IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) - An associate cello professor at the University of Iowa is playing a series of private shows at homes around the state in an effort to get more people into classical music.
Anthony Arnone is performing at upcoming house concerts this month in Davenport and Iowa City. He also has enlisted the help of a musical arts doctoral student, pianist Grethe Nöthling, the Iowa City Press-Citizen reported (https://icp-c.com/1juiYbo).
“One of my jobs is to enlighten people to how wonderful this music really is,” he said.
The pair has other house concerts scheduled in Cedar Rapids, Davenport, Des Moines, Dubuque, Keokuk, Muscatine and Washington. The free house concerts will involve an audience of 20 to 30 people. They will be one-hour performances.
“I decided to do a whole series of concerts designed specifically for a small room, with cello and piano, playing music of Schumann, Kreisler, and Schubert - chamber music, which is more intimate, and really was written for a small space,” Arnone said. “I have been so thrilled to receive the positive reaction from people all around the state.”
Arnone said the shows were inspired by his impromptu performance at a car service business. The experience was so positive he started performing at other public spaces.
Arnone plans to interact with the audience and discuss music. He said it’s the kind of contact that’s impossible in a formal concert setting.
“I am really excited to play this program in such an intimate setting and to get to meet a whole bunch of new people and hopefully show them how amazing the music of these composers are,” he said.
Kevin and Jeanne Kuckelman have agreed to host one of the concerts in their home in Keokuk.
“We just enjoy music and entertaining,” Kevin Kuckleman said. “We’re serving wine and hors d’oeuvres and enjoying the rest.”
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Information from: Iowa City Press-Citizen, https://www.press-citizen.com/
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