ITHACA, NY — Ithaca College Concerts announces its 2009–10 season of “Recitalists Extraordinaire,” which will feature three concerts by five outstanding musicians. All concerts begin at 8:15 p.m. in Ford Hall in the James J. Whalen Center for Music.

• Friday, Sept. 11: Cellist Zuill Bailey and pianist Awadagin Pratt
• Saturday, Feb. 13: Ithaca native and international opera star Theodora Hanslowe (the pianist will be named later)
• Friday, Mar. 26: Organist Cameron Carpenter

Season subscriptions are available at the following levels:

• Children, senior citizens, and Ithaca College students –– $26.50
• Ithaca College alumni, faculty, staff, and administrators; Friends of Ithaca College; other students — $45.75
• General public –– $53

To subscribe to the series via credit card for a cost savings, visit Ticket Center Ithaca, located on the ground floor of Center Ithaca, or call (607) 273-4497. You may also send in the form from the mailed brochure. Past subscribers will receive their brochures automatically; to be added to that mailing list call (607) 274-3171.

Zuill Bailey is one of the most sought-after cellists today; his engagements this season include the Dvorak concerto with the Nashville Symphony, Bach suites at the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, and the Australian Festival of Chamber Music. He will perform the Brahms Double, Dvorak, Elgar, and Shostakovich concerti, and Strauss’s “Don Quixote” with the symphonies of Asheville and Napa Valley, and the National Philharmonic at Strathmore, among others. International dates include performances of the Beethoven Triple Concerto with the Israel Philharmonic and the Perlman-Schmidt-Bailey trio (pianist Navah Perlman and violinist Giora Schmidt).

Awadagin Pratt is acclaimed for his musical insight and intensely involving performances. He was the first student at the Peabody Conservatory to receive diplomas in three performance areas: piano, violin and conducting. His major summer festival engagements include Ravinia, Blossom, Wolf Trap, Caramoor and Aspen. Pratt is also the artistic director of the Next Generation Festival, a two-week chamber music festival in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

Theodora Hanslowe has met with critical praise from the “Washington Post” for her “warm, supple, and richly expressive voice, considerable acting ability and commanding stage presence” and from the “Salzburger Nachrichten” for her “high vocal quality, personality and joy in performing that is impossible to ignore.” Last season she sang the part of Flora in “La Traviata” at the Metropolitan Opera, a role she reprised for the Met’s opening night gala that was broadcast live in movie theaters internationally. She opened her 2008–9 season to resounding acclaim by performing the demanding title role in the Santa Fe Opera’s American premiere of Saariaho’s “Adriana Mater.”

Cameron Carpenter has been pushing the organ’s performance limits since he made a transcription for organ of Mahler’s Symphony No. 5 — a one-year project finished on his 16th birthday. Carpenter continues to expand boundaries with his recent arrangements of virtuoso piano music as well as his so-called “experiments” with Art Tatum’s improvisations and solo readings of two-piano settings of Gershwin’s piano rolls. His Telarc debut album “Revolutionary,” which includes a transcription of a Chopin etude featuring incredibly fast footwork, was nominated for a Grammy.