Oct. 3: Master Players opens
UD Master Players Concert Series opens with 'Xiang Gao and Friends'
4:10 p.m., Aug. 28, 2015--The 12th annual University of Delaware Master Players Concert Series will open with a gala titled “Xiang Gao and Friends” at 5:30 p.m., Saturday, Oct. 3, in the Gore Recital Hall of the Roselle Center for the Arts on the UD campus in Newark.
The concert celebrates the 10-year anniversary of UD’s purchase of the rare violin made in 1794 by master Italian maker G.B. Ceruti for use in performances worldwide by Master Players founding artistic director Xiang Gao, who called the purchase a symbol of the University’s commitment to excellence in the arts.
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The event will feature chamber music masterpieces by Franck, Sarasate, Dvorak and Brahms.
Gao, recipient of the Delaware Governor’s Award in the Arts and the UD Trustees Distinguished Professor of Music, will perform alongside collaborative pianist Rita Sloan from the University of Maryland, award-winning concert cellist Bo Li of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and emerging concert violinist Anna Luce, a 2008 UD alumna.
Free of charge master classes will be offered from 1:25-2:15 p.m., Friday, Oct. 2, with Sloan (piano) in Gore Recital Hall, Luce (violin) in 211 Amy du Pont Music Building, and Li (cello) in Puglisi Orchestra Hall.
Advance tickets will go on sale Sept. 8. To order advance tickets, send order forms now or call 302-831-2204 after Sept. 8.
To make pre-sale ticket reservations for the "Xiang Gao and Friends" concert before the box office opens on Sept. 8, email requests to masterplayers@udel.edu.
Tickets for all events are $25 for adults; $20 for senior adults, alumni, faculty and staff; and $10 for students with ID.
There are two subscription series available. Visit the Master Players website to get more detailed information including the subscription and online purchase.
Those who plan to attend are asked to note the concert time change for the entire Master Players season, which was made to accommodate retirees, family audiences and audiences from afar.
Future concerts
• The second concert of the Master Players season is “The Art of String Quartet III,” featuring the Juilliard String Quartet at 5:30 p.m., Saturday, Nov. 7, in the Gore Recital Hall of the Roselle Center for the Arts. This Homecoming event is co-presented by the Office of Development and Alumni Relations.
Note the premium price of $50 (for all buyers) for this special event with only 130 seats available to the public. Fifty first-come, first-served tickets with 20 percent discount exclusively reserved for UD alumni are available by contacting the REP box office at 302-831-2204 by Oct. 1 with name and degree information. This event is not eligible to be part of any season subscription.
The program includes string quartet compositions by Schubert, Wernick (world premiere) and Debussy. A free of charge master class with the Juilliard String Quartet will be held at 1-2:30 p.m., Saturday, Nov. 7, in Gore Recital Hall.
• The “Master Players Holiday Pops” concert will feature the UD Chorale and the Cartoon Christmas Trio, and will be held at 3 p.m., Saturday, Dec. 5, in Mitchell Hall. A special ticket price of $5 for children ages 5 to 14 is made possible by a private gift, and is not eligible to be part of any season subscription. School group tickets can be arranged at the price of $5 per child by contacting the box office at 302-831-2204.
• The season continues in February 2016 with the first installment in the Master Players’ “Great Bands of the World” series featuring the world-renowned Cory Band at 3 p.m., Sunday, Feb. 14, in Mitchell Hall. This is the Wales-based brass band’s first American tour since 1976. Introducing the band at UD will be Richard B. Fischer, chair of the Master Players Advisory Council.
Due to the popularity of the Cory Band and given that several concerts on its historical American tour are sold out, advanced purchase is strongly recommended. Group reservations (10 people and up) with a 10 percent discount on all tickets can be arranged by contacting the box office at 302-831-2204.
A free of charge workshop for local bands will be held immediately following the concert. To make a required reservation for the workshop, contact Melissa Kitchen at masterplayers@udel.edu.
• The ever-popular iMusic series created and produced by Gao in collaboration with UD’s English Language Institute (ELI) will continue in March with “iMusic IX: 6ixwire Around the World,” to be presented at 5:30 p.m., Saturday, March 12, in Mitchell Hall.
After its last Master Players appearance in spring 2013, the 6ixwire ensemble-in-residence returns to perform a large-scale world music concert featuring collaborators from Europe, North America, South America, Asia and Africa. The event will celebrate world culture through original ideas, inspiring music, edgy visual art and memorable literature created by world-class artists and participating UD and ELI students.
Co-sponsored by the College of Arts and Sciences and the Department of Music, the series is also supported by the Office of the Provost as part of the College of Arts and Sciences’ Arts@UD initiative, a new program designed to promote international arts engagement as part of the University’s new strategic plan, Delaware Will Shine.
• The season finale will be a large production titled “Mozart’s Magic Flute – A Concert Opera,” to be held at 5:30 p.m., Saturday, April 16, in Mitchell Hall. The Master Players’ inaugural opera production will feature the legendary opera director Martin Katz in a concert version of one of the most popular operas of all time, The Magic Flute by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
Co-sponsored by UD’s Institute for Global Studies, this production marks the Master Players’ first collaboration with UD Opera Theatre and Opera Delaware.
A special ticket price of $5 for children ages 5 to 14 is made possible by a private gift, and is not eligible to be part of any season subscription. School group tickets can be arranged at the price of $5 by contacting the box office at 302-831-2204.
Ticket information
Advance tickets for the Master Players Concert Series go on sale Sept. 8. To order advance tickets, send order forms now or call 302-831-2204 after Sept. 8.
Tickets for all events are $25 for adults; $20 for senior adults, alumni, faculty and staff; and $10 for students with ID.
There are two subscription series available:
• A five-concert subscription with a 15 percent discount is $106 for adults; $85 for senior adults, alumni, faculty and staff; and $43 for students.
• A four-concert subscription with a 10 percent discount is $90 for adults, $72 for senior adults, alumni, faculty and staff; and $36 for students.
Online purchase (computer or smart devices) for single tickets, gift cards for friends, and pre-paid parking vouchers (to avoid waiting after the concert) are available to all Master Players audience members starting on Sept. 8.
Remaining tickets are sold 60 minutes prior to each concert, and $5 student rush tickets are sold 20 minutes prior to each concert (for buyers with student ID in the concert hall lobby).
For the holiday pops concert and the Magic Flute concert, there are $5 tickets for children ages 5 to 14 accompanied by an adult. This price is not eligible to be part of any season subscription. Reservations are required. Call 302-831-2204 for details.
Additional information including driving directions, parking and dining information is available at the Master Players website.
Program support
The Master Players Concert Series is made possible, in part, by a grant from the Delaware Division of the Arts, a state agency dedicated to nurturing and supporting the arts in Delaware, in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts. Other sponsors include Vita Nova restaurant at the University of Delaware and Marriott’s Courtyard Newark-University of Delaware campus hotel. Additional sponsors are noted on the Master Players website.