Tuesday’s Music Live returns for its 34th season Sept. 20 at St. Paul’s Church.
“The series runs the gamut of genre,” said artistic director Keith Shafer. “There’s jazz and classical and everything in between. The great thing about it is the variety of musical genre.”
The Duo Beaux Arts featuring pianists Catherine Lan and her husband, Tao Lin, playing a Steinway concert grand piano, will open the season.
“Catherine Lan has performed with us before,” Shafer said. “She’s a brilliant talent.”
Not only is Lan opening the season, but she’ll return in March 2023 as part of Duo Formosa to end it.
The 12-concert season features several returning musicians in addition to Lan. Any audience favorites are considered for an encore, according to Shafer.
MORE: Blind Willie McTell Festival attracts percussionist
One perennial favorite is the holiday concert with John S. Davidson Fine Arts Magnet School’s Chorale. The group will be showcased Nov. 29.
“They’ve performed a number of times,” he said. “They are so brilliant.”
The Charlestones are another audience favorite, making its third Tuesday’s Music Live appearance on Nov. 15. Shafer calls the acapella quartet “spectacular.”
Not all familiar faces this season have performed at Tuesday’s Music Live.
On Oct. 4, the husband-wife team of Denis Petrunin and Anastasia Petrunina,will perform as the ViMaDeAn Duo. Many Augusta residents know them as performers with the Augusta Symphony, but they don’t often perform in Augusta as their violin-percussion duo.
Shafer said this is the first time they’ve played Tuesday’s Music Live.
“We’re excited about that,” he said. “We’re very glad to be able to have them and we know their fans will look forward to it.”
And on Feb. 7, 2023, there will be a special performance with Shafer on organ and Fabio Mann on flugelhorn.
MORE: Photojournalism: Arts in the Heart of Augusta
“Every five or six years, I do one,” he said.
He will play in memory of his wife, June, who died in July after a lengthy illness.
The songs haven’t been finalized yet, but they will likely be ones she enjoyed, he said.
Tuesday’s Music Live started in 1988. The free concerts are held at noon and are 30 minutes long. Prior to COVID, a lunch was part of the event. After taking a season off due to the pandemic, Tuesday’s Music Live returned, but without the lunch, which was canceled for economic reasons.
Despite dropping the lunch, the series flourished last season, he said.
For more information visit TuesdaysMusicLive.com or call (706) 722-3463.
Charmain Z. Brackett is the managing editor of The Augusta Press. Reach her at charmain@theaugustapress.com
