Summer Fest Concert to Launch New UTEP Center for Arts Entrepreneurship

Last Updated on Mon Jul 31 16:52:01 MDT 2017

Originally published Mon Jul 31 15:06:16 MDT 2017

By fjduran

UTEP Communications

7 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 12
Fox Fine Arts Recital Hall

The University of Texas at El Paso and El Paso Pro-Musica will celebrate the start of the Center for Arts Entrepreneurship (CAE) with the center’s first concert. The concert will feature Grammy-winning cellist Zuill Bailey; violinist Ben Breen; pianist Awadagin Pratt; and violist Martin Sher at 7 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 12, in the Fox Fine Arts Recital Hall.

Zuill Bailey
Zuill Bailey

Opening in fall 2017, the CAE was created by UTEP and El Paso Pro-Musica (EPPM) to provide curriculum, development and insight for students looking at careers in music and fine arts in the 21st century.

The center will be housed in the Department of Music in UTEP’s College of Liberal Arts. Bailey, senior lecturer of cello at UTEP and artistic director of El Paso Pro-Musica, is the center’s artistic director.

“The opening concert for the Center for Arts Entrepreneurship is a truly exciting event that marks the beginning of the UTEP Department of Music’s goal to prepare students for successful careers in the arts in the 21st century,” said Steve Wilson, DMA, Department of Music chair. ”Classical music is thriving but is definitely evolving into exciting new frontiers where the artist has to engage the audience and the community. No one does this better than Zuill Bailey!”

The concert is part of El Paso Pro-Musica’s "Summer Fest '17," an exciting new concert series intended to engage the community in chamber music and build public support for the CAE.

Summer Fest will begin Aug. 8 with pop-up concerts throughout the community and will culminate with the concert on Aug. 12 featuring the music of Brahms. Tickets for the Aug. 12 concert are $5.

"The UTEP Center for Arts Entrepreneurship, under the leadership of EPPM Artistic Director Zuill Bailey, will serve as an essential tool for growth for UTEP students as it will develop their skills for success in their careers in the arts in the 21st century,” said EPPM Executive Director Felipa Solis. “The center hopes to collaborate with other departments and incorporate arts in curriculua throughout campus. Ultimately this center will serve as an important recruitment tool to continue to encourage ‘the best of the best’ to attend UTEP."

Bailey will perform with El Paso favorite Awadagin Pratt, who last year conducted a special master class for UTEP piano students. Pratt is a professor of piano and artist-in-residence at the College-Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati. They will be joined by Ben Breen and Martin Sher. Breen is recognized as one of Australia's outstanding violinists and is a frequent performer in chamber settings with Bailey. Sher is a renowned violist and general manager of the North Carolina Symphony.

The CAE will engage students in projects and workshops geared toward resume enhancement, creating digital portfolios, audience development, and creating performance opportunities.

In 2017-18, the center plans to offer a series of weeklong artist-in-residence workshops with world-renowned musicians that will allow UTEP music students to have up-close, meaningful interactions with them.