The Wayne Center for the Arts in Wooster has announced the debut season of a new concert series called today announced the inaugural “Wayne Center Presents,” in partnership with Ohio-based ESQYRE, which focuses on classical music performance and education programs.
The series will offer monthly concerts from February-June 2023 in its intimate venue, bringing mostly regional artists who have built national and even international reputations. For instance the series opens February 3 with classical guitarist Jason Vieaux, who heads the classical guitar program at Cleveland Institute of Music. But he’s also toured extensively, played with many orchestras and released a number of albums including one for which he won he 2015 Grammy for best classical solo performance.
The series continues March 18 with the Theron Brown Trio, featuring the Akron-based jazz pianist who’s also well schooled in classical music. He’s also passionate about education and serves as the artistic director at LeBron James I Promise School, and he’s the founder and artistic director of the annual Rubber City Jazz & Blues Festival.
On April 21, violinist Jinjoo Cho, well known to area audiences, will give a solo recital. She’s a former member of the faculty at CIM and Oberlin Conservatory who now teaches at Montreal’s McGill University. She’s won first prize at numerous prestigious competitions (some of which she now juries), and performed extensively across North and South America, Europe and Asia.
That concert will be followed by one on May 5 with the Escher Quartet, based in New York City. The series will conclude on June 3 with a performance by violinist Asi Matathias and pianist Matthew Graybil.
Subscription tickets, $80, are already on sale; individual tickets go on sale in January. For more information and tickets, go to WayneArtsCenter.org.