Classical Chinese culture showcased in dance, music
5/13/2010Shen Yun, the live music and dance spectacle celebrating classical Chinese culture will appear for one performance at 7:30 p.m. tomorrow at the Stranahan Theater, 4645 Heatherdowns Blvd. The New York-based company will bring a large company of men and women dancers, vocal soloists, and musicians performing on traditional Chinese and Western instruments.
Against hand-painted sets suggesting the dramatic landscapes of China, performers will demonstrate elements of the 5,000-year-old dance style with colorful costumes and props.
Inspired by the ancient Chinese saying, “to create true art, there must be first inner beauty,” the assemblage of artists has performed in more than 100 cities. Essentially a revival of the Chinese classical tradition lost during the advent of communism, the company is independent of today's Chinese government.
Tickets for the show start at $36 and go to $110 at the Stranahan box office, 419-381-8851 or at Ticketmaster, 800-745-3000 or ticketmaster.com
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The Anthony/Brown Piano Duo will present its Farewell Concert at 7 p.m. Friday in Trinity Church downtown. Wayne Anthony and Charles Brown will perform Bach's Concerto in D Minor for Three Pianos with guest artist Dennis Blubaugh and the SonoNovo Quintet, and other works. Tickets are $12-15 at the door or in advance at 419-243-1231 or trinity@trinitytoledo.org.
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Harpist Joan Holland with violist David Holland will perform at 3 p.m. Sunday in First Congregational Church, 2315 Collingwood Blvd. On the program for this free, family-oriented recital on the 2009-2010 Concert Series of the church will be music by Claude Debussy, Ralph Vaughan Williams, Bach, and hymns and favorite songs.
Harpist Holland is a professor of music at the University of Michigan. Violist Holland is the resident artist at the Interlochen Center for the Arts.
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Chamber music by Bach, Nielsen, Hindemith, and David Amram is on the program planned for 7 p.m. Sunday in the Monroe Street United Methodist Church, 3613 Monroe St. Pianist Stefan Kasch, cellist Renee Goubeaux, and hornist Sandra Clark will perform in this free public concert.
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He looks like John Denver and he sounds even more like the late country/pop star, but Jim Curry has his own story and will talk about it a bit during his Toledo debut in the final KeyBank Pops Series concert of the Toledo Symphony at 8 p.m. May 22 in the Stranahan Theater.
Chelsea Tipton II will lead the orchestra through light classical works by Johan Strauss and Edward Elgar, plus a mixed bag of popular works in the first half of the evening. Following intermission, Curry will take the stage with a show that recreates the music and style of the beloved Denver.
Tickets are $21-$60 at 419-246-8000 or toledosymphony.com.
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Chelsea Tipton's farewell performance with the Toledo Symphony Orchestra will be celebrated in a benefit concert at 4 p.m. May 23 in the Stranahan. Joining Tipton, former resident conductor of the TSO, will be clarinetist (and former TSO principal) David Shifrin, violinist and composer Mark O'Connor, trumpeter Doc Severinsen, the Toledo Youth Orchestra, and players from the Toledo Symphony School of Music.
Tickets start at $25 and are available at 419-246-8000 or toledosymphony.com.
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Pianist Kirill Gerstein, the 2010 Gilmore Artist Awardee, who once more thrilled Toledo music lovers with his double-rhapsody performance with the Toledo Symphony in March, has garnered another honor. He has just been named one of four Avery Fisher Career Grant winners. The $25,000 prize is awarded to further the careers of rising stars of the concert stage.
Items for News of Music should be sent to svallongo@theblade.com at least two weeks ahead of performance date.