President's Letter to Our Friends and Supporters
President's Letter to our CommunityLate Summer 2008
Anne Ewers
The Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts is in the midst of our first full summer season since opening in 2002. With concerts and productions on every stage, the Kimmel Center campus, which includes the Academy of Music, will be bustling for the entire season, right up until our fall performances begin this September. One of my main objectives for the Center is to keep it open and accessible to the entire region, and to inspire a passionate sense of ownership among our audiences. To me, that means making certain that at every point in the year, you can find an incredible performance to attend at one of our venues. I hope you realize each time you visit how important your presence is to this mission.
Two of our most successful concert series return this month, with each performer making his or her Kimmel Center debut. Featuring music from three continents, Global Grooves transforms Perelman Theater into a worldwide dance party and provides an exotic vacation without requiring a passport. The dance party continues in August with the remarkable Still Black, Still Proud: An African Tribute to James Brown. With members of James Brown’s original band and his former music director, this concert honors Brown’s funk and rock ’n’ roll legacy and captures the powerful reverberations of his music around the world.
The unveiling of the Fred J. Cooper Memorial Organ in Verizon Hall remains one of the Kimmel Center’s greatest triumphs. I remain in awe of its rich sound; it is a truly inspiring experience to hear it’s wide-ranging tone firsthand. Our Summer Organ Series is meant to show-off our fantastic instrument with young, virtuoso organists at the keyboard.
Then, the Boston Pops return to the Kimmel Center under the direction of my dear colleague Keith Lockhart to pay tribute to Leonard Bernstein’s Broadway musicals. I am delighted to welcome them back this year, and I can’t wait to hear this talented ensemble bring Bernstein’s timeless music to life.
There’s no summer break at the Academy of Music: the Kimmel Center’s Cadillac Broadway series presents two blockbuster productions, first Mamma Mia!, then the return of Monty Python’s Spamalot.
For the sixth consecutive year, the Kimmel Center’s Education department is hosting its Teen Summer Arts camps. For six weeks, students from all over the region (and some from much farther, like Georgia, Michigan, and South Carolina) come to the Center to study choral and vocal arts, chamber music, jazz, or organ with Philadelphia’s finest teaching artists from our artistic partners like the Philadelphia Orchestra, Settlement Music School, and the Curtis Institute. These talented students perform for the public at the end of their camp in a concert (called Moments of Sharing) held in our Perelman Theater or Verizon Hall. This year, our organ students will give a special, additional performance on the Wanamaker organ, led by Peter Conte, the Grand Court Organist of this famous instrument. I am extremely proud of these extraordinary—and tuition-free—camps and the remarkable young artists who attend them. Many of these young musicians go on to national recognition, appearing on the National Public Radio program From the Top. We are privileged to have this glimpse at their promising careers.
Thank you for visiting the Kimmel Center’s online home, and I hope that I will have the opportunity to welcome you at the Center this summer.
With thanks,
Anne Ewers, President and CEO