All material found in the Press Releases section is provided by parties entirely independent of Musical America, which is not responsible for content.
Press Releases
Center for the Performing Arts Musicians Earn Nine Grammy Nominations
UNIVERSITY PARK (Thursday, Dec. 3)—Artists performing as part of the 2009–2010 season at Penn State’s Center for the Performing Arts garnered a total of nine 2010 Grammy Award nominations when the candidates were announced Dec. 2 in Los Angeles.
Banjo virtuoso Béla Fleck, who performs March 3 at Eisenhower Auditorium, is nominated for Best Contemporary World Music Album for Throw Down Your Heart: Tales from the Acoustic Planet, Vol. 3—Africa Sessions. Fleck’s upcoming Penn State concert, based on the nominated CD, features collaborations with musicians he met when he visited Africa in search of the banjo’s roots.
Fleck is also nominated—along with conductor Leonard Slatkin, bassist Edgar Meyer, percussionist Zakir Hussain, and the Detroit Symphony Orchestra—for Best Classical Crossover Album for The Melody of Rhythm.
The 52nd Grammy Awards telecast airs live from 8 p.m. to 11:30 p.m. (ET) Sunday, Jan. 31, on the CBS television network.
Vibraphonist and composer Stefon Harris, who performed with Imani Winds in September at Schwab Auditorium, and the Julian Lage Group, which made its Penn State debut in October at Schwab, are each nominated in the Best Contemporary Jazz Album Category for their Urbanus and Sounding Point CDs, respectively. Harris recorded Urbanus with his band Blackout.
Best Jazz Vocal Album nominees include Kurt Elling for Dedicated to You: Kurt Elling Sings the Music of Coltrane and Hartman and Roberta Gambarini for So in Love. Elling headlines with the Monterey Jazz Festival on Tour Feb. 16 at Eisenhower. Gambarini sang with the Dizzy Gillespie™ All-Star Big Band in October at Eisenhower.
Trumpeter Roy Hargrove, who also performed with and conducted the Dizzy Gillespie big band, is nominated for Best Improvised Jazz Solo for “Ms. Garvey, Ms. Garvey” from his Emergence CD. Horn player Terence Blanchard, who fronts his quintet April 20 at Schwab, is also nominated for Best Improvised Jazz Solo for “Dancin’ 4 Chicken” from Jeff “Tain” Watts’ album Watts.
Rounding out the nominees is the Emerson String Quartet. The ensemble, which performed in October at Schwab, is up for Best Chamber Music Performance for the album Intimate Letters. The CD features works by Czech composers Leos Janácek and Bohuslav Martinu.
Tickets for Center for the Performing Arts presentations scheduled through April 2010 are available online at www.cpa.psu.edu or by phone at 814-863-0255. Outside the local calling area, dial 1-800-ARTS-TIX. Tickets are also available at four State College locations: Eisenhower Auditorium (weekdays 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.), Penn State Tickets Downtown (weekdays 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturdays 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.), HUB-Robeson Center (weekdays 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.) and Bryce Jordan Center (weekdays 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.).
Banjo virtuoso Béla Fleck, who performs March 3 at Eisenhower Auditorium, is nominated for Best Contemporary World Music Album for Throw Down Your Heart: Tales from the Acoustic Planet, Vol. 3—Africa Sessions. Fleck’s upcoming Penn State concert, based on the nominated CD, features collaborations with musicians he met when he visited Africa in search of the banjo’s roots.
Fleck is also nominated—along with conductor Leonard Slatkin, bassist Edgar Meyer, percussionist Zakir Hussain, and the Detroit Symphony Orchestra—for Best Classical Crossover Album for The Melody of Rhythm.
The 52nd Grammy Awards telecast airs live from 8 p.m. to 11:30 p.m. (ET) Sunday, Jan. 31, on the CBS television network.
Vibraphonist and composer Stefon Harris, who performed with Imani Winds in September at Schwab Auditorium, and the Julian Lage Group, which made its Penn State debut in October at Schwab, are each nominated in the Best Contemporary Jazz Album Category for their Urbanus and Sounding Point CDs, respectively. Harris recorded Urbanus with his band Blackout.
Best Jazz Vocal Album nominees include Kurt Elling for Dedicated to You: Kurt Elling Sings the Music of Coltrane and Hartman and Roberta Gambarini for So in Love. Elling headlines with the Monterey Jazz Festival on Tour Feb. 16 at Eisenhower. Gambarini sang with the Dizzy Gillespie™ All-Star Big Band in October at Eisenhower.
Trumpeter Roy Hargrove, who also performed with and conducted the Dizzy Gillespie big band, is nominated for Best Improvised Jazz Solo for “Ms. Garvey, Ms. Garvey” from his Emergence CD. Horn player Terence Blanchard, who fronts his quintet April 20 at Schwab, is also nominated for Best Improvised Jazz Solo for “Dancin’ 4 Chicken” from Jeff “Tain” Watts’ album Watts.
Rounding out the nominees is the Emerson String Quartet. The ensemble, which performed in October at Schwab, is up for Best Chamber Music Performance for the album Intimate Letters. The CD features works by Czech composers Leos Janácek and Bohuslav Martinu.
Tickets for Center for the Performing Arts presentations scheduled through April 2010 are available online at www.cpa.psu.edu or by phone at 814-863-0255. Outside the local calling area, dial 1-800-ARTS-TIX. Tickets are also available at four State College locations: Eisenhower Auditorium (weekdays 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.), Penn State Tickets Downtown (weekdays 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturdays 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.), HUB-Robeson Center (weekdays 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.) and Bryce Jordan Center (weekdays 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.).
FEATURED JOBS
RENT A PHOTO
