A Cornucopia of Oberlin Concerts: Three Exciting Artist Recital Series Events in November

OBERLIN, OHIO (October 24, 2007)—For almost 130 years, Oberlin College has been hosting its renowned Artist Recital Series, one of the oldest continuing concert series in America. The month of November is a veritable horn of plenty for the series, with three exciting concerts planned for Oberlin’s historic Finney Chapel.

On Thursday, November 1, 2007, at 8 p.m., Finney’s rafters will ring with the sound of New Orleans when the Preservation Hall Jazz Band brings the music of the French Quarter to Oberlin. Deriving its name from the venerable music venue, this 10-member combo perpetuates the art form of New Orleans jazz with a joyful, timeless spirit. The Houston Chronicle writes: “You can’t keep down the energy of this ageless jazz combo.”

Bassist Ben Jaffe, a 1993 graduate of the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, directs the band as well as the hall, which was founded by his parents in 1964. Many of the band’s charter members performed with the pioneers who invented jazz in the early 20th century, and they have passed on the lessons of their music to the younger generation now following in their footsteps. The Preservation Hall Jazz Band includes bandleader John Brunious on trumpet, Daryl Adams on alto saxophone, Ralph Johnson on clarinet, Lucien Barbarin and Frank Demond on trombone, Rickie Monie on piano, Carl LeBlanc on banjo, Joseph Lastie Jr. on drums, and saxophonist Clint Maegden on vocals. The program will be announced from the stage.

General admission tickets for the Preservation Hall Jazz Band are $7 for all students; $10 for seniors and those with an Oberlin College I.D. (faculty, staff, alumni, parents, and area educators); and $15 for the public. This concert is nearly sold out. Please call Oberlin’s Central Ticket Service at 440-775-8169 or 800-371-0178 for more information. The CTS box office is located in the lobby of Hall Auditorium, 67 N. Main St. (Route 58), between the Oberlin Inn and the Allen Memorial Art Museum. Box office hours are noon to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday and selected Saturdays.

The Preservation Hall Jazz Band is sponsored by Oberlin College’s Student Assemblies Committee, the Artist Recital Series, and Friends of the Artist Recital Series, and supported in part by the Riverside Company and the DeWitt Stern Group.

OnTuesday, November 6, 2007, at 8 p.m., the Imani Winds will present a program of works by its flutist, Valerie Coleman, and by Arturo Marquez, Karel Husa, Julio Medaglia, György Ligeti, and Astor Piazzolla. This African American and Latino wind quintet, whose name comes from the Swahili word for faith, has performed throughout the U.S. and Canada, carving out a distinct presence in the classical music world. The ensemble brings the percussion and folk influences of their African, Latin, and American repertoire to the traditional wind quartet sound—a fusion genre known as “urban classical music.”

“Gregarious, subtle, and intensely alert to details and phrasing, classically or otherwise,” writes Gramophone magazine, “the Imani Winds capture the spirit of each work through loving and brilliant playing.”

Besides Coleman, the Imani Winds features Toyin Spellman-Diaz (OC ’94) on oboe; Mariam Adam on clarinet; Jeff Scott on French horn; and Monica Ellis (OC ’95) on bassoon.

General admission tickets for the Imani Winds are $6 for students; $8 for seniors and those with an Oberlin College I.D. (faculty, staff, alumni, parents, and area educators); and $15 for the public. Please call Oberlin’s Central Ticket Service at 440-775-8169 or 800-371-0178 for more information.

The Imani Winds is sponsored by Oberlin College’s Student Assemblies Committee, the Artist Recital Series, and Friends of the Artist Recital Series, and supported in part by the Riverside Company and the DeWitt Stern Group.

On Tuesday, November 20, 2007, at 8 p.m., Assistant Conductor of the Cleveland Orchestra Jayce Ogren leads the world-renowned ensemble in Mozart’s Symphony No. 34 and Brahms’ Symphony No. 1.

Long considered one of America’s great orchestras, the Cleveland Orchestra—led for the past five seasons by Music Director Franz Welser-Möst (OC hon. ’06) stands today among the world’s most revered symphonic ensembles. Musical America writes: “Cleveland has overwhelming reason to take unbounded pride in an orchestra that can easily hold its own in any musical capital in the world today—including Vienna.” Conductor, composer, and educator Jayce Ogren has established himself as one of today’s rising artists. He has conducted such ensembles as the New World Symphony, Finland’s Vaasa City Orchestra, and the Swedish orchestras of Gävle and Helsingborg. This is the 206th appearance of the Cleveland Orchestra on the Artist Recital Series.

Reserved seat tickets are $10 for students; $22 for seniors andthose with an Oberlin College I.D. (faculty, staff, alumni, parents, and area educators); and $26 for the public. Tickets purchased at the door will be an additional $3. Please call Oberlin’s Central Ticket Service at 440-775-8169 or 800-371-0178 for more information.

The Cleveland Orchestra is sponsored by the Artist Recital Series and Friends of the Artist Recital Series, and is supported in part by the Danenberg Residency Fund, the Riverside Company, and the DeWitt Stern Group.

All concert artists, programs, and dates are subject to change.

Finney Chapel, called “acoustically wonderful” by critic Charles Michener of the New York Observer, is wheelchair accessible and is located on the southwest corner of Lorain St. (Route 511) and North Professor St., across from Tappan Square.

Detailed information about performers, dates, and times for the 2007-08 Artist Recital Series is available online at www.oberlin.edu/arseries.

Media sponsorship for Oberlin’s Artist Recital Series is provided by 104.9-FM WCLV, Cleveland’s classical music radio station, and 90.3-FM WCPN, ideastream.

About Oberlin College’s Artist Recital Series

Since the inception of the Artist Recital Series in 1878, more than 1,000 of the most acclaimed and accomplished musicians, conductors, orchestras, chamber ensembles, and composers have graced the stage of Finney Chapel at Oberlin College. Stars of such international stature as Dave Brubeck, Alicia de Larrocha, Juan Diego Flórez, Glenn Gould, Denyce Graves, Jascha Heifetz, Vladimir Horowitz, Yo-Yo Ma, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Isaac Stern, George Szell, and Eugene Ysaÿe have performed under the auspices of the series. Since 1919, the Cleveland Orchestra has appeared on the series every season for a total of 205 performances under the baton of such illustrious—and varied—conductors as Nikolai Sokoloff (38 times), Artur Rodzinski (25 times), George Szell (60 times), Robert Shaw, Pierre Boulez, Lorin Maazel, Simon Rattle, Yoel Levi, Christoph von Dohnányi, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Jahja Ling, Robert Spano, Franz Welser-Möst, Mitskuko Uchida, and Steven Smith. This growing roster is more than an impressive “Who’s Who.” It is an illumination of the finest of serious music, spanning the late 19th century to the present.

About the Oberlin Conservatory of Music

The Oberlin Conservatory of Music, founded in 1865 and situated amid the intellectual vitality of Oberlin College since 1867, is the oldest continuously operating conservatory in the United States. The Conservatory is renowned internationally as a professional music school of the highest caliber and has been pronounced a “national treasure” by the Washington Post. Oberlin’s alumni have gone on to achieve illustrious careers in all aspects of the serious music world. Many of them have attained stature as solo performers, composers, and conductors; among them, Jennifer Koh, Steven Isserlis, Denyce Graves, Franco Farina, Christopher Robertson, Lisa Saffer, George Walker, Christopher Rouse, David Zinman, and Robert Spano. All of the members of the contemporary sextet eighth blackbird, most of the members of the International Contemporary Ensemble, and many of the members of Apollo’s Fire are Oberlin alumni. In chamber music, the Miró, Pacifica, Juillard, and Fry Street quartets, among other small ensembles, include Oberlin-trained musicians, who also can be found in major orchestras and opera companies throughout the world. For more information about Oberlin, please visit www.oberlin.edu/con.

Media Contact:
Marci Janas
440-775-8328