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 Purchase, NY - A discussion with Pulitzer Prize winning author Frank McCourt leads off a month of talk, music, film and dance events at The Performing Arts Center, Purchase College during February.
McCourt, whose memoir Angela’s Ashes spent 117 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list, is the featured guest of the “Conversations on Creativity, Craft and Career” series on Monday, Feb. 2 at 7 p.m. The talk is hosted by Isaiah Sheffer, Artistic Director of Symphony Space and host of the nationally broadcast radio program Selected Shorts. McCourt’s follow-up memoirs — the 1999 sequel ’Tis: A Memoir and the 2005 Teacher Man — also made the bestseller lists. McCourt speaks about his hardscrabble childhood in Ireland and his life as a maverick New York City schoolteacher. Tickets to the talk, in The Recital Hall, are $42.30 and $32.50.
Another edition of Harlan Jacobson’s Talk Cinema is slated for Tuesday, Feb. 10 at 7 p.m. Audiences preview notable foreign and independent films before their release, then discuss them with filmmaking experts and those involved with the films’ creation. Tickets to the screening, in the PepsiCo Theatre, are $22.50.
The Colorado String Quartet tunes up in The Recital Hall on Wednesday, Feb. 11 at 7 p.m. Recognized as one of the finest string quartets on the international scene, the quartet’s performances are noted for their musical integrity, impassioned playing and lyrical finesse. The program includes Barber’s String Quartet, op. 11; Bartok’s Quartet, No. 6 in D Major, sz. 114, BB 119; Cowell’s Mosaic Quartet; and Shostakovich’s Quintet in G Minor, op. 57. The musicians are joined by frequent collaborator Margaret Kampmeier, a leading chamber musician who is a member of the award-winning New Millennium Ensemble. Tickets are $42.30 and $32.50.
The repertoire turns to jazz when famed master pianist, composer and music stylist McCoy Tyner takes the PepsiCo Theatre stage on Saturday, Feb. 21 at 8 p.m. Tyner’s blues-based music has transcended conventional styles to become one of the most identifiable sounds in improvised music. From his start performing with Miles Davis’ sideman saxophonist John Coltrane, Tyner continued to break new ground with his lavishly textured harmonies — incorporating new elements from distant continents and diverse musical influences. Tickets to the concert are $52.50 and $42.50.
Hilary Hahn, another compelling artist on the international concert circuit, takes center stage in The Concert Hall on Friday, Feb. 27 at 8 p.m. The 29-year-old Grammy® Award-winning violinist has been a featured soloist with the world’s great orchestras. Renowned for her intellectual and emotional maturity, she was named "America's Best" young classical musician by Time Magazine in 2001. Tickets to her concert are $67.50, $57.50, $47.50 and $37.50.
The unconventional and marvelously innovative American dance company Pilobolus returns to The Center’s Concert Hall on Saturday, Feb. 28 at 8 p.m. “Take equal parts Graham, gymnastics and Gumby, roll them together into a big, bright ball, and you’ve got Pilobolus,” wrote one enthusiastic reviewer for the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. The physical movement of the company’s works is not drawn from the long traditions of codified dance movement but is invented, emerging from intense periods of improvisation and play. Pilobolus recently has wowed audiences at the Academy Awards, Conan O’Brian and major venues around the world. Tickets for this must-see show are $67.50, $57.50 and $47.50.
For more information, and to buy tickets, contact The Performing Arts Center ticket office (914-251-6200) or log onto The Center’s website at http://www.artscenter.org.
The Center's 31st season is made possible, in part, by the Basic Program Support Grant of the Westchester Arts Council with funds from Westchester County Government.
Purchase College is located in Westchester County, minutes from the Connecticut border. The college, part of the State University of New York system, is a major institution of public higher education encompassing the liberal arts and sciences, professional training in the performing and visual arts, and continuing education. The college campus is home to The Performing Arts Center and The Neuberger Museum of Art, which strive to present models of excellence for both the college and its surrounding community.
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