Claire Bryant And Friends Announces Residency And Chamber Music Concert In Camden Featuring

Online, November 30, 2011 (Newswire.com) - During the week of December 8th, Camden native Claire Bryant returns to town with a group of talented New York City artists for a week-long residency at various locations in Kershaw County. Throughout the week, Claire Bryant and Friends will present scripted Interactive Performances at Blaney, Midway, Doby's Mill, and Lugoff Elementary Schools, engaging over eight-hundred young students across Kerhsaw County. Morningside Assisted Living and Kershaw Health will also benefit from the residency program with special performances at both locations, as well the members of the Camden Rotary Club. The week will culminate with a performance at the Fine Arts Center of Kershaw County (FAC) on Thursday, December 8. The performance, part of the 2011-12 Chamber Music Series will begin at 7:00 p.m. in the Wood Auditorium. Tickets are on sale now and are $30 for adults in advance; $35 for adults the day of and $15 for students.

Joining Claire Bryant (cello) will be fellow musicians Meena Bhasin (viola), Carol McGonnell, (clarinet), and Elizabeth Joy Roe (piano). The series is sponsored by the Frederick S. Upton Foundation, BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina, Tom and Virginia Ann Mullikin, Kohn-Spring Group/Merrill Lynch Wealth Management, Van Horn Agency Inc./Kennedy Insurance Agency and South Arts.

• About Claire Bryant and Friends

Now in its third season, Claire Bryant and Friends is an exciting collaboration between communities, campuses, health care facilities, and arts organizations across the United States and some of New York City's most sought-after professional young artists. South Carolina native and Artistic Director, Claire Bryant, and fellow alumni from The Academy-a program of Carnegie Hall, The Juilliard School, and the Weill Music Institute, offer innovative and collaborative community and campus residencies through Chamber Music with the intention of deepening societies' relationship with the arts and music education. These musicians are dedicated to the importance of community connection, through work in the public schools, retirement communities, health-care facilities, departments of disabilities, community centers and other venues that make up the core of our society. Claire founded Claire Bryant and Friends in 2009 with the intention to return to South Carolina and build a deeper connection for the arts within individual communities in her home state.

• About The Declassified

The Declassified is a chamber ensemble seeking a revolution in the live musical arts. Founded at Carnegie Hall, The Declassified is a newly independent collective of musicians who combine world-class artistry, revelatory audience engagement, and innovative programming in pursuit of a new model for artistic citizenship. The Declassified designs community residencies to reach audiences of broad scope, bringing interactive performances to schools, hospitals, prisons and bars as well as major international concert halls.

Drawn exclusively from alumni of The Academy, a program of Carnegie Hall, The Juilliard School, and the Weill Music Institute, the members of The Declassified have presented acclaimed residencies in Spain, Mexico, Iceland, South Africa, the United Arab Emirates, Germany and Japan under the name Ensemble ACJW since 2010 alone. In its inaugural 2011-2012 season, The Declassified will continue to expand its international profile with return engagements in Mexico and Iceland, a new project in Mumbai, India, and will present residencies in South Carolina, at Princeton University, and at New York City's Beth Abraham Hospital.

• About the Artists

Claire Bryant, cello. A native of South Carolina, cellist Claire Bryant enjoys an active and diverse career in New York City as a performer of chamber music, contemporary music, and solo cello repertoire. She is equally passionate and committed to her work as an educator and advocate for the inclusion of the arts in society. In 2009, Ms. Bryant founded a community residency project through Chamber Music in South Carolina called Claire Bryant and Friends. This new endeavor brings accomplished young artists to communities for weeklong residencies that include collaborative teaching and performing in the public schools, advocacy forums for arts education, and multiple performances in diverse and innovative venues. The 2010 recipient of the Robert Sherman McGraw Hill Companies award for excellence in community outreach and music education, she is a graduate of The Juilliard School and the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, where her primary teachers have been Bonnie Hampton and Joel Krosnick. Ms. Bryant currently serves as an assistant faculty member at The Juilliard School. Ms. Bryant is an alumna of The Academy.

Meena Bhasin, viola. Bhasin is an entrepreneurial violist who is interested in forging new roles for the classical musician. Her passion for cultural dialogue has led her to projects all over the globe from China and Israel to Iran and Ghana, using the human experience of music as a unifying force for mutual understanding. At home in New York, Meena created the MUSIC Exchange - a project whose goal was to foster a dialogue between recently resettled refugee youth, students from inner city schools, and professional musicians. In performance, Meena pursues her diverse interests by collaborating with a range of world-class artists. Her recent engagements have included performances with Emanuel Ax and Sir Simon Rattle, appearances with band Vampire Weekend on Saturday Night Live and MTV Unplugged, and a tour of the US as a soloist with legendary British rock band Jethro Tull. Meena grew up under the tutelage of Itzhak Perlman at the Perlman Music Program, and graduated with honors from a dual degree program in international relations at Tufts University and viola performance at New England Conservatory.

Carol McGonnell, clarinet. Academy alumna Carol McGonnell has performed as a soloist with the Ulster Orchestra, RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra, RTÉ Concert Orchestra, The Knights chamber orchestra, Ensemble Modern, and Camerata Pacifica. She also performed in the inaugural concert of Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall and appeared with Midori in Lincoln Center's Great Performers series. She is the Artistic Director of New Music-New Ireland, which promotes the performance of Irish compositions abroad, and has been a guest curator at the Kilkenny Arts Festival. Carol is also the Artistic Director of Music for Museums, in association with the National Gallery of Ireland and other institutions, including The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston, and the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles. Carol is a founding member of the Argento Chamber Ensemble, and has been on the clarinet faculty of The Juilliard School's Music Advancement Program, is currently on the auxiliary faculty as contrabass clarinet teacher at Juilliard and is on the chamber-music faculty of the Fontainebleau Academy.

Elizabeth Joy Roe, piano. Hailed "brilliant" by The New York Times, pianist Elizabeth Joy Roe was named one of the classical music world's "Six on the Rise: Young Artists to Watch" by Symphony Magazine. She made her New York recital debut at Alice Tully Hall in 2007 as the recipient of the prestigious Juilliard William Petschek Piano Debut Recital Award. Ms. Roe has appeared as recitalist, orchestral soloist, and chamber musician at major venues worldwide, including Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center, the Seoul Arts Center, the Ravinia Festival, Salle Cortot, Teatro Argentino, Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, and the Banff Centre. She received her bachelor's and master's degrees from The Juilliard School, graduating with Scholastic Distinction. Ms. Roe's career highlights include a solo recording, Images Poetiques, on the Universal Classics Korea/DG label; a Visiting Artist professorship at Smith College; presentations at the Entertainment Gathering (EG) Conference; broadcasts on NPR; an artistic residency for the US Embassy in Argentina; the Children's Music Campaign NYC (with Claire Bryant and Carol McGonnell); and the groundbreaking Anderson & Roe Piano Duo.

For more information or to purchase tickets, call 803-425-7676 extension 300 or visit www.fineartscenter.org. The Fine Arts Center of Kershaw County is located at 810 Lyttleton Street in Camden. Box office hours are Monday through Wednesday and Friday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. and Thursday 10 a.m.-6 p.m.

The Fine Arts Center is funded in part by the Frederick S. Upton Foundation and the South Carolina Arts Commission, which receives support from the National Endowment for the Arts. Additional funding provided by the City of Camden, Kershaw County, and BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina along with donations from businesses and individuals.