Music Foundation to sponsor three concerts to benefit Hendersonville Theatre

Press release:

Music Foundation to Sponsor Three Concerts to Benefit Hendersonville Theatre

The Music Foundation of Western North Carolina will present three free concerts this month to benefit the Hendersonville Community Theatre. The “2nd Annual Benefit Concert Series” will be Jan. 14 (classical piano solos), Jan. 15 (classical piano and clarinet), and Jan. 27 (classical/jazz). Each is free and will be held at the theater, 229 S. Washington Street in Hendersonville.

“This is second year the Foundation has sponsored a concert series to benefit the Theatre,” Joann Freeburg, president and founder of the Foundation said. “As a nonprofit arts agency in this region, The Music Foundation of Western North Carolina is establishing itself as a leader in cultural affairs and what better way to contribute to our community than to help a fellow agency, such as the Hendersonville Community Theatre with its educational programming and capital improvements? These will be wonderful concerts, offering classical music with strong elements of jazz. You’ll get to hear live music and drink delicious coffee, and all the while help the Theatre. Come out for the music and help support the arts in Western North Carolina.”

The first concert, “A Rich Blend of Piano Solo Classics,” will be Saturday, Jan. 14, at 4 p.m. and will feature concert pianist 16-year-old Christopher Tavernier, whose current performance program has a coffee theme. This concert will have some the most noted and popular classical piano solos from the Baroque, Romantic, and Modern periods, including J.S. Bach’s “Prelude and Fugue in F minor, BWV 881;” Ludwig van Beethoven’s “Sonata in C Major, Op. 53 Waldstein;” Frederic Chopin’s “Nocturne in C minor, Op. 48, No. 1;” Franz Liszt’s “Saint Francis of Paola Walking on the Waves;” and Sergei Prokofiev’s “Sonata No. 7 in B flat Major, Op. 83.”

The second concert, “Cappuccino: A Rich Swiss Blend of Clarinet & Piano,” will be Sunday, Jan. 15, at 4 p.m. Tavernier and local clarinetist Matthew Hanna will perform both solos and duets, the most noted being the modern classic “Sonata for Clarinet in B-flat and Piano” by the late French composer Francis Jean Marcel Poulenc, who wrote the piece in honor of his friend Swiss composer Arthur Honegger in 1962.

“This will be a diverse concert,” Tavernier said. “The Poulenc piece is classical, but there are definite jazz-like elements. It has three movements, and each is very different giving the listener a wide range of emotional feelings. It helps to know that jazz musician Benny Goodman commissioned the piece in hopes of debuting it with Poulenc. But unfortunately Poulenc died suddenly, and Leonard Bernstein was called in for the premier, which was in 1963 in New York City’s Carnegie Hall. So here you have a French composer, honoring a Swiss composer, at the request of an American jazz musician. It’s not your typical classical concert. If you’ve not heard this piece, you’ll be surprised. In addition, we’ll be playing several pieces representing a wide range of international music.”

Also on the program are several other selections, both solos and duets. The solos will include three clarinet pieces by Igor Stravinsky, “Fantasie” by Jorg Widmann, and “Rhapsody for Clarinet” by Willson Osborne. The piano solos will be Sergei Prokofiev’s “Sonata No. 7 in B flat Major, Op. 83” and Claude Debussy’s “Reflections in the Water.” And the duets will be four short pieces by Howard Ferguson, and Sergei Rachmaninoff’s “Vocalise for Clarinet and Piano Op. 34 No. 14.”

In keeping with his coffee-themed concert series, free coffee will be served at both the first and second concerts. “Like the espresso and milk drink, this music is a blend of strong elements mixed with smooth elements, creating an overall invigorating yet sophisticated experience,” Tavernier said.
The third and final concert, “New Orleans Baroque,” in the series will be Friday, Jan. 27, at 7 p.m. Performing will be Rita Hayes on flute, Karen Sams on piano, Keith Freeburg on double bass, and Morgen Cobb on drums. The ensemble will perform Claude Bolling’s “Suite No. 2 for Flute and Jazz Trio,” which consists of eight pieces that offer a heady mix of American jazz and French classical. This crossover composition was written in 1973, and its recording in 1975 was nominated for a Grammy Award. It paved the way for “Suite for Flute and Jazz Piano Trio No. 2” in 1986.
“Each of these concerts will be fabulous,” Freeburg said. “Our aim is to offer the best in classical music but to reach beyond the strictly ‘classical’ and show how contemporary music — jazz — can be closely related.”

“On behalf of Hendersonville Community Theatre, we are very grateful to the Music Foundation of Western North Carolina for sponsoring this series,” Jim Walker, HCT artistic director and co-managing director, said. “Even though the concerts are free to the general public, we are looking for business sponsors to help underwrite the program. If interested in supporting a great collaborative artistic effort, please contact us.” The Theatre can be reached at (828) 692-1082.

For more information, please call (828) 707-2604. You many also visit HendersonvilleTheatre.org for more details.