Opening of Skidmore's Zankel Center marks ties with Carnegie Hall

Free and open to the public, the event will take place in the 600-seat Helen Filene Ladd Concert Hall. Seats will be available on a first-come, first-served basis. Those who attend the pre-concert discussion at 7 p.m. will be assured of getting seats. Call (518) 580-5321 for the latest information on the event.
Ensemble ACJW comes to Skidmore through a partnership between the college and The Academy - a program of Carnegie Hall, the Juilliard School, and the Weill Music Institute, in partnership with the New York City Department of Education. The program's musicians, all young professionals, continue their musical training while also teaching and performing in New York City schools.
The February 5 concert will include David Bruce's lively Gumboots for clarinet and string quartet, which premiered at Carnegie Hall in 2008. The work is divided into two parts, with a tranquil prelude preceding six jubilant "gumboot dances," inspired by a form of dancing that originated during apartheid in South Africa. Since workers were often prohibited from talking while they labored in mines, they communicated by slapping their boots in rhythmic patterns.
Another of Bruce's Carnegie commissions, Piosenki, received its upstate New York premiere in 2007 at Skidmore.
Also included on the program will be Prokofiev's Quintet in G Minor, Op. 39; and Shostakovich's Piano Trio No. 2 in E minor, Op. 67.
Thomas Denny, professor and chair of Skidmore's Music Department, will lead the pre-performance discussion with Bruce and Ensemble ACJW members beginning at 7 p.m.
In addition to Bruce, the following performers will be on campus: Sarah Beaty, clarinet, Meena Bhasin, viola, Nicholas Canellakis, cello, Owen Dalby, violin Joanna Marie Frankel, violin, Angelina Gadeliya, piano, Evan Premo, double bass, and James Austin Smith, oboe.
With approximately 54,000 square feet of teaching, practice, performance, and administrative space, the Zankel Music Center features two performing spaces: the 600-seat Helen Filene Ladd Concert Hall and the 90-seat Elisabeth Luce Moore Hall. The center reflects Skidmore's commitment to the arts and to creative thinking.
Together with the Janet Kinghorn Bernhard Theater, the Marjorie Saisselin Art Building, and the original Therese W. Filene Music Building, the Zankel Music Center completes a true arts quadrangle at Skidmore.