Oak Ridge Today

‘Dialogue with Dan’ on Monday

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Stephen Seifert

Stephen Seifert

Dan Allcott, music director of the Oak Ridge Civic Music Association and conductor of the Oak Ridge Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, will speak at noon Monday in the lobby of the historic Grove Theater, High Places Community Church. This will be the fourth “Dialogue with Dan” of the concert season.

His topic will be the “Spring in the Mountains” ORSO-Chorus concert at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Mar. 9, at Oak Ridge High School Performing Arts Center. The featured artist will be Stephen Seifert, mountain dulcimerist from Tennessee, in keeping with the ORSO season theme—“Tennessee Sounds Good to Me.”

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ORCMA Coffee Concert features violin, piano, voice

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“A Night of Violin, Vocal, and Piano Music” will be presented at 7:30 p.m. Sunday at First Presbyterian Church in Oak Ridge.

This first free coffee concert of the Oak Ridge Civic Music Association season will feature violinist John Michael Fox, tenor singer George Deaton, and pianist Pam Robertson.

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Former City Council member Pat Rush dies

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Patricia "Pat" Lewis Paynter Rush

Patricia “Pat” Lewis Paynter Rush

Former Oak Ridge City Council member Patricia “Pat” Lewis Paynter Rush died Wednesday at Methodist Medical Center after a short illness. She was 82.

Rush was elected to City Council in 1987 and served for 14 years. She was also a former board member of the Oak Ridge Civic Music Association and president of the local Altrusa International organization in 1984 and 1985. She had also been a member of many organizations and boards, and was known for her service in many civic endeavors, her obituary said.

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See Oak Ridge mayor play at Rock to Bach Music Festival

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Ridge City Ramblers

Members of the Ridge City Ramblers, who will play at the Rock to Bach Music Festival, are, from left, Gary Coleman, Mary Tuskan, Scott Linn, Abbie Hoerner, Oak Ridge Mayor Tom Beehan and Steve Reddick. (Submitted photo)

Not every city has a mayor who plays a banjo in a band.

Oak Ridge does.

Mayor Tom Beehan and five other musicians are members of The Ridge City Ramblers. The band will perform at Oak Ridge’s third Rock to Bach Music Festival on Jan. 26 at the Oak Ridge Associated Universities Pollard Auditorium.

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Isotone concert Saturday honors Russian physicist

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Isotone Concert Labware

Scott Eddlemon with his collection of “instruments” to be used in the playful “Labware Leggiero” at Saturday night’s Isotone concert at Pellissippi State. (Submitted photo)

The Isotone concert on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. at the Clayton Performing Arts Center at Pellissippi State Community College will offer an assortment of instruments, talents and music in honor of a great Russian physicist and human rights activist.

The instruments range from the school’s new Steinway concert grand piano to a violin to glass beakers, flasks, and test tubes. Remember, isotone is both a music and physics term.

The talents include Japanese world-class pianist and East Tennessee newcomer Emi Kagawa, composer Andrew Sauerwein of Belhaven University in Jackson, Miss., and violinist and former concertmaster Susan Eddlemon and her husband Scott Eddlemon, principal percussionist with the Oak Ridge Symphony Orchestra and founder of the Oak Ridge Civic Music Association’s Isotone Concerts.

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Klezmer band part of Rock to Bach Music Festival Jan. 26

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Dor L'Dor Klezmer Band

Members of the Dor L’Dor Klezmer Band are, from left, Wes Lunsford, Jon Walton, Joe Christian, Jeff Ramey, Ken Brown, Steve Brown, Rachel Brown, and Susan Shorr Brown. (Submitted photo)

One of the groups that will perform at the third Oak Ridge Rock to Bach Music Festival on Saturday, Jan. 26, at Pollard Auditorium is the Dor L’Dor Klezmer Band.

“Your father would love us,” said band member Ken Brown. “But we’re not your father’s klezmer band.”

The band features a singer and eight other performers on three trombones, clarinet, mandolin, piano, bass, and drums. The group plays jazz, waltzes, and slow dancing tunes, as well as klezmer music (including a klezmerized version of “Stars and Stripes Forever”).

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Renowned pianist to debut in Isotone Concert

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Emi Kagawa

Emi Kagawa

Andrew Sauerwein

Andrew Sauerwein

World-class pianist and East Tennessee newcomer Emi Kagawa will make her debut here in the Isotone concert on Saturday, Jan. 19—the third concert in the Chamber Music Series of the Oak Ridge Civic Music Association. The concert will be held at 7:30 p.m. at the Clayton Performing Arts Center at Pellissippi State Community College.

A native of Osaka, Japan, Kagawa has been active as both a soloist and a chamber musician. She has performed extensively throughout the United States, Canada, Italy, and Japan.

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Rock to Bach Music Festival returns to Oak Ridge Jan. 26

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Rock to Bach Music FestivalImagine Bach, Beethoven, and Brahms walking one way as they pass the Beatles walking in the other direction.

That’s the mental image you might have if you attend Oak Ridge’s third Rock to Bach Music Festival on Saturday, Jan. 26, at Pollard Auditorium.

“Rock to Bach” is an all-day music festival presented by the Oak Ridge Civic Music Association as a benefit for ORCMA music organizations, such as the Oak Ridge Symphony Orchestra and Chorus.

More than a dozen groups will perform rock, pop, blues, bluegrass, folk, jazz, gospel, Big Band, swing, klezmer, and classical music.

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Oak Ridge music association receives Tennessee arts grant

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The Oak Ridge Civic Music Association recently received a $20,800 grant from the Tennessee Arts Commission for the 2012-13 season.

The money is being used to help support Oak Ridge Symphony Orchestra and Chorus concerts, which can cost $10,000 apiece.

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ORCMA holiday wreaths for sale

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Holiday Wreath

The Oak Ridge Civic Music Association is again taking advance orders for holiday wreaths made from fresh evergreens.

A traditional symbol of the holiday season, the wreaths are made of Fraser Fir (Southern Balsam). Proceeds from the sale are used in ORCMA’s long-standing commitment to the funding of local music organizations, a press release said.

The wreaths are made-to-order in sizes ranging from 14 inches to 32 inches, and in custom larger sizes as requested. Red or maroon velvet bows are also available by order. Prices for wreaths range from $17 to $30 and bows cost $7, the release said.

And, as in years past, people who would like to give a fresh wreath with a bow to a needy family through Aid to Distressed Families of Appalachian Counties can order one or more, and the Oak Ridge Chorus will deliver them to ADFAC for distribution.

Wreaths must be ordered by Wednesday, Nov. 21, and must be picked up on Saturday, Dec. 8, between 10:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. at the First Presbyterian Church in Oak Ridge. The First Presbyterian Church is located on the southeast corner of Lafayette Drive and Oak Ridge Turnpike. The wreaths will be in the Fellowship Hall.

Call Priscilla McKenney at (865) 482-5374 or Barbara Weber at (865) 463-8269 to order wreaths and bows, or to ask questions.

Award-winning string quartet plays Saturday

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Tesla Quartet

The Tesla Quartet will play at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at Pollard Auditorium in Oak Ridge. (Submitted photo)

The award-winning Tesla Quartet will play at Pollard Auditorium in Oak Ridge on Saturday.

The quartet will perform Gyorgy Ligeti’s “Andante and Allegretto” and Carter Pann’s “String Quartet No. 1: Love Letters.”

Korean-born clarinetist Wonkak Kim, a music faculty member at Tennessee Tech University, will join the quartet to play Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s “Quintet in A Major for Clarinet and Strings.”

It’s the second concert of the season in the Oak Ridge Civic Music Association’s 2012-13 Chamber Music Series. The show starts at 7:30 p.m. Saturday.

ORCMA said the young quartet won a gold medal at the 2012 Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition and third prize in the 2012 London International String Quartet Competition. A quartet-in-residence at the University of Colorado at Boulder, the group has performed in Austria, Canada, and England, as well as the United States.

The quartet formed at the Juilliard School in 2008, quickly establishing itself as one of the most promising young ensembles in New York, the press release said. Quartet members are violinists Ross Snyder and Michelle Lie, violist Megan Mason, and cellist Kimberly Patterson.

Wonkak Kim

Clarinetist Wonkak Kim, a faculty member at Tennessee Tech University, will play with the Tesla Quartet at Pollard Auditorium on Saturday. (Submitted photo)

The Tesla Quartet’s performances have been praised as “technically superb,” “full of urgency, color and subtle dynamics,” and as “a master class in quartet technique,” the release said.

It said Kim has captivated audiences around the globe. He has received praise from reviewers for “excellent breath control and fine command of his instrument,” “lyrical musicality and supple tone,” and “impressive range.” Since his solo debut in 2007 with the Washington Metropolitan Philharmonic, Kim has performed in hundreds of venues on four continents.

The Tennessee Arts Commission is a co-sponsor of this and other ORCMA Chamber Series concerts.

For ticket information, visit the ORCMA website at www.orcma.org or call the ORCMA office at (865) 483-5569. A reserved seat ticket costs $25 ($12 for students).

Becky Ball’s program notes for the concert are on the ORCMA website, and the Tesla’s website is www.teslaquartet.com.

Oak Ridge Symphony Orchestra starts new season Saturday

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Josh Davis

Josh Davis

The Oak Ridge Symphony Orchestra has its first concert of the 2012-2013 season on Saturday.

The concert starts at 7:30 p.m. in the Oak Ridge High School Auditorium.

It features Rachmaninoff’s Third Piano Concerto played by Josh Davis, a Tennessee teenager and concerto competition winner. The orchestra will end the concert with Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony.

Visit the Oak Ridge Civic Music Association website for more information.