QUEENS
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.
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
Note by Jeff Scott
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
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.
AboutCharlotteConcerts
WELCOME. SUPPORT. LIFT UP.
A R T S A T Q U E E N S A N N U A L M E M B E R S H I P
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.
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THANK YOU FOR SUPPORTING
G U A R D I A N
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
Daphne Glorian-Solomon and Eric Solomon
Audean and Berkley Godehn
Jerry and Gaile Greenhoot
Barbara Karro and Bill Gorelick
PATRON
Natascha Bechtler
G. Peter Macon
Kathy and Bill McCollum
M. A. Rogers
Mary Claire and Dan Wall
Tamea Price
Harriet Seabrook
Claudia and Andy Heath
Barbara Laughlin
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
Sandi O. and Ben Thoman
Will and Dorothy Trotter
Dorothea West and Jim Levesque
Martha and Chip Whitfield
This listing is current as of 1.1.25
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
Thank you to our Season Sponsors:
