Chamber music series kicks off Feb. 14 with 'Love Notes' 1/31/2010 6:53 PM
By SUZANNE R. STONE Staff writer
A new chamber music series at the Aiken County Historical Museum kicks off with romantic "Love Notes" for Valentine's Day.
"Love Notes," the first event in the Winter Colony Series, will take place at 3:30 p.m. on Sunday, Feb. 14 in the Banksia ballroom. The concert will feature love songs and piano pieces by classical vocalist Diane Haslam and pianist Larry Millen, and poetry read by Jim Anderson.
"Larry Millen is a wonderful pianist who spends most of his time as a doctor," said Haslam, who is organizing the concert series. "There's only going to be one solo piano piece in this concert, but it's one people will love - 'Claire de Lune' by Debussy."
Violinist Laura Tomlin, owner of Carolina String Academy, will also appear in the Valentine's Day concert, according to Haslam.
Featuring works by Schumann, Faure and several Victorian composers, the program is designed to recreate a possible evening's entertainment in an estate such as Banksia a century ago.
Haslam is a professional vocalist in the classical music world and has performed with the Netherlands Opera Company, the Cincinnati Opera, the Augusta Opera, the Augusta Choral Society and the Aiken Choral Society.
She is an adjunct professor of voice at Newberry College and gives private voice lessons at her studio, Vocal Dimensions.
A resident of Aiken for the past six years, she is the founder and director of the Aiken Singers community choir.
Upcoming events in the series are in the planning stages and include a string quartet concert with Tomlin in March, a violin and piano concert in April and a vocal concert with another singer in May; details on future concerts will be announced as they are finalized. The series will break for the summer.
"I think it's important to give local talent this sort of platform," Haslam said. "There are a lot of bigger concerts you can see, but Aiken is missing the chamber side of classical music. Banksia is such a lovely venue for this kind of intimate concert."
Haslam said she hopes to find sponsorship to support the series in the fall and winter months. The series already has the support of Elliott Levy, executive director of the Aiken County Historical Museum, and profits from the series will go to support the museum.
Admission to "Love Notes" will be $10 at the door.
For more information about the concert series, call the Aiken County Historical Museum at 642-2015 or Haslam at 642-2316.
Contact Suzanne Stone at sstone@aikenstandard.com.
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