Musician to give lecture, concert Feb. 6 - 7
FOR RELEASE: Wednesday, January 22, 2003
Huntington, Ind. " Dr. Paul Barnes, co-chair of piano at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln School of Music, will bring an Arts in Theology Symposium lecture and piano recital to Huntington College on Thursday, Feb. 6 and Friday, Feb. 7. The eclectic interests of Barnes have taken him from monasteries in the Judean desert to the Liszt Academy in Budapest. Exploring both minimalism and religious symbolism in music, Barnes has been featured three times on National Public Radio's Performance Today and has recently performed in Jerusalem, Moscow, Greece, Seoul, Vienna, Budapest and throughout the U.S.
The schedule for Barnes during the two-day stint will begin with a lecture on Thursday at 7 p.m., in the Merillat Centre for the Arts auditorium. His lecture, titled Union with Christ, the Arts, and the War on Terror: Living Incarnationally in a Disjunct World, is open to the public free of charge. The lecture will be followed up on Friday at 11 a.m., in the MCA auditorium as Barnes will partake in a special convocation panel discussion.
Barnes will wrap up his visit with a Friday evening piano recital, Mysticism, Minimalism, and Monasticism: Music as Contemplation, held in the Longaker Recital Hall of the Merillat Centre for the Arts. The concert starts at 7 p.m., and tickets are $5 for adults, $3 for seniors and students. Call the Merillat Centre Box Office at (260) 359-4261 to reserve tickets. The Box Office is open Monday " Friday, 9 a.m. to noon and 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.
Deeply inspired by the aesthetic challenge of minimalism, Barnes has given several world premier performances of works by Philip Glass and has published a collection of his own transcriptions from Glass's operas with Chester Music of London. Barnes will give the world premier performance of Glass's Second Piano Concerto commemorating the bicentennial of the Lewis and Clark expedition in September of 2004. Barnes gave the world premier performance of Glass's Orphee Suite in New York City in April of 2001 and will release his recording of his complete Philip Glass opera transcriptions on Orange Mountain Music in March of 2003.
A champion of many of today's important composers, Barnes' electrifying performances of David Ott's Second Piano Concerto have brought audiences to their feet both in the U.S. and in Europe. After a recent performance, the Czech paper Lidove noviny proclaimed "American pianist breaks distrust of modern music!"
Barnes recently gave the world premier performance of Concerto for Amplified Piano and Wind Ensemble by Jeffrey Hass at Indiana University with conductor Ray Kramer on Feb 6, 2001. Barnes has also recorded a CD series entitled American Piano Concertos on Koch International. The first volume includes the concertos of Joan Tower, David Ott, and Victoria Bond.
Huntington College is a comprehensive Christian college of the liberal arts offering graduate and undergraduate programs in more than 60 academic concentrations. US News & World Report ranks Huntington among the Top 10 comprehensive colleges in the Midwest. Founded in 1897 by the Church of the United Brethren in Christ, Huntington College is located on a contemporary, lakeside campus in Huntington, Indiana.
