Clayton State University’s Spivey Hall will celebrate its 25th Anniversary Season when it kicks off the 2015-16 series in October.
“Season 25 honors the extraordinary legacy of Walter and Emilie Spivey, and the glorious music their generosity has made possible for millions of music-lovers of all ages,” said Spivey Hall Executive and Artistic Director Sam Dixon. “In Season 25, we present a bounty of international musicians whose concerts will enthrall audiences and continue Spivey Hall’s tradition of uncompromising artistic excellence.”
The silver season will shine a spotlight on the artists and audiences that have made Spivey Hall one of the nation’s most respected concert series.
The 30 performances by guest artists appearing in the Spivey Series, and two trios of December and May concerts by the renowned Spivey Hall Children’s Choir Program are at the heart of Season 25’s musical offerings.
The Opening Celebration on Oct. 10 unites two superlative Grammy Award-winning artists in recital: Metropolitan Opera soprano Christine Brewer, and organist Paul Jacobs of New York’s Juilliard School of Music.
Other outstanding Season 25 guest artists beloved by Spivey Hall audiences include superstar violinist Joshua Bell (Jan. 31), the charismatic Welsh bass-baritone Bryn Terfel (April 30), the nine-time Grammy Award-wining Emerson String Quartet (March 20), Chanticleer (Jan. 30), The King’s Singers (Nov. 22), and the Los Angeles Guitar Quartet (March 19).
Canadian pianist Angela Hewitt regales Spivey Hall audiences with two recital programs (Oct. 16 and 18), the latter featuring Johann Sebastian Bach’s masterwork, “The Art of Fugue,” prefaced by her spoken remarks that illuminate the genius of Bach’s composition, left incomplete in mid-phrase at his death.
After a long silence, Hewitt closes her performance with Bach’s final setting of the chorale whose text begins “Vor deinen Thron tret ich Hiermit” (“Before your throne I now appear”), evoking an intensely poignant moment of ineffable and otherworldly beauty.
In a “Haydn Discovery” concert (Feb. 21), the St. Lawrence String Quartet dissects the “Emperor” Quartet by Franz Joseph Haydn with commentary and musical analysis from the stage, then performs it in its entirety, followed by the Atlanta premiere of Californian composer John Adams’ Second Quartet and Haydn’s Quartet Op. 20 No. 6.
Also back by popular demand (Feb. 12) is jazz vocalist René Marie to perform her deeply-felt tribute, “I Wanna Be Evil… (With Love to Eartha Kitt).”
New in Season 25 is a performance by Alan Morrison, son of Clayton State Professor Emerita of Music Jeannine Morrison. He begins his first season as Spivey Hall’s organist-in-residence performing with the Spivey Hall Children’s Choir (Dec. 11-13), and offering a program of “Holiday Brass & Organ” with the brilliantly virtuosic Empire Brass (Dec. 12), last heard at Spivey Hall in 2008. His multi-year residency will include “Organ Discovery Days” (dates to be announced) and festivities still to come in Season 26, honoring the first quarter-century of Spivey Hall’s magnificent Fratelli Ruffatti pipe organ.
Bryan Anderson, an alumnus of the Spivey Hall Children’s Choir Program, a 2015 Curtis Institute graduate, and newly-appointed organ scholar at England’s Wells Cathedral, gives his eagerly-awaited Spivey Hall solo recital debut (Jan. 23).
Noteworthy debuts by international artists include pianists Igor Levit (Feb. 20) and Behzod Abduraimov (May 7); guitarist Miloš Karadalgic (Feb. 20), dubbed “the hottest guitarist in the world” by “The Sunday Times;” the Bach Collegium Japan with British soprano Joanne Lunn and distinguished conductor/harpsichordist Masaaki Suzuki (Nov. 1), with a program of Baroque oboe and recorder concertos, solo cantatas and Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 2; the a cappella British chamber choir Tenebrae directed by former King’s Singer Nigel Short (Oct. 25); the amazing guitarist Julian Lage, leading a trio performance; and the illustrious Bavarian Christiane Karg (April 2), who next season makes both her North American recital debut with pianist Malcolm Martineau at Spivey Hall (rescheduled from February 2014 due to Karg’s laryngitis) and her Lyric Opera of Chicago debut singing Susanna in Mozart’s “Marriage of Figaro.”
Spivey’s 2015-2016 season also includes special events and casual concerts. Tongue-in-cheek humor mixes with musical antics when the globe-trotting Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain makes its Atlanta debut (Oct. 11). Hot Club of Cowtown (Nov. 14), the widely acclaimed western swing trio from Austin. The a cappella quintet from Leipzig, Germany, Calmus sings “Christmas Carols of the World” (Dec. 5); and perennial Spivey Hall favorite, the world-famous Glenn Miller Orchestra, gives two performances (Jan. 9, 11 a.m. and 3 p.m.) of timeless big-band swing tunes.
The musical wealth and variety of Season 25’s Spivey Series is bolstered by the welcome return of the incomparable Takács Quartet playing Beethoven and Webern, joined by 1970 International Chopin Piano Competition First Prize winner Garrick Ohlsson for Elgar’s eloquent Piano Quintet (April 16); the world’s leading guitar duo, Brazilian brothers Sérgio and Odair Assad (Nov. 21); British pianist Paul Lewis (March 13) and the pianistic wizardry of Quebec native Marc-André Hamelin (Nov. 15); a solo recital (Feb. 27) by organist-in-residence Alan Morrison; the Christian McBrideTrio (Nov. 7) to open Season 25’s Jazz Series; and vibraphonist/composer Stefon Harris with his rising-star guitar/flute/piano/bass/ drums quintet Sonic Creed (March 5).
Clayton State Director of Opera and Vocal Studies Dr. Kurt-Alexander Zeller gives informative and engaging talks beginning one hour prior to select Vocal Series and Strings Series concerts (Oct. 10, Nov. 1, Feb. 21, March 20, April 2, 16, and 30), with free admission for ticketholders.
Spivey Hall also posts on its website www.spiveyhall.org program notes and/or Music Notes embedded with clickable musical examples, four to six weeks in advance of most of its Piano, Vocal, Strings, and Organ series concerts.
Also enhancing the Spivey Hall concert experience are Concert Dinners, offering fine food in a pleasant atmosphere with unbeatable convenience for only $40 a person. Season 25 dinners begin at 5:45 p.m. for performances by Angela Hewitt (Sunday, Oct. 18), Chanticleer (Saturday, Jan. 30), Igor Levit (Saturday, Feb 20), Bryn Terfel (Saturday, April 30) and Behzod Abduraimov (Saturday, May 7). Dinners are served buffet style with china and white tablecloth service in the Continuing Education Center, just steps away from Spivey Hall.
