This page is no longer being updated and remains online for informational and historical purposes only. The information is accurate as of the last page update.
For questions about page contents, contact the Communications Division.
As this year’s Alan and Wendy Pesky Artists-in-Residence, Musicians in Ordinary, consisting of lutenist John Edwards and soprano Hallie Fishel, take the stage as part of the Chamber Music Series Wednesday, Oct. 4 at 8 p.m. in the Williams Center for the Arts.
Tickets for the performance are free for students, $4 for faculty and staff, and $15 for the public. They can be obtained by calling the Williams Center for the Arts box office at (610) 330-5009.
Other performers in the Chamber Music Series include a special non-subscription event Orpheus with Emanuel Ax: Mozart Celebration Tuesday, Oct. 10; Orpheus with Jeremy Denk: Brandenburg Redux Wednesday, Nov. 29; Orpheus with Ian Bostridge: Serenades Sunday, Feb. 4; the Ying Quartet Tuesday, March 6; and Christopher Taylor Tuesday, April 3.
In addition to their evening concert Edwards and Fishel will give a noon presentation in Williams Center room 123. They will perform songs from their evening program and provide background commentary about the poetry and music of Renaissance England. This program is part of the new “First Wednesday” series sponsored by the music department.
The Alan and Wendy Pesky artist-in-residence program was established at Lafayette in 1986. The Lafayette music department and cultural program celebrated the 20th anniversary of this residency in 2005-06 with the appointment of jazz artist Arturo O’Farrill. The program brings to campus renowned musicians who share their performance and teaching skills with students in the classroom and on the concert stage. The impressive list of performers has included inaugural resident artist Mark Kroll (harpsichord), William Sharp (baritone), Robert Routch (horn), Joanna Jenner (violin), composer Philip Glass, Senba Kokun (shamisen & tsuzumi), Dave Leonhardt (jazz piano), contemporary trio Aequalis, noted guitar duo Michael Newman and Laura Oltman, master Indian musician Shafaatullah Khan, violin virtuoso Diane Monroe, African music-specialist and performer Valerie Naranjo, and jazz great Mulgrew Miller.
“The generous endowment program established by Alan and Wendy Pesky has given so many Lafayette students the opportunity to learn first-hand from some of this country’s finest touring musicians,” says Ellis Finger, director of the Williams Center for the Arts. “Our music department and the programs of the Williams Center are forever in their debt.”
Musicians in Ordinary specialize in the poetry and music of the English Renaissance, an era of uncommon beauty and refinement for consort music and the lute song. They perform regularly at festivals and in their hometown of Toronto, Canada, and when they’re not busy performing, Edwards and Fishel give lectures, teach, and record.
Far from ordinary, the October performance will focus on the poetry of Sir Philip Sidney and Robert Devereaux, Earl of Essex, set to music by such notable composers as John Dowland, Robert Morley, and Anthony Holborne.
The 2006-2007 Performance Series at Lafayette College is supported in part by gifts from Friends of the Williams Center for the Arts; by provisions of the Josephine Chidsey Williams Endowment, the Alan and Wendy Pesky Artist-in-Residence Program, the James Bradley Fund, and the Ed Brunswick Jazz Fund; and by grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation, Pennsylvania Performing Arts on Tour; the F.M. Kirby Foundation, the Dexter and Dorothy Baker Foundation, and the New England Foundation for the Arts.