FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Cuban trumpeter Arturo Sandoval opens 1999-2000 Bates College Concert Series

The Sandoval concert has been postponed until September 20 (same time and place) since the musicians were unable to be at Bates on the original date due to Hurricane Floyd.

LEWISTON, Maine -- Featuring internationally acclaimed artists, the 1999 2000 Bates College Concert Series will present an eight-concert program of classical, jazz, folk and world music, beginning with the Grammy Award-winning Cuban trumpeter Arturo Sandoval and his five-piece jazz ensemble Sept. 15 at 8:30 p.m. in the Bates College Chapel. 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.

Other concerts in the series include Olodum, a 19-member Brazilian troupe sponsored by the Bates Multicultural Center Sept. 25 at 7:30 p.m. performing at the Bates College Library Quadrangle; baritone George Fortune with Bates artist-in-residence Frank Glazer, piano Oct. 3 at 3 p.m. in the Olin Arts Center Concert Hall; folksinger, songwriter and activist Peggy Seeger Oct. 13 at 8 p.m. in the Olin Arts Center Concert Hall; 17-year-old cellist Alisa Weilerstein (Saturday) Jan. 22 at 8 p.m. in the Olin Arts Center Concert Hall; Shanghai String Quartet and Eliot Fisk, guitar (Monday) Feb. 7 at 8 p.m. in the Olin Arts Center Concert Hall; Willem Breuker Kollektief, Dutch jazz ensemble March 26 at 8 p.m. in the Olin Arts Center Concert Hall; and clarinetist Richard Stoltzman (Sunday) April 2 at 8 p.m. in the Olin Arts Center Concert Hall.

"Sandoval is inarguably one of the greatest horn players of his generation," The Washington Post said. "He coaxes notes - and sounds - out of his trumpet that seem out of bounds for mere mortals."

Granted political asylum in the United States in 1990, Sandoval is a protege of the jazz legend Dizzy Gillespie, who first brought Latin influences to American jazz in 1947. An acknowledged master of the jazz trumpet and flugel horn as well as a renowned classical artist, Sandoval was a founding member of the Grammy Award-winning group Irakere, whose explosive mixture of jazz, classical rock and traditional Cuban music caused a sensation throughout the entertainment world.

After leaving Irakere in 1981 to form his own band, Sandoval was voted Cuba's Best Instrumentalist from 1982 to 1990, garnering 11 Grammy nominations and three Grammy Awards. He received the Los Angeles Times' annual Golden Feather Award as Artist of the Year in 1991.

Sandoval was a featured artist in the acclaimed Dizzy Gillespie United Nations Orchestra, as well as the orchestra's 1992 Grammy Award-winning album "Live at Royal Festival Hall." He has performed with Billy Cobham, Woody Herman, Herbie Hancock, Stan Getz and Celine Dione as well as John Williams and Patti LaBelle and has appeared on albums with Gloria Estefan, Frank Sinatra, Paul Anka and Johnny Mathis. Sandoval also appears on the soundtracks for Dave Grusin's "Havana," "The Perez Family" and with his Grammy-nominated composition, "Mambo Caliente," in "The Mambo Kings." The Kennedy Center commissioned Sandoval to compose the music for Debbie Allen's 1996 ballet, "Pepito's Story."

Since his arrival in the United States, Sandoval has recorded seven albums as a soloist, six of them jazz and one classical. His latest CD "Arturo Sandoval Hot House" (1998) features Tito Puente. Other Sandoval recordings include "Swingin'"; "Arturo Sandoval and the Latin Train," winner of the 1996 Billboard Award for Best Latin Jazz; "Dream Come True"; "I Remember Clifford"; Flight to Freedom" and "Danzón and Arturo Sandoval: The Classical Album," winner of the 1995 Grammy Award for Best Latin Jazz.

Before founding Irakere, Sandoval performed with the Cuban Orchestra of Modern Music and as a guest artist with the BBC Symphony in London and the Leningrad Symphony in Russia. Since his defection from Cuba, Sandoval has played an increasing number of classical dates, including performances with the National Symphony, the L.A. Philharmonic and the Pittsburgh Symphony. He is a professor at Florida International University.