Masterworks Series at South Florida’s Arsht Center to be funded through 2013 with challenge grant – Knight Foundation
Arts

Masterworks Series at South Florida’s Arsht Center to be funded through 2013 with challenge grant

With the community’s support, Adrienne Arsht Center will match the $600,000 grant with $1.2 million in private donations ; Knight Foundation grant follows 2009-10 Masterworks Season that drew tens of thousands of community patrons.

MIAMI, FL – The Masterworks Season at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts of Miami-Dade County will provide classical music and dance performances through 2013, with new support from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. The $600,000 grant, part of Knight Foundation’s national Arts Program, will be matched with $1.2 million of private sector support, both through private and corporate funding. The first Masterworks Season to benefit from the grant will be the recently-unveiled 2010-11 season, which coincides with the Adrienne Arsht Center’s 5th anniversary season. It has been named the “John S. and James L. Knight 2010-2011 Masterworks Season” in recognition of the  Foundation’s aim to fund cultural projects that enrich and engage the South Florida community.

            The Adrienne Arsht Center launched the Masterworks Season series in 2009 after preserving the bulk of the Concert Association of Florida’s 2009 season once that organization filed for bankruptcy. Since then, audiences have embraced classical music and dance presented by the Center: tens of thousands of patrons attended concerts and performances in the series’ first year and ticket sales consistently exceeded the Center’s budget estimates.

            “On behalf of the Adrienne Arsht Center and the Miami community, we express our deepest gratitude to Knight Foundation for its generous support for our Masterworks Season,” said M. John Richard, president and CEO of the Adrienne Arsht Center. “Following an inaugural year that was embraced by our patrons and participating artists alike, we are committed to solidifying the Masterworks Season as a permanent fixture in our repertoire of annual Signature Series. Knight Foundation’s gift will help us do just that. We encourage members of our community to demonstrate their appreciation for Knight Foundation and love for classical music and dance by answering this important funding challenge.”

            “The Arsht Center has moved quickly to ensure that top notch classical performances will engage South Florida in coming years,” said Dennis Scholl, vice president/arts and Miami program director for Knight Foundation.

            The John S. and James L. Knight 2010-2011 Masterworks Season will include the Sanford and Dolores Ziff Classical Music Series, a Signature Dance Series, and for the first time, four Pops performances:

  • Tania Pérez-Salas Compañía de Danza, October 2, 2010: Award-winning Mexican dancer and choreographer Tania Pérez-Salas brings her Compañía de Danza to Miami as part of an international tour celebrating Mexico’s 200th anniversary of independence.
  • Moscow State Symphony Orchestra, November 15, 2010: The Moscow State Symphony Orchestra has been hailed as one of the greatest orchestras from a cultural tradition rich with extraordinary symphonic ensembles.
  • Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, December 11, 2010: Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, one of America’s most innovative contemporary dance companies, will perform repertory pieces by Ohad Naharin, Jirí Kylián, and Alejandro Cerrudo.
  • The Christmas Music of Mannheim Steamroller by Chip Davis, December 26, 2010: Mannheim Steamroller brings a signature sound combining classical and modern-day rock, acoustic, and electronic music to the holiday season.
  • Michael Bolton, January 17, 2011: The quintessential romantic vocalist, Michael Bolton’s career spans more than 22 years, 53 million records sold, multiple Grammys, and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
  • Joshua Bell, January 18, 2011: A young violin virtuoso who debuted at the age of 14, Bell is widely regarded as one of America’s youngest and most talented musical geniuses, having recorded more than 35 CDs and garnered an Oscar Award for his work in film.
  • Chamber Orchestra Kremlin, February 2, 2011: One of Russia’s finest artistic ambassadors, the Chamber Orchestra Kremlin has earned national and international acclaim featuring some of Russia’s finest young string players.
  • Deutsche Staatsphilharmonie, February 9, 2011: The Deutsche Staatsphilharmonie is Germany’s official sponsored philharmonic orchestra, comprised of 88 musicians from 16 nations and celebrating 90 years of artistry.
  • Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, February 17-20, 2011: Performing at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the third year in a row, the dance company has been recognized by U.S. Congressional resolution as a vital American “Cultural Ambassador to the World,” and performed for 23 million people in 48 states and 71 countries on six continents celebrating the uniqueness of the African American cultural experience.
  • Boston Pops Esplanade Orchestra, March 19, 2011: The Boston Pops Orchestra, the most-recorded orchestra in the world, will highlight the beloved popular tunes of Cole Porter, featuring Broadway darlings Kelli O’Hara and Brian D’Arcy James and world-renowned conductor Keith Lockhart.
  • The 5 Browns, March 30, 2011: The five Brown siblings, each began playing the piano around age three and were the first family of five siblings to ever be accepted simultaneously at the Juilliard School. At the Adrienne Arsht Center, they will perform classical pieces both individually and in complex five-piano arrangements.
  • Yuri Bashmet and Evgeny Kissin in Concert, April 21, 2011: Yuri Bashmet, a leading Russian conductor and violist, will be joined onstage by piano virtuoso and Grammy Award-winner Evgeny Kissin to perform a spectacular program for viola and piano.

For tickets to any Masterworks Season performance or to subscribe to the series, call the box office at (305) 949-6722 or visit www.arshtcenter.org. To donate to the Adrienne Arsht Center in support of matching the Knight Foundation’s grant, contact Churé Gladwell at (786) 468-2242.

About the Adrienne Arsht Center for Performing Arts of Miami-Dade County:
The Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts of Miami-Dade County is one of the world’s leading performing arts organizations and venues. Made possible by Miami-Dade County’s largest ever public/private-sector partnership, the Center plays host to three resident companies (Florida Grand Opera, Miami City Ballet and New World Symphony, America’s Orchestral Academy) in addition to numerous South Florida arts organizations that perform in its theaters regularly. Since opening in 2006, the Center has emerged as a leader in offering and presenting world-class programming that mirrors South Florida’s diversity, as a catalyst for development in Miami, and as a host of impactful community and educational programs.

Designed by world-renowned architect Cesar Pelli of Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects, the venue is comprised of the 2,400-seat Sanford and Dolores Ziff Ballet Opera House, the 2,200-seat John S. and James L. Knight Concert Hall, the black box Carnival Studio Theater, a restored Carnival Art Deco Tower, the Peacock Foundation, Inc. Studio, the Peacock Foundation, Inc. Education Center, and the outdoor Parker and Vann Thomson Plaza for the Arts. Events impresario and restaurateur Barton G. Weiss brought his signature style to the Center in 2009 with PRELUDE BY BARTON G, a full-service upscale restaurant open five days a week.

Visit www.arshtcenter.org for more information.

Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts of Miami-Dade County is made possible by the public support of the Miami-Dade County Mayor and the Board of County Commissioners, Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs and the Cultural Affairs Council, and Miami-Dade County Tourist Development Council. Education and Outreach is funded in part by The Children’s Trust. The Adrienne Arsht Center also receives generous support from private contributions to the Adrienne Arsht Center Foundation, Inc. through its Visionary Society membership program and its Encore Circle major gifts program; American Express Company; Arison Arts Foundation; Bank of America Charitable Foundation; City of Miami Omni Community Redevelopment Agency; Dade Community Foundation; Funding Arts Network; John S. and James L. Knight Foundation; Southern Arts Federation; The Cowles Charitable Trust; The Wachovia Wells Fargo Foundation; National Endowment for the Arts; and the State of Florida, Department of State, Division of Cultural Affairs and the Florida Arts Council.

About John S. and James L. Knight Foundation
The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation advances journalism in the digital age and invests in the vitality of communities where the Knight brothers owned newspapers. Knight Foundation focuses on projects that promote informed and engaged communities and lead to transformational change. For more, visit www.knightfoundation.org

MEDIA CONTACTS:
Suzette Espinosa                               Marc Fest                                 Aaron Gordon
786-468-2221                                    305-908-2677                           305-962-3292
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