.

Fry Street Quartet has held the position of faculty quartet-in-residence at the Caine School of the Arts at Utah State University in Logan, Utah since 2002. The group enjoys frequent visits to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania as Market Square’s “Summertime” artists-in-residence, as well as the Mozart Gemeinde

chamber music series in Austria, where they have recently forged an exchange relationship between the University of Carinthia in Klagenfurt and Utah State University. Fry Street Quartet is equally at home in the classic repertoire of Mozart and Beethoven or contemporary music. Members of the group include: violinists William Fedkenheuer and Rebecca McFaul; violist Russell Falstad; and cellist Anne Francis.
 

Red Star Army Chorus and Dance Ensemble

*Monday, April 9, 2012

“The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming!” The 2011-2012 season will mark the 20th anniversary tour of America for the Red Star Army Chorus and Dance Ensemble. This promises to be a spectacular finale to close the curtain on the upcoming season.

The incomparable Red Star Army Chorus and Dance Ensemble were created in the USSR Strategic Missile Forces in January, 1977. This company of 70 members breaks down as follows: 30 in the chorus, 23 dancers, and 18 instrumentalists. This huge company completely dazzles every audience. They have performed in over 150 American cities with sterling sellout performances in New York, Chicago, St. Louis, Miami, and other metropolitan areas, as well as many smaller cities and towns.

In its first stages, the ensemble performed concerts primarily for troops of the Missile Forces. It was in 1989 that the group expanded its artistic horizons. The work of the ensemble was no longer limited to entertaining the troops, but also involved participation in arts festivals in many Russian cities. Then came the move into top concert halls of Moscow, and the eventual embarking on foreign tours to Switzerland, France, Great Britain, Ireland, Belgium, and the United States.

The touring ensemble features strong, clear singing by a chorus and dynamic, colorful dancing by a dance troupe, all accompanied by an excellent small orchestra. Red Star offers a wonderful program which will delight all age groups.

Thanks to the distinctive creative nature of the ensemble, with its youthful personnel (average age of the performers is 27 years old), the ensemble is regarded as the leading performing group of the Russian armed forces.

Currently, the Ensemble has plans for recordings, television specials, participating in arts festivals in Russia, the Ukraine, Belorussia, and touring Europe and the Far East. The Red Star is the only military ensemble out of Russia that performed in Hong Kong before and after the legendary reunion of Hong Kong with the Mainland of China.