St. Louis, MO. (Top 40 Charts/ Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra) - The beat goes on! For the fourth time, the Touhill Performing Arts Center welcomes the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra (SLSO) for the ever-popular Explosions Percussion Festival4. Featuring visiting world music percussionists N. Scott Robinson,
David Kuckhermann and Haig Manoukian, this program promises to transport listeners on a rhythmic round-trip from St. Louis to
Europe to North Africa.
SLSO: Explosions is one of three performances in the 2008-09 Symphony Sundays series. SLSO: Explosions Percussion Festival4 will take place in the Anheuser-Busch Performance Hall at the Blanche M. Touhill Performing Arts Center on the campus of the University of Missouri-St. Louis on Sunday, November 23 at 2 p.m. Tickets for SLSO: Explosions are $35, $25, and $15 and are available now by calling 314.516.4949, or at www.touhill.org. Symphony Sundays is sponsored by Centene Corporation.
This journey begins with Hungarian composer Bela Bartok's Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion. Performing this piece, one of Bartok's most loved works, will be Orli Shaham and Peter Henderson on pianos, and Richard Holmes and William James on percussion.
The second half of the program features return engagements by percussionist N. Scott Robinson, percussionist David Kuckhermann, and oud player Haig Manoukian. Says Eric Gaston, Artistic Programs Manager of the SLSO, "Robinson and Kuckhermann are both very well-known in percussion circles, particularly for their expertise and virtuosity in North African and Middle Eastern drumming, among a variety of other styles."
Each visiting percussionist has received international acclaim for his individual performing style. As a scholar, teacher and lauded recording artist, Robinson brings a breadth of diverse experience in world percussion traditions to the stage and classroom. Among many other accolades, Robinson served as Percussion Department Artist-in-Residence at the University of Missouri-Columbia in Columbia, MO in 2006.
Kuckhermann, after years of study with the best world percussionists, created his personal frame drum style, incorporating techniques and rhythms from the hand drumming traditions of Iran, India, Egypt, Europe, Turkey, and Africa. Manoukian, who plays the oud, an 11-string fretless instrument used throughout the Middle East, developed his skills performing in the famous Middle Eastern clubs in New York playing with many of the most influential Greek, Armenian, Turkish, and Arabic musicians of the day.
Explosions patrons are invited to participate in the Touhill's new E3! program, Explore - Experience - Engage. The Explore portion is a pre-show conversation about the music in the subsequent Experience portion. Then patrons can Engage with other audience members while noshing on light hors d'oeuvres and wine, to further delve into conversation and share their take on what they just experienced. Tickets for E3! are just an additional $5.
Next up in the Symphony Sundays series is the SLSO performance Opera Passions on Sunday, January 11 at 2 p.m., featuring soprano Kelly Kaduce and conducted by James Gaffigan. On Sunday, March 15, the SLSO offers Touhill patrons the opportunity to Discover Beethoven as guest conductor Nicholas McGegan reveals the wonders of one of the best-loved symphonies. McGegan shares his unique understanding of Beethoven's Symphony No. 6, Pastoral, with slide show, discussion, and musical excerpts that will be as entertaining as they will be informative.
For more information about the visiting percussionists, visit N. Scott Robinson's website at www.nscottrobinson.com and David Kuckhermann's website at www.framedrums.net.
SLSO: Explosions Percussion Festival4 on Sunday, November 23 at 2 p.m. Tickets are $35, $25, and $15, and are available now at the Touhill Performing Arts Center Ticket Office; online at www.touhill.org; or by phone at 314.516.4949; and toll-free at 866.516.4949. The Touhill's Ticket Office is located at One University Blvd., St. Louis, MO 63121. All St. Louis area students receive a 10% discount on two tickets with their I.D. Group discounts are also available.
The Touhill Performing Arts Center is located on the north campus of the University of Missouri-St. Louis, just 10 minutes from Clayton. (Exit No 240 from I-70). There is ample free parking and the UMSL North Campus MetroLink Station is just steps from the Touhill's Main Entrance.
Now in its sixth season of presenting the finest in the performing arts to the St. Louis region, the Blanche M. Touhill Performing Arts Center opened its doors in September 2003. The $52 million facility designed by Pei Cobb Freed and Partners, features the 1,625-seat Anheuser-Busch Performance Hall and the 350-seat E. Desmond and Mary Ann Lee Theater. The not-for-profit Center is the jewel of the University of Missouri-St. Louis campus and is the first impetus and focal point for creating an arts district for students at the University.
