Aug 27, 2019

The Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra’s String Orchestra opens the 2019-2020 Friends of Good Music season at St. Bonaventure University’s Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts with a performance at 3 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 22.

Assistant Conductor Glen Cortese will lead the orchestra in popular audience favorites including including Respighi’s “Ancient Airs and Suite #3  and works by Bartók, Holst, Mendelssohn and Vaughn Williams.

“The Quick Center marks its 25th anniversary in January and we can’t think of a better way of opening this season of celebration than with a performance by the Grammy Award-winning BPO,” said Ludwig Brunner, Quick Center director. “And it’s just the first of nine outstanding concerts in the Friends of Good Music season, featuring award-winning and internationally acclaimed musicians who will take the Quick stage between now and next May.”

Friends of Good Music is a nonprofit organization that has been bringing live performances of classical and international music, theater and dance to the region for nearly 40 years. Its annual performance season has been co-presented and hosted by the Quick Center for 15 years.

Tickets for single performances are $20 at full price, $16 for St. Bonaventure employees and senior citizens, and $5 for students. Season subscriptions are available as well. To subscribe or for additional information, visit www.friendsofgoodmusic.com or call the Quick Center Box Office at (716) 375-2494.

Other concerts in the 2019-2020 performance season include:

• Julien Labro, 7:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 18
  Julien Labro has established himself as the foremost accordion and bandoneon player in classical and jazz genres. His artistry, virtuosity and creativity as a musician, composer and arranger have earned him international acclaim.
• Barbara Luisi & Alessandro Taverna, 7:30 p.m. Friday, Nov. 15
  Violinist Barbara Luisi and the highly praised Venetian pianist Alessandro Taverna explore the repertoire of favorite short pieces of music by famous composers. Luisi plays a Giovanni Grancino violin dating back to 1700. Taverna has won major prizes at the London International Piano Competition and the Busoni Piano Competition in Bolzano, among many others.
• Calmus Vocal Ensemble, 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 12, 2019
  In this “Christmas A Cappella” concert, Calmus demonstrates the perfect blend of sound, precision, lightness and wit that has earned the German quintet prizes at international competitions, including the ECHO Klassik and Supersonic Award.
• Slavic Soul Party, 7:30 p.m. Friday, Jan. 24, 2020
  Fiery Balkan brass, throbbing funk grooves, and virtuoso jazz chops make Slavic Soul Party New York City’s official No. 1 brass band for Balkan soul and Gypsy funk. “Terrifying, exhausting and way more aggressive than a lot of punk music I’ve seen,” is how Sufjan Stevens described the group in Rolling Stone.
• Duo Jalal, 3 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 23, 2020
  The music of Kathryn Lockwood and Yousif Sheronick represents an organic amalgam of cultural traditions and musical styles. Audiences are enthralled as Lockwood, a classically trained violist from Australia, ignites her instrument with passion. Sheronick, of Lebanese descent, dazzles as he manipulates sound by simply snapping his fingers at the edge of an Egyptian frame drum or dragging his foot across the Peruvian cajon.
• Invoke String Quartet, 7:30 p.m. Friday, March 27, 2020
  Invoke successfully dodges even the most valiant attempts at genre classification. A 2018 Concert Artists Guild International Competition winner, the multi-instrumental quartet encompasses traditions from across America, including bluegrass, Appalachian fiddle tunes, jazz, and minimalism. Fueled by their members’ passion for storytelling, Invoke weaves all of these styles together to form a unique contemporary repertoire.
• Philip Edward Fisher, 7:30 p.m. Friday, April 17, 2020
  Philip Edward Fisher, an internationally renowned pianist, follows his 2019 Quick Center appearance as a soloist with the Western New Chamber Orchestra with a recital celebrating the 250th anniversary of the birth of Ludwig van Beethoven. Widely recognized as a unique performer of refined style and exceptional versatility, this prolific soloist and ensemble musician has performed across his native United Kingdom and around the world.
• Kenneth Overton, 7:30 p.m. Friday, May 1, 2020
  Internationally acclaimed baritone Kenneth Overton takes his audience on a spiritual journey from the cotton fields to the concert hall. Accompanied by pianist Kevin Miller, Overton sings spirituals rooted in the African-American traditions including “Deep River,” “Ride on Jesus,” “I Got to Lie Down” and many others.

Learn more about the 2019-2020 Performance Season and other offerings of the Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts at www.sbu.edu/quickcenter.

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About the University: The nation’s first Franciscan university, St. Bonaventure University is a community committed to transforming the lives of our students inside and outside the classroom, inspiring in them a lifelong commitment to service and citizenship. In 2019, St. Bonaventure was named the #1 regional university value in New York and #2 in the North by U.S. News and World Report.