FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Noonday concert series opens at Bates

LEWISTON, Maine -- The Bates College Noonday Concert series opens its fall 1999 season with a selection of programs in September. The free concerts, open to the public, will be held Tuesdays from 12:30 to 1 p.m. at the college's Olin Arts Center Concert Hall, located on Russell Street in Lewiston.

Sept. 21: Soprano Atsuko Hirai, Kazushige Hirasawa Professor of History at Bates, and pianist Frank Glazer, artist in residence at Bates, will perform an all-Gounod program, including "The King of Thule" and "The Jewel Song" from Faust and "Juliet's Waltz Song" from Romeo and Juliet.

Sept. 28: Guitarist John Smedley, associate professor of physics at Bates, will perform a jazz program with Mike Hansen, conga drums.

Additional information about the Bates Noonday Concert Series is available by calling the Olin Arts Center at 207-786-6135.