Organist Cherry Rhodes Kicks Off Master Musicians: Organ Series in Verizon Hall on Saturday, October 14
September 14, 2006
Organist Cherry Rhodes
The Master Musicians: Organ Series begins with the renowned organist Cherry Rhodes in Verizon Hall on Saturday, October 14, 2006 at 3pm. As the first American organist to win an international prize at the Munich Competition in 1966, Rhodes has generated international acclaim as a soloist at international organ festivals throughout Europe, including the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris and the Royal Festival Hall in London. Now, organ enthusiasts may hear Rhodes introduce the tonal textures of the nearly 7,000 wooden and metal pipes during the first organ recital series with the recently inaugurated Fred J. Cooper Memorial Organ. Ms. Rhodes program includes works by Mozart, Bach, Mader, Liszt, Guillou, and José Lidón.
An Artist Chat will take place prior to the performance at 2:15pm on stage in Verizon Hall with Michael Barone, host of public radio's "Pipe Dreams."
Tickets for Cherry Rhodes are $28 and $19, and can be purchased by calling 215-893-1999, online at www.kimmelcenter.org, or at the Kimmel Center box office, open daily from 10am to 6pm and later on performance evenings. (Additional fees may apply). For group sales call 215-893-5883.
A limited number of $10 tickets are available for every Kimmel Center Presents performance at the Kimmel Center. Tickets go on sale the day of the event and can be purchased at the Kimmel Center box office beginning 2.5 hours prior to curtain time and 11:30am for matinees. Limit one ticket per person.
Cherry Rhodes is a graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music where she studied under Alexander McCurdy. A recipient of Fulbright and Rockefeller grants, she has also studied in Munich and Paris with Karl Richter, Marie-Claire Alain and Jean Guillou. Ms. Rhodes was the first American to win an international prize at the Munich Competition in 1966 and has performed recitals throughout the world, including international organ festivals within Paris, Luxembourg, Vienna, throughout Poland, among other locales. After making her soloist debut at the age of 17, Cherry Rhodes has performed with many great orchestras including the Philadelphia Orchestra, South German Radio Orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the Phoenix Symphony. In April 2005, she performed the monumental Symphonie Concertante by Joseph Jöngen with the Los Angeles Philharmonic during the inaugural season of the new organ at Walt Disney Concert Hall.
A sought-after musician, Ms. Rhodes has been affiliated with numerous National and Regional Conventions of the American Guild of Organists in various capacities, including the roles of adjudicator, recitalist and teacher, in the United States, Canada and abroad. Her recordings include Everyone Dance, Comes Summer Time, Historical Organs of Boston, and her most recent recording, Cherry Rhodes in Concert, which is an unedited live performance at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in Los Angeles - an organ designed by the builder of the Fred J. Cooper Memorial Organ, Dobson Organ Builders.
The Fred J. Cooper Memorial Organ debuted in Verizon Hall in May 2006 with a two week festival of concerts to sold out audiences and much critical acclaim. Wall Street Journal has said of the Fred J. Cooper Memorial Organ: "…the 32 ton, $6.4 million instrument, heard last week in the opening concerts of a two-week inaugural festival that continues this weekend, is a versatile 6,938-pipe beast with a wide tonal palette and enough heft to compete with a symphony orchestra at full throttle;" New York Times also noted: "And it does create a glorious ruckus, yet one that—to judge from the blast that opened the finale of Saint-Saens’s Third Symphony on Friday—the hall can comfortably contain."
Kimmel Center Presents also offers more than fifty Free at the Kimmel community performances during the 2006/07 5th Anniversary season. These include Free in the Plaza performances with local artists performing classical, jazz, pop, country, world, dance and family fun on the Commonwealth Plaza stage, as well as Artist Chats with Kimmel Center Presents performers, education events and Organ Postludes in Verizon Hall. On Saturday, October 14 at 11am kids between the ages of one to four can dance and stretch with Koresh Dance: Mommy & Me; On Saturday, October 14 at 1pm Kimmel Center celebrates Hispanic Heritage with the acclaimed Latin Fiesta Ensemble featuring Maria del Pico Taylor, which will invigorate audiences with hot salsa; classical, contemporary Latin; Baroque and Afro-Cuban conga pieces. Cherry Rhodes’ ticketed performance follows. Please check online for additional information and a performance schedule.
Kimmel Center Presents' 2006/2007 season is supported by: Mellon Financial Corporation, University of Pennsylvania Health System, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the National Endowment for the Arts, and The William Penn Foundation. American Airlines is the Official Airline of Kimmel Center Presents. Toyota is the Official Vehicle of Kimmel Center Presents Jazz and World Pop programming. NBC-10 is a Media Partner for Kimmel Center Presents. The Philadelphia Inquirer, the Daily News, and Philly.com are media sponsors for the Great Orchestras on Tour series.
KIMMEL CENTER PRESENTS
October 14, 2006 | 3pm
Verizon Hall, The Fred J. Cooper Memorial Organ
Cherry Rhodes, organ
J. S. BACH: Prelude and Fugue in E minor
JOSÉ LIDÓN: Four Pieces for the Mass
MOZART: Introduction and Fugue in C minor
MADER: Afternoon of a Toad
LISZT: Symphonic Poem Orpheus
GUILLOU: Scenes d’Enfant d’aprčs, The Turn of the Screw by Henry James
************
FREE AT THE KIMMEL EVENTS
Saturday, October 14, 2006, 11:00am
Koresh Dance Company
Mommy & Me
Saturday, October 14, 2006, 1:00pm
Latin Fiesta Ensemble
With
Maria del Pico Taylor
> index of news releases
> For more information, and to request high resolution images for press use, please
send us a message online.