Hailed as perhaps the most popular opera with audiences of all types, Bizet’s masterful tunes, a compelling, intriguing storyline, and a new orchestration will make this a performance to remember. Three performances with chamber orchestra in original language will take place in the newly renovated Crooked Tree Arts Center Auditorium in Petoskey, with a fourth performance at the Traverse City Opera House.

Virginia Galvin Crouse Visiting Artists Series

Boston Brass Quintet

• Concert:  8 p.m. Monday, July 14 (purchase tickets)
• Master Class:  9 a.m. Tuesday, July 15
• Both events in Hall Auditorium

From exciting classical arrangements, to breathtaking harmony, to burning jazz standards, Boston Brass achieves new levels in brass performance while treating audiences to a unique musical experience that captivates all ages. The ensemble’s lively repartee, touched with humor and personality, bridges the vast ocean of classical formality to delight audiences to an evening of boisterous fun, exciting knowledge and an enthusiastic love of music, deftly exhibited by five brash brass players. Boston Brass has transcended the traditional mores of brass ensemble literature and, with a host of original arrangements, has pioneered a new generation of music that sets out to achieve one simple goal: entertain at all costs with blistering precision. Whether they are performing solo or with a symphony orchestra, the fun and emotion exhibited from this group is uniquely infectious and keeps audiences on their feet, demanding encore after encore.

Timothy Noble, Baritone

• Master Classes:  2 p.m. Monday, June 30, and Tuesday, July 1
• Both Classes in Hall Auditorium

Timothy Noble is a world-famous baritone who is known as one of the great interpreters of Giuseppe Verdi’s lead male operatic roles, from Rigoletto to Falstaff. He’s enjoyed 22 years of performing in the most esteemed international opera houses, including the Metropolitan Opera in New York City, the Lyric Opera of Chicago and the Netherlands Opera. True to his Indiana roots, the 1963 graduate of Peru High School also has recorded a disc of Cole Porter songs, Simply Cole. Yet, with all the accolades he’s enjoyed for his versatile artistry as a singer, it is his career as a professor of music that he has fully invested himself since 1999. His students’ high regard for him tells the story of his impact: 46 students from the School of Music, including all 23 from his studio, nominated him for the Distinguished Professorship. Noble’s music career is as long and varied as it is celebrated. As a young man, he toured with Fred Waring and the Pennsylvanians as a singer and music director of the Waring Blendors; he was also a successful Broadway performer. Noble also has published popular sheet music, and his musical recordings range from the Cole Porter disc to his Grammy-nominated recording of The Music Man with Erich Kunzel and the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra. “He has had a great career, not only with the Metropolitan Opera, but in Italy and many other countries in Europe,” said Virginia Zeani, IU Distinguished Professor of music. “His dedication has made him one of the most important voice teachers in America. He also composes, is a great musician and is dedicated to his students—as we say in Italian, corpo ed anima—body and soul.”

PROJECT

• Concert:  7 p.m. Monday, July 28 (purchase tickets)
• Master Class:  10 a.m. Tuesday, July 29
• Both events in Hall Auditorium

PROJECT is a dynamic young instrumental ensemble that is thrilling diversified audiences with their energy and innovative style. By combining the classical repertoire with original compositions, PROJECT reaches out to new audiences. Their sound can only be described as a fusion of jazz, world music and with some added elements of hip-hop, balanced out by a sincere allegiance to their classical roots. Through performance and outreach/education concerts, PROJECT provides access for the next generation of music lovers.

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