Programming includes world-class pianists Joyce Yang and Alexander Gavrylyuk, the stylish Danish String Quartet, fiddler Mark O’Connor and Hollywood pantomimist Dan Kamin

From fiery piano stylings to the artistic moves of a mime, Spivey Hall in February offers perhaps its most diverse range of artists and programming to date to enthrall audience members young and old. February’s presentations include two pianists, both dazzling virtuosos with engaging yet contrasting personalities; colorful Chinese dancers; a string quartet with rocker stylings; Spivey’s favorite fiddler; a little elephant with royal dreams; and the man who taught Robert Downey, Jr. how to be Chaplin.

“In February, our season 26 programming shifts into high gear,” said Sam Dixon, executive and artistic director of Spivey Hall. “We warmly welcome back musicians popular with our audiences, and proudly introduce artists entirely new to Atlanta, all of whom are captivating performers. It’s also the first time our magnificent Ruffatti organ will be heard accompanying a classic silent film.”

Called “one of the best quartets before the public today” (The Washington Post), The Danish String Quartet (February 4) brings its hip charisma and stylish repertoire for the first time to Spivey Hall patrons. Joyce Yang (February 5) and Alexander Gavrylyk (February 26) continue Spivey’s Piano Series with a wealth of colorful music by German and Russian composers. The Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions (February 12) offer Spivey Hall patrons the opportunity to hear promising young opera singers and perhaps discover the next great star. Folk and bluegrass fiddler Mark O’Connor returns to Spivey Hall with The O’Connor Band (February 18) featuring family members and friends in a rousing and entertaining performance. Physical comedian and master pantomimist Dan Kamin, appearing with famed theatre organist Steven Ball, explores the genius of the “pantomimist extraordaire” in Funny Bones: The Comedy of Charlie Chaplin (February 25).

The Annual Clayton State University High School Choral Festival (February 9) culminates with a free concert featuring the best of Atlanta metro high school choirs in individual performances and the combined festival chorus of over 140 singers.

Spivey Hall Education presents four programs in its February Young People’s Concerts series designed to supplement STEAM curriculum for K-12 students. Clayton State University Department of Visual and Performing Arts / Division of Music provides musical story telling in the beloved tale of the little elephant who grows up to be a king in Babar the Little Elephant (February 3). Valdosta State University Jazz Combo (February 8) teaches performance and improvisation skills while performing selections from its traditional and contemporary jazz repertoire. The Atlanta Chinese Dance Company (February 14) presents a creative and interactive program featuring costumed traditional Chinese dance performances interspersed with detailed historical and cultural background information. Performance artist Dan Kamin, known as The Pantomime Man, (February 24) provides students a new understanding of how movement communicates, how comedy routines are structured, and how stage skills can be translated to the screen.

For tickets or more information, call the Spivey Hall Box Office at (678) 466-4200, or visit spiveyhall.org. In addition to the standard ticket pricing indicated for each performance, there is a 50 percent discount available to students and Georgia educators with ID. Discounted single tickets are available only through the box office, which is open Monday through Friday, 9:00 a.m.to 5:00 p.m.; series subscriptions are now available online for purchase.

Danish String Quartet

Saturday, February 4, 2024 at 3:00 p.m.

Pre-concert talk at 2:00 p.m.

Comprised of Rune Tonsgaard Sørensen (violin), Frederik Øland (violin), Asbjørn Nørgaard (viola), and Fredrik Schøyen Sjölin (cello), the Danish String Quartet plays with “an unusual, and unusually effective, liberty. When at their best, their tone throbs with joy.” (The New York Times) The high technical and musical quality, the exuberance of their playing, the powerful impact the quartet makes on stage and its fresh approach to familiar repertoire have become a trademark for the four young musicians, who have performed all over Europe.

The Quartet will play new music by Norwegian composer Rolf Wallin along with a selection of Nordic folk songs, as well as Beethoven’s vibrant second “Razumovsky” Quartet.

Concert Program Notes providing detailed information about the music and the composers are available now at spivey.org. These online program notes enriched by short music samples give patrons the chance to hear what the notes are talking about.

Tickets are priced at $50 (with discounts for subscribers, groups, students and Georgia educators), and are available for purchase now. A pre-concert talk given by Clayton State University Music Professor Dr. Kurt-Alexander Zeller begins at 2:00 p.m. and is included in the ticket price.

Joyce Yang, piano

Sunday, February 5, 2024 at 3:00 p.m.

Van Cliburn International Piano Competition silver medalist and Avery Fisher Career Grant recipient Joyce Yang is an “astonishing virtuoso with tremendous suggestive power and imagination.” (Neue ZürcherZeitung) The youngest Van Cliburn contestant at 19 years old, she took home two additional awards: the Steven De Groote Memorial Award for Best Performance of Chamber Music (with the Takács Quartet) and the Beverley Taylor Smith Award for Best Performance of a New Work. Since her spectacular debut, she has played as soloist with numerous symphonies worldwide, including the New York Philharmonic, heralded by The New York Times as “…a sumptuous, powerful, subtle performance … distinguished by a variety of touch and color.”

Yang will give the Atlanta premiere of The Anne Landa Preludes by Australian composer Carl Vine, a selection of Norwegian composer Edvard Grieg’s popular Lyric Pieces, plus the Romances, Op.28 and Symphonic Etudes, Op. 13 by Robert Schumann, a Romantic-era composer of striking originality and brilliance.

Concert Program Notes providing detailed information about the music and the composers are available now at spivey.org. These online program notes enriched by short music samples give patrons the chance to hear what the notes are talking about.

Tickets are priced at $60 (with discounts for subscribers, groups, students and Georgia educators), and are available for purchase now.

Joyce Yang’s performance is made possible through the generosity of Spivey Hall Friends Concert Sponsors John W. Markham and The Spivey Hall Endowment for Piano Artistry.

Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions – Southeast Region

Sunday, February 12, 2024 at 2:00 p.m.

The finest opera vocalists from North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Georgia take the stage at Spivey Hall to compete for a chance at the national finals at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. The afternoon performance is a wonderful opportunity for the opera fan who wants to catch the next rising star. Winners of the Southeast Auditions will be announced following deliberations by a distinguished panel of judges: Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions Associate Director Melissa Wegner, Santa Fe Opera Artistic Administrator Brad Woolbright, and noted New York vocal coach Jonathan Dudley.

Tickets are priced at $40 (with discounts for subscribers, groups, students and Georgia educators), and are available for purchase now.

Mark O’Connor featuring The O’Connor Band

Saturday, February 18, 2024 at 7:30 p.m.

Fiddler, composer and educator Mark O’Connor makes a welcome return to Spivey Hall leading The O’Connor Band in an engaging, dynamic show featuring compelling arrangements, virtuosic solos, and tight vocal harmonies. The band includes members of Mark’s own family – Atlanta native Maggie O’Connor, fiddle; Forrest O’Connor, mandolin and vocals; and Kate Lee, fiddle and vocals. Rounding out the band are National Flatpick Guitar Champion Joe Smart and double bassist/old-time banjoist Geoff Saunders.

This Spivey Hall Series concert welcomes children age 8 and up. A good time will be had by all!

Tickets are priced at $50 for adults and $25 for children 8 to 18 (with discounts for subscribers, groups, students and Georgia educators), and are available for purchase now.

The O’Connor Band’s performance is made possible through the generosity of Spivey Hall Friends Concert Sponsors Claire and Alex Crumbley.

The February 2024 Spivey Hall residency of Mark O’Connor featuring The O’Connor Band is funded in part by a grant from South Arts in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts and the Georgia Council for the Arts.

Funny Bones: The Comedy of Charlie Chaplin

Dan Kamin, pantomime and Steven Ball, organ

Saturday, February 25, 2024 at 3:00 p.m.

Performance artist Dan Kamin trained Robert Downey Jr. for his Oscar-nominated performance in Chaplin and created Johnny Depp’s comedy moves for Benny and Joon. In Funny Bones, Kamin will take Spivey Hall patrons on a magical excursion into Chaplin’s enchanted comic world through film clips, live performance, and the screening of a newly restored print of The Pawnshop, Chaplin’s 1916 comedy classic, complete with live accompaniment by Steven Ball on Spivey Hall’s magnificent Albert Schweitzer Memorial Organ. There’s lots of fun audience participation in this program that kids will enjoy as much as adults.

This Spivey Hall Series concert welcomes children elementary school and up.

Tickets are priced at $40 for adults (with discounts for subscribers, groups, students and Georgia educators), and are available for purchase now.

Dan Kamin and Steven Ball’s performance is made possible through the generosity of Spivey Hall Friends Concert Sponsors David P. Millett, MD and Sherry M. Sandoval.

Alexander Gavrylyuk, piano

Sunday, February 26, 2024 at 3:00 p.m.

“Gavrylyuk was on fire in the huge first movement’s three cadenzas – eating up those octaves, the scales burning with visceral power – while drawing a wide variety of clearly articulated color elsewhere.” (Los Angeles Times) At 16, Alexander Gavrylyuk won First Prize and Gold Medal at the 1999 Horowitz International Piano Competition, and First Prize at the Hamamatsu International Piano Competition in Japan, where the Japanese press lauded him as the “most talented 16-year old pianist of the second half of the 20th Century.”  In 2005, he took both the coveted Gold Medal as well as the award for Best Performance of a Classical Concerto at the internationally renowned Arthur Rubinstein International Piano Masters Competition.

Gavrylyuk’s Spivey Hall program showcases his passion and intensity with works by Bach, Haydn, Chopin, Prokofiev, Rachmaninoff and Balakirev. “…there are moments when the listener is left feeling as if he has been shot from a cannon and, hurtling through space, left hoping for a safe landing. Yet Gavrylyuk’s musicianship is never less than vivid and compelling.” (Gramophone)

Alexander Gavrylyuk’s performance is made possible through the generosity of Spivey Hall Friends Concert Sponsors Dr. William and Mary Land.

Spivey Hall Education

Young People’s Concerts (YPC)

Spivey Hall’s Young People’s Concerts (YPC) is an integral part of its education program; the concerts are 45-50 minutes in length and designed for audience interaction. Educators and parents are asked to note carefully the performance times and recommended grade levels for each program. There will be study guides correlated to the curriculum (GPS and CCGPS) with a concentration on STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics).  

While the concerts are intended for children and youth in pre-K to grade 12, Spivey Hall welcomes community members of all ages to the performances. Concerts cost just $2 in advance at the box office, $3 in advance online and $5 on the day of the concert, and are available for purchase now.  

Complete information on YPCs and Spivey Hall’s education program is available at spiveyhall.org.

Babar the Little Elephant

Friday, February 3, 2024 at 11:15 a.m.

The beloved children’s story set to music is perfect for the very young and the young at heart. The program also includes a musical presentation of Eric Whitacre’s Animal Crackers, based on poems by Ogden Nash. Both are brought to life onstage by Clayton State University’s Department of Visual and Performing Arts / Division of Music.

Valdosta State University Jazz Combo

Wednesday, February 8, 2024 at 9:45 and 11:15 a.m.

The Valdosta State University Jazz Combos are small performing groups comprised of five to eight players. For Spivey Hall, the VSU combo will perform material from the traditional and contemporary jazz repertoire with emphasis on small group performing skills and jazz improvisation.

Atlanta Chinese Dance Company

Tuesday, February 14, 2024 at 11:15 a.m.

ACDC is a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting the development, advancement and appreciation of Chinese history and culture through the art of Chinese dance to metro Atlanta and surrounding areas. Most notably, the company appeared in the opening and closing ceremonies of the 1996 Centennial Olympic Games and the “Chinese variation” of Atlanta Ballet’s The Nutcracker at the Fabulous Fox Theater for ten consecutive years. The quality of the choreography, dancing, and costumes will delight audiences of all ages.

Dan Kamin, The Pantomime Man

Friday, February 24, 2024 at 11:15 a.m.

Meet the man who taught comedy moves to Robert Downey Jr. (Chaplin) and Johnny Depp (Benny and Joon) in a delightful show designed to excite audience members about the power of theatre and the beauty of movement. The show will be accompanied live on the magnificent Albert Schweitzer Memorial Organ by renowned silent film accompanist Steven Ball.

Clayton State University / Department of Visual and Performing Arts / Division of Music

Clayton State University

High School Choral Festival

Thursday, February 9, 2024 at 7:00 p.m.

The annual Clayton State University High School Choral Festival provides area high schools with the opportunity to rehearse and perform great choral music with the Clayton State University Chorale in the acoustically superb Spivey Hall.  High schools represented include Union Grove High School (conducted by Chris McMichen), Woodland High School (conducted by Samuel Miller), and Tri-Cities High School (conducted by Lori Christian); the Clayton State University Choral will also perform conducted by Dr. Michael Fuchs. The program will include a variety of masterworks including classical, contemporary and gospel choral music.  

Admission to the High School Choral Festival performance is free, with no tickets required.

About Spivey Hall

Now celebrating its 26th season, Spivey Hall is the South’s most acoustically superior recital hall, presenting the best in classical, jazz and world music. Located on the picturesque campus of Clayton State University in Morrow, Georgia, just fifteen miles southeast of Atlanta, the hall has been praised by artists, patrons and journalists alike.

This season, Spivey Hall celebrates the 25th anniversary of its magnificent 4,413-pipe Albert Schweitzer Memorial Organ, custom-built in Italy by Fratelli Ruffatti, with special events and concerts.

An intimate venue with just 392 seats, Spivey Hall promotes for the concert-goer a personal connection with the artist both during and after the performance.  Spivey’s extraordinary acoustics and reputation for distinguished programming attract outstanding international musicians who regularly perform at the nation’s major concert venues such as Kennedy Center and Carnegie Hall. For more information, visit spiveyhall.org.

Clayton State University’s Spivey Hall gratefully acknowledges the support of The Walter and Emilie Spivey Foundation and the Spivey Hall Friends.

Alan Morrison holds the McGehee Family Organist Residency at Spivey Hall.

Spivey Hall’s Season 26 is supported in part by the Georgia Council for the Arts through the appropriations of the Georgia General Assembly. GCA also receives support from its partner agency – the National Endowment for the Arts.

About Clayton State University

A unit of the University System of Georgia, Clayton State University is an outstanding comprehensive metropolitan university located 15 miles southeast of downtown Atlanta. For more information, visit clayton.edu.