Joe Lawler
Managing Editor
WITH A STAR STUDDED 2007-2008 concert schedule, the DeBartolo Performing Arts Center is showing that it is one of the premier collegiate concert halls.
Led off by the a cappella group Toxic Audio last Thursday, the DPAC concert schedule boasts many well-known performers. One of the first notable groups on the schedule is Ladysmith Black Mambazo, the South African choral group led by Joseph Shabalala. Ladysmith Black Mambazo grew to fame for their performance on Paul Simon’s 1986 album Graceland, and now act as musical ambassadors for their country, traveling the world for nine months out of the year. This year is the group’s first performance at the DPAC since 2004.
Ladysmith Black Mambazo will not be the only group representing their country’s music to visit the DPAC this year. The Chieftains, the official musical ambassadors of Ireland, will play a concert featuring their iconic brand of traditional Celtic music on February 27th of 2008. The Chieftains, winners of six Grammy Awards, previously visited Notre Dame in 2005 and in 2006.
Dave Brubeck will also be returning to Notre Dame – but performing for the first time. This jazz piano legend was last seen on campus receiving the Laetare Medal at the 2006 commencement. A devoted Catholic, Brubeck is known not only for his adventurous rhythms in improvisational jazz, but also for his swinging versions of “Tantum Ergo” and his Mass compositions as well. During his performance at the DPAC on October 19th, he will play two sets: first he will play a traditional jazz set with his quartet, but then he will return to the stage with over 200 Notre Dame students from various choirs to perform some of his choral works.
Two unique acts that will showcase their talents in the Leighton Concert Hall are the Vienna Boys Choir and the Romeros. The Vienna Boys Choir, comprising around 100 young boys, was founded in 1458 and has performed with such musicians as Anton Bruckner, Antonio Salieri, and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. They will bring their internationally renowned act to the DPAC on November 25th. The Romeros are the world’s only guitar quartet composed of family members, and are known as “The Royal Family of the Guitar.” They will visit the DPAC on March 29th of 2008.
As violinists go, none are more famous than Joshua Bell. Bell made his debut with the Philadelphia Orchestra at the age of 14, and has never looked back. His 2003 album Romance of the Violin topped the classical charts for 54 weeks. He has won a Grammy Award and played the violin part for the Oscar-winning soundtrack for the movie The Red Violin. He made national news in January of this year when he took his 300-year-old, $4 million Stradivarius violin into a Washington, DC subway and played a 45 minute set for the rush hour crowd, who rewarded him with $32.17 in tips. Hopefully the DeBartolo audience will treat him better when he visits on February 7th of 2008.
Wynton Marsalis, who will play at the DPAC on January 20th of 2008 with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, is regarded as one of the most prominent jazz musicians of the contemporary era. The winner of nine Grammys and the Pulitzer Prize for Music, this trumpeter learned band direction from jazz great Art Blakey, and has performed alongside such artists as Sarah Vaughan, Dizzy Gillespie, Sonny Rollins, and others. The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Marsalis performed the inaugural concert at the DPAC to a sold out audience, and their return is bound to be as triumphant.
This roster of musicians, along with others too numerous to name but compelling nonetheless, highlights what is shaping up to be the most exciting concert series at the DPAC yet. The DPAC’s management did not respond to calls before this issue went to press, but one can be sure they are encouraged by their ability to draw so many big name artists, and hopeful that their success will continue under new executive director Anna M. Thompson.
Contact Joe at jlawler2@nd.edu.
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