Performing Arts Series At Lee To Welcome 4 Guest Artists

The Lee University School of Music will present the annual Performing Arts Series concerts on Sunday, Oct. 12, Tuesday, Nov. 18, Thursday, Feb. 19, 2015, and Thursday, March 5, 2015. This series brings notable guest performers to Lee’s campus.

The first concert of the season features Michael Burritt, professor of percussion and department head at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, N.Y.  Mr. Burritt will give a master class on Saturday, Oct. 11 from 3-5 p.m. in the Dixon Center and will perform in concert on Sunday, Oct. 12 at 3 p.m. in the Dixon Center. The Lee University Percussion Ensemble, directed by assistant professor of music Andy Harnsberger, will perform with Mr. Burritt. 

Mr. Burritt has been a featured artist at seven Percussive Arts Society International Conventions, as well as a soloist with numerous symphonies and performing groups worldwide. He is an active composer who has written two concertos, numerous solo and chamber works for marimba and percussion, and two books of etudes. 

Mr. Burritt’s works for solo marimba have become standard repertoire that is frequently required at international competitions. He recently released his third solo recording, “Walking Dreams,” on the Resonator Records label. He is a member of the PAS Board of Directors, a contributing editor for Percussive Notes magazine, the chairman of the PAS Keyboard Committee, and a clinician for Malletech and Zildjian. 

Lee University School of Music alumna Sarah Nordin (Limper) will perform the second concert of the season on Tuesday, Nov. 18, at 7:30 p.m. in Squires Recital Hall. Ms. Nordin is an opera singer who has a private voice studio in Valhalla, N.Y. She earned her bachelor of music from Lee and her master of music from the University of Tennessee. Ms. Nordin has toured Japan with the Metropolitan Opera and toured Europe as a soloist with the American Spiritual Ensemble. 

Opera News praised Ms. Nordin’s voice for its “clear beauty [that] resounded effortlessly” in her performance as Lola in “Cavalleria Rusticana.” 

She has also performed as Marcellina in “Le Nozze di Figaro,” Zita in “Gianni Schicchi,” Isabella in “L’Italiana in Algeri,” Meg in “Falstaff,” Dorabella in “Cosi fan tutte,” and the title role in “Carmen.” 

International Contemporary Ensemble, described by The New York Times as “one of the most accomplished and adventurous groups in new music,” will present the third Performing Arts Series concert on Thursday, Feb. 19, 2015 at 7:30 p.m. in Squires Recital Hall. 

ICE has a modular makeup of 33 leading instrumentalists performing a varied repertoire from solos to large ensembles. This concert will feature Jacob Greenberg, pianist and ICE education director, Alice Teyssier, flutist, and Ryan Muncy, saxophonist and ICE grants manager. ICE will perform a work by assistant professor of music John Wykoff. 

Since its founding in 2001, ICE has premiered over 500 compositions and released many acclaimed albums, with several forthcoming releases on Mode Records. With leading support from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, ICE launched ICElab, a new program that places teams of ICE musicians in close collaboration with six emerging composers each year to develop works that push the boundaries of musical exploration. ICElab projects will be featured in more than 100 performances from 2011–2014. 

ICE has also developed The Listening Room, a new educational initiative for public schools without in-house arts curricula. Using team-based composition and graphic notation, ICE musicians lead students in the creation of new musical works, nurturing collaborative creative skills and building an appreciation for musical experimentation. 

Classical guitarist Jason Vieaux will conclude this year’s series with a concert on Thursday, March 5, 2015 at 7:30 p.m. in Squires Recital Hall, with a master class earlier in the day. 

Mr. Vieaux was named by Gramophone as being “among the elite of today’s classical guitarists,” and he has performed as a concerto soloist with over 50 orchestras. 

Mr. Vieaux released his 12th commercial album, “PLAY,” a selection of audience favorites celebrating his 20 years of professional touring, in January 2014 on Azica Records. In 2012, he launched the Jason Vieaux School of Classical Guitar, an unprecedented technological interface that provides one-on-one online study with Mr. Vieaux for guitar students around the world. Vieaux co-founded the guitar department at The Curtis Institute of Music in 2011 and has taught at the Cleveland Institute of Music since 2001. 

For more information about the Performing Arts Series, including ticketing information, contact the School of Music at 614-8240 or music@leeuniversity.edu.