2022-2023 Season

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First Season

 

10-12-2022 | 7:30pm | BCPA Concert Hall


The Westerlies, “an arty quartet…mixing ideas from jazz, new classical, and Appalachian folk” (New York Times) are a New York-based brass quartet comprised of Riley Mulherkar and Chloe Rowlands on trumpet, and Andy Clausen and Addison Maye-Saxon on trombone. From Carnegie Hall to Coachella, The Westerlies navigate a wide array of venues and projects with the precision of a string quartet, the audacity of a rock band, and the charm of a family sing-along. 

Formed in 2011, the self-described “accidental brass quartet” takes its name from the prevailing winds that travel from the West to the East. “Skilled interpreters who are also adept improvisers” (NPR’s Fresh Air), The Westerlies explore jazz, roots, and chamber music influences to create the rarest of hybrids: music that is both "folk-like and composerly, lovely and intellectually rigorous” (NPR Music). 

The ensemble has produced numerous critically acclaimed albums of genre-defying music. 2022 saw the release of the Songbook Vol. 2 and Live at TOURISTS on Westerlies Records, the ensemble’s in-house record label. The previous year was a prolific year for the ensemble, with the release of Fireside Brass: A Westerlies Holiday (Westerlies Records), Songbook Vol. 1 (Westerlies Records), and Bricolage (Westerlies Records), a collaborative album of improvisations with pianist/composer Conrad Tao. 2021 also saw the release of This Land, the ensemble’s collaboration with GRAMMY-nominated vocalist Theo Bleckmann. Sought-after collaborators, The Westerlies are also featured on recordings by Fleet Foxes (Nonesuch), Big Red Machine (Jagjaguwar), Vieux Farka Touré (Six Degrees Records), Common (Lakeshore) and Dave Douglas (Greenleaf).

Education and community engagement are core elements of The Westerlies' mission. In 2021, The Westerlies were named the inaugural small ensemble-in-residence at the School of Jazz and Contemporary Music at The New School. The Westerlies also produce an annual music festival in Seattle called Westerlies Fest, which combines evening performances featuring numerous guest artists, and workshops in local public schools. The Westerlies have engaged students of all ages and abilities around the country with their innovative assemblies and masterclasses, promoting the values of cooperation and inclusion through music.

11-03-2022 | 7:30pm | BCPA Concert Hall

Nobuntu, the female a cappella quartet from Zimbabwe, has drawn international acclaim for its inventive performances that range from traditional Zimbabwean songs to Afro Jazz to Gospel. The ensemble’s concerts are performed with pure voices, augmented by minimalistic percussion, traditional instruments such as the Mbira (thumb piano) and organic, authentic dance movements.

02-15-23 | 7:30pm | BCPA Recital Hall


Soprano Tami Petty is a recent Award Winner of the Joy in Singing Competition and made her New York City solo recital debut in 2015. She has performed with the American Symphony Orchestra at Carnegie Hall, with New York Philharmonic at Avery Fisher Hall, and with Voices of Ascension at Alice Tully Hall, for which The New York Times hailed her “powerful soprano” and The Classical Music Network declared, “Such a beauty and purity of tone is so rare that I could only listen in ethereal pleasure." Her performances this season include the the Vaughan Williams A SEA SYMPHONY, Haydn LORD NELSON MASS, Bruckner TE DEUM, Strauss VIER LETZTE GESÄNGE, Wagner WESENDONCK LIEDER, and world premieres by Sorrel Hayes and Gilda Lyons.
Ms. Petty’s favorite oratorio and concert performances include Poulenc GLORIA with Symphony of North Arkansas, Brahms GERMAN REQUIEM with Manchester Choral Society, Beethoven SYMPHONY NO. 9 with Altoona Symphony, Mozart REQUIEM with Sacred Music in a Sacred Space, Dvorak TE DEUM and with St. George Choral Society, Vaughan Williams A SEA SYMPHONY with Buffalo Philharmonic Chorus, DONA NOBIS PACEM with New Hampshire Music Festival, and Richard Strauss VIER LETZTE GESÄNGE with St. Joseph Symphony.
Ms. Petty has performed soprano and mezzo-soprano operatic roles alike, including the title role in SUOR ANGELICA with Southern Arizona Symphony Orchestra, Leonore in FIDELIO with Fort Collins Symphony, the Mother in AMAHL AND THE NIGHT VISITORS with historic Grace Church in New York City, Lady Billows in ALBERT HERRING as a guest with Colorado State University, Mrs. Herring in ALBERT HERRING as a guest with the Adler Fellows of San Francisco, Berta in BARBER OF SEVILLE with the Merola Opera Program, Cincinnati Opera, Central City Opera, and Bronx Opera, the Mother and the Witch in HANSEL AND GRETEL with Chautauqua Opera Outreach, Flora Bervoix in LA TRAVIATA with Cincinnati Opera, Charlotte in scenes from WERTHER at Eastman Opera Theatre, Buttercup in H.M.S. PINAFORE with Rochester Philharmonic, and Dido in DIDO AND AENEAS with Rochester Bach Festival.
A recipient of career grants from the Richard Tucker Foundation, the Lotte Lehmann Foundation, Chautauqua Opera Guild, the Lotte Lenya Competition, and the prestigious Merola Opera Program of the San Francisco Opera Center, Ms. Petty also received special recognition in the Marilyn Horne Song Competition during her time spent at Music Academy of the West. She is the first recipient of the Emerging Artist Award from the Sorel Organization honoring women in music and received the Jessie Kneisel Prize in German Lieder while a student at the Eastman School of Music.

02-24-23 | 7:30pm | Arts & Sciences Auditorium


The Acting Company develops actors by touring professional theater across America.
Founded in 1972 by John Houseman and Margot Harley with the first graduating class of the Drama Division of The Juilliard School, The Company has launched the careers of some 400 actors, including Kevin Kline, Patti LuPone, Mary Lou Rosato, Keith David, Rainn Wilson, Lorraine Toussaint, Frances Conroy, Harriet Harris, Lisa Banes, Jeffrey Wright, Hamish Linklater, Jesse L. Martin, Roslyn Ruff, Jimonn Cole, Kelley Curran, among many others, while bringing sophisticated theater to hundreds of communities from coast to coast.
Among many accolades, The Acting Company won the 2003 Tony Award for Excellence in the Theater, and recently won the 2019 Audelco Award for Best Play for its production of Nambi E. Kelley’s Native Son directed by Seret Scott.
The Acting Company has been seen by over 4 million people in 48 States, 10 foreign countries, on and Off-Broadway, and at leading resident theaters including the Guthrie, the Kennedy Center and New York City Center.
New works commissioned by The Acting Company include plays William Finn, Marcus Gardley, Rebecca Gilman, John Guare, Beth Henley, Tony Kushner, Lynn Nottage, Meg Miroshnik, Ntozake Shange, Maria Irene Fornés, Spalding Gray, Marsha Norman, Charles Smith, Samm-Art Williams, and Wendy Wasserstein among other notable playwrights. The Company's education programs bring professional productions, in-school residencies, and teacher training workshops to thousands of students in underserved schools and disadvantaged communities each year.