Performing Arts Series
Concerts and theatrical performances co-presented annually by the Quick Center and Friends of Good Music, a nonprofit organization dedicated to expanding the knowledge and appreciation of the performing arts in the Olean area.
Friends of Good Music and the Regina A. Quick Center have teamed up for years to bring exciting live performances of classical and international music to the Quick Center stage. The series repertoire has expanded over the years to include theatrical
performances and other forms of entertainment.
Season subscriptions and single-performance tickets are available, with St. Bonaventure students offered a discounted rate of just $5 per single-event ticket.
The 2024-2025 Performance Season
Performances in the 2024-2025 Friends of Good Music performance season will be announced in late summer of 2024. Please check back at that time and visit this page periodically for additions and updates.
The 2023-2024 Performance Season in review
The following Friends of Good performances composed the 2023-2024 performance season.
Caña Dulce y Caña Brava
April 7, 2024
Caña Dulce y Caña Brava offered a performance that exhibited the music, poetry, dance and traditional attire of Veracruz, Mexico, interpreted by artists who are beneficiaries of the jarocho culture and noteworthy performers with years of experience on both national and international stages.
The group stands out as an artistic project that highlights feminine poetry and voices. They creatie an experience that connects the spectator with distinct emotions, taking one on a voyage through multiple rhythms, accompanied by traditional string instruments such as the harp and the jarana, percussion and zapateado, poetic improvisation in rhyme, and the projection of visual effects.
Balourdet Quartet
2024 Avery Fisher Career Grant Winner
Chamber Music America's 2024 Cleveland Quartet Award
March 22, 2024
The multi-award winning Balourdet Quartet is the Graduate Quartet in Residence at the prestigious Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University. They are recent graduates of the New England Conservatory’s Professional String Quartet.
Highlights of the Balourdet’s 2022-23 season include appearances at Chamber Music Detroit; the Grand Piano Series in Naples, Florida; New England Conservatory's Jordan Hall; Merkin Hall in New York City; and Wigmore Hall in London, England.
Balourdet won the 2024 Avery Fisher Career Grant, as well as Chamber Music America’s 2024 Cleveland Quartet Award.
For the 2023-24 season, the Balourdet has a full year of concerts, residencies, and exciting projects scheduled. They will return to the La Jolla Music Society, Montgomery Chamber Music, Nevada Chamber Music Festival, and Schneider Concert Series and will make debuts in Atlanta, Memphis, Houston, and San Antonio. Collaborations include pianists Marc-André Hamelin, Simone Dinnerstein, Stewart Goodyear, and violist Jordan Bak. During this season, they also begin their position as String Quartet in Residence with the Chamber Orchestra of the Triangle in North Carolina.
Photo by Kevin W. Condon
READ THEIR UPDATED BIOGRAPY
Cavatina Duo
Feb. 16, 2024
Eugenia Moliner, flute, and Denis Azabagic, guitar, have become one of the most impressive combinations of its kind in the world.
The duo has captivated audiences with their electrifying performances in such major venues and festivals as Ravinia (Chicago), Da Camera Society (Los Angeles), Aix-en-Provence Summer Festival (France), the National Concert Hall of Taipei (Taiwan), National Center for the Performing Arts in Beijing (China), the Harris Theater (Chicago), Kolkata International Guitar Festival (India), Foundation Principe Felipe and Palau de la Musica (Spain), among many others.
Konrad Paszkudzki, jazz-pianist
A Concert for Marianne
Jan. 28, 2024
Jazz pianist Konrad Paszkudski performed works from the Great American Songbook and other popular classics in a “Concert for Marianne,” in honor of Olean native Marianne Laine in appreciation for her gift of a Steinway piano to the Quick Center. Along with her late husband, Erick Laine, former president and CEO of Cutco Corporation in Olean, Marianne Laine has been a longtime philanthropic supporter of the Quick Center and was the inaugural chair of the Quick Center Guild, a position she continues to hold.
Paszkudski will performed selections by Vernon Duke, Cole Porter, Irving Berlin, Errol Garner, and others.
Avalon String Quartet with mezzo-soprano Julia Bentley
For a Time Such as This
Sept. 22, 2023
The Avalon is quartet-in-residence at the Northern Illinois University School of Music and has performed in major venues such as Carnegie Hall, Library of Congress, Wigmore Hall in London, Herculessaal in Munich and at many of the most important music festivals.
“For A Time Such As This,” composed by Stacy Garrop with a libretto by Jerre Dye, was performed in its New York premiere by the Avalon String Quartet with Julia Bentley, mezzo-soprano. The libretto is based on biblical texts from the Book of Esther.
Avalon String Quartet also performed Schubert’s quartet “Death and the Maiden.”
Photo by Todd Rosenberg
Western New York Chamber Orchestra
Conductor Glen Cortese and soloist Daniel Maltz on the forte-piano
Oct. 15, 2023
On its annual visit to The Friends of Good Music series, this popular orchestra performed with Austrian/American soloist Daniel Maltz on the forte-piano, also known as Hammerflűgel, which is rarely heard in concert halls today.
Maltz performed Haydn’s D-major Keyboard Concerto and a solo piece. The orchestra performed Vivaldi’s “Gloria” after intermission.
Buffalo Chamber Players
Nov. 5, 2023
Buffalo Chamber Players, ensemble-in-residence at the Buffalo AKG Art Museum, presents innovative music programs performed by the region's finest musicians.
Composed of players from Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra and other distinguished area musicians, the ensemble’s mission is to challenge, redefine and enhance the public’s perception of chamber music while promoting the city of Buffalo as an inspiring place to live, work and play.
Founded in 2007 by the BPO violist Janz Castelo, the group’s critically acclaimed concerts explore historical chamber music masterworks and contemporary works by living composers.
Tomaseen Foley’s 'A Celtic Christmas'
Dec. 10, 2023
For the past 16 years, with a world-class ensemble of musicians, dancers and singers from both sides of the Atlantic, Tomáseen Foley’s “A Celtic Christmas” has played to packed concert halls and critical acclaim from Los Angeles to New York to Chicago to Palm Beach and beyond.
They recreate on stage the now famous Rambling House, the remote cottage in the West of Ireland where the neighbors gather for a communal night before Christmas.