Page 15 - Laker Connection Spring 2015

Season Twenty-five
BY SAM DIXON
Clayton State University’s Spivey Hall, which opened to widespread critical and popular acclaim in January 1991, will celebrate its 25th Anniversary Season in 2015-2016. Festivities began when details of Season 25 concerts were announced on March 22 to the Friends of Spivey Hall and invited guests at Atlanta’s Piedmont Driving Club – where Emilie Spivey, the visionary founder of Spivey Hall, an- nounced in 1986 the $1 million challenge gift, made in memory of her late husband, Dr. Walter Spivey, that launched the Campaign to Build Spivey Recital Hall.
Season 25 shines a spotlight on the artists and audiences that have made Spivey Hall one of the nation’s most re- spected concert series. The annual Spivey Series features renowned stars and exceptionally promising emerging tal- ents performing classical, jazz, and world music. The Hall’s superb acoustics are the gift that keep on giving. In the words of the legendary conductor Robert Shaw, “Spivey Hall is to music what light is to painting.” The acoustics and intimacy of Spivey Hall provide ideal conditions for musicians to hear themselves in ways that inspire them – which in turn inspires the audiences. Guest artists perform- ing at Spivey Hall repeatedly comment on how attentive and appreciative its audiences are, with music-lovers of all ages hailing from more than 50 Georgia counties and seven states.
Season 25 celebrations focus principally on the 30 perform- ances by guest artists appearing in the Spivey Series, as well as the six concerts given by the renowned Spivey Hall Children’s Choir. The Season Opening Celebration (Oct. 10) features Metropolitan opera soprano Christine Brewer and organist Paul Jacobs of New York’s Juilliard School of Music. Other notable guest artists in Season 25 include su- perstar violinist Joshua Bell (Jan. 31), Welsh bass-baritone Bryn Terfel (Apr. 30), the Emerson String Quartet (Mar. 20), the vocal ensembles Chanticleer (Jan. 30) and the King’s Singers (Nov. 22), and the Los Angeles Guitar Quar- tet (Mar. 19). Canadian pianist Angela Hewitt gives two
recitals (Oct. 16. and 18), including a rare performance of The Art of Fugue, a masterwork by Johann Sebastian Bach. In a “Haydn Discovery” concert (Feb. 21), the St. Lawrence String Quartet will dissect the “Emperor” Quartet by Franz Joseph Haydn with commentary and musical analysis from the stage, then perform it in its entirety, in a program that includes the Atlanta premiere of John Adams’ Second Quar- tet. Jazz vocalist René Marie makes a welcome return to perform her tribute program I Wanna Be Evil... (To Eartha Kitt with Love).
New in Season 25: Alan Morrison, son of Clayton State Professor Emerita of Music Jeannine Morrison, who heads the organ department at Philadelphia’s distinguished Curtis Institute of Music, begins his first season as Spivey Hall’s organist-in-residence with “Holiday Brass & Organ” featur- ing the Empire Brass (Dec. 12). Bryan Anderson, an alum- nus of the Spivey Hall Children’s Choir Program and recent Curtis Institute graduate, gives his first solo recital at Spivey Hall. Significant Spivey Hall debut artists include pianists Igor Levit (Feb. 20) and Behzod Abduraimov (May 7), Bavarian soprano Christiane Karg (Apr. 2), guitarist Miloš Karadaligić (“the hottest guitarist in the world” ac- cording to London’s Sunday Times), and jazz guitarist Ju- lian Lage (Apr. 23). The 2015-2016 season also includes special events and casual concerts, including comedy with music from the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain (Oct. 11 – be sure to bring your ukulele); Hot Club of Cowtown, a western swing trio from Austin, Texas (Nov. 14); and the outstanding German vocal quintet Calmus singing Christ- mas Carols of the World (Dec. 5).
Complete details of Spivey Hall Season 25 are available at www.spiveyhall.org. Clayton State faculty and staff receive a 50% ticket discount (limit two tickets per Laker I.D., sub- ject to availability), and Clayton State students attend for just $10 (limit two tickets per Laker I.D., subject to avail- ability). For more information, call the Spivey Hall Box Office at (678) 466-4200.
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