Lancaster Cultural Arts Center – Tailgates & Typewriters

CAC to Host First Music Festival

The increasingly popular Lancaster Cultural Arts Center is hosting a three-day music festival Sept. 7th, 9th, and 10^th.The gala will conclude with a reception at the historic Craig House, Sunday September 10.

The Historic Lancaster Music Festival is a collaboration between Chamber Music for All (CM4A) and several very talented musicians, vocalists, and groups.

Calin Lupanu, founder of CM4A, designed the inaugural festival. CM4A performs several times each year at the CAC.

“We are looking forward to playing at this beautiful venue, which is quickly becoming our home away from home,” he said.

The CAC is establishing itself as a favorite music venue for some of the most talented regional musicians. Audience members love the former church for its ambiance and intimate setting allowing them to see the faces of the performing musicians.

Lupanu, Concertmaster for Charlotte Symphony Orchestra and coordinator of music festivals, has created a masterpiece of musical offerings showcasing the best musical talent in the greater Charlotte area.

Day 1

Thursday, Sept. 7, the first night of music, begins at 6:30 p.m. and features the Mendelssohn Octet.

The Octet includes the following musicians: violinists Lupanu, Ayako Game, Hanna Zhdan and Monica Boboc; violists Marcus Pyle (Davidson College) and Rebina Bak (Yale University alumni); cellists Allison Drenkow and Marlene Ballena.

The concert will also feature Mozart’s Eine Kleine Nachtmusik. Translated into English, the title means “A Little Night Music.” The audience will find the serenade light, breezy and entertaining. Other works include Romanian composer Enescu’s Prelude in Unison.

Day 2

Saturday night, Sept. 9, the second night of performances, begins at 6:30 p.m. and is a Classical and Jazz Pop collaboration between Chamber Music for All and Opera Carolina. Soprano Corey Lovelace and tenor Johnnie Felder will be featured.

The evening’s program will explore some of Gershwin’s music and familiar Arias from popular operas. Other works include jazz pieces and works by Puccini and Piazzola.

James Meena, general director and principal conductor of Opera Carolina, said collaborations like this are an important part of the cultural network in greater Charlotte.

“We are proud to be a part of the music festival and expect that this first successful year will be a herald for many years of great programming in the Lancaster area,” Meena said.

Day 3

The third and final concert will begin at 3:00 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 10, with guest pianist and USC professor of piano, Phillip Bush, joining the CM4A musicians to perform the piano quintets of Bartok and Dvorak. These compositions maximize diversity of sound and create a rich and full resonance with a small ensemble of musicians – perfect for the CAC’s acoustics.

“It will be a tour de force,” Lupanu said.

Bush has performed worldwide and is regarded as one of the most experienced chamber music pianists of his generation. He is a professor of music at the University of South Carolina.

Bush has played a few times at the CAC with Lupanu and is delighted to be a part of the first music festival at the venue.

“I am always inspired by the space itself,” Bush said. “I find the sound to be glorious and grand, even when just one or a few instruments are playing, and yet the space is also quite intimate and small enough that one feels the energy and the rapt attention of the audience too, most palpably from the perspective of the stage.”

Bush sees the CAC as a treasure, not just for the immediate Lancaster community but for the wider Lancaster County area, York County, and beyond. “It’s well worth a drive to hear a concert at the CAC,” he said. “I hope that this festival serves as a spark to ignite a wider awareness and appreciation for the CAC’s extensive menu of year-round and diverse cultural offerings.”

Reception

The grand finale will be the reception at historic Craig House, 1859 Craig Farm Road, less than 10 minutes from the CAC. The celebration will begin at 5:00. Concert organizer John Craig said if weather allows, the event will be held under the pavilion and surrounding lawns. If it rains, the party will move inside the Craig House.

“We expect to have much to celebrate and the reception is designed to do just that,” Craig said. “We will have a generous amount of food and drinks with informal background music.”

There will be a raffle drawing between 5 and 7 p.m. at the reception, including a top prize of an overnight stay for a couple at Kilburnie Inn with breakfast.

The reception is a fundraiser for CAC concerts.

Craig said the music hall just received an anonymous donation of $5,000 as long as it is matched by other individuals and businesses which will turn the $5,000 promise into a $10,000 gift. Donations can be mailed to LCSHP, 1859 Craig Farm Road, Lancaster SC 29720.

The CAC relies on sponsors to keep ticket prices low. Most concerts cost only $15.

CAC’s Growing Popularity

The Cultural Arts Center is becoming more popular each year. Twenty-four concerts have been booked for 2023. A dozen continuing education seminars, or conversations, are scheduled on the first Wednesday of every month bringing the total events to 39. Craig said the venue is used about a dozen times by area groups which means something is happening at the CAC nearly every week.

Four events are scheduled for the first full week of September.

“It’s a sign of success that the CAC now has an annual music festival,” Craig said. “Lancaster is really on the map culturally and we are pulling in more and more concert patrons from out of town and even the county. The festival will be a great way to kick off the Fall.”

How to Buy Tickets

Advance tickets for individual concerts are $15 each. A ticket to the reception is $84. For access to the entire event, a festival package ticket is only $131, including a small processing fee. Combined festival tickets, not purchased online will be $145.

The Lancaster Cultural Arts Center is located at 307 W. Gay St. in historic downtown Lancaster. Free on-site and street parking are available. Craig Farm is located at 1859 Craig Farm Rd. where free parking will be available.

Duo Beaux Arts

Pianists Bring Uplifting Show to CAC on Sept. 26

Duo Beaux Arts, internationally renowned concert pianists, will make their debut at Lancaster’s Cultural Arts Center, Sunday, September 26, at 3:00 p.m.

Dr. Catherine Lan and Tao Lin have been performing together since 2008, the year they wed, to both popular and critical acclaim. Audiences delight in the energy, enthusiasm and chemistry between the two former child-prodigies whose harmonious bond is in both music and matrimony.

Concert pianists Catherine Lan and Tao Lin will bring an upbeat, joyous concert featuring piano four hands, playing duets together on the same piano, to Lancaster’s Cultural Arts Center next weekend.

The concert at Lancaster’s top music venue is the first of three performances Duo Beaux Arts will make in South Carolina this month.

Lan is looking forward to bringing the upbeat, joyous concert to Lancaster.

“Music is essential for our souls, especially during difficult times,” Lan said. “We believe our upcoming concert at the Lancaster Cultural Arts Center will be enthralling and energizing for the audience.”

She said they are grateful to be playing for a live audience again as opposed to the virtual concerts of the past pandemic year.

“Music is a communicative art, created to be presented to live audiences, the unspoken bond between the performer and the audience is one essential element that can never be fully replicated by technical means,” Lan said.

The program will feature works for solo piano and piano four hands, a type of duet where both pianists play the same piano simultaneously. Lan and Lin’s four hands will gracefully play the keys as though from the same heart.

Concert organizer John Craig said the first time he saw a single piano played by two was on the Ed Sullivan show in the mid-1950s.

“It was fascinating to watch two concert pianists playing simultaneously on one piano and hear what a talented team can bring out of a single piano,” he said. “Catherine Lan and Tao Lin rank in the same class as those players of long ago.”

Craig said Lan and Lin have earned rave reviews from around the world including: Tallinn; Estonia; Helsinki; Finland; Bern, Switzerland; Barcelona, Spain; Amsterdam; Paris.

“The program they will be performing captures the spirit of Paris when impressionism was at its height,” Craig said. “This is a performance not to be missed.”

Duo Beaux Arts will perform cheerful upbeat music from La Belle Epoque (1880-1914), which features some of the most enchanting Romantic French music from the late 19th to early 20th century. They will highlight composers Bizet, Debussy and Poulenc. In France, these peaceful years before World War I were characterized by optimism, scientific innovations and cultural advancements.

The lineup will include Claire de lune and Petite Suite by Debussy and Jeaux d’enfants by Bizet. Claire de lune means “moonlight” in French. It takes its name from a poem by French poet Paul Verlaine in which he depicts the soul as somewhere full of music ‘in a minor key’ where birds are inspired to sing by the ‘sad and beautiful’ light of the moon. Jeux d’enfants, translated as “Children’s Games” is composed of 12 short pieces, each evoking a feeling of childhood.

The concert is sure to bring smiles and lift spirits.

Currently, the globetrotting couple lives in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. They married in 2008 and became Duo Beaux Arts and have performed in palaces, music halls, festivals and cathedrals throughout the United States, Asia and Europe.

The two pianists have very accomplished individual careers and worldwide respect for their talent. They have five concert grand pianos at home.

“When we prepare for a new program, we learn each of our parts separately and once we are ready to rehearse, we very often do not need to verbalize how we would like the music to be executed because it is all expressed through our playing,” Lan said.

Lan and Lin, both child prodigies, were born to musical parents.

Lan was born in Taiwan and began playing piano at the age of 3. By the time she was 8, she performed an original composition in Japan. She has degrees from the University of British Columbia, University of Indiana and a doctorate of music from the University of Miami. She also plays oboe and harpsichord. Lan conducts master classes in the U.S., Singapore and Thailand and teaches at Broward College.

Lin was born in Shanghai and has performed as a solo pianist across Asia, North America and Europe. He has played recitals at Kennedy Center, National Gallery of Art, Izumi Hall in Japan and in Norway. He began playing piano at age four and by the time he was eight, he was admitted to the Shanghai Conservatory of Music where his parents worked. Lan is a Steinway artist and has taught master classes at universities and conservatories in the U.S., Norway and China.

Their personal and professional chemistry comes through as they sit side-by-side on the piano bench with their hands gracefully stroking the keys.

The two pianists have a penchant for the intimacy of chamber music.

“To come together to feel and breathe as one is hugely rewarding,” Lin said. “We treasure every opportunity we have to perform these magnificent masterworks.”

The Cultural Arts Center is housed in the Old Presbyterian Church on West Gay Street which was built in 1862. It was the first brick Church building in Lancaster County. The French Gothic Revival style architecture features an arch in the pulpit, a three-sided balcony, and breathtaking stained glass windows, some reaching nearly 20 feet high.

Craig encourages those interested to purchase their tickets early, $15 in advance, $20 at the door.

The 2020-21 series has more than a dozen performances scheduled through December 2021.

The concerts are sponsored by the Lancaster County Society for Historical Preservation and the Craig Farm Historic Preservation Foundation.

Advance tickets can be purchased at the newly created and user-friendly website http://www.lcshp.org or by phone at 803-287-6826.

For more information on Duo Beaux Arts, check them out on their website https://duobeauxarts.com, and individual sites: https://catherinelan.com and https://taolinpianist.com.