byrd theatre foundation announces: a night … · arrangements of two themes by japanese film...

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The Byrd Theatre Foundation PO Box 14860 Richmond, VA 23221–4860 Rev. 6/5/12 June 8, 2012 BYRD THEATRE FOUNDATION ANNOUNCES: A Night with the Mighty Wurlitzer: Featuring World-Renowned Organist Cameron Carpenter~October 20 th RICHMOND, VA----The Byrd Theatre Foundation, a local not-for-profit organization dedicated to preserving Carytown’s beloved Byrd Theatre, is thrilled to host world-renowned organist Cameron Carpenter for the second year in a row. Traveling from Berlin, Germany, Cameron Carpenter will dazzle the crowd with his extraordinary tunes on the Wurlitzer while also entertaining with comedic interludes between his songs on Saturday, October 20 th . Cameron Carpenter’s performance last year proved to be one of the Byrd’s great Richmond highlights of 2011. Meanwhile, The Wall Street Journal states that Cameron Carpenter is “‘Not Your Grandma’s Organist’: Alternatingly dazzling and subtle, and always fired by a profound musical intelligence.” Cameron’s approach to the organ is smashing the stereotypes of organists and organ music while generating a level of acclaim and controversy unprecedented for an organist. Besides the musical event, Cameron Carpenter coming to the Byrd Theatre this Fall will help the Byrd Theatre Foundation achieve a $250,000 challenge grant offered by the Mary Morton Parson’s Foundation. As part of this challenge, the Byrd Theatre Foundation has set an aggressive goal of raising $500,000 this year, which will enable the completion of several high priority projects. As a nonprofit organization, the Byrd Theatre Foundation solely relies on support from individuals, groups and the community to achieve its mission. It is crucial to the Byrd’s success that events are held to raise awareness of the cause as well as contribute to the organization’s financial capacity. Sponsorships are available and much appreciated. The Byrd Theatre Foundation is a 501 (c) (3) organization striving to keep the Byrd accessible for Richmond’s residents and guests, now and in the future, so that they may continue to use it to forward their own missions and celebrate milestones in their lives. Additional fundraising activities are being developed for capital improvements. All proceeds will benefit the Foundation’s mission to improve and restore the Byrd Theatre to its original glory, purchase the building, and preserve it for future generations to experience and enjoy as has been done since 1928. Sponsorships for the Cameron Carpenter event are available at [email protected] or by directly contacting Jaclyn Witthoefft, Byrd Theatre Foundation President (see below). For additional information please contact: Jaclyn Witthoefft 804.357.5105 (direct phone), [email protected] (direct email) Board of Directors President Byrd Theatre Foundation ###

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Page 1: BYRD THEATRE FOUNDATION ANNOUNCES: A Night … · arrangements of two themes by Japanese film composer Joe Hisaishi, ... master Hayao Miyazaki's films Spirited Away and Howl's Moving

The Byrd Theatre Foundation PO Box 14860 Richmond, VA 23221–4860

Rev. 6/5/12

June 8, 2012

BYRD THEATRE FOUNDATION ANNOUNCES:

A Night with the Mighty Wurlitzer:

Featuring World-Renowned Organist Cameron Carpenter~October 20th RICHMOND, VA----The Byrd Theatre Foundation, a local not-for-profit organization dedicated to preserving Carytown’s beloved Byrd Theatre, is thrilled to host world-renowned organist Cameron Carpenter for the second year in a row. Traveling from Berlin, Germany, Cameron Carpenter will dazzle the crowd with his extraordinary tunes on the Wurlitzer while also entertaining with comedic interludes between his songs on Saturday, October 20

th.

Cameron Carpenter’s performance last year proved to be one of the Byrd’s great Richmond highlights of 2011. Meanwhile, The Wall Street Journal states that Cameron Carpenter is “‘Not Your Grandma’s Organist’: Alternatingly dazzling and subtle, and always fired by a profound musical intelligence.” Cameron’s approach to the organ is smashing the stereotypes of organists and organ music while generating a level of acclaim and controversy unprecedented for an organist. Besides the musical event, Cameron Carpenter coming to the Byrd Theatre this Fall will help the Byrd Theatre Foundation achieve a $250,000 challenge grant offered by the Mary Morton Parson’s Foundation. As part of this challenge, the Byrd Theatre Foundation has set an aggressive goal of raising $500,000 this year, which will enable the completion of several high priority projects. As a nonprofit organization, the Byrd Theatre Foundation solely relies on support from individuals, groups and the community to achieve its mission. It is crucial to the Byrd’s success that events are held to raise awareness of the cause as well as contribute to the organization’s financial capacity. Sponsorships are available and much appreciated.

The Byrd Theatre Foundation is a 501 (c) (3) organization striving to keep the Byrd accessible for Richmond’s residents and guests, now and in the future, so that they may continue to use it to forward their own missions and celebrate milestones in their lives. Additional fundraising activities are being developed for capital improvements. All proceeds will benefit the Foundation’s mission to improve and restore the Byrd Theatre to its original glory, purchase the building, and preserve it for future generations to experience and enjoy as has been done since 1928. Sponsorships for the Cameron Carpenter event are available at [email protected] or by directly contacting Jaclyn Witthoefft, Byrd Theatre Foundation President (see below).

For additional information please contact:

Jaclyn Witthoefft

804.357.5105 (direct phone), [email protected] (direct email) Board of Directors President Byrd Theatre Foundation

###

Page 2: BYRD THEATRE FOUNDATION ANNOUNCES: A Night … · arrangements of two themes by Japanese film composer Joe Hisaishi, ... master Hayao Miyazaki's films Spirited Away and Howl's Moving

TICKETSStudents: $15General Admission: $30VIP Seating: $75

SPONSORSHIPSThe Mighty Wurlitzer $5,000+The Marquee $1,500 – $3,000The Mezzanine $750 – $1,499The Velvet Curtain $250 – $749

OCTOBER 20, 2012

!8:00 PM!

S AV E T H E D AT E

10

20

20

12

The Byrd Theatre Foundation presents

CAMERON CARPENTER

www.CameronCarpenter.com

featuring world-renowned organist

A NIGHT WITH THE MIGHTY WURLITZER

|

For more information: [email protected] www.ByrdTheatre.com

All event proceeds benefit the Byrd Theatre Foundation in its mission to restore and preserve the Byrd Theatre.

Page 3: BYRD THEATRE FOUNDATION ANNOUNCES: A Night … · arrangements of two themes by Japanese film composer Joe Hisaishi, ... master Hayao Miyazaki's films Spirited Away and Howl's Moving

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Page 4: BYRD THEATRE FOUNDATION ANNOUNCES: A Night … · arrangements of two themes by Japanese film composer Joe Hisaishi, ... master Hayao Miyazaki's films Spirited Away and Howl's Moving

“ Carpenter is one of the rare musicians who changes thegame of his instrument… He is a smasher of culturaland classical music taboos. He is technically themost accomplished organist I have ever witnessed…And, most important of all, the most musical.”THE LOS ANGELES TIMES

“ No other musician of Carpenter’s generation has moreadeptly fused shrewd showmanship, dazzlingtechnique and profound thinking abouthis instrument and his place in the musical cosmos...”THE SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE

“ The Maverick Organist... he is a player withextraordinarily glib fingers andAstairelike footwork... a first-rate talentwith a sense of how phrases move.”THE NEW YORK TIMES

“Not Your Grandma’s Organist”: Alternatinglydazzling and subtle, and always fired by a profoundmusical intelligence.”THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

“ To say that Cameron Carpenter is a virtuoso is to say nothing.He is an exorbitant virtuoso, the Vladimir Horowitzof the organ.KOMMERSANT (Saint Petersburg, Russia)

“A madly original organist whose programs careen acrosscenturies of musical history and sashay deep into popular culture.He’s a force of nature...”ALEX ROSS, on TheRestIsNoise.com

CONTACT: TOBY TUMARKIN AT CAMI [email protected] (212) 841-9563 / WWW.CAMIMUSIC.COM

Cameron_onesheetback:Layout 1 1/7/11 11:48 AM Page 1

Page 5: BYRD THEATRE FOUNDATION ANNOUNCES: A Night … · arrangements of two themes by Japanese film composer Joe Hisaishi, ... master Hayao Miyazaki's films Spirited Away and Howl's Moving

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TICK

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615.6

87.6

400

PRESENTS

“NOT YOUR GRANDMA’S ORGANIST: Alternatingly dazzling and subtle, and always fired by

a profound musical intelligence.”THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

MAY 15 at 7 P.M.CAMERONCARPENTER

With support from:

&'(")*")($)%+&,*-($%,+."%/")

Page 6: BYRD THEATRE FOUNDATION ANNOUNCES: A Night … · arrangements of two themes by Japanese film composer Joe Hisaishi, ... master Hayao Miyazaki's films Spirited Away and Howl's Moving

Offbeat organ virtuoso Cameron Carpenter

brings the noise back to the Schermerhorn

by Dana Kopp Franklin

The witty, whimsical evangelist of the classical organ, Cameron Carpenter, was in Nashville Sunday night performing at the Schermerhorn Symphony Center, and it was a reminder of why we're glad the flood didn't

permanently shut down the house — and how lucky we are to have the pipes to attract the virtuoso to town.

Pipes, of course, being the $2.5 million Martin Foundation Concert Organ. Carpenter's concert was the first public performance on the organ since its restoration after severe flood damage.

And yet Carpenter — who is the first popularly acclaimed superstar of the classical organ in decades (maybe ever, if superstar means being Grammy-nominated, fabulously attired and active on Facebook) — resists the fetishization of individual instruments.

Though he proclaimed the Schoenstein pipe organ to be "very good," he likened the instruments he encounters while touring to "one-night stands" when one would rather have "a 25-year marriage."

He then slipped in a mention of one of his pet causes, the development of a digital touring organ, something that makes purists of analog organ music puff up in indignation.

What's really fun about Carpenter, as Sunday night's performance made clear, is how passionate he is about sharing and proclaiming the beauty of organ music — by any means necessary. For him, the method of choice is showmanship.

It started when he walked onstage wearing a tiny black jacket tailored to extremity and adorned with dazzling sequined epaulets and lapels. Beneath this he wore slim jeans that looked like acid-washing done by Jackson Pollock. And when he worked the organ, his spangled cowboy boots sparkled and danced like something from a semilegal fireworks shop.

Page 7: BYRD THEATRE FOUNDATION ANNOUNCES: A Night … · arrangements of two themes by Japanese film composer Joe Hisaishi, ... master Hayao Miyazaki's films Spirited Away and Howl's Moving

Carpenter's quest is to promote the dynamism and musical "colors" of his instrument. While pianists talk of "color," he said, the piano delivers only subtle shadings compared to the wild contrasts of the organ (which, after all, is designed to encompass all the sounds of an orchestra, and more).

He spent the evening reveling in that stirring range. As for percussion, he conceded that compared to the piano, the organ is "the least rhythmic instrument."

"It just grinds," he joked, "and not in a good way."

Carpenter proceeded to take the organ through sprightly paces via an adaptation of one of Liszt's solo piano pieces, Transcendental Etude No. 5, "Feux Follets." The nickname means "fireflies" or "will o' the wisps," and the music was unbelievably light and euphoric compared to some of the bombastic Bach works he played at other points in the evening, which to a layperson sound very Phantom of the Opera ... in a good way, of course.

After the intermission, Carpenter returned wearing another jaw-dropping outfit: super-skinny jeans glittering with crystals in peacock shades, and a diaphanous black shirt. The back of the blouse was really just a curtain of loose strings, which in addition to being quite a fashion statement, allowed the audience to see the muscles of his back working like dynamos while he played. Show and tell.

Carpenter made a pops-like — but also moving and clever — choice by playing his own organ

arrangements of two themes by Japanese film composer Joe Hisaishi, from the soundtracks to animation master Hayao Miyazaki's films Spirited Away and Howl's Moving Castle.

Pops but not pandering. But did he fall into a bit of pandering for the local crowd when he mentioned that he lived in North Carolina for four years (high school in Winston-Salem, his biography reveals), and he really, really loves grits? I'm going to say no, because everyone with taste loves grits.

A subtler local reference came during an interlude of improvisation, something he said is the best way to "get to know" a strange instrument. The improv included a brief but distinct excerpt from the Confederate anthem "Dixie," which caused me to laugh out loud — the rest of the 1,000 people in the room either didn't catch it, or didn't find it funny at all.

A couple of encores and at least three standing O's, and it was over. Before leaving, however, Carpenter said the advantage of being a "classical superstar" as opposed to a "real superstar" is the ability to get to know one's fans. At which point he promoted his Facebook page (3,200 "likes" and counting).

Sure, it's social media salesmanship, but it's nice to see on Carpenter's Facebook page today that he promises to return to Nashville. Then I guess we — and our proud organ — will no longer be a one-night stand.