LEANN RIMES TO PERFORM WEEK EIGHT AT CHAUTAUQUA INSTITUTION

CHAUTAUQUA , N.Y. — LeAnn Rimes is set to make her debut performance at Chautauqua Institution. She is performing on Aug. 17 at 8:15 p.m. in the Amphitheater. Week eight (Aug. 12 to Aug. 18) will also include performances by the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra, the Music School Festival Orchestra (MSFO), as well as performances by the Chautauqua Theater Company and Chautauqua Opera. In addition, the arts and entertainment schedule includes a Family Entertainment Series production and An Evening of Spirituals and Gospel.

This week’s theme is: Music: Heart, Soul and Dollar

AMPHITHEATER SPECIAL

LeAnn Rimes

Friday, Aug. 17 at 8:15 p.m.

Few in popular music can compete with LeAnn Rimes in terms of critical acclaim or commercial success. She has made the rare transition from child prodigy to seasoned veteran. At the young age of 23, Rimes has sold more than 37 million records, won two Grammy Awards and received numerous industry awards, spent countless hours helping children and veterans, and established herself as a household name.

(Single Ticket Price $37.00)

AMPHITHEATER PROGRAMS

Infinity Big Band & Jazz Project

Sunday, Aug. 12 at 2:30 p.m.

The Infinity Performing Arts Program and Learning Lab, in Jamestown provides elementary through high school students with music instruction, instruments, performance opportunities and access to the arts. They will present an afternoon of instrumental and vocal music highlighting these talented young people.

(Sundays are free days at Chautauqua)

Music School Festival Orchestra

Monday, Aug. 13 at 8:15 p.m.

Timothy Muffitt , conductor

The Chautauqua Music School Festival Orchestra (MSFO) is a major component of the curriculum and attracts musicians from leading music programs across the United States and around the world. Timothy Muffitt, music director and conductor of the Baton Rouge Symphony, is the principal conductor for the five-concert series by the MSFO. The orchestra rehearses daily for most of the weeks of the School of Music and performs in concerts in the Amphitheater.

(Single Ticket Price $32.50)

An Evening of Spirituals and Gospel

Wednesday, Aug. 15 at 8:15 p.m.

Stellar Award nominated artist, Ronnie Diamond, will join with members of the Gospel Workshop of America, the largest gospel organization in the world, to present an evening of the music of the African-American experience. Choirs from Akron, Cleveland, Columbus, Toledo, Pittsburgh, Albany, Buffalo and Rochester will come together to share their heritage and culture with Chautauqua during our music week.

(Single Ticket Price $16.25)

Capturing the brilliance of the Hot Club de France (1910-1950), The Hot Club of San Francisco recreates the "Gypsy Jazz” that was born in the smoky clubs and elite ballrooms of Paris in the early 20^th century. No ensemble matches the virtuosity and fire of that period better than the HCSF.

Because demand for chamber music tickets always exceeds availability, free tickets (two per person) are distributed on a first-come, first-serve basis, on the steps of the Colonnade Building at 8:30 a.m. each Monday. The line begins around 7:30 a.m. Elizabeth S. Lenna Hall opens at 3 p.m., and ticket holders are then admitted until 3:50 p.m. After that time, all empty seats become available on a first-come basis. No seats may be saved.

CHAUTAUQUA THEATER COMPANY

Much ado About Nothing

Sunday, Aug. 12 at 2:15 and 8 p.m.; Tuesday, Aug. 14 at 8 p.m.; Wednesday, Aug. 15 at 2:15 and 8 p.m.; Thursday, Aug. 16 at 8 p.m.; Friday, Aug. 17 at 4 p.m.; and Saturday, Aug. 18 at 2:15 and 8 p.m.

Bratton Theater

It’s 1930s Cuba; spies, lies, love, revelry and the timeless battles of the sexes abound in one of Shakespeare’s spiciest comedies. While Beatrice and Benedick wage their merry war of witty insults — determined never to fall prey to matrimony — the antics of besotted lovers, scheming siblings, and a bumbling constabulary conspire to unite them. Artistic Director Vivienne Benesch directs CTC’s extraordinary Conservatory, with guest artist John Seidman and special guest Ralph Zito, in this tale of sexy, silly mischief.

Much Ado About Nothing will run from Aug. 11 to Aug. 18. CTC performs in the award-winning, historic Bratton Theater. Internationally known guest artist actors, directors, designers, and writers join 18 emerging artists drawn from the nation’s top training programs to form a unique company that produces more than 50 events in a 50 day summer season.

(Single Ticket Price $25.00)

Patrons seeking further information about Much Ado About Nothing or other CTC programming are encouraged to visit the newly improved website: www.CTCompany.org. The website also provides useful links to information about other events at the Institution. Off-grounds ticket buyers may, at no additional charge, enjoy the Institution grounds from noon to 8 p.m. with a matinee ticket or from 4 p.m. to midnight with an evening ticket.

FAMILY ENTERTAINMENT SERIES

Steve Songs

Tuesday, Aug. 14 at 5 and 7 p.m.

Smith-Wilkes Hall

Yet another newcomer to the series, Steve Roslonek of Stevesongs has been performing his unique brand of original songs for kids and their families for over four years. His music has won numerous national awards, including a Parents’ Choice Gold Award, a CMW Best Audio Award and a NAPPA Honor. Steve blends participatory songs, clever stories and great melodies into an experience that leads young listeners on an entertaining, interactive, and educational musical journey. Children and adults alike will be engaged in an evening of music and fun.

For family entertainment events being held in Smith-Wilkes or Lenna Hall, patrons coming from off the grounds may obtain a free pass at the Main Gate Welcome Center will call window. These passes are valid from one hour before showtime until one hour after the performance ends.

CHAUTAUQUA SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

Tuesday, Aug. 14 at 8:15 p.m.

Pops Concert: “Ports of Call”

Jack Everly, guest conductor

Overture: Around the World in 80 Days................................................Victor Young 3’

Knightsbridge March...................................................................................Eric Coates 4’

Waltzing Matilda.........................................................................Traditional/arr. Cowen 3’

In the Steppes of Central Asia...........................................................Alexander Borodin 7’

Scottish Dances Nos. 3 & 4..................................................................Malcolm Arnold 4’

España………………………………………………………………Emmanuel Chabrier 6’

Greensleeves (solo violin and orchestra)…………………………………...Traditional 5’

Song of India......................................................Rimsky-Korsakov/arr. Tommy Dorsey 4’

Pines of Rome (4^th mvt)……………………………………………..Ottorino Respighi 6’

From Sea to Shining Sea…………………………………………arr. Robert Wendel 7’

Turkey in the Straw…………………………………………Traditional/arr Carmen Dragon 4’

The Wild Missouri……………………………………Traditional/arr Carmen Dragon 3’

Pops Hoe Down…………………………………………………arr. Richard Hayman 6’

God Bless America……………………………………………Irving Berlin/arr. Healy 5’

Back Home Again in Indiana…………………Hanley & MacDonald/arr. Jack Everly 4’

America The Beautiful…………………………Samuel A. Ward/arr. Carmen Dragon 4’

Encore: Stars and Stripes Forever”...................................................John Philip Sousa 3’

(Single Ticket Price $16.25)

Thursday, Aug. 16 at 8:15 p.m.

Uriel Segal, conductor

Horacio Gutiérrez, piano

Symphony No. 15, Op. 141...........................................................Dmitri Shostakovich 43’

Piano Concerto No. 1 in D Minor, Op. 15.........................................Johannes Brahms 44’

(Single Ticket Price $32.50)

Saturday, Aug. 18 at 8:15 p.m.

Uriel Segal, conductor

Chautauqua Community Choir, Jared Jacobsen, director

Janice Chandler-Eteme, soprano

Delia Wallis, mezzo-soprano

Richard Clement, tenor

Gustav Andreassen, bass

Night Light..................................................................................................Yinam Leef 11”

Symphony No. 9 in D Minor, Op. 125 “Choral”......................Ludwig van Beethoven 65’

(Single Ticket Price $32.50)

CHAUTAUQUA LITERARY AND SCIENTIFIC CIRCLE (CLSC) ROUNDTABLE/LECTURE

Eavesdropping: A Memoir of Blindness and Listening by Stephen Kuusisto

Thursday, Aug. 16 at 4 p.m.

Hall of Philosophy

Stephen Kuusisto will present his recently published collection of essays, Eavesdropping: A Memoir of Blindness and Listening in which he recounts with a poet’s sense of detail the surprise that comes when we are actively listening to our surroundings. Mr. Kuusisto, who has been blind since birth, is the author of the acclaimed memoir Planet of the Blind, a New York Times “Notable Book of the Year” and Only Bread, Only Light, a collection of poems from Copper Canyon Press.

Recognized by the New York Times as “a powerful writer with a musical ear for language and a gift for emotional candor,” his essays and poems have appeared in numerous anthologies and literary magazines including Harper’s, The New York Times Magazine, Poetry, The Bark, Partisan Review, and The Washington Post Magazine. Mr. Kuusisto has also made numerous appearances on programs including “The Oprah Winfrey Show,” “Dateline NBC,” National Public Radio and the BBC.

A graduate of the Writer’s Workshop at the University of Iowa, and a Fulbright Scholar, Mr. Kuusisto teaches in the Disabilities Studies program at The Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio where he also serves as a Fellow of the Moritz College of Law’s Center for Interdisciplinary Law and Policy Studies. Additionally, he is a member of the core faculty at the Rainier Writing Workshop, a low-residency MFA program in creative writing at Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, Wash.

Stephen Kuusisto is the author of Only Bread, Only Light, a collection of poems from Copper Canyon Press, and of the memoirs Planet of the Blind and Eavesdropping. He holds a dual appointment at the University of Iowa where he teaches courses in creative nonfiction in the Department of English and serves as a public humanities scholar in the College of Medicine. He speaks widely on diversity, disability, education, and public policy. His essays and poems have appeared in numerous anthologies and literary magazines including Harper’s, The New York Times Magazine, Poetry, and Partisan Review. He is currently working on a collection of prose poems for Copper Canyon Press entitled Mornings With Borges as well as a collection of political poems about disability.

CHAUTAUQUA OPERA

Once Upon a Mattress

Friday, Aug. 17 at 7:30 p.m.

Norton Memorial Hall

Princess Winnifred the Woebegone leaves her kingdom in the swamps and swims across a royal moat to meet Dauntless, the Prince of her dreams. But his domineering mother, Queen Aggravain, won’ let her son near the soggy princess (known to her friends as “red” unless she can pass a sensitivity test and prove she is a real princess. You've probably seen it in a school cafetorium or community theater barn. Chautauqua Opera is delighted to present one of MATTRESS' rare professional productions. With its sparkling score by Mary Rodgers, daughter of the famed Richard Rodgers, ONCE UPON A MATTRESS is a musical theater classic. This new production is a Chautauqua premiere, with staging by Jay Lesenger , choreography by Bill Fabris and at the podium is returning guest artist Braden Toan. This hilarious spoof of Hans Christian Anderson’s “The Princess and the Pea” took the New York Theater world by storm in 1959 and made the very young Carol Burnett a star. As Princess Winnifred Sara Wordsworth makes her debut accompanied by fellow debuting artists Frank Vlastnik and Kevin Vortmann as The Minstrel and Sir Harry. Chautauqua favorites Carolann Page and Keith Jurosko return to Chautauqua Opera as Queen Aggravain and King Sextimus. The production team includes Christopher Ostrom as lighting designer, Helen E. Rodgers as costume designer and Steven Capone as set designer.

(Single Ticket Prices range from $20.00 to $55.00)

Tickets may be purchased at the Chautauqua Box Office in the Turner Community Center on Route 394. They may also be ordered at 716.357.6250 or on the Web at tickets.ciweb.org. For a complete Chautauqua Institution 2007 season calendar of events, call 1.800.836.ARTS or visit www.ciweb.org.

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** The Chautauqua Institution is a not-for-profit organization that serves as a community, a center, and a resource where the human spirit is renewed, minds stimulated, faith restored and the arts valued. It has performance venues, hotel, golf, tennis, and educational and recreational facilities.

For nine weeks each year, from late June through late August, the Institution offers a rich blend of arts, a variety of programming and recreational activities. Its educational mission is continued during the rest of the year with programs for older adults such as Elderhostels and other learning opportunities. More information is available at www.ciweb.org.