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| The Dave Brubeck Quartet at Baldwin-Wallace College The Baldwin Wallace College Bach Festival, the nation's oldest collegiate Bach Festival, has added a performance by the Dave Brubeck Quartet to its 75th anniversary celebration lineup April 20 - 22, 2007. "We are absolutely thrilled that our nation's most celebrated jazz musician has agreed to be with us for the extraordinary occasion of our 75th anniversary", said Kent Cleland, interim director of the Conservatory. "With Mr. Brubeck's passion for Bach and his classical training at the University of the Pacific Music Conservatory, we believe the addition of the Dave Brubeck Quartet will energize our Conservatory students, garner additional attention and new supporters for the B-W Bach Festival and provide the perfect musical coda to our 75th celebration." The Baldwin-Wallace College Bach Festival was established in 1932 by Albert Riemenschneider, long-time director of the Baldwin-Wallace College Conservatory of Music, and his wife, Selma. Today, the festival brings internationally recognized soloists and talented conservatory students together each year on the B-W campus to perform the works of Bach and his contemporaries. The celebration begins in Berea Friday afternoon, April 20, 2007 at the Baldwin-Wallace College where patrons may visit the Riemenschneider Bach Institute at B-W, one of the primary collections of Baroque manuscripts and first editions in the western hemisphere. Included in the holdings are an original Bach manuscript, copies of Bach works used in performance by Clara Schumann and a copy of Brahms' own conducting score of his Requiem, among many others. The Institute attracts scholars from around the world and also publishes the Journal BACH, which is distributed in 36 countries. Ullrich Bohme, organist at the St. Thomas Church in Leipzig where Bach was once cantor, will perform Friday evening. On Saturday afternoon, April 21, at Severance Hall in Cleveland, the Festival will feature the B-W Conservatory performers and the Bach Choir of Bethlehem (who are celebrating their 100th anniversary this spring) in a combined performance of Bach's Mass in B-Minor. Vocal soloists include Tamara Matthews, soprano;Jennifer Lane, mezzo-soprano; Stanford Olsen, tenor; Christopheren Nomura, baritone; and Kevin Deas, bass. The Dave Brubeck Quartet performance will wrap up the 75th Festival on Sunday afternoon at 2:00pm on the B-W campus. Born on Dec. 6, 1920 in Concord, Cal., jazz legend Dave Brubeck is equally distinguished as composer and pianist. Studies at the College of the Pacific and with Darius Milhaud at Mills College led to the founding, with fellow students, of the experimental Jazz Workshop Ensemble which recorded in 1949 as the Dave Brubeck Octet. Later, in 1958, the combination of Brubeck with drummer Joe Morello, double bassist Eugene Wright, and alto saxophonist Paul Desmond quickly achieved an overwhelming popular success as the Dave Brubeck Quartet. The Quartet's experimentation with time signatures unusual to jazz produced works like Blue Rondo a la Turk and Take Five, introducing millions of enthusiastic young listeners to unexplored regions of jazz. The group recorded and performed together continuously through 1967. As composer, Brubeck has written and, in some cases, recorded several large-scale works including two ballets, a musical, an oratorio, four cantatas, a mass, works for jazz combo and orchestra, and many solo piano pieces. In the last 20 years, he has organized several new quartets and continued to appear at the Newport, Monterey, Concord, and Kool Jazz Festivals. Brubeck performed at the White House in 1964 and 1981 and at the 1988 Moscow summit honoring the Gorbachevs. He is the recipient of four honorary degrees, the BMI Jazz Pioneer Award, and the 1988 American Eagle Award presented by the National Music Council. The Brubeck Institute was established by the University of the Pacific in 2000 to honor its distinguished alumni Dave and Iola Brubeck. The Institute is the realization of the Brubeck's lifelong dedication to music, education, and the advancement of important social issues. The mission of the Institute is to build on Dave Brubeck's legacy - quintessentially American in origin, international in scope and unique in its breadth. write your comments about the article :: © 2006 Jazz News :: home page |