FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Baritone George Fortune and pianist Frank Glazer to perform in Bates College Concert Series

LEWISTON, Maine -- The Berlin Opera's leading baritone, George Fortune, joins renowned pianist Frank Glazer, artist-in-residence at Bates College, for a concert at 3 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 3, in the Olin Arts Center Concert Hall. Tickets are $10 for general admission and $8 for students and seniors and may be purchased by calling 207-786-6252. A Bates College Concert Series "series" ticket may be purchased for $55 for admission to all series performances. Fortune and Glazer will perform a program that includes Schumann's "Liederkreis, Op. 39"; Brahms's "Vier Ernste Gesaenge, Op. 121"; and "Zueignun," "Morgen," "Allerseelen," "Die Nacht," "Heimliche Aufforderung," and "Staendchen" by Strauss.

A Boston native, Fortune graduated from Boston University with a B.A. in philosophy and music. He continued his education in languages at the Georgetown University Institute of Languages and Linguistics and his vocal studies with the American baritone Todd Duncan.

Fortune received the Howard Foundation Grant from Brown University for studies in Europe. While at the Vienna Musikakadamie, he received his first voice contract in Ulm, Germany, followed by engagements in Augsburg and Berlin at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, where he has become one of the leading baritones of the Italian repertoire.

Fortune won the coveted first prize at the International Competition of the Radio Stations of Germany in Munich. In the same year, he debuted in the role of Silvio in "Pagliacci" at the famed Vienna Staatsoper, where he has appeared as a guest artist with great acclaim.

In 1985, he appeared for the first time at the Metropolitan Opera in New York in the role of Tonio in "Pagliacci." Further roles at the Met included Amonasro, Scarpia, Jack Rance and Alfio. In 1994, Fortune received acclaim for his debut in Japan as Jago in "Otello." With Placido Domingo, Fortune has sung "Tosca," "Otello," "La Gioconda" and "La Fanciulla del West." In "La Boheme," he has appeared as Marcello opposite Luciano Pavarotti's Rodolfo. Fortune also has appeared with many internationally acclaimed conductors, including Leonard Slatkin, Lorin Maazel, Sir Yehudi Menuhin and Seiji Ozawa.

Artist-in-residence and lecturer in music at Bates since 1980, Glazer previously served on the faculty of the Eastman School of Music at the University of Rochester for 15 years. A specialist in Beethoven, he is a recipient of the distinguished Paderewski Piano Medal, awarded in London to "an artist of superlative degree."

His performances have taken him throughout the United States, South America, Europe and the Near East. He has performed at Carnegie and Avery Fischer halls in New York, the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London and the Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires. A founding member of the New England Piano Quartett, Glazer performs regularly in the Portland Chamber Music Society series.

The next concert in the Bate College Concert Series will be folksinger, songwriter and activist Peggy Seeger who will perform at 8 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 13, in the Olin Arts Center Concert Hall. Tickets for this concert are also $10 for general admission and $8 for students and seniors and may be purchased by calling 207-786-6252.