Violinist Gil Shaham, vocal ensemble Chanticleer, NEA Jazz Master Kenny Barron, and guitarist David Russell among the celebrated musicians of Spivey Hall’s 2023-2018 Concert Season

Distinguished pianist Sir András Schiff makes a rare Atlanta appearance

Notable debuts by compelling Norwegian cellist Truls Mørk, charismatic American soprano Julia Bullock, national champion barbershop quartet Forefront, and Marietta, Georgia native Tivon Pennicott leading his jazz quartet

Clayton State University’s Spivey Hall, the Southeast’s premier recital hall renowned internationally for its superior acoustics and the excellence of its classical, jazz and world music artists, announced details of artists and programs for its 27th Season of Spivey Series concerts at its annual Season Announcement Celebration, held this year at The Frazer Center’s beautiful Cator Woolford Gardens in Atlanta. Spivey Hall’s 2023-2018 concert season will feature more than 100 outstanding musicians hailing from 14 countries, in 31 concerts including Spivey Hall debut performances given by 10 artists.

Season 27 is dedicated to the University’s founding president, the late Dr. Harry S. Downs (Oct. 5, 1925 – Jan. 3, 2023), who collaborated closely with Emilie Parmalee Spivey to realize her dream of building an elegant, intimate concert hall in Clayton County, an area historically underserved by the fine arts. Mrs. Spivey, a professional organist, and her husband, dentist and entrepreneur Dr. Walter Boone Spivey, were civic leaders and philanthropists drawn to the scenic wooded campus of what was first known in 1969 as Clayton Junior College. In addition to the construction of Spivey Hall, which since 1991 has presented world-class musicians in performances attracting audiences throughout the Southeast and reaching millions of listeners annually through national public radio broadcasts, Dr. Downs’ many significant legacies include his service as Acting Chancellor and other senior leadership roles within the University System of Georgia; his chairmanship and long tenure as a trustee of The Walter and Emilie Spivey Foundation; his development of academic and athletic programs that transformed the College into a comprehensive university; and his personal care in preserving the thousands of trees that surround the buildings and six lakes on Clayton State’s Morrow campus, which in recent years has earned national Tree Campus USA certification and in February 2023 was ranked 18th among the 30 most beautiful Georgia university campuses by LendEDU.

Dr. Tim Hynes, Jr., Clayton State University’s current and fourth president, welcomed the Spivey Hall Friends gathered for the announcement celebration, thanked them for their loyal support as core-audience subscribers and donors, and offered words of appreciation for Dr. Downs. “That the season has been dedicated to Dr. Harry Downs makes it all the more special,” he concluded. “The acoustical wonders of the space continue to be a lasting tribute to Dr. Downs, and to his leadership that made real the dreams of Walter and Emilie Spivey to create a legendary recital hall here for Clayton County and for Georgia.”

Spivey Hall Friends Council Chair Richard F. Tigner introduced the Friends Council Directors and recognized their service as volunteers, and described the success of their initiatives in broadening the base of support for Spivey Hall and fostering a greater sense of community among the Friends. “The Friends, along with Clayton State University, are the greatest sources of annual financial support for Spivey Hall,” he noted. “The Friends now take a leading role in sustaining the excellence of the concert series and ensuring the future of Spivey Hall.” In thanking the Friends for their loyalty and generosity, he also urged them to increase their support, whether by increasing their annual gifts, ensuring that all Season 27 concerts are sponsored, establishing endowed funds, or including Spivey Hall in their estate plans.

Friend Council Director Dr. Susan Hunter, a Clayton State professor emerita of English who in 1999 founded the Friends Council and served as its first chair, invited the Friends to participate in active “Friend-raising” and recruit 35 new Friends who give $100 or more in the coming 12 months. “At the Season 28 Announcement next March,” she continued, “you, along with the new Friends we have made, will receive special recognition. So, please pick up a Spivey Hall Friends brochure today and carry its message about the acoustics, the intimacy, and the excellence of Spivey Hall musical offerings to new Friends.”

Dixon then gave an overview of the new season’s artists and programs. Chanticleer (Oct. 8), a perennial Spivey Hall favorite and “the world’s reigning male chorus” (The New Yorker) guided by music director William Fred Scott, gives the Season 27 Opening Celebration concert and launches the Vocal Series with Soldier, a program featuring music of war and peace from the Renaissance to the present day, including rousing Russian martial music, traditional songs sung by soldiers, light-hearted music from the home front, and more. Spivey Hall proudly welcomes charismatic American vocalist Julia Bullock (Apr. 7) for her Atlanta debut; her “radiant soprano shines brightly and unfailingly . Most compellingly, however, she communicates intense, authentic feeling, as if she were singing right from her soul” (Opera News). The Vocal Series concludes with “one of the supreme singer-actors of our day” (The New Yorker), Canadian bass-baritone Gerald Finley, and “the formidable pianist Julius Drake” (Apr. 28). Asserts The Globe and Mail of their remarkable partnership, “Vocal recitals don’t get better than this.”

Leading off the Season 27 Piano Series, and making a long-awaited return to Atlanta and Spivey Hall, is Sir András Schiff (Oct. 27), “a probing, complete and utterly honest artist, a pianist who knows what he is doing: a master” (The New York Times). The Hungarian-born British pianist, knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 2014, will perform music by German composers Mendelssohn, Beethoven, and Brahms, concluding with Bach’s English Suite No. 6. Indeed, Season 27 is rich with internationally renowned British pianists. Still in his 20s but “a virtuoso of a rare kind” (The Financial Times), Benjamin Grosvenor (Nov. 19) gave a stupendous April 2015 Spivey Hall debut recital, aired repeatedly by the nationally-syndicated public radio program Performance Today. For his second Atlanta recital, he performs music by Bach, Mozart, Berg, Ravel, and a solo-piano transcription of Debussy’s lushly Impressionist Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun. “A British piano goddess” (The Philadelphia Inquirer), Imogen Cooper (Mar. 10), and Paul Lewis (May 6), “the most illustrious and talented British-born pianists for generations” (The Guardian), both pursued advanced studies with revered Austrian pianist Alfred Brendel. By coincidence, their programs both open with a set of lively Bagatelles by Beethoven (Op. 126 and Op. 119, respectively), and reveal the clever wit and Classical-style grace of Haydn’s keyboard works. Cooper’s program concludes with Beethoven’s rousing and virtuosic “Eroica” Variations (based on a theme from his Third Symphony), and Lewis’s with the three Intermezzos and closing Rhapsody of Brahms’s deeply eloquent Four Pieces, Op. 119, among his final solo-piano works. A newcomer to the Spivey Piano Series is Russian-born Kirill Gerstein (Jan. 21), “one of the hottest guns in the game” (The Independent), offering preludes by Debussy, waltzes by Chopin, mazurkas by leading contemporary British composer Thomas Adès, and a free-wheeling work of pianistic brilliance by Schumann, his Sonata No. 3, with variations on a theme by his wife-to-be, Clara (namesake of Spivey Hall’s magnificent Hamburg Steinway & Sons concert grand piano).

The Czech Republic’s Pavel Haas Quartet (Oct. 29), which Gramophone trumpets as “the world’s most exciting string quartet,” ushers in the Strings Series with its second Spivey Hall appearance, bringing music by Schubert, Shostakovich and Dvořák vibrantly to life. On its heels follows the Tetzlaff Quartet(Nov. 18), admired by The New York Times for its “dramatic, energetic playing of clean intensity.” In addition to quartets by Mozart and Berg, this acclaimed German quartet led by Christian Tetzlaff, “a violinist of rare insight and expressive force” (The New Yorker), performs Beethoven’s Op. 130 in its original version with the Grosse Fuge (Great Fugue), some of the iconic composer’s most profound and mystical music. The incomparable Gil Shaham (Feb. 17), “one of today’s pre-eminent violinists” (The New York Times), is back on stage one decade and a day following his last Spivey Hall appearance, with his “superlative partner,” pianist Akira Eguchi, to enthrall listeners with passionate performances of major works by Franck, Bach, Saint-Säens, and more – sure to be a sold-out Season 27 highlight. “Imaginative, full-blooded playing and impeccable ensemble” (Classic FM Magazine) will again be in ample evidence when the UK-based Elias String Quartet (Feb. 25) performs Beethoven’s rich, robust E-flat-major Quartet, Op. 127 (a piece that earned them a career-boosting triumph at London’s Wigmore Hall), plus “The Hunt” Quartet by Mozart and Kurtág’s ethereal, playful 6 Moments musicaux. Season 27’s Strings Series finale (May 5) is the powerhouse pairing of the phenomenal Norwegian cellist who enjoys “tremendous stature as a recitalist” (The Strad), Truls Mørk, and the captivating Uzbek pianist endowed with “profound musicality” (The New York Times), Behzod Abduraimov. Their Spivey Hall debut featuring emotionally expansive sonatas by Grieg and Rachmaninoff is not to be missed.

Spivey Hall’s magnificent Albert Schweitzer Memorial Organ, widely regarded as one of the finest in North America built by the Italian firm of Fratelli Ruffatti, is the constant crowning glory of the Hall and its Organ Series. Alan Morrison & Friends (Nov. 4) unites Organist-in-Residence Morrison in collaborative performances with favorite local musicians. He and Christina Smith were students together at The Curtis Institute of Music; as a pianist, he accompanied her in lessons with renowned flutists Julius Baker and Jeffrey Khaner, who encouraged her to audition for the position of principal flute at the Atlanta Symphony, and at age 19, she won it. At South Dakota’s Chamber Music Festival of the Black Hills, Morrison’s path crossed with that of Kenn Wagner (now an Atlanta Symphony violinist and avid chamber musician), where their collaborations included avoiding wild animals (such as mountain lions) roaming the property. Soprano Jeanné Brown made multiple solo performances with the ASO and Maestro Robert Shaw when Atlanta-native Morrison was a member of the Young Singers of Callanwolde. His mother – Clayton State University professor emerita of music, Friends Council Director and pianist Jeannine Morrison – accompanied Ms. Brown numerous times, but this will be Jeanné and Alan’s first collaboration. “I couldn’t be more excited,” Morrison told Dixon. “I have long admired her gorgeous singing.”

Season 27 is Alan Morrison’s third as organist-in-residence and second holding the McGehee Family Organist Residency, created through the generosity of sisters and Spivey Hall Friends Shelley, Terry and Linda McGehee. In addition to his leadership positions on the faculties of The Curtis Institute of Music, Rider University’s Westminster Choir College, and Ursinus College, Morrison is a sought-after soloist, recitalist and chamber musician. Last October, he released his Celebration CD recorded in Spivey Hall to mark the 25th Anniversary Season of the Schweitzer Memorial Organ, and is the musical star of Spivey Hall Education’s award-winning distance-learning video about the history and science of the organ, The King of Instruments. He will again perform in the Spivey Hall Children’s Choir Program’s annual December holiday concerts (Dec. 8-9-10, details below); other residency activities will include a special Season 27 Young People’s Concert (date to be announced). “Morrison’s playing is consummate and dazzling,” admires Fanfare; he gives an eagerly awaited Season 27 solo recital on Feb. 24.

Morrison is joined in the Organ Series by one of his former Curtis students, Grammy Award winner Nathan Laube (Jan. 20), currently on the faculty of the University of Rochester’s Eastman School of Music. “Now an international star” (The Tracker), Laube renders performances that are “flawless, inspired, and for want of a better word, transporting” (The Diapason). Making his Spivey recital debut (Apr. 14) is Alcee Chris III, a 2014 American Guild of Organists “Rising Star” who studied at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, has concertized widely, and is earning his doctorate at Montreal’s McGill University. A Texas native whose splendid playing and astute commentary consistently offer audiences “a breathtaking recital, enjoyed by all” (AGO Northeast Chapter News), Chriss has musical interests that include an ongoing love of jazz.

Speaking of which, the Season 27 Jazz Series gets into gear with the Kenny Barron Trio (Nov. 11). A National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Master, Barron is “the most lyrical piano player of our time” (Jazz Weekly) and took top piano honors in the 2016 Down Beat Jazz Critics’ poll. Led by “the excellent Tivon Pennicott on tenor sax” (Jazzwise), a two-time Grammy winner and Marietta, Georgia native based in New York, the new Tivon Pennicott Quartet (Jan. 13) also features pianist Sullivan Fortner, the 2015 winner of the prestigious Cole Porter Fellowship in Jazz and “an artist with his own distinct style” (The New York Times). Trumpeter Terell Stafford, “bursting with musical ideas that emerge in character, in swing, in flight” (JazzTimes), headlines his Quintet, “an irreproachable hard-bop crew” (The New York Times), for a St. Patrick’s Day bow at Spivey Hall (Mar. 17).

Special events add spice to Season 27 and showcase the extraordinary talents of a wide variety of musicians. The ever-popular world-famous Glenn Miller Orchestra and Atlanta-native music director Nick Hilscher (Jan. 14) bring back the glories of American swing music with lively and lyrical big-band favorites “Chattanooga Choo Choo,” “American Patrol,” “In the Mood,” and other timeless tunes sure to put a bounce in your step and a smile on your face. The four men of Forefront (Feb. 3), gold medalists of the 2016 Barbershop Harmony Society’s international quartet championship, join forces with the Atlanta Vocal Project and director Clay Hine for a family-friendly, high-energy show that celebrates a cherished American close-harmony tradition. Simply put, Forefront “knocks it out of the ballpark” (Singers.com). Stellar Swiss soloist and principal flute of the Berlin Philharmonic Emmanuel Pahud, who “always charms the ear” (Classic FM Magazine), performs in recital with Alessio Bax (Feb. 18), “clearly one of the most remarkable young pianists now before the public” (Gramophone). Master of the Spanish classical guitar style, Scottish-born Grammy Award winner David Russell (Mar. 11) possesses “a talent of extraordinary dimension” (The New York Times) and is warmly regarded for “the elegant simplicity” of his “spell-binding, evocative playing” (The Atlanta Journal-Constitution). With trenchant wit and sardonic humor, the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain (Apr. 15) demonstrates once again that all genres of music are available for reinterpretation, as long as they are played on the ukulele. In delightfully twisted takes on everything from pop tunes to the classics, “The sophisticated sound they make – both percussive and melodic – is at once hilarious and heartfelt” (The Financial Times).

The three choirs of the award-winning Spivey Hall Children’s Choir Program (SHCCP), comprising 170 members ages 10 to 18 drawn from 17 metro-Atlanta counties, sing with a remarkable beauty of tone, spirit, and expression that is their hallmark, inspired by the leadership of founding artistic director and Reinhart University music professor Dr. Martha Shaw. In their three-concert weekends, Fridays spotlight the Young Artists performing with early-education specialist and conductor Craig Hurley and accompanist Marcena Kinney, joined by Dr. Shaw, assistant director/accompanist Judy Mason and the 120-member Children’s Choir. Saturday and Sunday afternoon concerts offer an extended program for the Children’s Choir and its 50 most advanced singers, the Tour Choir. The SHCCP’s annual Holiday Concerts (Dec. 8-9-10) are a joyous Spivey Hall tradition, with festive music of many lands and styles, and Organist-in-Residence Alan Morrison accompanying carols “O Come, All Ye Faithful” and “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing” sung by the entire audience, plus an abundance of complimentary post-concert cookies for everyone in the decorated lobby. The SHCCP Spring Concerts (May 18-19-20) celebrate the musical growth and achievements of all the students while providing a preview of the Tour Choir’s repertoire for their annual June tour, which in 2018 takes them for the first time to Italy.

Season 27 includes other performances of regional interest. Each year, the operatic equivalent of American Idol occurs in the course of a single exciting afternoon when more than a dozen aspiring singers (winners of earlier auditions in Georgia, Alabama, the Carolinas, and Tennessee) each perform two arias for the audience and a panel of three distinguished judges at the Metropolitan Opera National Council Southeast Regional Auditions (Feb. 11) – with winners awarded cash prizes and a green light to the semi-finals and finals at the Metropolitan Opera. (The 2023 Met Opera Auditions at Spivey Hall yielded a bonanza of not just one, or even two, but an unprecedented THREE singers sent to New York.) Catch a rising star! Spivey Hall also welcomes singers from Clayton, Henry, Fayette, and other metro-south counties who as the Southern Crescent Chorale perform with verve under the baton of founding artistic director Janice Folsom (Mar. 3). Additional performances by regional ensembles may be added in the course of the 2023-2018 season; visit spiveyhall.org for updates and details.

Spivey Hall is also the performance home of the Department of Visual and Performing Arts (VPA) of Clayton State University (CSU) for students, faculty, and faculty guest artists, as well as choral, instrumental, and dance ensembles. Admission to many of these performances is free, with no tickets required. Children in elementary school and older are welcome at these concerts.

Division of Music faculty guest artists and piano duo Martin David Jones and Clara Park (Sept. 5) kick off the 2023-2018 season of VPA presentations. Ensemble concerts include the Clayton State Community Chorus (Nov. 2) and CSU Chorale (Nov. 5) led by Dr. Michael Fuchs, plus the CSU Orchestra (Mar. 15) and the Southern Crescent Symphony Orchestra (Feb. 16) conducted by Dr. Richard Bell. Combined concerts by these ensembles and conductors include Christmas at Clayton State (Dec. 1 and 3), and Ein deutsches Requiem (A German Requiem) by Johannes Brahms (Apr. 29).

Fall and Spring semester VPA performances feature the Clayton Community Big Band directed by Stacey Houghton (Nov. 27 and Apr. 30) and the Southern Crescent Youth Orchestra conducted by Kathy Saucier (Dec. 5 and May 3). Tenor Kurt-Alexander Zeller (Oct. 22) and baritone Michael Fuchs (Apr. 8) perform faculty recitals, both with pianist Michiko Otaki. VPA Division of Music Curated Student Recitals take place Nov. 29 and Apr. 25. Highlights of the Spring semester include the annual CSU Music Drama production directed by Dr. Kurt-Alexander Zeller (Mar. 23 and 24) and the VPA Dance Concert choreographed by Kathleen Kelly (Apr. 20 and 21). Children and adults enrolled in the CSU Music Preparatory School (Dr. Carol Payne, director) take the Spivey Hall stage on Dec. 7 and May 10. Additional concerts and events involving musicians from area schools are presented at Spivey Hall by the Department of Visual and Performing Arts between September and May; for details, visit spiveyhall.org or call VPA at (678) 466-4750.

Spivey Hall Friends and VIP guests attending the Season Announcement Celebration were the first to receive Spivey Hall’s 2023-2018 Concert Series book, which patrons on Spivey Hall’s mailing list will find in their mailboxes in the coming weeks. A Season 27 book may be requested at Spivey Hall’s website, spiveyhall.org, by calling the Spivey Hall Box Office at (678) 466-4200 weekdays from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM, or by visiting Spivey Hall. Subscriptions and single tickets may be purchased by completing and mailing the order form included in each season book; by calling the Spivey Hall Box Office; via fax (by credit card only) to (678) 466-4494; and online at spiveyhall.org, where a downloadable version of the Season 27 book and calendar listings for each concert may be found.

Season 27 subscriptions and single tickets are on sale now. As always at Spivey Hall, subscribers get the best seats at the best prices. There are no processing or ticket-mailing fees for subscription orders made by mail, telephone, fax, or in person at the Spivey Hall Box Office. Each Spivey Hall subscription is a “create-your-own” combination of four or more concerts purchased at the same time. Subscribers purchasing tickets to four, five, or six concerts receive a 10% discount; Premium Subscribers purchasing tickets to seven or more concerts receive a 20% discount. Subscribers pay no fee for ticket exchanges made with a minimum of 48 hours’ notice. The priority seating deadline for subscribers is June 1, 2023, after which seating for single-ticket purchases will be confirmed. Subscriptions purchased online at spiveyhall.org incur a $10 subscription fee; each online single-ticket purchase incurs a $3 convenience fee. Single tickets may be held for collection at the Box Office or mailed for a $3 per-order fee. Tickets not held at the Box Office will be mailed beginning in August. Educators and students with valid I.D. are eligible to receive a 20% discount on single tickets (limit 2 tickets per Laker Card I.D., subject to availability), and a 50% discount for a subscription to four or more concerts. Clayton State University faculty and staff receive a 50% discount, and CSU students attend for $10 or less (limit 2 tickets per concert per Laker Card I.D., subject to availability). Groups of 10 or more save 20% off full-price tickets purchased in a single transaction. And at Spivey Hall there is plenty of free, convenient parking.

Dixon concluded his Season 27 Announcement Celebration remarks by thanking the many individuals and organizations whose generous support make Spivey Hall’s concert series and educational programs possible, foremost among them the trustees of The Walter and Emilie Spivey Foundation: Chairman Alex Crumbley, Vice Chairman Robert G. Edge, Secretary Kevin W. Sparger, Treasurer Jeffrey M. Adams, and Clayton State President Dr. Tim Hynes.  Dixon also thanked the Clayton State University Foundation for its stewardship of Spivey Friends donations and endowments. Dixon additionally expressed his gratitude to the Spivey Hall Friends Council Directors and Advisors led by Chairman Richard F. Tigner, offering his heartfelt thanks to all the Friends whose annual gifts provide critical funding for each concert season. Tax-deductible donations in all amounts to support the artistic excellence of Spivey Hall’s concert and education programs are gratefully received, and may be made with any subscription or single-ticket order, and directly online at spiveyhall.org by clicking “Donate.” In recognition of their generosity, Friends are proudly acknowledged in all Spivey Hall program books, attend post-concert receptions with Spivey Series guest artists throughout the season, and receive invitations to special events such as the Season Announcement Celebration and the Friends Holiday Open House.

Spivey Hall Friends Concert Sponsorships, which vary in level by artist, are available for all Spivey Series concerts at Silver ($2,500), Gold ($5,000) and Platinum ($10,000) levels and include an array of tiered benefits. All concert sponsors are invited to the annual Season Sponsors Dinner hosted by CSU President Dr. Tim Hynes. Sponsorships are confirmed in consultation with Spivey Hall’s executive and artistic director. Priority consideration is given to current and past sponsors. For information about available sponsorship opportunities, please telephone Spivey Hall’s Development Specialist at (678) 466-4486 or email [email protected].

Dixon finished by praising and thanking his Spivey Hall colleagues who work wonders each day to produce Spivey Hall’s concert series and educational programs, ensuring that great music continues to thrive for artists and audiences of all ages at Spivey Hall.

About Spivey Hall

Currently 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 wins accolades from artists, patrons and journalists alike.

Spivey Hall also presents regular performances on its magnificent 4,413-pipe Albert Schweitzer Memorial Organ, custom-built in Italy by Fratelli Ruffatti. An intimate venue with just 390 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 support received for the 2016-2017 concert season from The Walter and Emilie Spivey Foundation, the Spivey Hall Friends, the Georgia Council for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Arts, South Arts, and the Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation, as well as from media partners WABE 90.1 FM and Jazz 91.9 WCLK.

About Spivey Hall Young People’s Concerts

Spivey Hall’s Young People’s Concerts (YPCs) are an integral part of its education program; the concerts are 45 to 50 minutes in length and designed for audience interaction. Each interactive age-specific program is tied to classroom curricula in science, math, geography, arts, history, and more.

While the concerts are tailored to children and youth in grades pre-K to 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 at the door. Spivey Hall Education’s 2023 Summer World Music Festival concerts and the 2023-2018 season of YPCs will be announced later this spring.

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.