Southeastern Louisiana University

Elisa Monte Dance, Boulton and Barry, Robert Cray highlight Fanfare's third week

Contact: Christina Chapple

10/13/08

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     Fanfare’s third week begins with a Sunday afternoon recital by the husband and wife team of Emmy-nominated pianist – and Southeastern music professor -- Kenneth Boulton and JoAnne Barry. The free concert, part of Fanfare’s “Sunday with the Arts” series, is scheduled for Oct. 19, 3 p.m. at the First Presbyterian Church, 103. N. Pine St., in Hammond, and will be followed by a reception.

     For more than 18 years, these enthusiastic advocates of piano ensemble playing have presented piano duet and duo concerts throughout the United States and Europe. Boulton is associate professor of piano at Southeastern and director of the Community Music School. His latest recording, “Louisiana - A Pianist’s Journey,” was nominated for a 2008 Grammy Award. Trained as an organist and musicologist, JoAnne Barry served as archivist for the Philadelphia Orchestra Association and Academy of Music.

     One of Fanfare’s premiere events is scheduled for Monday, Oct. 20 – the performance at the Columbia Theatre for the Performing Arts of Elisa Monte Dance.

     The company’s program of varied and eclectic works will include “Zydeco,” an innovative new piece commissioned by the Performing Arts Society of Acadiana and inspired by the folk music of African American and Creole descendants of southern Louisiana slaves. The work merges zydeco’s syncopated sound and movement with the choreography of Monte, acclaimed former principal dancer with Martha Graham Dance Company and Pilobolus.

     Since its founding in 1981, Elisa Monte Dance has been widely recognized for its athletic and sensual style, technical and physical acuity, and exploration of a multitude of themes.

     Availability of tickets for the 7:30 p.m. performance may be limited since Elisa Monte Dance is also part of the 2008-09 Columbia Theatre series. Tickets are $35, Orchestra 1 and Loge; $29, Orchestra 2 and Balcony 1, and $25, Balcony 2.

     For more than 30 years, Robert Cray has delivered good-time, uptown, low-down blues. The five-time Grammy Award winner will bring his musical talents to the Columbia Theatre Friday, Oct. 24, 7:30 p.m.

     Cray’s musical achievements have inspired critics to praise his soulful vocal and instrumental artistry, earned respect from his peers, and sent young guitarists running back to the woodshed. Along with his road-seasoned band – keyboardist Jim Pugh, bassist Karl Sevareid, and drummer Kevin Hayes – Robert Cray has played more than 1,000 gigs around the world. He will treat Fanfare audiences to hits such as “Smokin’ Gun” and “Phone Booth.”

     Tickets are $46, Orchestra 1 and Loge; $41, Orchestra 2 and Balcony 1, and $36, Balcony 2.            

     The world-class symphonic wind ensemble, The United States Air Force Concert Band, accompanied by the “Singing Sergeants,” will present a free concert at the Columbia Theatre Saturday, Oct. 25, at 7:30 p.m.

     With an extensive repertoire ranging from popular favorites to the classics, the Concert Band has an international reputation as a champion of new works for band, with dozens of world premieres to its credit. The Concert Band will be joined by the Singing Sergeants, the Air Force’s official chorus. The chorus is composed of professional vocalists who have come from leading colleges, universities and music conservatories throughout the world – and who are all Air Force sergeants.

     Also during Fanfare’s third week:

     ▪ The Foreign Film Festival continues on Tuesday, Oct. 21, 5 p.m., with the Spanish film “Volver” in the Student Union Theatre. A luminous Penelope Cruz leads an ensemble of gifted actresses in this comedic and compassionate tribute to women and their resilience in the face of one of life’s most outrageous tribulations. Winner of numerous film festival and critic’s awards, “Volver” is a hilarious tale of love, loss, and forgiveness. The free film is rated  PG13.

     ▪ The Then and Now Lectures features Southeastern historian Charles Elliott who discusses Louisiana’s namesake in “Here Comes the Sun King: Louis XIV in Film, Music and Popular Culture.” Elliott’s lecture is scheduled for Wednesday, Oct. 22, 1 p.m. at the Pottle Music Building Auditorium. Elliott reveals how Louis XIV -- perhaps the most famous, revered, and reviled monarch in history -- cultivated a particular image in popular culture as a grand gesture in propaganda and power, and how his modern reputation suffers from Anglo-American bias against the French and wider misperceptions of the nature and reality of Bourbon absolutism. The lecture is free.

     ▪ The New Orleans Opera Association will bring “Opera on Tap” to the Pottle Music Building Auditorium Wednesday, Oct. 22, at 7:30 p.m. “Opera on Tap” was born in Brooklyn in 2005 as a performance outlet for emerging classical musicians. Patterned after rock and jazz gigs, the programs were held in “alternative venues” – in other words, bars.

     Audiences enthusiastically embraced the concept and in October 2007 the Big Easy partnered with the Big Apple, making New Orleans the first official Opera on Tap franchise. Each season, the New Orleans Opera presents the finest young local and regional singers in 90-minute concerts of opera, Broadway and more. Fanfare is honored to host Opera on Tap’s north shore debut.

     Tickets are $10, adults; $9, senior citizens, Southeastern faculty, staff and alumni; $7.50, non-Southeastern students; and $5, Southeastern students.

     ▪ Always a Fanfare crowd-pleaser, the Southeastern Wind Symphony will present “Radiant Joy! Thursday, Oct. 23, 7:30 p.m., at the Columbia Theatre. Under the direction of Southeastern’s Glen Hemberger, the symphony will welcome as its guest soloist Kevin Bobo, internationally renowned recording artist, soloist and associate professor at Indiana University, who will perform a Louisiana premiere on marimba. The concert will also include the music of Percy Grainger, Steven Bryant, Timothy Mahr, David Gillingham, and Frank Ticheli.

     Tickets are $6, adults; $4, senior citizens, Southeastern faculty, staff and alumni. The concert is free for all students.

     ▪ Youngsters will get a Fanfare treat on Saturday, Oct. 25, when the Hammond Library offers “Tricks and Treats.” Children can enjoy Halloween fun, stories, and crafts under the direction of children’s librarian Karen Plauche. The free program is scheduled for 10 a.m. at the library, 314 E. Thomas in Hammond.

     Fanfare tickets are on sale at the Columbia/Fanfare box office, 220 E. Thomas Street, 985-543-4371. Some tickets may be purchased online at columbiatheatre.org. The box office is open Monday, Wednesday and Friday, noon-5 p.m.; Thursday, noon to 4 p.m., and one hour prior to Columbia performances. For a complete schedule, contact the Columbia/Fanfare office at 985-543-4366 or visit columbiatheatre.org.