Superstars Rufus Reid and Hugh Masekela Among Performers

EVANSTON, Ill. --- Hugh Masekela, jazz artist Rufus Reid, two U.S. military bands and classical guitar virtuosos Irina Kulikova and Johannes Moller are among the guest artists performing at Northwestern University this winter. A piano master class led by Richard Goode, 2008 winner of Northwestern’s biennial $50,000 Jean Gimbel Lane Prize in Piano Performance, is among the seven free events that are scheduled.

Presented by the University’s Henry and Leigh Bienen School of Music, all the events are open to the public and are held on the University’s Evanston campus at Pick-Staiger Concert Hall, 50 Arts Circle Drive; Lutkin Hall, 700 University Place; or Regenstein Recital Hall, 60 Arts Circle Drive, as noted. Northwestern faculty and staff with a valid WildCARD receive a 15 percent discount off the general public ticket prices listed below.

For more information on the following events, call the Pick-Staiger Concert Office at (847) 491-5441 or visit www.pickstaiger.org. To order tickets call the Pick-Staiger Ticket Office at (847) 467-4000 or visit www.pickstaiger.org. 

Winter 2012 Guest Artists 

• Paul Ellison’s Master Class for Double Bass at 6 p.m. Monday, Jan. 23, at Pick-Staiger Concert Hall, will feature Bienen School bass students. A Northwestern alumnus, Ellison is the Lynette S. Autrey Professor of Double Bass and chair of strings at Rice University and a U.C.L.A. faculty visiting artist. He also is guest tutor at England’s Yehudi Menuhin School, Royal College of Music, and Bass Club. Admission is free.

• The 18-member United States Marine Corps All-Star Jazz Band will perform jazz standards at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 25, at Pick-Staiger Hall. The group is drawn from 10 different Marine Band programs throughout the world. Members of the band convene once a year for a concert tour, and this year marks their first Chicago-area performance. At Northwestern, they will be joined on stage by clarinetist and saxophonist Victor Goines, director of the Bienen School’s jazz studies program. Admission is free. Call (847) 467-4000 or visit the Pick-Staiger Ticket Office to receive free, general admission tickets.

• Contemporary saxophonist Marcus Weiss will perform music by Berio, Telemann and Netti at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 1, in Lutkin Hall. Professor and director of the saxophone program at Switzerland’s Basel Conservatory, Weiss is among the most respected and versatile saxophonists today. He has performed as a soloist with several European orchestras as well as in concerts and residencies at major festivals throughout Europe, America and Asia. Tickets are $8 for the general public and $5 for students with valid IDs. 

• Guitarist Irina Kulikova opens the 2012 Segovia Classical Guitar Series at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 4, in Lutkin Hall with works by Bach, Barrios, Castelnuovo-Tedesco and Jose Maria Gallardo del Rey. Kulikova has earned prizes at Germany’s Iserlohn International Guitar Competition, Italy’s Michele Pittaluga Guitar Competition and the Netherlands’ Twents Gitaarfestival. She has performed in some of Europe’s finest halls and festivals, including Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw and Salzburg’s annual Schlosskonzerte. Kulikova also has released two highly-praised albums on Naxos Records. Concert tickets are $20 for the general public and $10 for students with valid IDs.

• Irina Kulikova will lead a Guitar Master Class at 11 a.m. Sunday, Feb. 5, in Lutkin Hall, featuring Bienen School students. Admission is free. 

• Legendary bassist Rufus Reid will join the Northwestern Jazz Orchestra, led by Victor Goines, at 7:30 p.m. Monday, Feb. 6, in Pick-Staiger Concert Hall, in a program of his own compositions. Reid, a Northwestern alumnus and one of the international jazz scene’s top bassists, has been honored with the Charlie Parker Jazz Composition Award, a Guggenheim Fellowship and the International Society of Bassists’ Distinguished Achievement Award. He has received numerous commissions, composed music for an array of ensembles and has performed and recorded with jazz legends Thad Jones, Mel Lewis, Bill Evans, Stan Getz and Dizzy Gillespie. Tickets are $6 for the general public and $4 for students with valid IDs.

• Rufus Reid’s master class on jazz performance and techniques at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 7, in Lutkin Hall, will feature bassists and other students from the Bienen School of Music’s jazz studies program. Admission is free.

• Guest artist Ian Clarke’s 5 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 16, Flute Master Class for Bienen School students will take place in Lutkin Hall, prior to his 7:30 p.m. concert (see below) at the same location. Admission is free.

• Flute soloist Ian Clarke will appear in recital at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 16, in Lutkin Hall. Clarke’s numerous compositions and performances, at London’s South Bank, the Glastonbury Rock Festival, and other venues, have brought him worldwide acclaim. The Flutewise flute society recently appointed him Artist of the Year and premiered his work “Zig Zag Zoo” at the Barbican. His work has been featured in several of the most recent BBC Young Musician woodwind finals. He also has performed throughout Europe and the U.S., including an appearance with the rock group Jethro Tull. Clarke is an International Miyazawa Flute artist. Admission is free.

• Legendary composer and instrumentalist Hugh Masekela and his band of South African musicians will perform pop, jazz, ballads and traditional South African music from Masekela’s forthcoming album “Jabulani” at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 18, at Pick-Staiger Concert Hall. A major player on the international jazz, pop and world-music scenes, Masekela also is a champion of human rights in his native South Africa. He has collaborated with Bob Marley, Herb Alpert, Harry Belafonte, Paul Simon and Ladysmith Black Mambazo. Masekela is perhaps best known for his 1968 hit “Grazing in the Grass.” Tickets are $18 for the general public and $10 for students with valid IDs.

• Clarinetist Janet Hilton’s Recital at 6 p.m. Monday, Feb. 27, at Regenstein Recital Hall, will be immediately followed by her Master Class for Bienen School clarinet students. An internationally renowned performer and teacher, she has appeared with nearly all the major British orchestras and at the Edinburgh, Cheltenham and BBC Promenade Concerts festivals. She also has performed in Europe, the United States and Canada. Hilton has served as head of the woodwind department at the Birmingham Conservatoire and the Royal College of Music. Her extensive discography includes recordings of much of the clarinet repertoire for Chandos, EMI, BBC Classics and Naxos. Tickets are $8 for the general public and $5 for students with valid IDs.

• Guitarist Johannes Moller’s program at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, March 3, in Lutkin Hall, is part of the 2012 Segovia Classical Guitar Series. His program will include music by Albeniz, Barrios and Gougeon, as well as selections from his own work. A veteran of more than 500 concert appearances in Europe, Asia and the Americas with nearly 40 compositions to his credit, he is the 2010 winner of the Guitar Foundation of America’s International Concert Artist Competition – one of the world’s most prestigious guitar competitions. He is also known for his compositions’ fusion of contemporary Western and traditional Eastern music. Tickets are $20 for the general public and $10 for students with valid IDs. 

• Johannes Moller’s 1 p.m. Sunday, March 4, Guitar Master Class at Pick-Staiger’s Rehearsal Room, will feature Bienen School students. Admission is free. Use the Pick-Staiger Ticket Office entrance on the south side of the building. 

• Richard Goode, inaugural winner of Northwestern University’s biennial $50,000 Jean Gimbel Lane Prize in Piano Performance, will lead a Piano Master Class for Bienen School students at 10 a.m. Monday, March 5, in Lutkin Hall. Among his many prizes are a Grammy Award for Best Chamber Music Performance and Yale University’s prestigious Sanford Medal. He regularly appears with acclaimed orchestras around the world. Tickets are $6 for the general public and $4 for students with valid IDs.

• Percussionist Patti Cudd and Jeff Herriott, live electronics, will perform at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, March 6, in Lutkin Hall. Their program of electroacoustic music integrated with percussion will feature works by Cort Lippe, as well as original compositions by Cudd and Herriott, including Herriott’s “ancient caves” for bass drum and electronics. Cudd is a percussion soloist, chamber musician and teacher and conductor of percussion and new music ensembles at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls. She has worked with composers Morton Feldman, Pauline Oliveros, John Luther Adams and Michael Colgrass. Herriott, who teaches courses in audio, multimedia, music technology and composition at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, also is working on composition and recording projects with new music ensembles bell monks and Due East. Tickets are $6 for the general public and $4 for students with valid IDs.

• The United States Navy Concert Band program at 7:30 p.m. Monday, March 12, at Pick-Staiger Concert Hall, will include marches, patriotic selections, orchestra transcriptions and modern wind ensemble repertoire. The original wind ensemble of the U.S. Navy, the band features some of the nation’s top musicians, including several Northwestern alumni. Since the group was formed 85 years ago, the band has participated in 21 presidential inaugurations as well as national dedications, memorial services and festivals throughout the world. Admission is free. Free tickets will be available beginning Monday, Jan. 30 by calling the Pick-Staiger Ticket Office at (847) 467-4000 for reservations. There is a four-ticket limit per customer. All ticket holders must be seated by 7:15 p.m.

• Jeffrey Siegel’s Keyboard Conversations, “Russian Rapture – Rachmaninoff and Tchaikovsky,” at 7:30 p.m. Friday, March 16, at Pick-Staiger Concert Hall, will feature preludes, etudes and the “Humoresque” -- a genre of romantic music characterized by pieces with fanciful humor. Siegel has been a soloist with the world’s top orchestras, including the Berlin Philharmonic, London Symphony Philharmonic and Philharmonia, and Moscow State Symphony. His “concert-plus-commentary” format, in which Siegel speaks to the audience about each work he performs in its entirety, has developed a following among newcomers to classical concerts as well as seasoned music lovers. Tickets are $22 for the general public and $16 for students with valid IDs.