Symphony coming to Aiken

The Aiken Symphony Guild is bringing the Augusta Symphony Classic Concert to Aiken on April 17 at 8 p.m. at the USC Aiken Etherredge Center. The concert features a final Aiken performance by Donald Portnoy, music director and conductor of the Augusta Symphony.

Portnoy and friends violinist Vadim Gluzmin, soprano Carol Sparrow and tenor Randolph Locke will perform selections from Wagner, Bizet, Saint-Saens, Puccini and more. Featured selections include "Lohengrin: Prelude to Act III," "Habanera," "Duet," "La fleur que tu m'avais jetee" from Carmen, "Vesti la Giubba" from Pagliacci and "O mio babbino caro" from Gianni Schicchi.

Tickets to the production are available by calling the Etherredge Center box office at 641-3305.

Donald Portnoy

Portnoy is universally recognized as one of America's dynamic and inspiring symphony orchestra conductors. He holds the Ira McKissick Koger Endowed Chair for the Fine Arts at USC. He is also founder and director of the Conductors Institute of South Carolina, an institution that annually attracts conducting students and professionals from around the world to the USC campus in Columbia for three weeks of intensive podium work with full orchestra under the watchful eyes of many of this country's noted teachers and composers. In recent years, the Institute has spread its wings. There is now a week of opera training at the Spoleto Festival in Charleston and two weeks in Beijing, China.

As a violinist, Portnoy performs regularly with the ensemble he founded, the American Arts Trio. He also teaches conducting and violin in the School of Music at USC.

Portnoy has earned fame as guest conductor of orchestras here and abroad. His reputation prompted his hiring as music director and conductor of the Augusta Symphony Orchestra. He has served as the director and conductor since 1991. He has also been the guest conductor of orchestras in Pittsburgh, Buffalo, Baltimore, Savannah and Charleston.

On the international circuit, Portnoy is a regular. His acclaimed appearances overseas have included concerts in Argentina, Brazil, China, France, Germany, Poland, Russia and South Korea. For the past three seasons, Portnoy has been the principal guest conductor of the National Opera Orchestra of China in Beijing.

Vadim Gluzman

Isaraeli violinist Gluzman, in technique and sensibilty, harkens back to the Golden Age of violinists of the 19th and 20th centuries, while possessing the passion and energy of the 21st century. Lauded by both critics and audiences as a performer of great depth, virtuosity and technical brilliance, he has performed throughout the United States, Canada, Europe, Russia, Japan, Korea and Australia as a soloist and in a duo setting with his wife, pianist Angela Yoffe.

Born in 1973 in the Ukraine, Gluzman began studying the violin at age 7. Before moving to Israel in 1990, he studied under Zakhar Bron and later under Yair Kless in Tel Aviv. He also studied in the United States under Arkady Fomin and at the Juilliard School under the late Dorothy DeLay and Masao Kawasaki.

Carol Sparrow

Sparrow, mezzo-soprano, has appeared to critical and popular acclaim as Eboli in Verdi's "Don Carlo" at the Komische Oper in Berlin and St. Gallen, Switzerland, and in the title role of Bizet's "Carmen" with prominent opera companies and the New York Pops Orchestra at Carnegie Hall. She also performs in concert with her husband, Randolph Locke, tenor. She served as a featured artist for the New York City Opera for three seasons and received numerous awards.

Randolph Locke

Locke, a tenor, enjoys a busy international career, having performed with companies in Italy, Greece, Finland, Hong Kong, Puerto Rico, Mexico, Germany, Canada, New York, Chicago, San Francisco and Santa Fe. His repertoire encompasses some of the most demanding tenor roles.

He and his wife, Carol Sparrow, cofounded the nonprofit organization Opera for Animals: Singing Is Saving (OASIS) in 2001 to raise funds for animal welfare groups, and they met at Cincinnati's College-Conservatory of Music, where he also obtained his Master of Music in vocal performance under full scholarship.

Want to Go?

What? "Donald Portnoy & Friends"

When? April 17 at 8 p.m.

Where? USCA Etherredge Center

Tickets: Call 641-3305