MICHAEL MORGAN PRESENTS:

AN EVENING OF MUSIC BY VALERIE COLEMAN,

A BENEFIT FOR OAKLAND SYMPHONY 

Jan. 18

January 18, 2020

7:00 pm - Pre-Concert food offerings with Chef Charlie Vollmar

8:00 pm - 9:00 pm - Concert, followed by dessert reception

Performed by Amy Likar, flute, Diane Maltester, clarinet, and Miles Graber, piano,

with narration provided by Michael Morgan

A Benefit for Oakland Symphony: Tickets $100. For more information, go to: www.oaklandsymphony.org/event/valeriecoleman/

Oakland Symphony will have a benefit concert and banquet at the Piedmont Center for the Arts on Saturday, January 18. Titled An Evening of Music by Valerie Coleman, the event includes an intimate, hour-long performance of music written by Coleman, an award-winning composer. Music will be performed by Amy Likar, flute, Diane Maltester, clarinet, and Miles Graber, piano, with narration by Maestro Michael Morgan. Tickets are $100, “Buy Tickets” link above.

Food offerings prepared by renowned Chef Charlie Vollmar of the Epicurean Exchange will be available to guests at 7:00 p.m. followed by the concert at 8 p.m.

Named one of the top 35 female composers in classical music, Coleman’s work has been awarded the Herb Alpert Awards Ragdale Prize and Van Lier Fellowship. Her piece Umoja was cited as one of the Top 101 Great American Ensemble Works by Chamber Music America.

The evening will include several Coleman selections. Danza de la Mariposa is a rhythmic, melodic tone poem, giving the listener a tour of South America. Portraits of Langston is based on the poems of Langston Hughes and his experiences in Paris and Harlem; Maestro Michael Morgan will accompany the music, this time as narrator, reciting poems by Langston Hughes.

The evening will feature the premiere of Coleman’s new work, Amazonia, an elegy for the Amazon rainforests in the wake of climate change. This new work will premiere simultaneously across the United States by commissioning members of the Flute New

Music Consortium, an organization with the shared mission of promoting new music for the flute (http://www.flutenewmusicconsortium.com/).

A portion of the funds raised will go to Oakland Symphony, furthering their work of producing symphonic music and music education in the East Bay.

A dessert reception will take place at the conclusion of the one-hour concert.