Press release from Brevard Music Center:
Multi-instrumentalist, composer, and founding member of one of the most the influential American rock bands ever, R.E.M’s Mike Mills will perform his Concerto for Violin, Rock Band, and String Orchestra with violinist and Brevard Music Center (BMC) alumnus Robert McDuffie on Saturday, July 7 at 7:30 PM, in BMC’s Whittington-Pfohl Auditorium. The concert, conducted by Daniel Hege, will also feature works by Samuel Barber and Claude Debussy. Lead Sponsor is RBC Wealth Management of Asheville.
“We are thrilled to welcome Mike Mills to center stage at Whittington-Pfohl Auditorium for a very special performance,” says Brevard Music Center President & CEO Mark Weinstein. “His unique collaboration with BMC alumnus Robert McDuffie promises to be a highlight of our extraordinary 2018 season.”
For over thirty-one years, Mike Mills wrote, recorded, and toured as a founding member of the multiple Grammy® awarding-winning, American rock band R.E.M. He collaborated with his childhood friend from Macon (GA), internationally celebrated violinist Robert McDuffie, on the Concerto for Violin, Rock Band, and String Orchestra in 2016. McDuffie considers Mills “one of the greatest living American composers,” so commissioning a cross-over concerto from his friend seemed only natural. Rolling Stone described their “classical-tinged collaboration” as a “propulsive, upbeat piece full of weeping violin, driving rhythm guitar and an energetic backbeat.”
The 2018 Brevard Summer Music Festival also features a full schedule of unforgettable performances throughout the season, including a multi-faceted Leonard Bernstein Festival; pianist Conrad Tao performing Beethoven; the July 4th family favorite, Patriotic Pops; a Klezmer Concerto with Berlin Philharmonic Concertmaster and Asheville-native Noah Bendix-Balgley; New York City’s WQXR Young Artists Showcase with Robert Sherman; and Grammy award-winning artist Béla Fleck, who will bring his inaugural Blue Ridge Banjo Camp and a special finale concert to BMC in August.
BMC 2018 SUMMER MUSIC FESTIVAL TICKET INFORMATION
Tickets to the 2018 Summer Music Festival start at only $20 and almost 50% of all performances are free. Seating at Whittington-Pfohl Auditorium – BMC’s 1800-seat, open-air auditorium – is free for children under 17* with a paying adult, and students 18 and older* with a valid ID (*some exclusions apply, including the Season Finale and BMC Presents performances).
For tickets to Brevard Music Center’s 2018 Summer Music Festival, visit BREVARDMUSIC.ORG, call (828) 862-2105, or visit the Brevard Music Center Box Office at 349 Andante Lane.
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