Department of Music to Present Manes, Archer

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Performances by organist Gail Archer and pianist Stephen Manes will be the featured concerts presented by the Department of Music during December.

Archer, chair of the Department of Music at Barnard College, Columbia University, will perform a recital on the Fisk organ at 8 p.m. Dec. 1 in Lippes Concert Hall in Slee Hall, North Campus.

The concert is co-sponsored by the Department of Music and the Buffalo Chapter of the American Guild of Organists.

Tickets are $12 for general admission; $9 for UB faculty/staff/alumni, senior citizens and WNED members with card; and $5 for students.

In addition to her faculty position at Barnard, Archer serves as director of the Young Artist Series and artistic director of the Lunchtime Organ Recitals, both at historic Central Synagogue in New York, and professor of organ at Manhattan School of Music.

An active recitalist in both Europe and the United States, she was featured in organ series in Budapest, Turin, Hamburg and the Hague in summer 2004, and returned to Poland, Germany and Italy the following summer. She performs regularly at festivals worldwide, including the Spoleto Festival in South Carolina and the Bach Festival at Rollins College in Florida.

Her solo debut CD, "The Orpheus of Amsterdam: Sweelinck and His Pupils" (CACD 88043), recorded on the Fisk organ at Wellesley College, was released recently by London's Cala Records.

Manes, professor in the UB Department of Music, is giving his third-ever presentation of the entire cycle of Beethoven sonatas this season at UB. The cycle will be presented in eight concerts, approximately one per month, on select Monday evenings. The fourth concert of the series, entitled "Pastoral" for the famous sonata featured on the program, will take place at 8 p.m. Dec. 4 in Lippes Concert Hall. Tickets are $10.

Manes has appeared numerous times with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra and also has performed with the Pittsburgh, National, Detroit, Baltimore and Denver symphonies and at the Boston Esplanade, under such conductors as Michael Tilson Thomas, Neville Marriner, Arthur Fiedler, Christopher Keene, Semyon Bychkov and Maximiano Valdes.

He has performed in most major U.S. cities, as well as in such European centers as London, West Berlin, Amsterdam, The Hague and Vienna. His affinity for chamber music has led to performances with the Cleveland, Tokyo, Kronos, Rowe and Cassatt string quartets, and appearances at the Marlboro and Chautauqua music festivals.

A graduate of the Juilliard School, Manes has been a prize-winner in the Leventritt, Kosciuszko and Michaels competitions. He has recorded works of Tchaikovsky and Busoni for Orion Master Recordings and has made frequent radio appearances both in this country and abroad.

Tickets for the Archer and Manes concerts can be obtained at the Slee Hall box office from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday, at the Center for the Arts box office from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday, and at all Ticketmaster outlets, including Ticketmaster.com.