Learning to Listen Offers Campus Community
Classical Music, Discussion in an Informal Setting

The Office for the Arts' annual Learning to Listen series of classical musical events, beginning Saturday, Sept. 30, offers the Bryn Mawr College community a chance to hear some of today's most exciting young musicians play and discuss their music in an informal atmosphere while enjoying refreshments. The series culminates in an outing to hear world-class artists at Philadelphia's Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts. Those who attend the Learning to Listen events will get a chance to win a free ticket to the Kimmel Center performance. Tickets to Learning to Listen events are free to members of the campus community, but space is limited, so seats should be reserved in advance.

The season's events follow:

Mozart's Birthday Bash with the Momenta Quartet
Saturday, Sept. 30, 7 p.m., Goodhart Music Room

The exceptional women of the Momenta Quartet — a young violinist who graduated magna cum laude from Harvard, a cellist who co-hosted her own classical radio show, and more — serve up delicious Mozart on his 250th birthday. In an ambience inspired by Zimmermans' Coffee House, the festive and relaxed venue where J.S. Bach gave weekly concerts for a discerning public, the quartet will offer anecdotes from Mozart's life and windows into his musical thinking, combined with superb renderings of his music. Birthday cake will be served.

Matt Haimovitz
Saturday, Feb. 3, 7 p.m., Goodhart Music Room

Matt Haimovitz is the young cellist who has been "busily reinventing the classical recital for the new millennium." Heralded for his "Listening Room" performances of Bach's cello suites in intimate clubs and coffeehouses across the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom, he has been profiled on NPR's  "All Things Considered." His "Anthem" album was in Amazon.com's list of top 10 classical albums for 2003. Haimovitz is equally at ease playing cello masterworks in leading concert halls and bringing classical music to new listeners in surprising new venues.

Tenor Nathan Granner and Guitarist Beau Bledsoe
Saturday, February 24, 7 p.m., Goodhart Music Room

Learning to Listen will celebrate Black History Month with an appearance by tenor Nathan Granner and guitaris Beau Bledsoe. Close friends and musical compatriots with a fearless attitude toward classical music, the duo has been hailed by PBS for their "exceptional talent, youthful good looks and remarkable stage presence." Granner is a featured member of Sony recording artists The American Tenors, and Bledsoe is a classical guitarist with a deep interest in flamenco and tango. Together they present commissioned works, innovative transcriptions of classical and popular song, and genre-bending renditions of American spirituals. As with every Learning to Listen event, they'll offer the audience a "way in" to their music through conversation and dialogue.

Learning to Listen events are supported through the generosity of an anonymous Bryn Mawr alumna whose heartfelt wish was to share her love of classical music with today's students.

For more information or to reserve a seat, call Helene Studdy at x5210 or e-mail Lisa Kraus at lkraus@brynmawr.edu.

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