Internationally acclaimed baritone Kenneth Overton, together with pianist Gregory Thompson, will open the 2021-2022 Friends of Good Music performance season at St. 博纳旺蒂尔大学’s Regina一. Quick Center for the 艺术 with an evening 的灵歌.

 

The concert, titled “Been in De Storm so Long,” is at 7:30 p.m. 星期五,9月. 24, in the Quick Center’s Rigas Theater.

 

After a long hiatus because of the COVID-19 p和emic, the Olean-based Friends group returns with its 40th anniversary performance season, its 17th in partnership with the Quick Center.

 

“Kenneth Overton’s glorious baritone voice has sent him around the globe, making him one of the most sought-after opera singers of his generation,路德维希·布伦纳说, executive director of the Quick Center. “没有更好的了 way to reopen our performance season than with a moving 和 jubilant evening 的灵歌 performed by a rising star.”

 

The evening’s program represents a spiritual journey from the cotton fields to the concert hall, 布伦纳说. Overton will perform spirituals rooted in African-American traditions including “Deep River,“骑在耶稣王的身上。,” “I Got to Lie Down” 和 many others. 

 

Overton won a 2020 Grammy Award for Best Choral Performance for his title role in Richard Danielpour’s “The Passion of Yeshua,” with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra 和 Chorus, conducted by JoAnn Falletta.

 

His interpretation of the title role in “Porgy 和 Bess” has been proclaimed as “breathtaking.” He has performed the role more than 100 times at international houses such as the Deutsche Oper Berlin, Palacio Bellas Artes in Mexico 城市, L 'Opera蒙特利尔, The Royal Danish Opera in Copenhagen 和 in the critically acclaimed production from South Africa’s Cape Town Opera.

  

His upcoming engagements include his Metropolitan Opera debut this fall, in the role of Lawyer Frazier in “Porgy 和 Bess;” a reprisal of the role of Ralph Abernathy in “I Dream” with Opera Carolina 和 Charlottesville Opera; 和 as Germont in “La Traviata” for Fort Worth Opera. He will also appear with the National Philharmonic as a soloist in Mozart’s “Requiem” as well as in Brahms’ “Requiem” with South Dakota Symphony, 和 he will debut Damien Geter’s “An African American Requiem” with the Oregon Symphony.

 

Pianist Thompson is known for his work as a solo 和 collaborative artist in the U.S.欧洲和亚洲. Of his Carnegie Hall debut, the New York Times praised his “intuitive playing” 和 his ability to “make a melodic line sing 和 inflect it with delicate rubato effects.” 

 

His international performance credits include concerts at Marble Hall, Salzburg; The Atelier Concert Series, Paris; 和 at the Teatro Signorelli, 意大利. 在美国.S., he has played at New York’s Weill 和 Zankel halls, as well as Steinway galleries in North Carolina 和 Georgia. Artists with whom he has collaborated include singers Grace Bumbry, Allan Glassman 和 Russell Thomas, as well as woodwind faculty members of Austria’s Mozarteum. He has also performed concertos with the Baltimore Symphony, South Carolina Philharmonic 和 Charlotte Philharmonic orchestras.

 

Given the fluid nature of COVID-19 protocols, please check SBU’s COVID-19 website for the university’s latest policy for campus visitors, including ticketholders for Quick Center performances, or call the Quick Center at (716) 375-2494.

 

Subscriptions for the Friends of Good Music performance season are available. A basic subscription (any six concerts) is $102 at full price, $84 for senior citizens 和 St. 博纳旺蒂尔 employees, 和 $27 for students. A full season subscription (seven concerts) is $112 at full price, $92 for senior citizens 和 SBU employees, 和 $30 for students.

 

Single ticket prices are $20 at full price, 16 for senior citizens 和 SBU employees, 学生5美元.

 

For tickets 和 information, call The Quick Center at (716) 375-2494.

 

For each Friends of Good Music performance, The Quick Center will open its galleries one hour before the performance 和 keep them open throughout the intermission. Regular gallery hours are noon to 5 p.m. 星期一至星期五. 

 

Museum admission is free 和 open to the public year round. For more information, visit www.在布.edu/quickcenter.  

 

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