Brevard College Unveils Highlights of 2009-2010 Artist Series at the Porter Center for Performing Arts;Upcoming Season to Focus on “Rediscovery”

Rediscovering the musical threads of tradition and diversity that have been the hallmarks of its first decade, Brevard College’s upcoming Artist Series will include a chart-topping Celtic band, a Medieval vocal quartet and a mini series showcasing tomorrow’s rising stars, among others.


The 2009-2010 season at Brevard College’s Porter Center for Performing Arts is about “rediscovery,” explains Technical Director Rick Nelson.


“Planning our 12th year entailed doing some soul-searching,” says Nelson. “We visited what worked for the series – and what had not – and decided that in order to continue to bring excitement to our audience, we needed to ‘rediscover’ our commitment as a Performing Arts Center. This season, we hope our patrons will discover an amazing artist just emerging on the national scene or rediscover an old friend or a brand new favorite.”


Performers for this season’s Artist Series range from the traditional toe-tapping Celtic tunes of Gaelic Storm on October 8 to the return of award-winning virtuosic vocals of Anonymous 4 on April 10, 2010. One of the finest boy choirs in the world, the Atlanta Boy Choir, will perform on November 21 as part of this season’s Discovery Series. This new series is designed to promote young and upcoming artists and encourage youth to pursue careers in music.


A complete listing of the 2009-2010 Artist Series/Discovery Series performances will be unveiled this summer during the Porter Center’s annual Season Preview Party for prior and new season subscribers.


Inaugurated in 1998, the Porter Center for Performing Arts on the campus of Brevard College in Brevard, NC has earned a reputation as one of the finest performance halls in the South. Named for North Carolina businessman and Brevard College Life Trustee Paul Porter, the Porter Center hosts the Artist Series at Brevard College – which has brought in some of the world’s most talented musicians in a dizzying array of styles – all performing in a pristine acoustical setting.


The Porter Center’s Scott Concert Hall has seating for 700, terrific acoustics and unobstructed sight lines. The large stage can house a full symphony, yet it can be intimate enough for a solo guitar recital.


The Porter Center is also a performance and academic space for Brevard College students from the Music Department and Theatre Department, a campus meeting space, and a performance venue for some of the groups that populate Transylvania County’s amazingly rich cultural scene – the Brevard Philharmonic, Brevard Community Band, Transylvania Choral Society and more.


The Porter Center's visual centerpiece is the glorious $1.2-million Kirkpatrick-Coleman Pipe Organ, a world-class instrument designed by master organ-builder Daniel Jaeckel, featuring three manual divisions, 69 ranks and 3,539 pipes.


For more information about the 2009-2010 Porter Center series or the Season Preview Party, contact the Porter Center box office at 828-884-8330.


The Porter Center can be found online at http://www.theportercenter.org/.

Opera Meets Broadway: Brevard College Music Department Hosts Opera Scenes

Voice and Theatre students at Brevard College will present an evening of scenes from opera and musical theatre on Tuesday, April 7 in the Porter Center for Performing Arts.

The 7:30 p.m. program, which is free and open to the public, will include excerpts from Hansel and Gretel, Così fan Tutte, The Gondoliers, Brigadoon, Carousel, and Guys and Dolls. The scenes will be performed with light staging and costumes, accompanied by Janice Murray on piano.

For more information, please contact Kathryn Gresham, Brevard College assistant professor of music and director of voice studies, at 884.8110.

Grammy-nominated Group to Perform at Brevard College’s Porter Center for Performing Arts

Norwegian vocal ensemble Trio Mediaeval will perform at 3 p.m. on Sunday, March 29 at the Brevard College Porter Center for Performing Arts.

The 2009 Grammy-nominated trio – Anna Maria Friman, Linn Andrea Fuglseth and Torunn Ostrem Ossum – will present a program entitled “Lova Line,” songs and ballads from Norway and England, including three Marian songs written for the trio by Andrew Smith.

Founded in Oslo in 1997, Trio Mediaeval has developed three distinct strands of repertoire: polyphonic medieval music from England and France, contemporary works and Norwegian medieval ballads and songs. The group's initial phase was inspired by intense periods of work at the Hilliard Summer Festival in England and Germany and subsequently with Linda Hirst and John Potter. The trio has had the pleasure of performing in more than 25 states around the country.

To date, the trio has released four albums: Soir, dit-elle; Words of the Angels; Stella Maris; and Folk Songs. Folk Songs received a 2009 Grammy nomination as “best chamber music performance.”

Performance tickets are now available at the price of $20 for adults and $10 for students. Tickets may be purchased from 10:30 a.m. until 4 p.m. Monday through Friday at the Porter Center Box Office. For more information on tickets, please contact the Porter Center Box Office at 884-8330 or visit www.theportercenter.org.

Brevard College Percussion and Brass to Perform March 24

The Brevard College Percussion Ensemble and the Brevard College Brass Quintet will perform their spring concert on Tuesday, March 24 at the Porter Center for the Performing Arts on the Brevard College campus.

The 7:30 p.m. concert is free and open to the public.

The Brevard College Brass Quintet, directed by Assistant Professor of Music Steve Wilson, will perform works by Johann Sebastian Bach, Pierre Max Dubois, Ian MacDonald and Victor Ewald. The group features Larry Black on trumpet and Jennifer Merrill on horn, in addition to Brevard College students.

The Brevard College Percussion Ensemble, directed by Associate Professor of Music Laura Franklin, will perform contemporary percussion ensemble works by Nathan Daughtrey, David Long, Stanley Leonard and Michael Aukofer. A wide range of musical styles will be presented, from the hard driving rhythms of “Shock Factor,” by Nathan Daughtrey, to the beautiful melodies of David Long’s “Aria.”

The Brevard College Percussion Ensemble has been nationally recognized for excellence in performance through invitations to the National Conference on Percussion Pedagogy and the North Carolina Day of Percussion. The group has also performed at the invitation of the North Carolina Symphony in Raleigh.

BC Alum Bobby Fish Returns to Porter Center for Performing Arts for March 22 Concert

Brevard College alumnus Bobby Fish will return to the College’s Porter Center for Performing Arts to perform his master’s thesis concert on Sunday, March 22.

Fish, a 2003 graduate of Brevard College, is now an Appalachian State University (ASU) Chancellor’s Fellow studying percussion performance for his master’s degree in music.

His solo mallet instrument performance at the Porter Center will feature the marimba and vibraphone and include works by composers from Denmark, France, Japan, Brazil and the United States. The concert will also include Japanese drums called Taiko. Fish, who founded the Davidson River Taiko for high-risk youth at Davidson River School in Brevard, is writing his Master’s Thesis on American Taiko.

Joining Fish on stage will be pianist Melissa Lesbines, ASU graduate percussionist Tommy Smith and ASU undergraduates Tim Cockerill and Diana Loomer.

The 3 p.m. concert is free and open to the public. Donations will be accepted for the Blue Ridge Center for Integrative Musical Arts, a new Western North Carolina-based music education nonprofit corporation that Fish recently founded.

Fish, who studied concert percussion at Brevard College with Associate Professor of Music Laura Franklin, recently performed as a marimba soloist with the Appalachian Symphony Orchestra after being selected as a winner of the 2008 ASU Concerto Competition. With the help of an ASU International Student Research Grant award, he traveled to Japan last summer to study under master Taiko artist Art Lee.

Fish plans to pursue a Ph.D. in Education once he graduates from ASU in May.

Internationally Acclaimed Amsterdam Cello Octet to Perform at Brevard College’s Porter Center for Performing Arts; Discounted Tickets Now On Sale

The internationally acclaimed Amsterdam Cello Octet (formerly Conjunto Ibérico), the only full-time cello octet in the world, will perform at Brevard College’s Porter Center for Performing Arts on Tuesday, March 17.

Amsterdam Cello Octet is a unique ensemble in the world of classical music. According to cellist Yo-Yo Ma, “This ensemble is a treasure indeed, a fine example to the world of music…Wherever I play – Brazil, Japan, the USA – people talk to me about Cello Octet.”

The 7:30 p.m. performance is described as both eclectic and captivating, leaning on Spanish and Latin American music. The program will feature works from Joaquin Nin, Manuel de Falla, Alberto Ginastera, David Popper, Fant de Kanter, Philip Glass and Astor Piazzolla/Jorge Luis Borges.

The octet will be joined onstage by Spanish mezzo-soprano Elena Gragera, who enchants audiences with her flair and rhythmic élan. Gragera is considered by many to be one of the most serious and interesting talents on the Spanish musical scene today.

The Dutch chamber music ensemble was founded in 1989 by Elias Arizcuren, who was formerly their main conductor. The special composition of the group, which now performs without a conductor, demands specially written music and the octet has inspired many great contemporary composers to write pieces for them. Among these are Arvo Pärt, Terry Riley, Mauricio Kagel, Theo Loevendie, Franco Donatoni and Luciano Berio. At present, Amsterdam Cello Octet has more than 70 original works in its repertoire.

Amsterdam Cello Octet has performed on stages in the United States, Mexico, Brazil, Spain, Germany, England, France, Italy, Poland and Croatia, among others.

Performance tickets are now available at the price of $25 for adults and $10 for students. Tickets may be purchased from 10:30 a.m. until 4 p.m. Monday through Friday at the Porter Center Box Office. For more information on tickets, please contact the Porter Center Box Office at 884-8330.