This fall the yearly Concert Series presented by the Department of Music will return to campus with four events scheduled from September-November.
According to Department of music chair Clifton Ganus, the Concert Series has been a tradition at Harding for the past 60 years, and has always focused on exploring a wide variety of musical styles.
“I think it’s part of being at a university,” Ganus said. “One of the things you do is you broaden your awareness of what’s going on culturally, historically, physically and in every way.”
Ganus said he attended the Concert Series while he was a student at Harding, and the Administration Auditorium was typically packed to the brim with 900 people.
“It was a very different world then,” Ganus said. “I think that was an age where people were more accustomed to observing our heritage in the arts.”
The first concert will be a performance by The Orchid Ensemble at 7 p.m. on September 21. Led by Canadian performer Jonathan Bernard and Taiwanese performers Lan Tung and Yu-Chen Wang, the Orchid Ensemble “blends ancient musical instruments and traditions from China and beyond” according to their website. Before their performance, the trio will hold an introductory discussion of Chinese music at 6 p.m.
Other upcoming performances include Rani Arbo and Daisy Mayhem on Oct. 6, Julie Fowlis on Oct. 29, and Brad Leali on Nov. 19. Ganus said Fowlis may draw a particularly large crowd because she is such a well-known performer of Celtic music and was on the soundtrack of Disney-Pixar’s “Brave.”
Ganus said attendance for the Concert Series is normally around 300 students, but he has high hopes for increased participation and student interest this year.
“This exposure to various types of art is important,” Ganus said. “A lot of what we have represented in this has timeless and intercultural value. These are people that you haven’t heard of, but these are people that represent traditions that are significant.”
