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Red Priest to perform "Four Seasons"
By PHILIP REHARD
Reporter Contributor
Red Priest, the extraordinary English ensemble whose style has been described by international music critics as "electrifying," "sonically supercharged" and "deliciously twisted," will kick off the Department of Music's Spring 2007 concert season with a performance of Vivaldi's "Four Seasons," along with other pieces from the same time period, at 8 p.m. Jan. 19 in Lippes Concert Hall in Slee Hall, North Campus.
The unconventional baroque-music ensemble Red Priest will perform the third concert in this year's Slee/Visiting Artist Series on Jan. 19.
The concert, entitled "Carnival of the Seasons," will be the third in this year's Slee/Visiting Artist Series.
Other Department of Music-sponsored concerts to be presented during January include a special presentation of Paul Hindemith's "Das Marienleben," a song cycle based on the poems of Marina Rainer Rilke, on Jan. 22, and the fifth concert in UB pianist Stephen Manes' presentation this season of the entire cycle of Beethoven sonatas on Jan. 29.
Red Priest—named after the flame-haired priest Antonio Vivaldi—has redefined the art of baroque-music performance, combining the fruits of extensive research with swashbuckling virtuosity, creative re-composition, heart-on-sleeve emotion and compelling stagecraft. The group performs largely from memory, allowing for an operatic level of freedom and interaction, and its programs are drawn from myriad baroque sources to create a kaleidoscopic range of moods and colors.
Members of Red Priest are Piers Adams, recorder; Julia Bishop, violin; Angela East, cello; and Howard Beach, harpsichord.
Tickets are $15 for general admission; $12 for UB faculty/staff/alumni, senior citizens and WNED members with card; and $5 for students.
Red Priest also will present a master class with UB students at 1 p.m. Jan. 19 in Baird Recital Hall, 250 Baird Hall, North Campus. The class is free and open to the public.
Formed in 1997, Red Priest gives more than 60 concerts a year in some of the most prestigious venues in Europe, Russia, the Far East, Australia and the U.S. The group also has made numerous radio and TV broadcasts, as well as an exclusive series of CD recordings for Dorian, including "Priest on the Run," "Nightmare in Venice" and "The Four Seasons." The ensemble last year launched its "Red Hot Baroque Show"—a dramatic marriage of baroque instrumental wizardry with modern stage and lighting technology.
The music department's concert schedule will continue on Jan. 22 with a presentation of "Das Marienleben" at 8 p.m. in Lippes Concert Hall. Performing will be Judith Kellock, soprano; Kirk Severtson, piano; and Risa Fujita, dancer. The choreographer is Joyce Morgenroth; costumer is Barbara Cirmo.
This event is free and open to the public.
Kellock, associate professor of voice at Cornell University, has been featured with numerous orchestras, among them the St. Louis Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, Brooklyn Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic Green Umbrella Series, New World Symphony, Honolulu Symphony, Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra, Greek Radio Orchestra, Cayuga Chamber Orchestra, West Virginia Symphony, and orchestras throughout New England. Highly acclaimed for her song recitals and chamber-music performances, she also is sought after by composers for her interpretation of contemporary music.
Severtson serves as vocal coach at the Crane School of Music at SUNY-Potsdam, where he coaches singers and pianists, works with the opera productions and teaches classes in art song and accompanying. He has been the coach/accompanist for Opera North, the Opera Theater of Lucca (Italy), the Cincinnati Opera outreach program, the Rising Star Singers festival and Dorian Opera Theater, and held a fellowship at the Aspen Music Festival in vocal chamber music. He appears frequently in recital with both singers and instrumentalists.
Fujita, a native of Tokyo, is a junior dance and economics major at Cornell. Since the age of three, she has danced modern, ballet, hip hop, African and musical theatre with the Michiko Yano Modern Ballet Company, the Denenchofu Futaba Team and the Mercersburg Academy Dance Company.
Morgenroth, professor of dance at Cornell, is a dancer and choreographer whose work has been performed in New York, on tour and by college dance groups. Author of "Dance Improvisations" (University of Pittsburgh Press), she has given workshops on structured dance improvisation throughout the U.S. and in Canada, England and France. Her latest book, "Speaking of Dance: Twelve Contemporary Choreographers on Their Craft" (Routledge), documents the explosion of innovations in dance since the mid-20th century.
The concerts for January will conclude at 8 p.m. Jan. 29 in Lippes Concert Hall with "Hammerklavier," the fifth concert in the eight-concert cycle of Beethoven sonatas being presented by Manes this season.
Tickets are $10 for general admission and $5 for students.
A longtime UB faculty member and former chair of the Department of Music, Manes has appeared numerous times with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra and 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. Manes 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 to 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, and has recorded works of Tchaikovsky and Busoni for Orion Master Recordings.
Tickets for all Lippes Concert Hall concerts can be obtained at the Slee box office from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday (beginning Tuesday), 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.
For further information, go to http://www.slee.buffalo.edu.