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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 15, 2008Friends! All Mankind Are Brothers!
MEDIA ALERT
For More Information Contact: Lori King, Center on Halsted
773.472.6469 x.290
Center on Halsted and the Lakeside Pride Music Ensembles Present
"Friends! All Mankind Are Brothers!"
Chicago, IL – Center on Halsted (COH) and the Lakeside Pride Ensembles pay musical tribute to oppressed peoples’ enduring crusade for freedom in “Friends! All Mankind of Brothers!” on Tuesday, January 22 at 7:00 pm - 8:30 pm in the Center’s Hoover-Leppen Theatre. Admission is free. For more information visit www.centeronhalsted.org.
The evening’s performance profiles the fight of six different communities for civil liberties. Six classical soloists each represent a different population in its journey toward acceptance: clarinetist Kermit Wies gives voice to the Jewish battle for civil rights; cellist Johnny Merrifield pays tribute the Catalonian people’s war against fascism; saxophonist Michelle Free honors the African people’s continuing struggles; violinist Maria Storm shares the sorrows of the Gypsy people of the world and composer and flutist Hiko Hagopian laments the lost voices of the Armenian people. Finally, Baritone Oswaldo Iraheta captures the struggles of the GLBTQ people.
Event organizer Kim Diehnelt says classical music is a prime forum to give the oppressed people of the world a voice. “When society’s oppressed, you can hear it in the music. This is definitely true of classical music. In his day, Beethoven was considered a radical,” says Diehnelt. “I wanted to use classical music to convey some radical ideas.”
“Center on Halsted is thrilled to present this event in conjunction with Lakeside Pride Ensembles,” says CC Carter, COH’s director of community and cultural programming and legal programs. “We support the ensembles’ efforts to shine a spotlight on the struggles of LGBTQ people and other communities.”
Artist Biographies
Hiko Hagopian, Flutist, Composer IHagopian, an internationally known instrumentalist and composer, fuses New Age with Classical influences. He is a fluent performer on keyboards, silver flute, Native American flutes, Chinese bamboo, quenas and Mosenos.
Michelle Free, Saxophonist
Michelle Free grew up in upstate New York, where she began her professional performance career at age 14. Free is a graduate of Ithaca College and the Eastman School of Music, where she earned her Master of Music in Saxophone Performance. She has performed around the world with numerous distinctive artists and ensembles, including Steve Houghton, Marvin Stamm, Jim McNeely, the Empire Saxophone Quartet and the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra. She also directed the honors band at Baldwin Senior High School, one of the most prestigious high school bands in New York State.
Oswaldo Iraheta, Baritone
James R. Patterson Award-winner Oswaldo Iraheta is a Chicago native currently studying at North Park University. His North Park Opera roles include Ben in Menotti’s The Telephone, Sharpless in Puccini’s Madame Butterfly and the Count in Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro. As a baritone soloist, Iraheta has performed Faure’s Requiem, Schubert’s Mass in G, and Orff’s Carmina Burana. Iraheta has worked with such ensembles as Da Corneto Opera, Intimate Opera, Roosevelt Opera Theater, Oak Park Opera, and Light Opera Works.
He is a two-time winner of the National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS) Contest and a grant recipient from the L’Istituto Italiano di Chicago. His voice is featured in the animated film The Box.
Johnny Merrifield, Cellist
Johnny Merrifield recently relocated to the Chicago area after earning a Bachelor of Arts in Music from Drury University in his hometown Springfield, MO. He was a principle cellist for both the Drury orchestra and the Springfield/Drury Civic Orchestra and was in the Drury string quartet. Merrifield also played with the Northwest Arkansas Symphony for two years and performed with Mannheim Steamroller at The Grand Palace in Branson, MO. Maria Storm, Violinist
Maria Storm moved to Chicago in 1999 to attend Roosevelt University Chicago Musical College. Ms. Storm received her Masters Degree from Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. During the summer of 2007 she was chosen to be a concertmaster of Festival Orchestra for 7th USA International Harp Competition. During the 2006-2007 season Storm was a member of the Atlas Trio, an Ensemble-in-Residence at Hampden-Sydney College in Virginia.
Kermit Wies, Clarinetist
Kermit Wies performs with several ensembles in Chicago and northwest Indiana. He is principal clarinet with the Orchestra of St. Vincent's in Chicago, performing Weber's Clarinet Concertino with them in 2006. In October of 2007, he performed a chamber recital with members of Lakeside Pride at North Shore Baptist Church in Chicago. Wies is also a clarinetist with the LaPorte County Symphony Orchestra, IN.
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