GRANVILLE - Denison University's Vail Series continues its 22nd season with "Braziliana," a collaborative recital program featuring guitarist Christopher Parkening and baritone Jubilant Sykes. The performance will feature music of Brazil and the Americas and is set for 3 p.m. on Sunday (Feb. 17) in Swasey Chapel. (Please note that the 3 p.m. time is a change from the printed Vail Series brochure). Shuttle bus service will be provided from the Mitchell Center to the chapel between 2 and 3 p.m. and following the concert.

Parkening is celebrated as one of the world's preeminent virtuosos of the classical guitar. His concerts and recordings have received the highest worldwide acclaim and he has been called "America's reigning classical guitarist" by the Los Angeles Times. He last performed at Denison in 1988. Sykes has been lauded in the Wall Street Journal as one of the "next major stars." A classically trained baritone, he frequently draws on gospel and jazz influences.

A limited number of tickets for the performance may be available to the public for $15 each. For information on ticket availability, call the Vail Hotline at (740) 587-6557.

Christopher Parkening

Parkening has performed at the White House, appeared with Placido Domingo onLive from Lincoln Center, participated in Carnegie Hall's 100th Anniversary celebration and performed twice on the internationally televisedGrammy Awards. He is the recipient of two Grammy nominations in the category of Best Classical Recording forParkening and the GuitarandThe Pleasures of Their Company, a collaboration with soprano Kathleen Battle.

Parkening also has received numerous other awards and commendations including an Honorary Doctorate of Music from Montana State University and the Outstanding Alumnus Award from the University of Southern California. Recently Parkening was presented with the 2000 Orville H. Gibson Lifetime Achievement Award for Best Classical Guitarist. On the faculty at The Master's College in southern California, Parkening also teaches a summer master class at Montana State University.

Jubilant Sykes

Sykes has won the attention and respect of the world's finest conductors, symphonies and opera companies including Kurt Masur and the New York Philharmonic, the Chicago Symphony, the Metropolitan Opera, the Cleveland Orchestra, the Philadelphia Orchestra and hundreds of other major venues around the world. He also has appeared in festivals across the country including the Grant Park Music Festival, the Chautaqua Festival and Tanglewood with the Boston Symphony.

His recent recital engagements have taken him to the Van Cliburn Foundation, the Broadway Center for the Performing Arts in Tacoma, the California Institute of Technology, the Houston Society for the Performing Arts and the University of Arizona. Sykes recently made his musical theater debut to critical acclaim in City Center's Encores!--production of E.Y. Harburg and Harold Arlen'sBloomer Girl. His latest recording,Wait For Me, released in the spring of 2001, features classic songs by Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan and Brian Wilson.

The next Denison Vail Series concert will be the "Chucho" Valdes Quartet at 8 p.m. on Friday, April 19 in Swasey Chapel.

For press inquiries:

Name

Barbara Stambaugh

Position Title

Director, Media Relations

Primary Email

stambaughb@denison.edu

Business Phone

(740) 587-8575