News Release

Carolina Performing Arts announces 2007-2008 season

CHAPEL HILL – Aretha Franklin, Yo-Yo Ma, k.d. lang and Brazilian vocalist Caetano Veloso will be among artists presented in the 2007-2008 Carolina Performing Arts season at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Three major international orchestras also will perform during the organization’s third season in Memorial Hall – including the legendary Saint Petersburg Philharmonic with chief conductor Yuri Temirkanov in a rare North Carolina appearance for both.

Further diversifying the line-up will be the African dance troupe Spirit of Uganda, classical pianist Mitsuko Uchida, new-music ensemble Bang on a Can, pop-country singer and songwriter Mary Chapin Carpenter, Cuban jazz pianist Gonzalo Rubalcaba, soprano Kathleen Battle and rhythm and blues a cappella group Take 6.

“This wonderful new season is a natural progression in breadth and depth from our first two seasons,” said Emil Kang, executive director for the arts at UNC-Chapel Hill. “It continues our mission to enrich the educational and cultural lives of our community and region.”

Building on the first two hugely successful seasons of Carolina Performing Arts, UNC-Chapel Hill is positioning itself as one of the nation’s major university performing arts presenters, he said.

With 35 performances from September through May 2008, the season will feature a rare trio performance by mandolin player Sam Bush, dobro maestro Jerry Douglas and bassist Edgar Meyer; Murray Perahia with the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields; the Merce Cunningham Dance Company, jazz vocalist Dianne Reeves and violinist Joshua Bell.

As in the 2006-2007 season, the William R. Kenan Jr. Trust Endowment of Chapel Hill will make possible the six classical music series concerts – the Kenan Great Performances.

The university’s current emphasis on globalization will be represented in the lineup, as will new works, emerging artists and collaboration with the UNC-Chapel Hill music department and campus academic programs.

Dancers from Cambodia, Senegal, India and Taiwan will add international flavor, as will classical musicians from Spain, Japan and England and a contemporary Canadian circus.

“Many of the artists will engage our campus community through collaborations with faculty, residencies, master classes, workshops, class discussions, Q&As and more.” Kang said.

With the UNC-Chapel Hill music department, Carolina Performing Arts commissioned a project entitled “10x10,” through which 10 new works will be commissioned for performance by 10 music faculty members over 10 years. The first, to premier next March in Memorial, will be a vocal work by Cuban-American composer Tania León, to be written for UNC-Chapel Hill music professor and soprano Terry Rhodes.

“We are delighted to contribute once again to the Carolina Performing Arts season with our ‘Music on the Hill’ concerts, which feature outstanding faculty, students and guests,” said Tim Carter, music department chair. “The ‘10x10’ initiative will be particularly
exciting, creating significant new works and helping to shape the musical legacy of the 21st century.”

Carolina Performing Arts also will present world premieres of two new pieces it commissioned, written by rock musicians Glenn Kotche of Wilco and Lee Ranaldo of Sonic Youth. They will perform the songs with the musicians of Bang on a Can, a New York-based organization that commissions, creates, performs and records contemporary music.
 
“In addition to presenting world-renowned artists, we are particularly excited to nurture the next generation of artists,” Kang said. Among these are Iranian-American rock/sufi singer Haale, performance artist and Cynthia Hopkins. 

Ticket sales for the new season will include new Web-ordering options that allow purchasers to choose their own seats and see a view of the stage from those seats online.

Current subscribers may renew now at www.carolinaperformingarts.edu or by calling or visiting the Memorial Hall Box Office on Cameron Avenue, (919) 843-3333, open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Mondays through Fridays. 

New subscription orders will be processed after May 14. Subscribers will have the first opportunity to purchase tickets to special events.

Single tickets to all performances will go on sale July 23.

Prices will vary by performance and seat location, but again this year, tickets for UNC-Chapel Hill students will be $10 each. Students are encouraged to note on-sale dates if they would like to order by Web or phone while they are away from campus for the summer.  Carolina faculty and staff (active and retired) can purchase subscriptions and receive 20 percent savings.

The full Carolina Performing Arts 2007-2008 line-up is as follows:

Season Opening Celebration
Thursday, Sept. 13, 2007

Aretha Franklin: Concert, 8 p.m.
Pre-performance party, Carolina Inn, 5:30 p.m.
Thanks to her gripping performances and raw soulfulness, Aretha Franklin is widely regarded as one of the greatest female vocalists ever. With 16 Grammy Awards to her name, including an unprecedented 12 for Best Vocal Performance, the iconic Queen of Soul produced some of the most influential rhythm and blues recordings of the 1960s and was the first woman to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Celebration Package includes pre-performance party and auction, premium concert seats and valet parking.  

Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan: “Wild Cursive”
Friday and Saturday, Sept. 28 and 29, 2007, 8 p.m.
Schooled in martial arts, meditation, Chinese opera movement, modern dance, and ballet, Cloud Gate performs a rich repertoire rooted in Asian myths and folklore and infused with a contemporary universality. In “Wild Cursive,” influenced by the rigor and aesthetics of Chinese calligraphy, streams of white rice paper cascade to the floor as black ink flows in abstract patterns.
Web site:  http://www.cloudgate.org.tw/eng/english/cgdt.htm

Khmer Arts Ensemble: “Pamina Devi: A Cambodian ‘Magic Flute’”
Friday, Oct. 5, 2007, 8 p.m.
The brilliant classicism of imperial Vienna meets the mythic splendor of ancient Angkor in “Pamina Devi,” a contemporary re-imagining of Mozart’s fantastical opera “The Magic Flute.” Performed in the refined, elaborate movement language of Cambodian classical dance and accompanied by a live instrumental ensemble, 32 dancers, singers and musicians take the stage to explore the themes of enlightened change and transformation that frame Mozart’s masterpiece. Cultures meld as we follow Pamina’s arduous journey to transcend the rivalries and betrayals from which she is born and seek out a middle path of justice, tolerance and love. Actor Peter Sellars commissioned this adaptation of the opera by the Khmer Arts Ensemble of Phnom Penh for his New Crowned Hope Festival in Vienna, Austria. Web site: http://www.khmerartsacademy.org/

Dianne Reeves
Sunday, Oct. 7, 2007, 7:30 p.m.
Today’s pre-eminent jazz vocalist, Dianne Reeves won the Grammy Award for Best Jazz Vocal Performance for three consecutive recordings – a Grammy first in any vocal category. Featured in George Clooney’s movie “Good Night, and Good Luck,” Reeves is known for her virtuosity, improvisational prowess and unique jazz styling, and for drawing on a world of influences with a powerful storytelling instinct. She has appeared with Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra with Daniel Barenboim and the Berlin Philharmonic with Sir Simon Rattle. She was the first creative chair for jazz for the Los Angeles Philharmonic. At UNC-Chapel Hill, she will perform with a small ensemble. Web site:  http://www.diannereeves.com/

Take 6
Sunday, Oct. 14, 2007, 2 p.m.
This a cappella sextet has received a staggering 18 Grammy nominations, 10 Grammy wins, 10 Dove Awards, one Soul Train Award and two NAACP Image Award nominations. Take 6 has appeared with music legends Ella Fitzgerald, Miles Davis, Al Jarreau, Stevie Wonder and Wynton Marsalis. With roots in gospel and doo-wop, their rich harmonies, vocal fireworks and gospel message have earned them a place among the most enduring and cherished artists in a cappella music. Web site: http://www.take6.com/

Cirque Eloize: “RAIN”
Tuesday and Wednesday, Oct. 23 and 24, 2007, 7:30 p.m.
Celebrating beauty and dreams in an exuberant tribute to the human spirit, this award-winning Canadian troupe trades the tent for the theater with a feast of music, dance, performance, trapeze artists, contortionists and tumblers. The virtuosity, originality and artistic sensibility of Cirque Eloize places them at the forefront of the contemporary circus movement. “RAIN” revels in the innocence and fearlessness of child’s play in an homage to the fond memories of youth.
Web site: http://www.cirque-eloize.com/en/spectacles/rain/index.htm

St. Petersburg Philharmonic and conductor Yuri Temirkanov, pianist Nelson Freire
Friday, Oct. 26, 2007, 8 p.m.
The oldest symphonic ensemble in the former Soviet Union, the St. Petersburg Philharmonic began when a group of Russian aristocrats founded Europe’s first Philharmonic Society in 1802. Until the start of the 20th century, the orchestra served mainly aristocratic circles. In 1917, during the Bolshevik Revolution, it was changed by decree into a state orchestra. It soon became the first major musical organization in the USSR and the first Soviet orchestra to tour abroad, performing in more than 25 countries in Europe, Asia and America. Brazilian-born Freire has performed with some of the world’s finest orchestras and collaborated with conductors including Lorin Maazel, Kurt Mazur and Andre Previn. The evening’s program will include Rosamunde, Entr’acte III by Schubert; Concerto for Piano in A minor, Op. 54 by Schumann; and Romeo and Juliet, Suite No. 2, by Prokofiev. Web site: http://www.philharmonia.spb.ru/eng/zkrang.html

Sam Bush (mandolin), Jerry Douglas (dobro) Edgar Meyer, (double bass)
Sunday, Nov. 4, 2007, 2 p.m.
Mandolin/fiddle champion Bush, dobro master Douglas and bass virtuoso Meyer will join forces in a new collaborative project featuring genre-crossing original works, traditional tunes and some of their best-known pieces. One of the most brilliant and influential of newgrass’s bright lights, Bush also has appeared with Emmylou Harris, Lyle Lovett, David Grisman and Mark O’Connor. Douglas, who records and tours with Alison Krauss and Union Station, has won 12 Grammy Awards. He incorporates bluegrass, country, rock, jazz, blues and Celtic into his distinctive musical vision. He has appeared with James Taylor, Ricky Skaggs, Garth Brooks and others. Renowned for his unparalleled technique, musicianship and compositional skills, Meyer has appeared with artists as varied as Béla Fleck, Mike Marshall, Yo-Yo Ma and Joshua Bell. Web sites: http://www.edgarmeyer.com/; http://www.sambush.com/; http://www.jerrydouglas.com/

Caetano Veloso
Wednesday, Nov. 7, 2007, 7:30 p.m.
Among Brazil’s most beloved and influential artists, Grammy winner Veloso founded the revolutionary Tropicalismo movement with Gilberto Gil, Gal Costa and others, laying the groundwork for a renaissance of Brazilian popular music. A guitarist and vocalist, Veloso draws on elements of rock, reggae, fado, tango, samba, canao, baiao and rap. He is an astute social commentator and a balladeer of highly emotive love songs. One of the most respected poets in the Portuguese language, he has developed a strong international following. Web site:  http://www.caetanoveloso.com/index2.php

Cynthia Hopkins and Gloria Deluxe: “Must Don’t Whip ’Um”
Saturday, Nov. 10, 2007, 8 p.m.
A high-spirited blend of alt-country, garage rock, honky-tonk, cabaret and Southern soul presides over this compelling story of a woman’s escape from her circumstances. Obie and Bessie Award-winning theater artist Hopkins and her band, Gloria Deluxe, tell the story of Ms. Cameron Seymour – neurologist, amnesiac, identity thief and Sufi – who disappears mysteriously during an ecstatic farewell concert. Live action and live music are interwoven with documentary footage and a playful videoscape on multiple screens. Web site:  http://www.gloriadeluxe.com/about/index.html

The Romeros Classical Guitar Quartet
Wednesday, Nov. 14, 2007, 7:30 p.m.
For more than 40 years, three generations of Romeros have inspired distinguished composers to enrich the repertoire for guitar quartet. Works have been written by Joaquín Rodrigo, Federico Moreno Torroba, Morton Gould, Francisco de Madina, Lorenzo Palomo and others. “The Romeros are, without a doubt, the grand masters of the guitar,” Rodrigo has said. His Royal Majesty King Juan Carlos I of Spain has knighted Celin, Pepe and Angel Romero into the Order of Isabel la Católica – Spain’s highest honor. Web site: http://www.romeroguitarquartet.com/

Kathleen Battle, soprano, and Cyrus Chestnut, piano
“An Evening of Holiday Music and Spirituals”
Monday, Nov. 26, 2007, 7:30 p.m.
Battle’s soaring voice has carried her to the heights of the classical music world. Performing in the world’s leading opera houses and concert halls, this five-time Grammy-winner has a repertoire that spans three centuries, from the Baroque era to contemporary works. Chestnut, one of the most gifted of a new generation of jazz musicians, practices a piano style rooted in African-American traditions, exhibiting a deep reverence for jazz. Here, the two perform favorite holiday selections and seasonal spirituals in an evening of celebration, inspiration and hope.

Carolina Ballet: “Nutcracker”
Friday, Nov. 30, 2007, 8 p.m.; Saturday, Dec. 1, 2007, 11a.m. and 8 p.m.; Sunday, Dec. 2, 2007, 2 p.m.
A holiday season staple, “Nutcracker” becomes a fantasy classic in this adaptation with choreography by Robert Weiss, artistic director of Carolina Ballet. The work captures the irrepressible imagination of a child’s world in which all things are possible. Based on E.T.A. Hoffman’s more macabre “The Nutcracker and the Mouse King,” the original work was Tchaikovsky’s third and last major ballet. Web site:  www.carolinaballet.com

Royal Philharmonic Orchestra with Pinchas Zukerman, conductor and violinist
Wednesday, Jan. 9, 2008, 7:30 p.m.
The orchestra will perform Weber’s “Overture from Oberon” and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7 in A major, Op. 92, and Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 61.
Formed by Sir Thomas Beecham in 1946, London’s Royal Philharmonic Orchestra has been guided by distinguished maestros including Rudolf Kempe, André Previn and Vladimir Ashkenazy. The orchestra has toured more than 30 countries in the last five years, performing for the late Pope John Paul II in the Vatican, the President of China in Tiananmen Square and at the 10th anniversary celebration of Kazakhstan’s independence. Conductor, violinist and violist Zukerman appears on more than 100 recordings and has performed with the world’s finest orchestras and chamber musicians, including Itzhak Perlman, Daniel Barenboim and the late Jacqueline du Pré. Web site: http://www.rpo.co.uk/

Mary Chapin Carpenter
Friday, Feb. 15, 2008, 8 p.m.
Nearly 20 years into her recording career, Carpenter has accomplished a rare feat: she has repeatedly enjoyed success and acclaim with records that are unrelentingly smart, revealing and emotionally complex. Even as her songs become timeless classics, she continues to reach a broad audience as she navigates with humor, compassion and insight the personal, political and spiritual struggles of her life and of America’s history. Carpenter has won five Grammy Awards, sold more than 13 million records, scored 12 top 10 singles and collaborated with artists including Shawn Colvin, Trisha Yearwood, Joan Baez and Dolly Parton. Web site: http://www.marychapincarpenter.com/

Urban Bush Women and Compagnie Jant Bi
Friday, Feb. 22, 2008, 8 p.m.
Expressing the history, culture and spiritual traditions of African Americans and the African Diaspora, Urban Bush Women weave contemporary dance, music and text into their performances. They produce bold, life-affirming works that explore the transformation of struggle and suffering. The Senegal troupe Compagnie Jant-Bi, pioneers of contemporary African dance, collaborate with international dance companies to fuse the cultures and dance styles of other countries with the essence of African dance. For this performance, these seven women (Urban Bush) and seven men (Compagnie) come together to generate new forms of expression, delving into each others’ movement vocabulary and sense of place. Web site: http://www.urbanbushwomen.org/

Yo-Yo Ma and Friends
Wednesday, Feb. 27, 2008, 7:30 p.m.
The many-faceted career of cellist Ma is testament to his continual search for new ways to communicate with audiences – and to his personal desire for artistic growth and renewal. Whether performing a new concerto, revisiting a familiar work from the cello repertoire, joining colleagues for chamber music or exploring cultures and musical forms outside of the Western classical tradition, Ma strives to find connections that stimulate the imagination. His 15 Grammy Awards and more than 50 albums reflect his wide-ranging interests. For this performance, he teams up with violinists Colin Jacobsen and Jonathan Gandelsman and violist Nicholas Cords for an evening of string quartets composed in the republics of Georgia, Azerbaijan and Armenia, in Italy and in other locations between Austria and the Caspian Sea. Web site: http://www.yo-yoma.com/

SFJazz Collective: Joe Lovano, Stefon Harris, Dave Douglas, Renee Rosnes, Miguel Zenon, Andre Hayward, Matt Penman and Eric Harland
Saturday, March 1, 2008 at 8 p.m.
SFJazz Collective, an all-star jazz ensemble, comprises some of the finest performers and composers in jazz today. Launched in 2004, it has become one of the most exciting and acclaimed groups in the jazz, in the United States and overseas. Embodying a commitment to jazz as a living, ever-changing and ever-relevant art form, the ensemble performs a different list of works each year, all by one modern jazz master – Wayne Shorter in 2008 – and all in new arrangements. Web site: http://www.sfjazz.org/

Nrityagram Dance Ensemble of India
Sunday, March 2, 2008, 2 p.m.
The radiant Nrityagram Dance Ensemble embodies the spiritual and sensual elements of Odissi, the oldest of India’s classical dance forms. Bringing to life the ancient sculptures of India, today’s Odissi comes from the Devadasi or Mahari tradition, in which beautiful young women were consecrated to the gods. Age-old wisdom, sacred rituals and divine transfiguration are unveiled and interpreted in electrifying dance. This glorious female ensemble is accompanied by live musicians and original music.  Web site: http://www.nrityagram.org/

k.d. lang 
Wednesday, March 5, 2008, 7:30 p.m.
With a repertoire ranging from Tin Pan Alley torch songs to Nashville tearjerkers, playful cow-punk tunes to sultry, grown-up pop, this native of Alberta, Canada, has long attracted a loyal and diverse, multi-generational following. Winner of multiple Grammy Awards, lang has recorded more than 13 albums, including collections of country (“Shadowland”), urbane adult contemporary pop (“Ingenue,” featuring the hit “Constant Craving”), sophisticated torch (“Drag”), and just a little disco (for the soundtrack of Gus Van Sant’s 1993 film “Even Cowgirls Get the Blues”). Web site: http://www.kdlang.com

Joshua Bell, violin
Thursday, March 6, 2008, 7:30 p.m.
Equally at home as a soloist, chamber musician and orchestra leader, Bell has captivated audiences worldwide with his poetic musicality. Aside from his own performing and recording, the Grammy Award-winner has shared the stage with Bobby McFerrin, Chick Corea, James Taylor and Sting. Bell’s recordings include the works of Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Sibelius and Bernstein. He has collaborated with Wynton Marsalis, Béla Fleck, and Edgar Meyer, and he appeared in the 1999 film “Music of the Heart,” starring Meryl Streep. Bell was one of the first classical artists to have a music video on VH1. Web site: http://www.joshuabell.com/

Haale
Wednesday, March 19, 2008, 7:30 p.m.
Born in New York City to Iranian parents, Haale grew up with Jimi Hendrix in one ear and Persian music in the other. Her distinctive style and incendiary live shows draw on ’60s psychedelic rock and traditional Sufi music. Whether singing her own lyrics in English or those of mystical Iranian poets including Rumi in Persian, Haale weaves cinematic, collaged texts through a trance-inducing tapestry of shimmering electric guitars, strings and percussion. “In Sufi tradition, music is a tool for ushering listeners into a transcendent state – for turning them on, awakening their souls, propelling them into an ecstatic state,” she says. “I think great psychedelic rock does this as well.” Web site: http://www.haale.com/

Gonzalo Rubalcaba, piano
Saturday, March 29, 2008, 8 p.m.
Born into a musical family rich in the traditions of Cuba’s artistic past, Rubalcaba shapes and reshapes Afro-Cuban themes, forms and rhythms, embodying the sources and nuances of Cuban culture. Classically trained, he earned his degree in music composition from Havana’s Institute of Fine Arts. He has recorded extensively for Blue Note and won a Latin Grammy Award for Jazz Album of the Year (“Supernova”) as well as a Grammy for co-production with Charlie Haden of “Nocturne,” a Verve release of Cuban and Mexican boleros and ballads. Web site:  http://www.g-rubalcaba.com/

Murray Perahia, conductor and pianist; the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields
Saturday, April 5, 2008, 8 p.m.
Among today’s most cherished pianists,Grammy Award-winner Perahia performs in major international music centers and with leading orchestras worldwide. His wide and varied discography includes Schubert’s late piano sonatas, Chopin’s complete Etudes, and Bach’s Goldberg Variations. His outstanding service to music was recognized by Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland with an honorary knighthood. Perahia is the principal guest conductor of the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, the most recorded chamber orchestra in the world and resident orchestra at the Mostly Mozart Festival at London’s Barbican Centre. The program at UNC-Chapel Hill will include Mendelssohn’s Overture to Hebrides, Op. 26 (“Fingal’s Cave”); Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 24 in C minor, K.491; Britten’s Prelude and Fugue; and Mendelssohn’s Symphony No. 4 in A major, Op. 90 (“Italian”). Web site: http://www.asmf.org/index.htm

STOMP
Tuesday and Wednesday, April 8 and 9, 2008, 7:30 p.m.
An international percussion sensation, STOMP is explosive, provocative, sophisticated, sexy and unique. With an armful of awards, rave reviews and numerous television appearances, this eight-member troupe uses everything but conventional percussion instruments to fill the stage with fabulous rhythms: matchboxes, wooden poles, brooms, garbage cans, Zippo lighters and hubcaps. The New York Times describes STOMP as “a sure-fire crowd pleaser with a rock-and-roll heart.” Web site: http://www.stomponline.com/

Bang on a Can All Stars with special guests Glenn Kotche of Wilco, Lee Ranaldo of Sonic Youth and Burmese percussionist Kyaw Kyaw Naing
Saturday, April 12, 2008
8-9:30 p.m., Memorial Hall
10-11:30 p.m., Kenan Theater in the Center for Dramatic Art
New York’s electric chamber ensemble – the performing arm of the Bang on a Can contemporary music organization – teams with Kotche, Ranaldo and Burmese drumming sensation Naing for an eclectic super-mix of genre-defying music. Styles range from the bizarre to the surreal, classical minimalism and Balinese gamelan to alt-jazz and fringe-rock techno. This festival-style concert features today’s most adventurous performers and composers, with listeners coming and going as they please. Selections will include two new compositions by Kotche and Ranaldo that were commissioned by Carolina Performing Arts. Web site: http://www.bangonacan.org

Merce Cunningham Dance Company
Friday, April 18, 2008, 8 p.m.
Cunningham is widely recognized as the greatest living choreographer today and placed among the most innovative and influential figures in modern dance. This program includes his newest work, “eyeSpace,” for which iPods set to shuffle mode and featuring music from Mikel Rouse’s “International Cloud Atlas” will be loaned to audience members to play during the performance. The company first performed in Memorial Hall in 1967. Web site: http://www.merce.org

Spirit of Uganda
Wednesday, April 23, 2008, 7:30 p.m.
Spirit of Uganda presents riveting programs of music and dance for audiences of all ages. To the melodic tones of standing drums, a vibrant cast of performers, aged 8-18, oscillates between ferocity and softness as they bring to life the sounds and movements of East Africa. With dramatic choreography, layered rhythms and gorgeous call-and-response vocals, Spirit of Uganda celebrates the cultural roots and new offshoots of this lush and diverse nation. Ambassadors for Uganda’s 2.4 million orphans, these young performers personify the resilience and promise of Africa’s next generation. They promote awareness of Uganda’s dual crises of AIDS and civil war and raise funds to support themselves and others displaced in their homeland.
 
Mitsuko Uchida, pianist
Tuesday, May 6, 2008, 7:30 p.m.
Renowned for her interpretations of Mozart and Schubert, Uchida also has illuminated the music of Berg, Schoenberg, Webern and Boulez. With pianist Richard Goode, she co-directs the Marlboro Music Festival in Vermont each summer. Uchida is artist-in-residence with the Cleveland Orchestra and appears regularly with the Chicago, New York Philharmonic, Philharmonia and London Symphony Orchestras. She has performed with Ricardo Muti and the Vienna Philharmonic, with Seiji Ozawa at the Saito Kinen Festival and with Simon Rattle and the Berlin Philharmonic. Her recordings include the complete Mozart piano sonatas and piano concerti, the five Beethoven piano concerti and Die Schöne Müllerin with Ian Bostridge. At UNC-Chapel Hill, she will perform Schubert’s Sonata in C minor, D958; Kurtág’s Selections from “Jatekok”; J.S. Bach’s “Short Preludes and Fugues”; and Schumann’s  Symphonic Etudes, Op. 13. Web site: http://www.mitsukouchida.com/

NORTH CAROLINA JAZZ REPERTORY ORCHESTRA SERIES
Presented in partnership with Carolina Performing Arts, the series will feature the classic jazz and big band music of Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Benny Goodman, Dizzy Gillespie and others. Led by James Ketch, UNC-Chapel Hill music professor and jazz studies director, the orchestra will perform the following concerts in Memorial Hall in 2007-2008:

“Rhythm is Our Business and Swing is the Thing”
Friday, Oct. 12, 2007, 8 p.m.
This celebration of jazz music and dance as the orchestra welcomes a host of celebrated dancers from the Triangle in a concert where tap, swing and modern dance intersect with jazz that is hot, cool and in between.

Swingin’ Yuletide Celebration featuring Duke Ellington’s “Nutcracker Suite”
and seasonal favorites
Friday, Dec. 7, 2007, 8 p.m.
With music from Ellington, Stan Kenton, Glenn Miller and the orchestra’s own talented arrangers, the annual holiday jazz concert offers a blast of seasonal spirit and cheer.

Jazz Lecture and Showcase Concert: “Jazz Cities on Parade”
Thursday, Feb. 28, 2008, 7:30 p.m.
In honor of the SFJazz Collective’s March 1 visit to the 2008 Carolina Jazz Festival, the orchestra will take patrons on a guided American tour, stopping in the prominent cities that have played an integral part in the rise of this truly American art form. Orchestra music director James Ketch will narrate this concert/lecture program featuring music from New Orleans, Chicago, St. Louis, Kansas City, Detroit, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Los Angeles and the Big Apple.

NCJRO with UNC-Chapel Hill dramatic art department actors:
“The Duke and the Bard: Ellington’s ‘Such Sweet Thunder’ and ‘Far East Suite’”
Friday, May 2, 2008, 8 p.m.
Ellington brought to jazz the concept of the extended jazz composition. His tribute to William Shakespeare creates fascinating vignettes about characters including Romeo and Juliet, King Lear and Hamlet. Actors from UNC-Chapel Hill’s dramatic art department will join the orchestra in celebrating the Bard. The “Far East Suite” chronicles the experiences of the Ellington Orchestra in the Far East from 1963 to 1966.

UNC-CHAPEL HILL MUSIC DEPARTMENT SERIES
The department’s 2007-2008 “Music on the Hill” series, presented in Memorial Hall in partnership with Carolina Performing Arts, will be as follows:

September Prelude IV
Friday, Sept. 7, 2007, 8 p.m.
September Prelude, the Triangle’s annual festival of chamber music, is presented again this year by UNC-Chapel Hill, Duke University (Duke Chamber Arts) and the Raleigh Chamber Music Guild. On Sept. 7, Germany’s Abegg Trio will perform the complete Beethoven Trios for violin, cello and piano – UNC-Chapel Hill’s concert for the festival. Concerts in Durham and Raleigh will follow on Sept. 8 and Sept. 9, respectively.

UNC-Chapel Hill Symphony Orchestra
Wednesday, Oct. 10, 2007, 7:30 p.m.
The 110-member UNC-Chapel Hill Symphony Orchestra, directed by music professor Tonu Kalam, will open its 2007-08 season with a performance of Berlioz’s revolutionary “Symphonie Fantastique,” a work that created a sensation at its premiere in 1830.

“France and Romance!”
Tuesday, Nov. 6, 2007, 7:30 p.m.
UNC-Chapel Hill string music faculty members will perform French Romantic (1830s to 1850s) chamber music for harp, saxophone, piano and strings by Saint-Saëns, Debussy, Fauré and Chausson. The musicians will include Laura Byrne, harpist; Matthew McClure, saxophonist; and Wonmin Kim, pianist.

Handel’s “Acis and Galatea”
Saturday, Dec. 8, 2007, 8 p.m..
Music faculty members Valentin Lazrei and Jeanne Fischer and the department’s Ensemble Courant will perform one of the best loved, intimate works of the Baroque. Originally for the first Duke of Chandos, it has come to symbolize the marriage of myth, music and text that exemplifies the Baroque aesthetic.

“An Ives Experience”
Friday, Jan. 18, 2008, 8 p.m.
Pianist Stefan Litwin – whose recordings, lectures and compositions have made him an international icon – will join UNC-Chapel Hill colleagues in a program devoted to America’s most original 20th-century composer, Charles Ives, performing the Trio, the Second Violin/Piano Sonata, Songs and Three Quarter-Tone Pieces for Two Pianos.

UNC-Chapel Hill Bands: “A Sousa Spectacular”
Saturday, Feb. 9, 2008, 8 p.m.
The UNC-Chapel Hill Symphony Band and the UNC-Chapel Hill Wind Ensemble, conducted by music faculty members Jeffrey Fuchs and Michael Votta Jr., respectively, will perform a concert in the style of John Philip Sousa, the most influential band leader of the early 20th century. “A Sousa Spectacular” will include great orchestral music, character pieces, solo compositions and marches.

“When Composers Speak Our Language”
Saturday, Feb. 23, 2008, 8 p.m.
Composers use a variety of popular genres, styles and musical languages to capture an audience. Some – Bolcom, Milhaud and Weill, for example – use jazz, cabaret, and folk idioms to draw listeners in – or keep them out. Performers will include UNC-Chapel Hill music professor and soprano Terry Rhodes, members of the Carolina Wind Quintet, UNC-Chapel Hill string music faculty members and Duke pianist Jane Hawkins.

UNC-Chapel Hill Jazz Band
Friday, Feb. 29, 2008, 8 p.m.
The UNC-Chapel Hill Jazz Band, directed by music professor James Ketch, will present a concert of Big Band jazz music, featuring artists-in-residence for the 31st Annual Carolina Jazz Festival. The program will feature classic arrangements from America’s great jazz orchestras as well as contemporary pieces.

Terry Rhodes: “Modern Music of Latin America”
Thursday, March 27, 2008, 8 p.m.
This concert will include a new work commissioned for and performed by UNC-Chapel Hill music professor, soprano and opera director Rhodes. Carolina Performing Arts and the UNC-Chapel Hill music department commissioned the work, by Cuban-American composer Tania León, as the first in their 10x10 Project. The project will commission 10 composers over 10 years for 10 music faculty members. The concert also will be part of the music department’s Latin Festival on the Hill March 27-30. Music and musicians from Latin America will join UNC-Chapel Hill artists and scholars in four days of concerts, workshops and lectures.

Brahms’ “Ein Deutsches Requiem”
Tuesday, April 22, 2008, 7:30 p.m.
The Carolina Choir, the UNC-Chapel Hill Chamber Singers, men’s and women’s glee clubs and the UNC-Chapel Hill Symphony Orchestra – all directed in this concert by music professor Susan Klebanow – will perform one of the great classics of choral-orchestral literature, Johannes Brahms’ profoundly personal “Ein Deutsches Requiem.” (A German Requiem). The concert will be in memory of Carolina Choir founder and nationally known conductor Lara Hoggard, who died March 16.

Carolina Performing Arts Web site: http://www.carolinaperformingarts.org

Carolina Performing Arts contacts: Don Smith, (919) 843-3119, donsmith@email.unc.edu: Jennifer Warner, (919) 966-3834, jenniferwarner@unc.edu
News Services contact: L.J. Toler, (919) 962-8589