Shenandoah Conservatory of Shenandoah University announces its Conservatory Performs 2017/18 season. Conservatory Performs is the conservatory’s premier performance series featuring Shenandoah’s own award-winning faculty and students, as well as internationally acclaimed guest artists.
The 2017/18 season features a multitude of events, including top-notch performances by Shenandoah Conservatory’s Symphony Orchestra, Wind Ensemble, vocal and jazz ensembles; the Shenandoah Conservatory theatre and dance divisions; and the Performing Arts Live, Shenandoah New Music and World of the Piano guest artist series.
This season’s guest artist series features venerable masters and world-class innovators, as well as young rising stars. The multidisciplinary Performing Arts Live season will host:
- Telegraph Quartet (Sept. 9), the winner of the 2016 Naumburg Chamber Music Competition;
- Irma Thomas, The Blind Boys of Alabama and The Preservation Hall Legacy Quintet, in an exclusive performance that reflects the very heart and soul of the blues, jazz and gospel traditions of the Deep South;
- Bedlam, an acclaimed New York-based theatre company that will present two of history’s greatest dramas “Hamlet” and “St. Joan” in repertory and performed by four actors; and
- Roomful of Teeth, a Grammy Award-winning vocal powerhouse that integrates into its programming a wide range of vocal techniques from around the world.
Additionally, the Performing Arts Live season features two artist residencies:
- Ana Maria Alvarez, of Los Angeles-based CONTRA-TIEMPO Urban Latin Dance Theatre, will begin development of her new work with Conservatory students, and conduct campus and community workshops; and
- Stuart Pimsler Dance & Theater will conduct a 10-day residency, integrating the arts into education, healthcare and community settings, and culminating in two powerful performances.
World of the Piano, which features an array of world-class pianists from around the globe, features the “impeccable, tasteful and vibrant” (Cleveland Plain Dealer) Ukrainian pianist Vadym Kholodenko; Alexander Bernstein ’16, who studied with John O’Conor at Shenandoah Conservatory; the energetic and “eminently musical” (The New York Times) French pianist Lise de la Salle; audience favorite, Anton Nel; and the acclaimed, multi-award winning Jonathan Biss.
In addition to the lineup of world-renowned guest artist performances, conservatory students, faculty and ensembles present a range of performances throughout the year. The Theatre Division presents contemporary plays as well as musicals from the Broadway canon, including the daring and dazzling hit “Cabaret” and the award-winning backstage farce “Noises Off.”
Instrumental highlights include a performance by the Shenandoah Conservatory Symphony Orchestra with special guest conductor Carlos Izcaray, music director of the Alabama Symphony Orchestra and the American Youth Symphony in Los Angeles; a Wind Ensemble concert featuring works by Pulitzer-prize winning composer Michael Colgrass and Chicago-based composer Jim Stephenson; Jazz Ensemble concerts featuring great standards of swing, blues and New Orleans jazz, as well as a special performance by Mark G. Meadows and the Movement; and Shenandoah New Music at the Bright Box Theater (15 N. Loudoun Street, Winchester, Virginia), which includes performances by EDGE Ensemble, Shenandoah Conservatory’s resident new music ensemble, and guest artist performances by Nordic Affect and wild Up.
Shenandoah Conservatory’s Dance Division presents three performances this season, including a Senior Dance Concert featuring self-produced original works by Shenandoah Conservatory’s class of 2018.
The 2017/18 season also welcomes new and distinguished guest artist collaborations within the Vocal/Choral Division. Highlights include “Collaborative Arts: Piano & Voice” featuring pianist Bradley Moore of Houston Grand Opera; “Music from the Reformation” as part of the annual Bach-Handel Festival; and Franz Lehár’s operetta “The Merry Widow” performed with a chamber orchestra.
Subscriptions are on sale now. Single tickets go on sale Thursday, Aug. 10. Patrons are able to save 20 to 30 percent off general admission tickets with our flexible subscription packages — PICK 5 and PICK 8.
To view an entire calendar of events, purchase tickets and learn more, visit Conservatory Performs online at www.conservatoryperforms.org, in person at the Shenandoah University Box Office located in the Ohrstrom-Bryant Theatre lobby or by phone at 540-665-4569. Regular box office hours are Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
