Pa. Academy of Music unleashes the classics and a whole lot more

BY JANE HOLAHAN

Staff Writer

A new school year is starting up and that means a big concert lineup begins at the Pennsylvania Academy of Music.

This year is more eclectic than ever, featuring plenty of classical music, but also jazz, bluegrass, folk and pop.

The season is called "Rococo to Rock: the Classics Unleashed."

Everyone from guitar virtuoso Eliot Fisk to the bluegrass band Vinegar Creek Constituency will be performing. Most tickets for concerts throughout the season range from $10 to $15 (and $5 for students).

The first concert is tonight, featuring Paul Morton on guitar and Chris Whittaker on piano. They are graduates of the academy as well as the Peabody Institute.

The duo will play music by J.S. Bach, George Gershwin, Enrique Granados and the Beatles.

As Morton says, "Though I've studied classical music extensively, I've never recovered from a youth of listening to Bob Dylan and Jimi Hendrix, and thus believe that music should not be constrained by genre, but rather classical and jazz and folk should be explored with reckless abandon."

 The concert begins at 7:30 p.m. and it's free.

Two more concerts will be held in September, including The Newstead Trio on Friday, Sept. 18 at 7:30 p.m. The concert will feature works by Haydn, Bernstein and Beethoven as well as the world premiere of Tina Davidson's "Blue Like an Orange."

The trio includes Michael T. Jamanis on violin, Sara Male on cello and Xun Pan on Piano.

And on Sept. 27, at 4 p.m., pianist Anne Koscielny, who is one of the foremost interpreters of Beethoven, will perform a number of his sonatas.

At 2:30 p.m., Jack Behrens will offer a lecture, "But No Sphinx Ever Imagined Such a Riddle: Views and Reviews of Beethoven."

Both Koscielny and Behrens will return on Oct. 18 to, in effect, continue the concert, with more sonatas and another talk, this time focusing on Beethoven's last six sonatas.

The concert season continues through May. Among the many highlights are a foray into bluegrass and folk music with an Acoustic Festival on Oct. 16.

A variety of bands will perform, with a special appearance by Vinegar Creek Constituency, which won the 2008 DelFest Bluegrass Competition

They'll be back to mix it up with the Newstead Trio in the Unconcert Jam Session on Nov. 19, where bluegrass and country will meet classical chamber music.

On Oct. 23, ancient Chinese music will be explored by pianist Xun Pan and Hongyan Zhang, who plays the Chinese pipa, a four-stringed lute.

Founders of the Pennsylvania Academy of Music, Frances Veri and Michael Jamanis, will perform works for two pianos by Gershwin, Rachmaninoff and Brahms on Dec. 4.

The holidays will be celebrated with the All School Concert on Dec. 18, featuring the Academy Children's Choir, Cambiata Choir, the Academy chorale, the Girl's Chorus, the Chamber Group, the Philharmonia Orchestra and the Sinfonia Orchestra. It's free, though reservations are required.

And New Year's Eve will be celebrated with the academy's annual gala, beginning at 9 p.m. Tickets are $75. Artists have not yet been announced.

The first concert of 2010, on Jan. 15, will feature soprano Amy Yovanovich, who will perform showtunes, spirituals, opera and art songs. She will be accompanied by pianist Daniel Lau.

 The new year will bring back famed classical guitarist Eliot Fisk on Feb. 5.

Thomas Jefferson and his Music will be the theme of two concerts, one on Feb. 7 with Arnold Steinhardt performing Bach's "Chaconne." Another, on Feb. 14, will feature Rainer Beckman, director of the academy's early music program, who will perform an evening of early American music, much like Jefferson would have played and listened to, on the recorder.

On Feb. 19, celebrate the Chinese New Year with students from the Music School of the China Conservatory in Beijing, which is the sister school of the Pennsylvania Academy of Music. They will perform folk music from China.

Renaud Garcia-Fons, known as the Paganini of the double bass, will bring his ensemble to the academy on March 21, with music from the Mediterranean Rim and Latin America.

There's plenty more on tap. To see the complete listing, go to the academy's website: pamusacad.org.

E-mail: jholahan@lnpnews.com.

Pa. Academy of Music Concert Series Opener

Paul Morton, guitar, and

Chris Whittaker, piano

Tonight at 7:30. Free

Pa. Academy of Music

42 N. Prince St., 399-9733
www.paacademymusic.com