2008 Year in Review

CCC Visiting Artist Series Begins

Clinton Community College is pleased to announce the 2008-09 Visiting Artist season. This is the 35th year that CCC has offered these performances for the community as part of the Quad Cities Arts, a program that strives to make the program accessible to people of all walks of life, including students, seniors, and working people. Performances will be held in both Clinton and in Maquoketa throughout the year.

American folk music played on both banjo and guitar will entertain the audience on Tuesday, December 9 as Michael J. Miles comes to the Clinton Community College Technology Center. Michael Miles is a rare and engaging artist who grew up in Chicago in an Irish family where music was served like dinner – everybody had some. His blue collar father played the player piano and filled the house with singing.

Columbian harpist, band leader and composer Edmar Castaneda will entertain Visiting Artist patrons on Monday, February 9 at the CCC Technology Center. Combining Latin jazz with traditional Colombian music, Edmar has carved a firm place in the international jazz scene. A jazz harpist of imposing talent, he transforms the harp into a lead instrument to phenomenal effect. Producing cross-rhythms like a drummer, smashing chordal flourishes like a flamenco guitarist and collating bebop and Colombian music, he is practically a world unto himself. His style is fascinatingly percussive, and he plucks dynamic bass lines almost invisibly while picking out melodies with his right hand. The performance is not to be missed.

Audiences will enjoy The Georgia Guitar Quartet on Monday, April 20 in Clinton and Thursday, April 30 in Maquoketa at the Ohnward Fine Arts Center, 1215 East Platt St. The Georgia Guitar Quartet has emerged as an exciting new voice in today’s chamber music scene. These four men from the American South deliver a high-energy blend of breathtaking virtuosity and imaginative programming while taking an adventurous approach to classical music. Borrowing from both the past and the present, the GGQ consistently draw inspiration from the ever-evolving palette of music that has influenced them; classical masters such as Bach and Brahms, experimentalists in the vein of Cage, Bartok and Stockhausen, and contemporary rock icons like Radiohead and Led Zeppelin. Audiences at a GGQ concert experience an exciting musical journey through an expansive array of genres, continents, and time periods. Rousing Irish folk music and late Impressionistic masterpieces share the stage, while the sublime beauty of Chopin rubs shoulders with ground-breaking contemporary works. Accomplished composers themselves, the Quartet frequently incorporate their own unique works into their increasingly dynamic concert program. The incredible range and interactive spontaneity of a performance by the GGQ continually leaves audiences with something to remember, resulting in a thrilling new way to experience chamber music in the 21st century.

Since the Visiting Artist Series began as an arts outreach program in 1973, the program has become one of the most ambitious of its kind in the country. The program presents the performances at no cost to the public. The performance begins at 7:00 p.m. and will be held at the Clinton Community College Technology Center (formerly Graphic Arts Technology Center), 1951 Manufacturing Drive, Clinton or in Maquoketa at the specified location. For more information, contact Anne Schmidt at 563-244-7050.

The Annual HolidayFest Craft Fair is scheduled for Sunday, November 23 at Clinton Community College, 1000 Lincoln Blvd., Clinton. Hosted by the CCC Social Committee, this is a seasonal favorite for those looking for the perfect holiday gift or decoration. Call Melanie Drury, 563-244-7001, for more information.

The CCC Drama Department will offer a winter production of The Farndale Avenue Dramatic Society’s Production of A Christmas Carol by David McGillivray and Walter Zerlin, Jr., a classic story turned on its ear with the “play within a play” yet the true meaning of Christmas still comes through. Performances will be December 5 (6:00 Dinner Theater), 6 (7:00 Dessert Theater) and 7 (2:00 Dessert Theater). For more information, contact Janet Winslow at 563-244-7001.

In addition to offering a production on the CCC stage, the CCC Drama Fine Arts Committee hosts bus trips to see Broadway shows in the area. There will be a bus trip to Davenport’s Adler Theater on March 15 to see Mamma Mia, and April 26 the bus trip will be to Chicago to see Mary Poppins. Contact Marcia Larson, 563-244-7004, for more information.

by  Editor, theCity1.com
November 17, 2008