The Fine Arts Center of Kershaw County (FAC) proudly presents Claire Bryant and Friends in a week-long residency and chamber music concert. The concert is scheduled for Friday, March 22 at 7:00 p.m. in the Wood Auditorium. There will be a catered reception with a cash bar prior to the concert beginning at 6:00 p.m. The concert is sponsored by BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina, the Frederick S. Upton Foundation, Kohn-Spring Group/Merrill Lynch Wealth Management, Van Horn Agency, Inc./Kennedy Insurance and Tom and Virginia Ann Mullikin. Tickets to Claire Bryant & Friends are $30 advance adult, $35 day of adult; the student price is $15.
About the Residency
The week-long residency will feature Claire Bryant (cello,) Brad Balliett (bassoon,) Alicia Lee (clarinet) along with Columbia pianist, Phillip Bush. During the week, Claire Bryant and Friends will participate in a community residency with residents at KershawHealth’s Karesh Wing in a songwriting workshop which will culminate in a performance on Saturday, March 23 from 2:00 to 3:00 p.m. The program will take place at KershawHealth’s Karesh Wing and will feature original music composed by residents. Also planned is a free preview show and improvisation session at the Venue on Broad, on Thursday, March 21 at 9:00 p.m. Make plans to bring your instrument and jam with Claire Bryant & Friends!
· About the Artists
Claire Bryant and Friends
In its fourth season, Claire Bryant and Friends is an exciting collaboration between communities, campuses, health care facilities, and arts organizations across the United States and some of New York City’s most sought-after professional young artists.
A native of South Carolina, cellist Claire Bryant enjoys an active and diverse career in New York City as a performer of chamber music, contemporary music, and solo cello repertoire. She is equally passionate and committed to her work as an educator and advocate for the inclusion of the arts in society. In 2009, Ms. Bryant founded a community residency project through chamber music in South Carolina called Claire Bryant and Friends. This endeavor brings accomplished young artists to communities for weeklong residencies that include engaging pedagogy and performance in the public schools, advocacy forums for arts education, and community concerts in diverse and innovative venues.
A member of the new chamber music society, The Declassified, Ms. Bryant has collaborated with world-class artists such as Daniel Hope, Anthony Marwood, Emanuel Ax, Sir Simon Rattle, Dawn Upshaw, and the Weilerstein Trio. The 2010 recipient of the Robert Sherman McGraw Hill Companies award for excellence in community outreach and music education, she is a graduate of The Juilliard School and the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, where her primary teachers were Bonnie Hampton and Joel Krosnick. Ms. Bryant served as an assistant to faculty member, Bonnie Hampton, at The Juilliard School from 2008 – 2012.
New York City-based bassoonist and composer Brad Balliett is gaining a reputation for unusual and thought-provoking programming, performance and composition. As a bassoonist, Brad performs regularly with Metropolis Ensemble, Signal, The Declassified and Ensemble ACJW. Formerly acting principal of the Hartford Symphony, Brad has also appeared as principal bassoon with the Houston Symphony and American Ballet Theater, and has performed with the New York City Ballet, International Contemporary Ensemble, Anthony Braxton, Zakir Hussain, and Miguel Zenon. Brad is an alumni of Carnegie Hall’s The Academy, and is a founding member of The Declassified, the Deviant Septet, and DZ4. Brad graduated summa cum laude from Harvard University in 2005, and holds an MM from Rice University. Brad is also active as a composer, and makes hip-hop albums with his band The Oracle Hysterical.
Born into a musical family, Alicia Lee grew up in Michigan where she began her musical studies on the violin and piano at age 4. She made the switch to clarinet at the age of 12. She has performed as a guest with the Milwaukee Symphony, the New Mexico Symphony Orchestra, and the Bergen Philharmonic in Norway. Her chamber music experience includes performances at the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, San Luis Obispo Mozart Festival, Yellow Barn Music Festival, and the Marlboro Music Festival.
Alicia is the associate principal and Eb clarinet player of the Santa Barbara Symphony, a position she has held since the Fall of 2006. She performs regularly in New York with a variety of groups. Alicia served for two seasons as a fellow in The Academy—a program of Carnegie Hall, the Juilliard School, and the Weill Music Institute (ACJW).
Phillip Bush’s active and unconventional pianistic career has taken him to many parts of the globe. Since his New York recital debut at the Metropolitan Museum in 1984, Mr. Bush has appeared as recitalist throughout North America, as well as in Europe and Asia. In 2001 he made his Carnegie Hall concerto debut with the London Sinfonietta to critical acclaim, replacing an ailing Peter Serkin on short notice in concerti by Stravinsky and Alexander Goehr. He has also appeared as soloist with the Osaka Century Orchestra, Cincinnati Symphony, Houston Symphony, and several other orchestras, in repertoire ranging from the Beethoven concerti to the American premiere of Michael Nyman’s Harpsichord Concerto. A much sought-after chamber musician, Mr. Bush has performed and recorded with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, and appears frequently at numerous chamber music festivals from Sitka Autumn Classics (Alaska) to St. Bart’s in the Caribbean.
Mr. Bush is a graduate of the Peabody Conservatory and has served on the faculties of the University of Michigan and the University of North Carolina, and in 2012 was appointed Associate Professor at the University of South Carolina School of Music.
For more information or to purchase advance tickets call 803-425-7676, extension 300, or visit the FAC website at www.fineartscenter.org. The Fine Arts Center of Kershaw County is located at 810 Lyttleton Street in Camden. Office hours are Monday through Wednesday and Friday, 10:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m., and Thursday 10:00 a.m.-6:00 p.m.
The Fine Arts Center is funded in part by the Frederick S. Upton Foundation and the South Carolina Arts Commission, which receives support from the National Endowment for the Arts. Additional funding provided by the City of Camden, Kershaw County, and BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina along with donations from businesses and individuals.
