CONTACT: Judy Moore at (847) 491-4819 or jkm229@northwestern.edu

FOR RELEASE: December 18, 2007

Digital images available on request

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Northwestern University School of Music to Host
Guest Artists This Winter (Jan. 10 - March 21)

EVANSTON, Ill. --- The Northwestern University School of Music will welcome an array of guest artists during Winter 2008. Renowned classical pianists, a top operatic diva, guitar masters from Brazil and Spain, a Native American flutist, leading percussionists, a local performance ensemble dedicated to exploring new methods of rhythmic expression, and a contemporary string quartet are among the season’s visiting artists.

The public performances will take place on the Evanston campus at Pick-Staiger Concert Hall, 50 Arts Circle Drive; or Lutkin Hall, 700 University Place, as noted below.

This winter’s music season begins with a concert by internationally renowned American classical pianist Jerome Lowenthal at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 10, in Lutkin Hall. The Juilliard School professor’s program includes Schubert’s “Four Impromptus,” Op. 90; Poulenc’s “Aubade”; and “Suisse” from Liszt’s “Années de Pèlerinage.” Tickets are $9 for the general public; $7 for senior citizens and Northwestern faculty and staff; and $5 for full-time students.

Grammy Award-winning American soprano Renée Fleming will present a vocal master class in Pick-Staiger Concert Hall at 11 a.m. Tuesday, Jan. 15. Fleming, whose current engagements include singing the lead role of Violetta in Verdi’s “La Traviata” with the Lyric Opera of Chicago this January, will coach pre-selected Northwestern School of Music students in vocal technique. Tickets are $7 for the general public; $5 for senior citizens and Northwestern faculty and staff; and $4 for full-time students.

The annual Segovia Classical Guitar Series will kick off with The Assad Brothers’ Brazilian Guitar Festival at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 31, in Pick-Staiger Concert Hall. Brothers Sérgio and Odair Assad, along with their sister guitarist and vocalist Badi Assad, jazz guitarist Romero Lubambo, and guitarist, percussionist and vocalist Celso Machado, will explore their native guitar idiom in a lively program. Tickets are $25 for the general public; $21 for senior citizens, Northwestern faculty and staff, and members of the Chicago Classical Guitar Society; and $10 for full-time students.

Native American flutist James Pellerite, Northwestern flute professor Walfrid Kujala and friends will present “The Native American Flute Meets the Modern Flute” at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 8, in Lutkin Hall. The chamber music program will feature the violin, viola, cello and marimba in works composed by Randall Snyder, Hayg Boyadjian, Katherine Hoover, Justin Rubin and Ling-Yu Hsiao. Tickets are $9 for the general public; $7 for senior citizens and Northwestern faculty and staff; and $5 for full-time students.

The Paul Wertico Chicago Percussion All-Stars will perform with Be the Groove, at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 16, in Pick-Staiger Concert Hall. Wertico, a seven-time Grammy Award winner and Northwestern music faculty member, leads an ensemble of master percussionists from Chicago and across the globe. Be the Groove, a Chicago-based percussion-dance ensemble, is dedicated to exploring new methods of rhythmic expression through high energy and innovative performances that have taken place at the Ravinia Festival, the Old Town School of Folk Music, and Dance Chicago. Tickets are $14 for the general public; $10 for senior citizens and Northwestern faculty and staff; and $6 for full-time students.

The Segovia Classical Guitar Series continues as the Paco Peña Flamenco Dance Company presents its latest program, “A Compàs!” (“Primal Pulse!”) at 7:30 p.m. Monday, Feb. 18, in Pick-Staiger Concert Hall. Guitar virtuoso Paco Peña’s talent is complemented by the artistry of fellow guitarists, vocalists, dancers and percussionists in a performance combining the rhythms of southern Spain with the intensity of flamenco dance. Tickets are $32 for the general public; $28 for senior citizens and Northwestern faculty and staff; and $12 for full-time students.

Grammy Award-winning guitarist David Russell will perform at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, March 1, in Pick-Staiger Concert Hall, during the third concert in the 2007-08 Segovia Classical Guitar Series. The Scottish-born guitarist’s musical sensitivity and lyrical style will be showcased in a program ranging from baroque works by Bach and Couperin to Spanish music by Albéniz. Tickets are $23 for the general public; $19 for senior citizens and Northwestern faculty and staff; and $10 for full-time students.

The JACK Quartet will perform works by Northwestern School of Music faculty composers Jay Alan Yim and Hans Thomalla at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, March 12, in Lutkin Hall. The contemporary string quartet, named for the first initials of its members (violist John Pickford Richards, violinists Ari Streisfeld and Christopher Otto, and cellist Kevin McFarland), has performed at New York’s Carnegie Hall and the Lucerne Festival. Tickets are $7 for the general public; $5 for senior citizens and Northwestern faculty and staff; and $4 for full-time students.

Pianist Jeffrey Siegel’s Keyboard Conversations series continues at 7:30 p.m. Friday, March 21, in Pick-Staiger Concert Hall with the program “Russia -- Rebels on the Red Carpet.” Siegel’s Winter 2008 “concert with commentary” will feature Rachmaninoff etudes, Prokofiev’s “Sarcasms” and works by Shostakovich and Stravinsky. Tickets are $23 for the general public; $21 for senior citizens and Northwestern faculty and staff; and $16 for full-time students.

For more information, call the Pick-Staiger Concert Office at (847) 491-5441 or visit the new Pick-Staiger Web site. To order tickets by phone, call the Pick-Staiger Ticket Office at (847) 467-4000.

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