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Grammy winners to play Dec. 1 at WCU
The inaugural season at Western Carolina University’s Fine and Performing Arts Center will continue at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 1, with “Riders in the Sky: A Holiday Spectacular,” a concert of Grammy Award-winning music of the American West.
Since 1977, Riders in the Sky have given more than 5,000 performances, made 290 national television appearances, appeared on more than 200 public radio shows, and performed about 700 times at the Grand Ole’ Opry. The group’s music is grounded in the traditions of American cowboy singers, such as Roy Rogers and Gene Autry.
Singing cowboys Riders in the Sky will perform at Western Carolina University’s new Fine and Performing Arts Center at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 1. The performance, part of the 2005-06 Subscription Series, will include Grammy Award-winning music of the American West.
“The moment America’s favorite cowboy singing group steps up to the microphone the magic begins, allowing listeners to leave behind the frenzied pace of today’s living and lose themselves in the romantic, comical and whimsical world of the singing cowboy,” said Paul Lormand, performance director for the Fine and Performing Arts Center.
In 1999, the group won its first Grammy Award for “Woody’s Roundup Featuring Riders in the Sky,” a “companion album” for the soundtrack to the movie “Toy Story 2.” Two years later, the group won another Grammy for the album “Monsters Inc. – Scream Factory Favorites,” which was based on the movie “Monsters Inc.” Both movies were computer-animated Disney/Pixar productions.
The group also composed the original score for the Academy Award-winning computer-animated short “For the Birds,” starred in its own Saturday morning children’s television series for CBS and TNN, and appeared regularly on the television program “Austin City Limits.”
Also on the 2005-06 Subscription Series:
Thursday, Feb. 2 – “An Evening with Groucho,” with Frank Ferrante as Groucho Marx, 7:30 p.m.
Sunday, Feb. 12 – The Von Trapp Children, featuring descendants of the famous singing family from “The Sound of Music,” 3 p.m.
Thursday, March 2 – Illusionist/Extraordinist Craig Karges, 7:30 p.m.
Friday, March 31 – “The Piano Men,” the music of Billy Joel and Elton John, by Jim Witter, 7:30 p.m.
Sunday, April 30 – Luma, a techno-circus that uses the dark as a canvas and light as the brush to paint a story of how light occurs to humanity, 3 p.m.
In addition to the shows, the center also includes a Fine Art Museum, which is showcasing its inaugural exhibitions, with about 100 new acquisitions and recent major gifts to Western’s growing university art collection. The exhibitions will continue through Dec 16.
For more information about performances, call the box office at 227-2479. For more information about exhibits, call the gallery office at 227-3591. For more information about the center, visit the Web site at fapac.wcu.edu.
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