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2010-11 Concert Season AnnouncementBy George Bennett
Publicity Director
June 17, 2010
Concert Series Sponsored by
the Downers Grove Concert Association
For Immediate Release-June 17, 2010 Press inquiries contact George Bennett, bennettgeorge@hotmail.com or call 630-357-0289. 2010-11 Concert Season
Downers Grove, IL - The Downers Grove Concert Association has announced programming for the 64th Artists Showcase West classical music series. Four concerts are planned, with three to take place in the Johnson Auditorium on the campus of Downers Grove North High School and one in Naperville’s Wentz Concert Hall. True to the Showcase’s tradition, the season will feature musicians of outstanding quality and international acclaim from the United States and abroad. Until June 28th subscriptions to all four concerts are available in a special early bird package. If purchased by June 28, all four concerts will cost $80 for individuals, $40 for students and $170 for families. After the deadline, the same tickets increase to $100, $50 and $200 respectively. Individual tickets can be bought for $30 ($15 for students Grades 1-12). Artists Showcase West performances are held on Sunday afternoons at 3 PM with a pre-concert conversation moderated by music commentator Joshua Kind beginning at 2 PM. Ample free off street parking is available at both the Johnson Auditorium as well as Wentz Concert Hall. For more information please call 630-963-9093 or visit www.dgconcerts.org. The 2010-2011 Artists Showcase West season is supported our generous patrons and by the Illinois Arts Council, and contributions to help fund Artists Showcase West are fully tax-deductible and greatly appreciated. The 2010-2011 schedule of concerts is as follows: October 3, 2010- Prima Trio (Piano, violin/viola and clarinet) November 14, 2010- Prazak String Quartet February 6, 2011- The American String Quartet (Wentz Concert Hall, Naperville) March 20, 2011- Claire Huangci, Piano 2010-11 Artists Showcase West Performers Last season Armenian clarinetist Boris Allakhverdyan appeared as a guest soloist with the St. Petersburg Quartet with enthusiastic audience acclaim. On October 3rd he brings his group, the Prima Trio, to Downers Grove. Grand Prize and Gold Medal winners of the prestigious Fischoff Chamber Music Competition in 2007, the Prima Trio distinguishes itself with its remarkable playing and wide ranging repertoire including works of Piazolla and Lotti arranged by Mr. Allakhverdyan. Award winning Uzbek violinist/violist Gulia Gurevich and Anastasia Dudik, first prize winner of the 2005 Russian International Piano Competition, complete the Trio. The second concert of the season features the Prazak String Quartet, one of today’s leading chamber music ensembles. Formed in 1972 while its founding members were students at the Prague Conservatory, the group has earned its place in the unique Czech quartet tradition. The group’s international career was propelled by winning the 1978 Evian String Music Competition, and it has yet to slow. Still retaining one of their original members, the Prazak has been hailed for its warm and crystalline tone and was called “definitive” by the Chicago Tribune within the Czech repertoire. The Prazak Quartet has made more than 20 award-winning recordings on the Praga/Harmonia Mundi label and is heard during a key scene in the recently released Martin Scorsese/Leonardo Di Caprio thriller Shutter Island. On February 6, 2011 The American String Quartet will perform at Wentz Concert Hall on the campus of North Central College in Naperville. Formed in 1974 at the Juilliard School, the Quartet was launched by winning the Coleman Competition and the Naumburg Award in the same year. In three decades of touring, the American has performed in all fifty states and appeared in virtually every important concert hall throughout the world. Their presentations of the complete quartets of Beethoven, Schubert, Schoenberg, Bartók, and Mozart have won widespread critical acclaim. Resident Quartet at the Aspen Music Festival since 1974 and the Manhattan School of Music since 1984, the group recently celebrated its 30th anniversary with a new series of recordings on the Arabesque label. Artists Showcase West’s season concludes on March 20th, 2011 with a performance by the 20 year old American pianist Claire Huangci. A child prodigy who became the youngest Yamaha artist in history, Ms. Huangci has appeared in Carnegie Hall and with various American and European orchestras. Claire is the winner of the 2010 National Chopin Competition held in Miami and will participate this fall in Poland’s International Chopin Duszniki Festival honoring the 200th anniversary of Chopin’s birth. During her May 2010 Asian tour she was given the honor of performing Prokofiev’s challenging Piano Concerto No. 3 at the opening of the Shanghai World Expo conducted by Sir Roger Norrington. Claire is a graduate of Philadelphia’s Curtis Institute of Music and currently studies in Hanover, Germany. |
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