U of M wil kick off centennial with concert featuring Neville

The Messenger 07.20.11

The University of Memphis will launch its 100th anniversary celebration with a centennial kick-off concert at 8 p.m. Sept. 30 at the Cannon Center for the Performing Arts.
The evening of entertainment will feature performances by students and faculty of the university’s Rudi E. Scheidt School of Music, along with a special guest — soul and R&B singer/musician Aaron Neville.
The program will feature the debut of two original compositions, “Centennial Fanfare” and “Presidential Portraits,” written by longtime U of M music professor James Richens. Performers will include the University of Memphis Symphony Orchestra, the Wind Ensemble, Southern Comfort Jazz Orchestra, Sound Fuzion, the University Singers and the U of M Opera.
Neville has had a successful career as a solo artist and as a member of the Neville Brothers. His hits include “Tell It Like It Is,” “Don’t Know Much,” “All My Life” and “Everybody Plays the Fool.”
Tickets are $28 and $20, plus fees, available through Ticketmaster and at the Cannon Center box office. A limited number of tickets will be sold to U of M faculty, staff and students for $12, plus fees, in early September.
The University of Memphis centennial celebration will begin this fall and last through December 2012. During that time, a series of landmark events will pay tribute to the university’s past and look forward to its future. Among the highlights will be the largest theatre production ever staged by the university, Andrew Lloyd Weber’s “The Phantom of the Opera,” in February 2012; an alumni weekend in April 2012, when a bronze sculpture of beloved Tiger mascot TOM will be unveiled; and the 30th Biennial Public Address Conference in September 2012.

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