Athens, Ga. – Dave Brubeck, one of the legendary figures of American jazz, will be in residence at the University of Georgia’s Hugh Hodgson School of Music Feb. 11-15 along with the Dave Brubeck Quartet and conductor Russell Gloyd. The residency will feature two performances, two lectures and a traveling exhibit.
The Dave Brubeck Quartet will perform The Light in the Wilderness, conducted by Gloyd and featuring baritone Frederick Burchinal, Wyatt and Margaret Anderson Professor in the Arts, the UGA Concert Choir, University Chorus and Symphony Orchestra on Wednesday, Feb.13, at 8 p.m. at the UGA Performing Arts Center.
This performance will celebrate the 40th anniversary of Brubeck’s first oratorio and major work as a composer. Tickets for the general public are $20 and $25 and are on sale now. UGA student tickets are $10 and $12.50 and will go on sale Feb. 4. Call 706/542-4400 to purchase tickets.
The week-long residency by Brubeck and Gloyd is made possible by the Charles McCay Fund and the Willson Center for Humanities and Arts. The Willson Center Lecture Series brings to campus distinguished scholars and artists, nominated by faculty and selected by an advisory board. Brubeck and Gloyd were nominated by Hodgson faculty members Mitos Andaya and Alan Crowell.
Gloyd, Brubeck’s producer, conductor and arranger has worked with Brubeck since 1976. Gloyd has conducted scores of concerts with major orchestras, choral ensembles and jazz organizations throughout the world. He has recorded with the London Symphony Orchestra and has produced numerous records for Dave Brubeck and the Dave Brubeck Quartet.
The quartet, featuring Dave Brubeck (piano), Bobby Millitello (sax and flute), Michael Moore (bass) and Randy Jones (drums), will perform on Thursday, Feb. 14, at 8 p.m. at the UGA Performing Arts Center. The UGA Classic City Jazz vocal ensemble will perform a set and be joined by the Quartet. The Quartet will perform a set and be joined by the UGA Jazz Band I and Classic City Jazz for a finale including “Take Five,” Brubeck’s signature composition with its unusual 5/4 time. Tickets are $40 and $45, on sale now. UGA student tickets, $20 and $22.50, will go on sale Feb. 4. Call 706/542-4400 to purchase tickets.
In addition, Gloyd and Brubeck will give two lectures: “Experience in the Music Business,” on Feb. 14 at 3:30 p.m. and “The Sacred Choral Music of Dave Brubeck,” on Feb. 15 at 10:10 a.m. Both lectures are free and open to the public and will take place in the Hugh Hodgson School of Music on UGA’s East Campus.
The Times of Dave Brubeck: A Traveling Exhibit will be on display in the third floor lobby of the music building, from Feb. 5 to 15. The exhibit focuses on Brubeck’s contributions to jazz and classical music, his involvement in civil rights issues and his role in cultural ambassadorship programs that used jazz to improve relations between the United States and other countries.
Brubeck, now 87, is one of the seminal figures in the history of American jazz. As a composer and pianist, he has been at the center of the American musical world for well more than half a century. In 1996, he received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.
Brubeck’s choral works cover a variety of genres, from his initial oratorio The Light in the Wilderness (1968) on the teachings of Christ, the seeds for which were planted during Brubeck’s service as an infantryman in Gen. George S. Patton’s Third Army during World War II, to Upon This Rock (1987), a chorale and fugue for the entrance of Pope John Paul II into San Francisco’s Candlestick Park, to Earth Is Our Mother (1992) based on the speech of Native American Chief Seattle, to Hold Fast to Dreams (1998), a song cycle based on the poems of Langston Hughes. In live performance, Brubeck and his quartet, or Brubeck as piano soloist, often add improvisatory passages that are interspersed with the choral singing.
For more information, please visit www.music.uga.edu or call 706/542-3737.
