TEF designates upcoming season in honor of Dunaway
Published 4:28 pm Tuesday, June 28, 2022
- Tony Award winner Kelli O’Hara is set for a Broadway cabaret performance during the TEF 2022-23 series.
Thomasville Entertainment Foundation has set its milestone 85th performance season lineup and will dedicate its 2022-23 season in honor of longtime TEF volunteer and champion, Linden Dunaway.
Dunaway served 32 years on the TEF Board of Trustees, including two terms as president, 10 terms as vice president, five terms as secretary and two terms as member at-large on TEF’s executive committee.
She further served in many unseen volunteer roles, including program committee member, unofficial historian, archivist, photographer and scrapbook compiler and as one of the uber-volunteers who helped usher the organization forward as TEF founder Emily Searcy was winding down her 60 years as director and artistic leader.
“Dedicating a season is, by design, a rare opportunity to pay tribute to an individual who has made especially significant and lasting voluntary contributions to Thomasville Entertainment Foundation,” said Executive and Artistic Director Rick Ivey. “Linden Dunaway is one of the jewels in TEF’s crown, and we are so pleased to have the opportunity to honor her in this way.”
Season tickets are now available for the upcoming concert season, offering a variety of entertainment opportunities, with returning season ticket holders having first access, followed by new subscribers, for the lineup of diverse performances.
“We are excited to announce TEF’s 85th series to our community,” said TEF President Linda Tarver. “Since 1937, TEF has presented an incredible array of world-class artists and ensembles, and the upcoming season continues that tradition of excellence.”
The 2022-23 season opens October 20 with An Evening in Paris, chamber music performed by two powerhouse soloists and the Juilliard School’s resident string quartet. Canadian violinist Lara St. John and American pianist-composer Matt Herskowitz join the dynamic Ulysses Quartet for a program of 19th and 20th century Romantic and Impressionist works by French composers Chausson, Debussy and Ravel.
November 10 brings a cabaret concert version of the Tony Award-winning Broadway musical, Ain’t Misbehavin’, to Thomasville. With live music and five singing actors, the show is a tribute to the musicians of the Harlem Renaissance, bringing to life the Golden Age of America’s jazz palaces in a swinging musical revue featuring hits from legendary composer “Fats” Waller.
On January 10, one of Broadway’s busiest leading ladies brings her intimate cabaret to the Thomasville Center for the Arts, when seven-time Tony Award nominee Kelli O’Hara takes the stage. Winner of the 2015 Tony Award for Best Leading Actress in a Musical, O’Hara will showcase the talents that catapulted her to starring roles on Broadway and at the Metropolitan Opera.
A February 2 recital features the rich voice of mezzo-soprano J’Nai Bridges, winner of the 2012 Marian Anderson Award. Acclaimed for her plush vocals and commanding stage presence, the award-winning Bridges has been heralded as an established yet still rising star, gracing the world’s top opera and concert stages from the Kennedy Center to the Metropolitan Opera in lead and title roles in Carmen, Sampson and Delilah and Akhnaten.
On February 28, the Boston-based string orchestra, A Far Cry, performs in Thomasville in a highly anticipated concert first scheduled for 2020 but delayed by COVID-19 cancellations. The Grammy-nominated orchestra takes an inventive approach to new music and the classics that critics call compelling and intrepid. The varied program of works includes Tchaikovsky’s 1880 composition, Serenade for String Orchestra in C Major, which A Far Cry performs from memory.
The 2022-23 concert series concludes March 14 with a long-awaited performance by UK-based gospel ensemble, The Kingdom Choir, whose previously planned concerts for TEF were impacted by the global pandemic. The London group gained worldwide attention when it performed at the royal wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.
Season tickets are available in three option packages. The Classics Series includes An Evening in Paris, J’Nai Bridges and A Far Cry, while the Variations Series features Ain’t Misbehavin,’ Kelli O’Hara and The Kingdom Choir. The Complete Series encompasses the entire six-concert season.
TEF’s Vice President for Box Office Ginny LeGette said season ticket packages make the most sense and are the most economical way to enjoy TEF’s stellar lineup of performers.
“Season ticket holders are guaranteed seats for the concerts they most want to experience, so there’s no risk of disappointment when a performance is sold out,” LeGette said. “And, with an advance season subscription, tickets start at just over $28 per concert, an amazing value for the caliber of artists TEF brings to Thomasville.”
While inflation has impacted the price of just about everything, in an effort to keep its performance series accessible to the community, Thomasville Entertainment Foundation has not raised ticket prices since 2014, LeGette added, despite continued increases in artist fees, production costs and other concert-related expenses.
Season ticket packages are available online at www.TEFconcerts.com or by calling the TEF office at (229) 226-7404.
Single tickets to individual concerts will go on sale approximately one month before each event, subject to availability after season ticket orders are processed.
Established in 1937, Thomasville Entertainment Foundation is a volunteer-powered, non-profit organization celebrating 85 years of entertaining and enriching the community. In addition to presenting concerts by acclaimed artists, TEF offers a dedicated family series of performances geared to families and younger children, provides educational outreach programs for students and awards performing arts scholarships and grants to promising young artists.
