Thanks to our new neighbors, South Sound Magazine, for highlighting the Old Town District's lion dance and Classical Tuesdays' first concert of 2011-12! South Sound Magazine just moved to Old Town a few months ago, and we're delighted to welcome them to the district.
More information on the events:
Chinese Concert & Lion Dance on October 11
We would like to post a few good photos of the lion dance and the concert, and South Sound Magazine may also be able to use one or two photos. If you have photos to share, please drop us an email.
Last week, TV Tacoma's CityLine featured Classical Tuesdays Artistic Director Pamela Ryker along with segments on the Tacoma Film Festival and the Fall Free For All. CityLine is great to work with, and we're enjoying hearing from those of you who've already seen the episode.
If you missed the show last week, you can still catch it online or on cable:
Tomorrow night, we're delighted to both open the Classical Tuesdays 2011-12 season and also honor the Chinese Reconciliation Project and the newly-dedicated Fuzhou Ting. Friday's News Tribune gave a good description:
Chinese music program honors new park
By Rosemary Ponnekanti on October 7, 2011
With the Chinese Reconciliation Park just opened at the Old Town Tacoma waterfront, Tacoma has finally taken a step in throwing off its historically infamous relationship with its Chinese citizens, going some way toward apologizing for brutally evicting them in 1885. Next week, that step is honored further with a free concert of classical Chinese music in Old Town’s Slavonian Hall, preceded by an outdoor lion dance through Old Town.
The concert and dance are part of the seventh season of the Classical Tuesdays series, a free series of classical concerts presented by the Old Town business district that often goes out of the box: Upcoming concerts include a string trio, the annual opera aria fundraiser, a Tacoma composer and a medieval vocal consort.
This Tuesday kicks off with the U.S. China Music Ensemble led by Warren Chang, a Seattle-based orchestra of traditional Chinese instruments like erhu, pipa, dizi and guzheng blending to create that shimmery Asian soundscape.
October 11th, 2011, kicks off our seventh season of Classical Tuesdays in Old Town! We'll feature four widely varied free concerts, plus our annual benefit concert. The line-up is:
October 11 Chinese Concert & Lion Dance
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| Pipa |
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| Erhu |
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| Guzheng |
We hope to see you tomorrow, February 8, for our final concert of the season! It's nice to end with a bang, so we're doubly glad to be among The News Tribune's Critic's Pick:
Critic's Picks: William Wolfram piano at UPS, African American history portraits, Classical Tuesdays in Old Town and Garrison Keilor at the Pantages
By Rosemary Ponnekanti on February 4, 2011
Classical Tuesday features “Expanded Sounds”
This month’s Classical Tuesday in Old Town will expand your listening ears with contemporary classical music for electric guitar, marimba, flute, voice and electronics. 7 p.m. Feb. 8. Free. Slavonian Hall, 2306 N. 30th St., Tacoma. 253-752-2135, classicaltuesdays.blogspot.com
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| Jasper Tollefson |
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| Miho Takekawa |
Despite the weather, Classical Tuesdays had a lovely evening with the Tacoma Youth Symphony chamber ensembles. Thanks to The News Tribune for a nice tribute to our young performers:
Free Arts Month: youthful chamber music in a snowy Old Town
By Rosemary Ponnekanti on January 11, 2011
You could almost believe you were in Europe – listening to Haydn and Handel before walking outside into a snowy street. Tonight was a concert in the Classical Tuesdays in Old Town series, free shows in Slavonian Hall on North 30th Street that range from really new percussion compositions to saxophone quartets and baroque lute songs. Tonight’s concert showcased the young musicians in the Tacoma Youth Symphony Association, in particular their wind and string principals as they combined in various permutations to make chamber music.
It wasn't a professional concert, unlike some fantastic ones the Classical Tuesdays folk have put together. But it’s a learning experience for these fine young musicians – playing chamber music is like having an erudite, enthusiastic conversation where everyone speaks at once and yet you’re listening to what everyone’s saying. It’s hard to do well, but these teenagers achieved some graceful moments, from the opening Haydn string quartet (rather solemn) to the pleasant woodwind quartet and lush string quintet by Spaniard Joaquin Turina. Violinists Jonathan Galle and Ana Campo shone, as did cellist Wesley Newsome; and there was a rocking bass quartet playing with deadpan deliberation and great intonation (which is difficult, as I know from many personal experiences.)
And then, of course, all that beautiful snow…
Tonight Classical Tuesdays is proud to present the Tacoma Youth Symphony Association's chamber players. See the Tacoma Weekly for some great photos of our young performers.
It's looking wintry outside, so join us for a cozy night with delightful chamber music and delicious coffee, cocoa, and cookies!
When and where:
Tuesday, Jan. 11th, 2011, at 7 pm, FREE.
Slavonian Hall, 2306 N. 30th St., Old Town Tacoma
Info here or (253)752-2135
Thanks to all who came out for our 2010 Wine & Song benefit concert! The "Romantic Arias" theme was an instant favorite, and the reception was lovely as always, thanks to our wonderful volunteers.
Tacoma photographer Dayton Knipher was kind enough to provide photos of the event. Below are soprano Alexandra Picard, baritone Charles Robert Stephens, and pianist Denes Van Parys in the handsome John Connelly Law Offices.
The Weekly Volcano says to come down to Old Town for tonight's benefit concert!
5 Things to Do Today
1. "Wine & Song" - what more could you want from a Tuesday evening? Check out Classical Tuesdays in Old Town Tacoma tonight for the annual Wine & Song benefit, welcoming Alexandra Picard and baritone Charles Robert Stephens for what's being billed as an evening of "Romantic Arias."
Curious about next Tuesday's Wine & Song benefit concert? The Tacoma Weekly has a preview:
Romantic Arias
By Dawn Quinn, TacomaWeekly.com
December 09, 2010
Annual holiday opera concert to benefit Classical Tuesdays
October through February, the Classical Tuesdays in Old Town series offers free classical concerts the second Tuesday night of each month. Though the program is put on in part through grants from the Tacoma Arts Commission and local businesses, in order to keep the program going every year it too needs some help. Enter the fourth annual benefit “Wine and Song,” which will be taking place Dec. 14 in Old Town. ...
The 2010 benefit theme is “Romantic Arias.” Featured artists will be soprano Alexandra Picard and baritone Charles Robert Stephens (who has sung for the series on a number of occasions). Denes Van Parys will accompany both on piano.
“Charles Stevens has sung with us a few times in the past and we love him,” Ryker said. “He has a wonderful baritone voice and used to sing with the New York City Opera and then moved to the Northwest. We see his name often now in programs around here and with the Seattle Opera as well. Alexandra Picard spends half the year in Vienna and half in Seattle; her career is really taking off for a young soprano.” ...
The annual Wine and Song benefit will take place Dec. 14 at 7 p.m. at John Connelly Law Offices, located at 2301 N. 30th St. in Old Town. Tickets are on sale now for $25 at Bayview Optical, 2217 N. 30th St., or The Spar coffee shop. All proceeds go toward funding the Classical Tuesdays In Old Town series for next year. For more information, call (253) 752-2135 or visit http://classicaltuesdays.blogspot.com.
Tickets are now available for December's Wine & Song event "Romantic Arias." Visit Bayview Optical at 2217 N. 30th, Suite 106 or The Spar Coffee Shop at 2121 N. 30th, both in Old Town, to purchase tickets (at $25 each, to benefit the series), or call (253) 752-2135.
A $25 ticket admits you to a festive evening of great arias, tasty food and wines, and neighborly conviviality at the handsome John Connelly Law Offices, 2301 N. 30th Street.
Join us Tuesday, November 9th, as Classical Tuesdays presents an evening of strings!
The Tacoma Weekly has a nice feature on our concert. One correction to the article: November's concert will be at the Slavonian Hall.
Held on the second Tuesday of each month from October to February, the informal concert series seeks to engage listeners in a dialogue with musicians while creating a strong sense of community. ...
The series kicked off on Oct. 12 with a concert by world-renowned Native American flutist Gary Stroutsos, and returns again on Nov. 9 in a performance by a string quartet comprised of violinists Maria Sampen and Jennifer Caine, violist Timothy Christie and cellist Sally Singer.
Sampen and Christie are both faculty members at University of Puget Sound, while Caine and Singer are members of the faculty at Icicle Creek Music Center in Leavenworth. The four will be performing “Leyendas: an Andean Walkabout” by Gabriela Frank, a contemporary American composer. Several movements and vignettes will reflect Frank’s Peruvian heritage and travels.
Classical Tuesdays' next concert on Tuesday, November 9th is a News Tribune Critic's Pick!
The Classical Tuesdays in Old Town series this month features a UPS faculty-based string quartet playing Gabriela Frank’s “Legends,” a composition reflecting her heritage and travels.
"inspiration from the idea [that] cultures can coexist without the subjugation of one by the other. As such, this piece mixes elements from the western classical and Andean folk music traditions."
Tonight's Classical Tuesdays concert is the Weekly Volcano's #1 pick!
5 Things To Do Today: Where it comes and where it goes
October 12, 2010
1. Classical Tuesdays in Old Town presents a free concert tonight of Native American Flute performed by Gary Stroutsos, whose music was showcased in the Ken Burns PBS documentary, Lewis and Clark: Journey of the Corps of Discovery. Stroutsos will perform at 7 p.m. inside the Slavonian Hall in Tacoma.
