Edward Arron & Friends to Perform at the Fine Arts Center of Kershaw County

The Fine Arts Center of Kershaw County (FAC) is pleased to bring Edward Arron & Friends to Camden for the second concert of the three-part Chamber Music Series on Thursday, December 10. The concert will begin at 7:00 p.m., The concert will feature selections by Mozart, Gustav, Musto, and Fauré. Tickets are $30 in advance and $35 the day of the concert, with a student ticket for $15. The 2015-16 Chamber Music Series is sponsored by The Frederick S. Upton Foundation, BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina, Tom & Virginia Ann Mullikin, and Van Horn Insurance Agency.

Cellist Edward Arron has garnered recognition worldwide for his elegant musicianship, impassioned performances, and creative programming. A native of Cincinnati, OH, Mr. Arron made his New York recital debut in 2000 at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Since that time, he has appeared in recital, as a soloist with major orchestras, and as a chamber musician throughout North America, Europe, and Asia.

In 2013, Mr. Arron completed a 10-year residency as the artistic director of the critically acclaimed Metropolitan Museum Artists in Concert, a chamber music series created in 2003 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Museum’s prestigious Concerts and Lectures series. Currently, he is the artistic director, host, and resident performer of the MusicalMasterworks concert series in Old Lyme, CT, as well as the Festival Series in Beaufort, South Carolina and Chamber Music on Main at the Columbia Museum in Columbia, SC. Additionally, Mr. Arron curates a series, Edward Arron and Friends, at the Caramoor International Music Festival, and is the co-artistic director along with his wife, pianist Jeewon Park, of the new Performing Artists in Residence series at the Clark Art Institute in Williamstown, MA.

Mr. Arron has performed numerous times at Carnegie’s Weill and Zankel Halls, Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully and Avery Fisher Halls, New York’s Town Hall, and the 92nd Street Y, and is a frequent performer at Bargemusic. Festival appearances include Ravinia, Salzburg, Mostly Mozart, BRAVO! Colorado, Tanglewood, Bridgehampton, Spoleto USA, Santa Fe, Seattle Chamber Music, Great Mountains, Charlottesville, Telluride Musicfest, Seoul Spring, Lake Champlain Chamber Music, Chesapeake Chamber Music, and Bard Music Festival. He has participated in Yo-Yo Ma’s Silk Road Project as well as Isaac Stern’s Jerusalem Chamber Music Encounters.

Phillip Bush is a pianist of uncommon versatility with a repertoire extending from the 16th century to the 21st. His active and unconventional career has taken him to many parts of the globe. Since his New York recital debut at the Metropolitan Museum in 1984, Mr. Bush has appeared as a recitalist throughout North America, as well as in Europe, Asia, and the Caribbean. He made his Carnegie Hall concerto debut in 2001 with the London Sinfonietta to critical acclaim, replacing an ailing Peter Serkin on short notice in concerti by Stravinsky and Alexander Goehr. He has also appeared as soloist with the Osaka Century Orchestra, Cincinnati Symphony, Houston Symphony and several other orchestras, in repertoire as far-ranging as the Beethoven concerti and the American premiere of Michael Nyman’s Harpsichord Concerto.

A much sought-after chamber musician, Mr. Bush has performed and recorded with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, has appeared frequently on New York’s Bargemusic series, and has performed at the Grand Canyon Music Festival, Bridgehampton Chamber Music Festival, Cape Cod Chamber Music Festival, Strings in the Mountains (Colorado,) Sitka Music Festival (Alaska,) St. Bart’s Music Festival, Music at Blair Atholl (Scotland,) Cape May Music Festival and many other festivals. Between 1991 and 1999, he performed over 250 concerts in Japan with the piano quartet, Typhoon, and recorded five CD’s with the group for Epic/Sony, all of which reached the top of the Japanese classical charts.

A fierce advocate for contemporary music, Phillip Bush has performed often with many of the New York area’s most renowned new music ensembles, including Bang on a Can All-Stars, Philip Glass Ensemble, Steve Reich and Musicians, Group for Contemporary Music, Newband, Sequitur, Parnassus and New Music Consort. His discography as soloist and chamber musician has now reached 40 recordings on labels such as Sony, Virgin Classics, Koch International, ASV, New World Records, Denon and many others.

Mr. Bush is a graduate of the Peabody Conservatory. In 2012, he was appointed Research Associate Professor of Piano and Chamber Music at the University of South Carolina School of Music.

Violist Nicholas Cords is strongly committed to the advocacy and performance of music from a broad historical and geographical spectrum. His busy touring schedule has led him in recent years to Carnegie Hall, the Concertgebouw, the Cologne Philharmonie, and the Library of Congress. As a soloist, he has appeared with the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Chicago Symphony, the Minnesota Orchestra, and the New York String Seminar Orchestra. Recent highlights include performances at the White Nights Festival in St. Petersburg, in works ranging from Feldman to Wuorinen, and the Vail International Dance Festival, where he performed Stravinsky’s Élegie for solo viola in a late Balanchine choreography (dormant for the past 30 years) with the great Brazilian ballerina Carla Körbes. His debut solo album, Recursions (2013-In a Circle Records,) features works ranging from Biber to Hindemith to Cords’ recently composed Five Migrations.

Mr. Cords is a regular member of Yo-Yo Ma’s Silk Road Ensemble, a musical collective that uses the historic Silk Road trading route as a metaphor for musical exchange and creativity in the present. In addition to performing with the ensemble, he has taken a role in the organization and development of new creative projects, programming for concerts and museum residencies (currently the chair of programming for the ensemble,) and as an active part of two long-term residencies with the group; one at the Rhode Island School of Design and one at Harvard University. Mr. Cords appears on all four of the ensemble’s albums; Silk Road Journeys, Beyond the Horizon, New Impossibilities and Off the Map. A recent studio recording A Playlist a Without Borders (Sony Music) and live concert DVD from Tanglewood were released earlier last year to help celebrate the group’s 15th anniversary season.

Mr. Cords began his musical education at the Juilliard School where he won top honors in the viola competition and completed his studies at Philadelphia’s Curtis Institute of Music.

Known for his thrilling performances and musical creativity, violinist Ara Gregorian made his New York recital debut in 1996 in Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall and his debut as soloist with the Boston Pops Orchestra in Symphony Hall in 1997. Since that time he has established himself as one of the most sought-after and versatile musicians of his generation with performances in New York’s Carnegie Hall, Avery Fisher Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Washington D.C.’s Kennedy Center and in major metropolitan cities throughout the world including Boston, Los Angeles, Chicago, Detroit, Houston, Dallas, Atlanta, Cleveland, Vancouver, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Beijing, Ulaanbaatar, Tel Aviv and Helsinki.

Throughout his career, Gregorian has taken an active role as a performer and presenter of chamber music. He is the founder and artistic director of the Four Seasons Chamber Music Festival in North Carolina which recently celebrated its 15th Anniversary Season and has appeared at festivals worldwide including the SpringLight (Finland,) Storioni (Holland,) Summer Solstice (Canada,) Casals (Puerto Rico,) Intimacy of Creativity (Hong Kong,) Bard, Bravo! Vail Valley, Beethoven Institute, Santa Fe, Skaneateles, Music in the Vineyards, Bach Dancing and Dynamite Society, Cactus Pear, Wintergreen, Mt. Desert, Madeline Island and Strings in the Mountains festivals. He has also performed extensively as a member of numerous chamber music ensembles including Concertante, the Daedalus Quartet and the Arcadian Trio and has recorded for National Public Radio, New York’s WQXR radio station, and the Bridge and Kleos labels.

Gregorian received his bachelor and master of music degrees from The Juilliard School where he studied with Joseph Fuchs, Harvey Shapiro, and Robert Mann. He performs on a Francesco Ruggeri violin from 1690 and a Grubaugh and Seifert viola from 2006.

Special Note
Nearly 50 Members of the historic South Carolina State Guard will be attending the Ed Arron Concert on December 10. These members were part of the 500 members of the South Carolina State Guard who served more than 22,000 hours during the recent Joaquin Flood. The South Carolina State Guard has served South Carolina since 1670 and is one of the oldest military organizations in the country. “Our members are proud to serve in South Carolina. We stand on the shoulders of tremendous state leaders who have answered the call of our state for more than 300 years,” said MG Thomas S. Mullikin. “Our professionals include engineers, medical, legal, licensed law enforcement, nationally recognized search and rescue, communications and chaplains. We serve at the direction under the direction of the strong leadership of the Adjutant General of South Carolina MG Livingston. Wonderful assets like the Fine Arts Center of Kershaw County make our state the greatest in our nation and we are honored to be included in such a wonderful concert by Ed Arron and his musicians,” he concluded.

About the Series
The Fine Arts Center of Kershaw County’s Chamber Music Series consists of three performances in the FAC’s Wood Auditorium. An annual staple of FAC programming, the series continues to draw attention for its world-class performances. Edward Arron and Friends will perform for students from Kershaw County in the Wood Auditorium the morning of the evening’s performance. The musicians will engage the young audience members throughout the concert, encouraging them to listen, to think, and to provide feedback for a truly interactive concert experience. This performance is made possible through a partnership with the Kershaw County School District.
For more information or tickets call 803-425-7676 extension 300 or visit the FAC website at www.fineartscenter.org. The Fine Arts Center of Kershaw County is located at 810 Lyttleton Street in Camden. Box office hours are Monday through Wednesday and Friday, 10:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m. and Thursday 10:00 a.m.-6:00 p.m.

The Fine Arts Center is funded in part by the Frederick S. Upton Foundation and the South Carolina Arts Commission, which receives support from the National Endowment for the Arts. Additional funding is provided by the City of Camden, Kershaw County, and BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina along with donations from businesses and individuals.