Ithaca College Concerts 'Recitalists Extraordinaire' Season Will Open With Zuill Bailey And Awadagin Pratt

Keith Davis, 8/31/2009

ITHACA, NY — Ithaca College Concerts season of “Recitalists Extraordinaire” will kick off on Friday, Sept. 11, with a performance by cellist Zuill Bailey and pianist Awadagin Pratt. Beginning at 8:15 p.m. in Ford Hall in the James J. Whalen Center for Music, the concert will feature music by Shostakovich, Mendelssohn, Brahms and Arvo Pärt.

Tickets for the concert are on sale at the Ticket Center Ithaca at (607) 273-4497 or (800) 284-8422 or at ithacaevents.com, and at the door if available. Individual ticket prices are as follows:

• Children, senior citizens and Ithaca College students—$11
• Ithaca College alumni, faculty, staff and administrators; Friends of Ithaca College; other students—$19
• General public—$22

 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 Asheville and Napa Valley symphonies 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.

The Ithaca College Concerts season will continue throughout 2009–10 with the following performances:

• Saturday, Feb. 13: Ithaca native and international opera star Theodora Hanslowe.
• Friday, Mar. 26: Organist Cameron Carpenter.

For more information about Ithaca College Concerts, call (607) 274-3717.