Latest Press Releases (full text)
2013
Artist Information: For media wishing to cover the Festival, the following links and resources are provided. Please credit sources appropriately. The links below contain biographical material, photos, and links to websites for each of the Festival’s featured artists.
Orpheus & Eurydice
Orpheus & Eurydice (Todd Palmer, Elizabeth Futral at Long Beach Opera, photo by Keith Ian Polakoff)
Ricky Ian Gordon’s haunting Orpheus & Eurydice was commissioned by clarinetist Todd Palmer, who plays the role of Orpheus. Also featuring Elizabeth Futral, Eurydice (soprano), Ran Dank (piano), with score & libretto by Ricky Ian Gordon.
For more information about this work, read the New York Magazine interview with the composer.
To order the recording, visit Amazon.com
Or, to listen to an excerpt, click here.
Paul Sullivan
Paul Sullivan
One of Maine’s most distinguished artists, Paul Sullivan has enjoyed a richly varied and distinguished career as a composer and a pianist. As a jazz player he has worked in some of New York’s most prestigious clubs and played with a wide variety of jazz masters. His 13 CDs have sold over 300,000 copies and he received a Grammy Award for his work on the Paul Winter Consort CD, Silver Solstice. He has also enjoyed a long friendship with the Pilobolus Dance Theater, for whom he has written over 15 scores. For more information, visit www.rivermusic.com.
Lamine Toure & Group Saloum
Lamine Toure
Founded by world-renowned griot percussionist Lamine Toure, Group Saloum’s infectious Afro-pop fuses Senegalese mbalax with jazz, funk, reggae, and Afrobeat. High-energy, fun and sophisticated, Group Saloum will wake up Portland’s Monument Square in an unforgettable free live concert. For more information, visit www.laminetoure.com/groupsaloum. To listen, visit www.myspace.com/groupsaloum
Celebration Barn Ensemble
Building on Celebration’s Barn tradition of original and physically-based theater, Celebration Ensemble is a collaboration between Amanda Huotari, Kavi Montanaro, Ian Bannon, and Kelly Nesbitt. With backgrounds in music, photography, puppetry and improvisation, the foursome works collaboratively, telling stories through movement, sound and visual imagery.
2012 (archive)
- Festival Receives Valued Grant Support (12-27-12)
- Festival to Present Guitarist Sharon Isbin in Solo Recital (5-30-12)
- Festival Presents Rare Jazz Masterwork (5-23-12)
- Festival Awarded Economic Development Grant (5-15-12)
- Festival to Present World Premiere of Important New Dance Work (5-7-12)
- Portland Festival Makes Maine the Place to be in Early Summer (4-20-12)
- Portland Festival Tickets Now On Sale (updated performance details) (4-6-12)
- Portland Performing Arts Festival Announced (1-20-12)