Italian pianist Allessandro Cimino will visit the West Virginia University College of Creative Arts Wednesday, Oct. 6, where he will present a concert titledArte della Poliedriologia.
The proceeds from the concert will benefit keyboard students in the WVU Division of Music and the Audia Caring Heritage Association, West Virginia Chapter.
The event, which will display Ciminos musical artistry, begins at 7:30 p.m. in the Creative Arts Centers Lyell B. Clay Concert Theatre. Also performing will be a group of WVU and community musicians, including Music Professor William Skidmore, cello; Patty Vandersloot and Virginia Cox, violins; and Anne Hamilton, viola.
Rose Mazza, a WVU graduate student from Clarksburg, will serve as translator for Cimino during the concert.
Cimino, who has family in Shinnston, is an accomplished pianist and a singer. He also plays the violoncello, percussion instruments and flute. He has performed many solo piano concerts and also performs as a jazz pianist. As a violoncellist, he has performed with the orchestra Ruggero Leoncavallo, including a concert in honor of the bicentennial of the death of W. A. Mozart.
In addition to performing, he is active as an arranger, and as a technical music consultant with expertise in sound and lighting. In 2002, he organized the jazz festival at Columbus, a city in Crotone, Italy, which was attended by many famous musicians. He also works with private music schools as a consultant, including Paideia in Calabria, and has published pedagogical works. He has recorded several CDs of his compositions for Digit di Milano.
The Audia Caring Heritage Association, based in Washington, Pa., is a group dedicated to helping local and global communities in need by improving their quality of life. The group raised nearly half a million dollars to purchase a desperately needed high-speed CAT scanner for the hospital in San Giovanni, Italy, which is their sister city. ACHA also raised money for a Health and Wellness video library at Vintage House, a home for senior citizens in Pittsburgh, and for a dental suite at Centerville Clinic, a medical provider for patients without insurance in Greene County, Pa.
The groups dedication to serving all types of communities inspired a new chapter of the ACHA in West Virginia, with members in the Clarksburg, Fairmont, and Morgantown areas. The West Virginia Chapter has contributed support to Morgantown HealthRight and has established a scholarship fund to assist WVU medical students with the opportunity to study in Italy. It also supports joint projects with the Pennsylvania ACHA chapter. On Nov. 7, the West Virginia Chapter will hold its annualA Taste of Italyfundraiser at Oliverios Ristorante in Morgantown.
The Allessandro Cimino Concert is being made possible through the financial support of the John and Joyce Allen Italian Culture Endowment and by the Arthur B. Koontz Memorial for Creative Arts.
Tickets for the concert are $8 for the general public and $6 for WVU faculty and staff, senior citizens, students and children. They are available at the door or at the Deans Office, College of Creative Arts, Room 308A, Creative Arts Center. Office hours are 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Friday.
For more information, contact the WVU College of Creative Arts at (304) 293-4841 ext. 3107.