Cara Lieurance

Nathan Le is the silver medal winner of the 2019 Stulberg International String Competition. Le and conductor Bruce Uchimura joined Cara Lieurance to preview the free season-opening concert at Miller Auditorium on Sunday, Oct 6 at 3 pm. Le will perform the Symphonia Concertante for Cello and Orchestra by Sergei Prokofiev, with Shostakovich's Symphony No. 5  and Festive Overture rounding out the program. 

Kathy Nichols, president of the Great Lakes Acoustic Music Association (GLAMA), and folk artist Joel Mabus join Cara Lieurance to preview GLAMAVERSARY, which will be held at the Kalamazoo Valley Community College Texas Township campus on Saturday, Oct 5. 

Nichols explains some of GLAMA's grassroots origins, and previews the nine workshops offered on Saturday beginning at 12 pm. Mabus introduces renowned acoustic artists Pat Donohue and Robin & Linda Williams, who will wrap up the day's festivities with a concert at 7 pm in Dale B. Lake Auditorium. 

New York-based artist Steffani Jemison will perform a new version of her work, Recitatif, at the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts on Friday, Oct 4 at 5:30 and 7 pm. It's a piece she created from her study of Solresol, a 19th century utopian language expressed through musical tones, created by French philosopher and musician François Sudre. It's renewed for each performance by texts of author Toni Morrison, who wrote the short story for which the piece is named. Jemison will partner with cellist Jordan Hamilton in her Kalamazoo performances.

Cara Lieurance talks to Battle Creek Symphony Orchestra music director Anne Harrigan, who opens the season on Oct 5 with a dance-filled concert of Argentine style tango music featuring traditional tango and Tango Nuevo. Guest artists include Hector del Curto, a renowned bandoneonist, and award-winning tango dancers Ana Padron and Andrés Bravo. Selections include El Choclo, Por Una Cabeza, La Cumparsita, works of Piazzolla, Falla's Three Cornered Hat, and the infectious Malambo from Estancia.

Timothy Jansen, director of music and organist for St. Anthony of Padua Church in St. Louis, MO, visited with Cara Lieurance to preview his Sep 30 concert. Jansen and Tom Fielding, the founder of the Sacred Music at the Cathedral Series and organist at St. Augustine Cathedral in Kalamazoo, shared their thoughts about the works on the program and the unusual "above and beyond" requirements of being an organist.