Passion for Bach and Coltrane Program

SARAH BELK GAMBRELL CENTER FOR THE ARTS AND CIVIC ENGAGEMENT

QUEENS UNIVERSITY OF CHARLOTTE

WELCOME TO THE

SARAH BELK GAMBRELL CENTER FOR THE ARTS AND CIVIC ENGAGEMENT With it’s opening in February 2020, the Sarah Belk Gambrell Center for the Arts and Civic Engagement became a hub for transformational cultural education, experiences, and engagement for our students, faculty and staff, and the greater Charlotte community.

The Sarah Belk Gambrell Center is home to the acoustically gorgeous, 995seat Sandra Levine Theatre, the intimate 150-seat Kathryn Greenhoot Recital Hall, two visual art galleries, eight classrooms, and myriad practice rooms and workspaces for students. Gambrell is the cultural and creative center of campus and is home to academic, visual, performing and literary arts programs, including design and music therapy.

THE MISSION OF THE GAMBRELL CENTER

The Sarah Belk Gambrell Center for the Arts and Civic Engagement is a dynamic arts destination for our community and students to share in diverse cultural experiences. The Gambrell Center facilitates creative scholarship through interdisciplinary collaboration and offers a vibrant gathering place for educational exploration. Queens demonstrates its commitment to this mission by presenting world-class performances, conversations, and exhibitions, showcasing exemplary faculty and student works, and providing an inspiration for design, creativity, and artistic expression.

SARAH BELK GAMBRELL CENTER STAFF

Laura Kratt, Executive Director Kristof Leopold, Technical Director Amanda Mullen, Media Specialist Jane Wiley, Media Specialist Stephanie Roman, Marketing Coordinator

704-337-2466 www.arts.queens.edu thearts@queens.edu

The Gambrell Center team programs and manages the Sarah Belk Gambrell Center, provides shared leadership of Arts at Queens and production services to events across campus.

ARTS AT QUEENS: SPOTLIGHT SERIES presents

PASSION FOR BACH AND COLTRANE

This concert is made possible through the generous support of the Charlotte Legacy Fund

Friday, March 14, 2025 at 7:30 p.m.

Sandra Levine Theatre PROGRAM: I. Aria II. Psalm III. Resolution VI. Out of Nazareth V. Variation 13 VI. Groovin’ Low VII. A Hug for Gonzalo VIII. Acknowledgement (A Love Supreme) CONCERT DURATION: approximately 70 minutes, without intermission Imani Winds is represented by Arts Management Group, Inc Harlem Quartet is represented by Epstein Fox Performances

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

PASSION FOR BACH AND COLTRANE Jeff Scott, composer Imani Winds Brandon Patrick George, flute Toyin Spellman-Diaz, oboe Kevin Newton, french horn Mark Dover, clarinet Monica Ellis, bassoon and A.B Spellman, Poet

Jazz Trio Alex Brown, piano Edward Perez, bass Neal Smith, drums

Harlem Quartet Melissa White, violin Ilmar Gavilan, violin Jaime Amador, violin Felix Umansky, cello

Note by Jeff Scott Passion for Bach & Coltrane is a work for wind quintet, string quartet, piano, double bass, percussion and orator. It was inspired by the poetry of A. B. Spellman, from his book of poems Things I Must Have Known, (c) 2008 Coffee House Press. The poetry speaks to the musical mastery of J.S. Bach, JPassion explores the influence of spirituality on the art of these masters and asks the inevitable question: what if JS Bach and John Coltrane might chance to meet? It challenges the performer and listener to be comfortable with the seemingly polar opposites of the musical spectrum presented as equals.

Imani Winds 2024 GRAMMY® winner in the Classical Compendium category for Jeff Scott’s “Passion for Bach and Coltrane” released on their recently formed record label, Imani Winds Media. Celebrating over a quarter century of music making, the four- time GRAMMY® nominated group has led both a revolution and evolution of the wind quintet through their dynamic playing, adventurous programming, imaginative collaborations and outreach endeavors that have inspired audiences of all ages and backgrounds. The ensemble’s playlist embraces traditional chamber music repertoire, and newly commissioned works from icons to new voices reflecting the times in which we live. To date, one of Imani Winds’ most humbling recognitions is a permanent presence in the classical music section of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington DC.

ABOUT THE ARTISTS (continued)

Harlem Quartet New York-based Harlem Quartet, currently quartet-in-residence at the John J. Cali School of Music and the Royal College of Music in London, has been praised for its “panache” by The New York Times and hailed in the Cincinnati Enquirer for “bringing a new attitude to classical music, one that is fresh, bracing and intelligent.” It has also won plaudits from such veteran musicians as GRAMMY-winning woodwind virtuoso Ted Nash of the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, who declared in a May 2018 Playbill article, “Harlem Quartet is one of the greatest string quartets I have ever heard. They can play anything.”

Since its public debut at Carnegie Hall in 2006, the ensemble has thrilled audiences and students in 47 states as well as in the U.K., France, Belgium, Brazil, Panama, Canada, Venezuela, Japan, Ethiopia, and South Africa.

Alfred B. Spellman A.B. Spellman is an author, poet, critic, and lecturer and GRAMMY® Award winner for his oration on Jeff Scott’s “Passion for Bach and Coltrane”.

University. He has published numerous books and articles on the arts, including Art Tatum: A Critical Biography (a chapbook), The Beautiful Days (poetry), and Four Lives in the Bebop Business, now available as Four Jazz Lives (University of Michigan Press). His poetry collection, Things I Must Have Known, recently was published by Coffee House Press. Mr. Spellman has served on numerous arts panels including the Rockefeller Panel on Arts, Education and Americans; the Awards Panel of the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP); the Africa Diaspora Advisory Group, the Jazz Advisory Group, and the Advisory Group on the AfricanAmerican Museum for the Smithsonian Institution. A.B. Spellman is an author, poet, critic, and lecturer and graduate of Howard University. He has published numerous books and articles on the arts, including Art Tatum: A Critical Biography (a chapbook), The Beautiful Days (poetry), and Four Lives in the Bebop Business.

About Charlotte Concerts For 90 years, Charlotte Concerts has brought the very best in international classical music to the Queen City. Also known as Carolinas Concerts Association, the organization hosted music and performing arts legends such as the Cleveland Orchestra, Arthur Rubinstein, Les Ballets Russes de Monte-Carlo, the London Symphony Orchestra, and countless others. This passion for classical music continues through the annual Charlotte Concerts Legacy Performance and a scholarship for a Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools graduate to study music at Queens.

WELCOME. SUPPORT. LIFT UP. ARTS AT QUEENS ANNUAL MEMBERSHIP Tickets sales only cover a fraction of the cost of the programs and daily operations of the Gambrell Center. With your annual membership, outstanding concerts, plays, readings, exhibitions, and educational programs will continue to grow. During the 23-24 season, our members make it possible to provide two residencies, hands-on learning experiences and workshops for students attending Queens and the Charlotte Mecklenburg school system.

Won’t you become a member?

THANK YOU FOR SUPPORTING ARTS AT QUEENS MEMBERS GUARDIAN Sally and Brian Bridgford Sandra Levine Sam and Carolyn G. McMahon BENEFACTOR Georgia and Bill Belk Kathy and Peter Browning Alexandra E. Butler Joye D. Blount and Jessie J. Knight Siu Challons-Lipton and Jordan Lipton Dr. & Mrs. Herb Clegg

Tamea Price Harriet Seabrook

Claudia and Andy Heath Barbara Laughlin

Daphne Glorian-Solomon and Eric Solomon

Kathy and Bill McCollum Susan McConnell and Josephine Hicks Charles and Emilia Migliaccio Doran Susan and Bob Salvin Emily Seelbinder and Lydia Edsell Ann and Michael Tarwater

Audean and Berkley Godehn Jerry and Gaile Greenhoot Barbara Karro and Bill Gorelick

Sandi O. and Ben Thoman Will and Dorothy Trotter Dorothea West and Jim Levesque Martha and Chip Whitfield

PATRON Natascha Bechtler G. Peter Macon Kathy and Bill McCollum M. A. Rogers Mary Claire and Dan Wall

This listing is current as of 1.1.25

Thank you to our Season Sponsors: is sponsored, in part, by WFAE and the Infusion Fund and its generous donors Multi-million Dollar Commitment City of Charlotte $1.5 million and above Bank of America C.D. Spangler Foundation / National Gypsum Company John S. and James L. Knight Foundation Trane Technologies $600,000 - $1 million Albemarle Foundation Atrium Health Barings Duke Energy Honeywell JELD-WEN, Inc. LendingTree Foundation Lowe’s Companies, Inc. Novant Health Red Ventures Truist $300,000-$600,000 Ally Financial The Centene Charitable Foundation Childress Klein Properties Coca-Cola Consolidated Deloitte EY The Gambrell Foundation Moore & Van Allen PwC Robinson, Bradshaw & Hinson, P.A. Rodgers Builders Wells Fargo Up to $300,000 Fifth Third Bank Foundation For The Carolinas Deidre and Clay Grubb Leslie and Michael Marsicano Jane and Hugh McColl Nucor Corporation PNC Bank Premier, Inc. Jane and Nelson Schwab

Charlotte Concerts Legacy Fund