Performing Arts at Lawrence 2024-2025 by Lawrence University

Sō Percussion with Caroline Shaw

Friday, October 18, 2024, 7:30 p.m. • Lawrence Memorial Chapel

Eric Cha-Beach

Josh Quillen

Adam Sliwinski

Jason Treuting with composer Caroline Shaw

For 20 years and counting, Sō Percussion has redefined chamber music for the 21st century through an “exhilarating blend of precision and anarchy, rigor and bedlam” (The New Yorker). They are celebrated by audiences and presenters for a dazzling range of work: for live performances in which “telepathic powers of communication” (New York Times) bring to life the vibrant percussion repertoire; for an extravagant array of collaborations in classical music, pop, indie rock, contemporary dance, and theater; and for their work in education and community, creating opportunities and platforms for music and artists that explore the immense possibility of art in our time.

Sō continues its collaboration with Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Caroline Shaw with a new collection of songs. These new songs will be featured alongside music from 2020’s Grammy Award-winning song cycle Narrow Sea, and the co-composed album of songs Let the Soil Play its Simple Part

Grupo Bella

Monday, October 28, 2024, 8:00 p.m. • Harper

Hall

Formed in the summer of 2011, Grupo Bella is a multi-faceted ensemble from the Los Angeles area. Grupo Bella is quickly becoming known for their excellent musicianship and diverse repertoire. With their use of traditional Mariachi instrumentation, they have their roots in the Mariachi genre, while also spanning the music of many different cultures, decades, and various Latin American and American styles.

Grupo Bella is passionate about student and community outreach having traveled extensively giving music workshops about the history and cultural significance of folk music from the different regions in Mexico and Latin America. It’s Grupo Bella’s hope this will keep the culture alive and inspire future generations to help the music continue to grow and thrive. The group founder and musical director, Vanessa Ramirez, is an accomplished singer, Grammy award-winning vocalist and Grammy-nominated composer.

René Marie Quartet

Friday, November 8, 2024, 7:30 p.m. • Lawrence Memorial Chapel

In a span of two decades, 11 recordings and countless stage performances, vocalist René Marie has cemented her reputation as not only a singer but also a composer, arranger, theatrical performer and teacher. Guided and tempered by powerful life lessons and rooted in jazz traditions laid down by Ella Fitzgerald, Dinah Washington and other leading ladies of past generations, she borrows various elements of folk, R&B and even classical and country to create a captivating hybrid style. Her body of work is musical, but it’s more than just music. It’s an exploration of the bright and dark corners of the human experience, and an affirmation of the power of the human spirit.

Sean Jones Quartet

Saturday, November 9, 2024, 7:30 p.m. • Lawrence

Memorial Chapel

Music and spirituality have always been fully intertwined in the artistic vision of trumpeter, bandleader, composer, educator and activist Sean Jones. Singing and performing as a child with the church choir in his hometown of Warren, Ohio, Sean switched from the drums to the trumpet at the age of 10.

Sean is a musical chameleon and is comfortable in any musical setting no matter what the role or the genre. He is equally adept in being a member of an ensemble as he is at being a bandleader. Sean turned a 6-month stint with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra into an offer from Wynton Marsalis for a permanent position as lead trumpeter, a post he held from 2004 until 2010. In 2015 Jones was tapped to become a member of the SFJAZZ Collective. During this time, Sean has managed to keep a core group of talented musicians together under his leadership forming the foundation for his groups that have produced and released eight recordings on the Mack Avenue Records, the latest is his 2017 release Sean Jones: Live from the Jazz Bistro.

Sean has been prominently featured with a number of artists, recording and/or performing with many major figures in jazz, including Illinois Jacquet, Jimmy Heath, Frank Foster, Nancy Wilson, Dianne Reeves, Gerald Wilson and Marcus Miller. Sean was selected by Miller, Herbie Hancock and Wayne Shorter for their Tribute to Miles tour in 2011.

Larry & Joe

Wednesday, January 29, 2025, 8:00 p.m. • Harper Hall

This dynamic duo is composed of Larry Bellorín of Monagas, Venezuela, a legend of Llanera music, and Joe Troop, a GRAMMY-nominated bluegrass musician from North Carolina. The two fell into step together when the pandemic sent Troop back home to The Tarheel State after ten years in South America, the same state where Bellorín happened to end up as an asylum seeker.

Their unique blend of Venezuelan and Appalachian folk on the harp, banjo, cuatro, fiddle, guitar, maracas, and whatever else fits in the van, unites their own unique cultures and traditions, while bringing music to the forefront of social movements.

Isidore String Quartet

Friday, February 7, 2025, 7:30 p.m. • Lawrence Memorial Chapel

Winners of a 2023 Avery Fisher Career Grant, and the 14th Banff International String Quartet Competition in 2022, the New York City-based Isidore String Quartet was formed in 2019 with a vision to revisit, rediscover, and reinvigorate the repertory. The quartet is heavily influenced by the Juilliard String Quartet and the idea of ‘approaching the established as if it were brand new, and the new as if it were firmly established.’

The members of the quartet are violinists Adrian Steele and Phoenix Avalon, violist Devin Moore, and cellist Joshua McClendon. The four began as an ensemble at the Juilliard School and following a break during the global pandemic reconvened at the Kneisel Hall Chamber Music Festival in the summer of 2021 under the tutelage of Joel Krosnick. In addition to Mr. Krosnick, the ISQ has coached with Joseph Lin, Astrid Schween, Laurie Smukler, Joseph Kalichstein, Roger Tapping, Misha Amory, Timothy Eddy, Donald Weilerstein, Atar Arad, Robert McDonald, Christoph Richter, Miriam Fried, and Paul Biss.

Matt Wilson’s Good Trouble Quintet

Saturday, February 22, 2025, 7:30 p.m. • Lawrence Memorial Chapel

Matt Wilson, drums

Tia Fuller, alto saxophone

Dawn Clement, piano and vocals

Jeff Lederer, tenor saxophone and clarinet

Ben Allison, bass

Matt Wilson has released thirteen albums as a leader, appeared on more than 400 others as a sideman and has played with an impressive array of some of the most legendary names in jazz, including Wynton Marsalis, Lee Konitz, Joe Lovano, Pat Metheny, Dewey Redman, Charlie Haden, John Scofield, Joanne Brackeen and Herbie Hancock, just to name a few.

Wilson was named 2018 Musician of the Year by the Jazz Journalists Association and his album, Honey And Salt (Music Inspired by the Poetry of Carl Sandburg), won the JJA’s Album of the Year Award. That recording and his previous, Beginning of a Memory, accomplished the rare feat of an artist receiving consecutive 5-star (masterpiece) reviews from Downbeat magazine.

Wilson’s commitment to jazz goes far beyond his estimable skills as a drummer and bandleader. Also a renowned educator, he is on a tireless mission to foster a lively and deep connection between music and people, whether they be playing or listening to it. To that end, he is extremely passionate about bringing jazz to new audiences and inspiring students to be as individualistic and imaginative as possible.

Yumi Kurosawa Trio

Wednesday, April 2, 2025, 8:00 p.m. • Harper Hall

Yumi Kurosawa was born and raised in a traditional Japanese music environment, taking up the Koto from a young age and rising fast to the upper echelons of her craft. Ever since she was a teenager, however, she constantly surrounded herself with contemporary music by Western music composers, integrating their melodies and phrasings into her solo Koto. As her career expanded, she carried these interests into ensembles featuring Western musical instruments, especially strings.

For this trio Yumi is joined by violinist Naho Parrini and percussionist Yousif Sheronick. The program features exhilarating new compositions from Yumi alongside striking reinterpretations of favorites from her oeuvre, highlighting the shared affinity between these seemingly disparate instruments. The trio setting allows Yumi to expand her solo compositions into dynamic and multifaceted performances that encompass a wide range of expression and dimension.

Roomful of Teeth

Friday, April 4, 2025, 7:30 p.m. • Lawrence Memorial Chapel

Roomful of Teeth is a two-time GRAMMY Award-winning ensemble dedicated to the performance of new works for eight amplified voices. Through collaboration, commissioning, and new technologies, they seek to reimagine the expressive potential of the human voice.

Their latest album, Rough Magic (New Amsterdam Records, 2023) was captured using groundbreaking recording techniques and innovative spatial technology.

Roomful of Teeth was recognized at the 66th GRAMMY awards in 2024, winning Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance for Rough Magic; and composer William Brittelle’s work Psychedelics, which appears on the album, was nominated for Best Contemporary Classical Composition.

This event is also part of the New Music Series.

Michelle Cann, piano

Friday, April 18, 2025, 7:30 p.m. • Lawrence Memorial Chapel

Lauded as “exquisite” by The Philadelphia Inquirer and “a pianist of sterling artistry” by Gramophone, Michelle Cann has become one of the most sought-after pianists of her generation. She made her debut with The Philadelphia Orchestra in 2021 and has recently performed concertos with The Cleveland Orchestra, the National Symphony Orchestra, the Orquestra Sinfônica Municipal de São Paulo, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and the symphony orchestras of Atlanta, Baltimore, and Cincinnati.

Highlights of Cann’s 2023-24 season include appearances with the Charlotte, Hawaii, Indianapolis, Québec, Sarasota, and Winnipeg symphony orchestras, and recitals in New York City, Portland, Berkeley, Beverly Hills, and Denver. She also has teaching and performance residencies at the University of Indiana South Bend and Meany Center for the Performing Arts at the University of Washington.

Kneebody

Friday, May 2, 2025, 7:30 p.m. • Lawrence

Memorial Chapel

In their almost two-decade history, the Grammy-nominated band Kneebody has created a genre and style all its own. Their sound is explosive rock energy and highlevel nuanced chamber ensemble playing set within the frames of highly wrought compositions that are balanced with adventurous no-holds-barred improvising.

Kneebody is keyboardist Adam Benjamin, trumpeter Shane Endsley, saxophonist Ben Wendel and drummer/bassist Nate Wood. The band has no leader or rather, each member is the leader; they’ve developed their own musical language, inventing a unique cueing system that allows them each to change the tempo, key, style, and more in an instant.

The group met in their late teens while at The Eastman School of Music and Cal Arts, became fast friends, and converged together as Kneebody amid the vibrant and eclectic music scene of Los Angeles in 2001. Since then, each band member has amassed an impressive list of credits and accomplishments over the years all while the band has continued to thrive and grow in reputation, solidifying a fan base around the world.

Lawrence Community Tickets

Discounts are available for Lawrence students, faculty, staff and emeriti faculty. Please inform the box office when placing your order that you are part of the Lawrence community.

Box Office Hours

The box office, located in the Music-Drama Center, 420 E. College Ave., is open 1–6 p.m. Monday through Saturday, when the college is in session. The box office will open for the season on September 23, 2024. The box office phone number is 920-832-6749

Accessible Seating

Special seating is available for patrons in wheelchairs. Please inform the box office when purchasing tickets. A wheelchair ramp is located on the east side of the Lawrence Memorial Chapel along with several accessible parking spaces. Assistive devices cannot be placed in the aisles. All wheelchairs, walkers, canes, etc., must be stored out of the aisles. For assistance, please see an usher.

Guidelines

• Memorial Chapel doors will open 30 minutes before each performance.

• No audio or visual recording devices are allowed.

• Children age three and older must have a ticket and are not permitted to sit on an adult’s lap.

• No food or drink is allowed.

• Restrooms are located in the basement of the chapel. Stairs are located on the west end of the lobby.

• An accessible restroom is located at the east end of the lobby.

About the College

Lawrence University, chartered in 1847, is a nationally recognized college of liberal arts and sciences with a conservatory of music. The 84-acre campus is situated on a bluff overlooking the historic Fox River.

Conservatory of Music

The Lawrence University Conservatory of Music, established in 1874, is the nation’s only conservatory of music within a nationally recognized undergraduate college of liberal arts and sciences. This unique relationship provides music students with opportunities for performance and research rarely available to undergraduates in schools with advanced degree programs.

About the Performing Arts at Lawrence Series

The Lawrence University Performing Arts Series is supported by the Ethel M. Barber Endowment for the Arts. The Artist Series is supported, in part, by funds provided by the Marion R. Lemke 2000 Revocable Living Trust in remembrance of John Anton Lemke ’35, a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Lawrence and a piano student of Gladys Ives Brainard.

Downtown Appleton

Appleton’s eclectic downtown is home to several specialty retail shops, fine dining and a wide array of ethnic eateries, along with art galleries, museums and nightlife options. Downtown lodging options include the CopperLeaf Boutique Hotel (copperleafhotel.com), the Hilton Appleton Paper Valley (www.hilton.com/en/hotels/atwpvhh-hilton-appleton-paper-valley), and the Franklin Street Inn (franklinstreetinn.com), a bed and breakfast.

Getting to Lawrence

Appleton is located 90 minutes north of Milwaukee, 30 minutes south of Green Bay, three hours north of Chicago and 5 ½ hours east of Minneapolis. The Appleton International Airport serves the entire Fox Cities area with flight services from Allegiant Air, American Airlines, Delta and United Express.

From the North or South

Take Interstate 41 to the College Avenue exit. Proceed east 4 miles through downtown Appleton.

From the West

Take Highway 10, which connects with the Highway 441 bypass. Take the Oneida Street exit and proceed north to College Avenue. Take College Avenue east through downtown Appleton.

Campus and Parking

The Lawrence campus is located just east of downtown Appleton. The Lawrence Memorial Chapel is located on the north side of College Avenue. The Music-Drama Center, where the box office is located, is just west of the Chapel. Parking is limited but is available on the adjacent streets. There are accessible parking spaces in the parking lot east of Memorial Chapel.

Order Season Tickets

Please tear out this form and mail to Lawrence University box office to reserve tickets. Please email the box office at: boxoffice@lawrence.edu with questions or to receive a PDF of this form.

STEP ONE: Create your own subscription series by choosing four or more concerts from the list below at the discounted rate of 15% off tickets.

ō PERCUSSION, Friday, October 18, 2024, 7:30 p.m. • Lawrence Memorial Chapel