UA’s School of Music Announces 2002-03 Celebrity Series Schedule

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – The University of Alabama Celebrity Series is proud to announce its concert schedule for 2002-03. This season’s four offerings are renowned and varied groups that will give audiences access to a variety of high quality presentations.

All concerts take place at 7:30 p.m. in the Concert Hall of the Moody Music Building on the UA campus. Celebrity Series subscriptions are $72 for main floor and first balcony and $55 for second balcony. Single ticket prices are $22 and $15 for general audiences and $7 for students with valid IDs. For ticket information, or an immediate credit card purchase, call the School of Music Box Office at 205/348-7111.

This year’s performances will include:

Canadian Brass
Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2002

With 31 concert seasons and more than 50 recordings to their credit, Canadian Brass has transformed the once-limited oeuvre of brass performance pieces to include more than 600 works transcribed, arranged or commissioned by them — creating a new musical tradition. These works encompass not only innovative classical pieces, but also explore the sounds of jazz, contemporary concert music and popular songs.

The quintet started out as a modest 1970s experimental group and faced the challenge of establishing themselves as a serious concert presence. They have done so stunningly. Their virtuosity and musical imagination have elevated the bar by which baroque, Bach and brass are measured.

Peter Serkin, piano
Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2002
Sponsored by the Gloria Narramore Moody Foundation

Peter Serkin is a third-generation musician with a reputation for being a thoughtful and individualistic musician who is not interested in repeating his more famous interpretations. He prefers to continually explore, as with Brahms’ music, resurrect, as with Schoenberg, and champion, as he continues to do with many contemporary composers, Toru Takemitsu and Peter Lieberson, to name but two.

Serkin’s repertoire spans four centuries, and he is as equally masterful in concerto performances with major symphony orchestras as he is with the intimacy of the chamber music stage. His keyboard technique extracts what is essential in the music he plays and his choice of program is simple.

“I’m just trying to play music I believe in,” he said.

Aaron Rosand, violin
Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2003

Aaron Rosand is best known as an interpreter of 19th century romantic concertos and is characterized as a violinists’ violinist. However, Rosand is most familiar to the music-loving public through his recordings of Beethoven sonatas, Brahms concertos and recently, the complete Humoresques of Sibelius.

The Los Angeles Times cited him in 2001 as a welcome alternative to that year’s Super Bowl (he played to a full house). Rosand continues to captivate concert audiences in Europe, Japan and North America. His unerring personal style is underscored by his awareness of the elusive beauty of whatever music he is playing at that moment.

Jitro: Czech Children’s Choir
Tuesday, March 11, 2003

Early morning light coloring the clouds renews one’s spirits, but the sound of children’s voices fills one with hope. When those voices belong to members of an internationally award-winning chorus the experience is virtuoso as well.

Jitro — the Czech word means daybreak — has been an international presence in the world of choral ensembles since 1977 and continues to present its repertoire of multi-genre, multi-lingual vocal music to audiences worldwide.

UA’s School of Music is part of the College of Arts and Sciences, UA’s largest division and the largest public liberal arts college in the state, with approximately 5,000 undergraduate and 1,000 graduate students.