Select Classical Concerts, February 12-21
For your convenience and entertainment, behold: events around Georgia for mid February 2008, courtesy of GPB and Midday Music. These listings are based on the best information I could find, but please visit or contact the presenters themselves for the latest details and tickets.
- Tuesday, February 12: Art Garfunkel joins the Augusta Symphony for a pops concert at Augusta's Bell Auditorium.
- Wednesday, February 13: The University of Georgia's Hugh Hodgson School of Music presents renowned pianist Dave Brubeck, conductor Russell Gloyd, the Dave Brubeck Quartet and the University Chorus and Symphony in a 40th anniversary performance of Brubeck's oratorio The Light in the Wilderness (1968), 8:00, UGA Performing Arts Center.
- Thursday, February 14: Happy Valentine's Day! The Brubeck fest continues in Athens with a "Jazz Valentine" featuring the Dave Brubeck Quartet and UGA jazz ensembles. The Columbus Symphony welcomes guest pianist Mac Frampton for "Music in the Key of Love." (There's a pre-concert Valentine's Day dinner too.) The Albany Symphony offers "A Classical Valentine," with music of love or lust or twosomes by Strauss, Bottesini (with wife-and-husband guest artists violinist Kathleen Winkler and bassist Timothy Pitts) and Bartok. The Savannah Sinfonietta gives its Second Annual Diva/Divo Gala, Thursday and repeating Friday at different Savannah-area locations.
- Friday, February 15: In Macon, Mercer University's Robert McDuffie Center for Strings presents the Diaz Trio (noted members Andres Cardenes, Roberto Diaz and Andres Diaz plus special guests) in a free program in Fickling Hall. In Augusta, the Harry Jacobs Chamber Music Society presents the American Chamber Players (with NPR's Miles Hoffman, viola and director) at Augusta State's Maxwell Theatre. The Augusta Players start their weekend run of the musical Hello Dolly. The Brass Quintet of the U.S. Army Ground Forces Band plays at Reinhardt College's Falany Performing Arts Center in Waleska; free admission. And Friday is Classical Guitar Day at Darton College in Albany, with workshops and lecture recitals culminating in a finale concert that evening.
- Saturday, February 16: The Macon Symphony presents "An Evening of Opera Choruses" at Macon's Grand Opera House, teaming up with several student choruses (Georgia College and State University Chorus, Mercer University Singers, Wesleyan College Women's Chorus, Macon State College Chorus) for famous numbers from Verdi, Mozart, Gounod and Wagner; the orchestra alone adds hits by Wagner, Borodin and Bizet. In Athens, the visiting Jupiter String Quartet plays a free concert as part of UGA's Franklin College Chamber Music Series. In Albany, the Albany Concert Association presents the touring high-energy hit song-and-dance revue "Red, Hot...& Blue!" at Albany Municipal Auditorium. And the star sibling pair of Gil and Orli Shaham bring Mozart, Faure and Prokofiev to Morrow's Spivey Hall at 8:15 p.m. (Orli also gives a master class for pianists at 11 a.m., open to auditors.)
- Sunday, February 17: Peter and the Wolf and the Columbia County Ballet feature on the Augusta Symphony's afternoon Family Fun concert at Augusta State's Maxwell Theatre. Augusta soprano Fumilayo Eke Harmon performs at the Morris Museum of Art; free admission. The Israel Chamber Orchestra tours through Athens, with the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto, Beethoven's Seventh and more. In Atlanta, John Hsu leads the Atlanta Baroque Orchestra in an afternoon concert called "The Enchanted Forest: Program Music from Italy" (Sammartini, Locatelli, Geminiani"). And Albany State's Lyceum Series presents Leroy Bynum Jr. in a free lecture-recital, "'My Soul Is a Witness': Spirit and Spirituality in the Music of American's Slaves," 4:00 at Albany's First United Methodist Church (note new venue).
- Tuesday, February 19: The Macon Symphony's Guest Artist in Recital series present clarinetist Monty Cole at Fickling Hall on the Mercer campus.
- Wednesday, February 20: Touring from Europe, the Leipzig String Quartet brings a program of Mendelssohn, Verdi and Beethoven quartets to the Goodwin Recital Hall at Auburn University, presented by the Auburn Chamber Music Society.
- Thursday, February 21: New York-based composer and violinist Asmira Woodward-Page comes to Wesleyan College's Burden Parlor, presented by the Macon Concert Association.
