KATHY MATTEA IS HEADLINER FOR FANFARE’S WEEK THREE
      HAMMOND – Kathy Mattea, an award-winning songstress with country roots, will bring the unique style she describes as “contemporary folk with a Celtic twist” to the Columbia Theatre for the Performing Arts stage on October 14 as a guest of Fanfare, Southeastern Louisiana University’s annual arts festival.
      Mattea is the headline artist for Fanfare’s 18th season, which enters its third week with performances by the Phoenix Boys Choir and soprano Monique McDonald, two acclaimed foreign films, a popular lecture on Roman garb and culture, a witty “indoor tour” of the Crescent City, and a unique exhibit of art and antique silver.
      Two community events – a day of fun for families at Hammond Square Mall and a two-day celebration of African-American heritage in Kentwood – also join the schedule during Fanfare’s third week. Fanfare will also join in the festivities of Southeastern Homecoming Week, Oct. 13-18, by sponsoring an exhibition of works by alumni artists.
      Mattea will take to the Columbia stage at 7:30 p.m. A West Virginia native, she came of age musically in the Nashville songwriting community, where she sang demos for rising young tunesmiths. After signing her first recording contract in 1983, she gave a score of now-famous songwriters their first hits, including Nanci Griffith, whose “Love At The Five and Dime” was Mattea’s first musical success in 1986. 
      However, Mattea’s one-of-a-kind sound always sets her apart from her country music peers. She began to meet and collaborate with a wide range of artists from folk, bluegrass and Celtic backgrounds, and forged a reputation as a thoughtful performer with a healthy growing edge. “I had grown up listening to acoustic music, and the artists I loved most had a folk influence. So it made sense that when I got in touch with my inner ‘folkie,’ I blossomed and my music started to connect with people,” Mattea said.
      Not an instant star, Mattea did not have her first Top 10 hit until her eighth single. But 
once she found her true voice, she became one of country music’s most distinctive and critically acclaimed artists. She has won two Grammy awards, two Country Music Association Female Vocalist of the Year awards and her song “Eighteen Wheels And A Dozen Roses” was named CMA Single of the Year. 
      In 2000 Mattea released her critically acclaimed “The Innocent Years.” Continuing along a path that took her away from Nashville, she signed with Narada Records, well known and respected as a jazz, world, and contemporary instrumental music label. The move gave her the freedom to explore new musical directions. She let shine her Celtic and folk leanings on the first two albums on the label, 2002’s “Roses” and “Joy for Christmas Day,” her first holiday album since 1993’s Grammy-winner, “Good News.”
      “My show is still evolving, and my fellow musicians challenge me to evolve as a singer, writer, player and performer,” Mattea said. “I still feel inspired about music. I am incredibly blessed.”
      Tickets for Mattea’s show, which is also part of the Columbia Theatre’s 2003 season, are $32, Orchestra 1 and Loge; $30, Orchestra 2 and Balcony 1, and $27, Balcony 2.
      Fanfare 2003's Week Three begins with the Family Arts Festival hosted annually by Hammond Square Mall, scheduled for 2-5 p.m., Sunday, October 12. Area residents are invited to enjoy some of Tangipahoa's most talented musicians as winners from this summer's Hometown Stars perform live at the mall. The free event also includes a display of artwork by local students showcased in the International House of Blues Foundation art gallery housed in the mall, a karaoke stage, games, children's activities, giveaways and door prizes.
      Fanfare’s “Music for a Sunday Afternoon” series of concerts at local churches continues 
on October 12 with soprano Monique McDonald’s performance at Hammond’s Greenfield Baptist Church, 100 J.W. Davis Dr.
      A rising vocal star, McDonald made her Carnegie Hall debut in 2001 with the New York Pops. She also performed in a concert of Ricky Ian Gordon's music at Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center as part of Lincoln Center’s American Songbook Series. A native of Queens, N.Y., she has appeared with the New York City Opera and New York Pops at Carnegie Hall and has sung recitals with the Marilyn Horne Foundation and the New York Festival of Song. In addition to her Fanfare appearance, her current schedule includes her first performance of Ariadne in “Ariadne auf Naxos” with the Seattle Opera and performances of Serena in “Porgy and Bess” in Berlin, Munich and the Netherlands.
      On Monday, October 13, Southeastern English professor Wade Heaton will present “Clothing of the Ancient Romans at Peace, at War, at Home” at noon in the Pottle Music Building Auditorium. Heaton has earned the name “Togaman,” as well as wide-spread acclaim, for his lively presentations on the attire, customs and culture of ancient Roman. His free lecture, which features authentic replicas of the garb of Roman togas and military attire, is part of the Southeastern Department of History and Political Science’s “Then and Now” Fanfare lecture series.
      Also on October 13, the much-praised film “The Russian Ark” will be shown at 7 p.m. in the Music Recital Hall. In one unbroken cinematic shot using a Steadicam, high-definition digital technology, and some 2,000 actors, the film presents a breath-taking and unique panorama of the most famous palace in Russia, the Hermitage, now one of the great museums of the world. The film is subtitled and the showing, sponsored by the Southeastern English Department, is free.
      A one-time Southeastern faculty member, Roberts Batson will bring his “virtual tour” of New Orleans to the Pottle Music Building Auditorium at 1 p.m. on Wednesday, October 15.
     A personable and witty writer, Batson’s “Amazing Place, This New Orleans” is a charming, entertaining indoor “walk” through the French Quarter and back into the pages of Louisiana history. Illustrated with slides and interspersed with disarming humor, Batson’s one-man show has been described as a veritable treat of a treatise on the unique, amazing Crescent City.
      Fanfare’s annual foreign film series continues October 15 with Germany’s “The Promise” at 3 p.m. in the Music Recital Hall. Directed by Margarethe von Trotta, who ranks among one of the most important female directors in German cinema since the 1970s, the film details “a love-affair under extreme condition,” when a couple is separated for decades by the Berlin Wall.
      Music is back in the spotlight on Thursday, October 16, when the Columbia Theatre hosts the Phoenix Boys Choir. With their engaging smiles, endearing humor and angelical voices, the choir has been thrilling audiences for more than 40 years. Their eight CDs include Penderecki's “Credo” with the Oregon Bach Festival Orchestra and Chorus. The recording won a Grammy Award in 2002 for Best Choral Performance. 
      Tickets for the 7:30 p.m. performance are $18 for adults; $15 for senior citizens and Southeastern faculty, staff and alumni,$12 for groups; and $8 for all students.
      The two performances at the Columbia during Fanfare’s third week -- Mattea on October 14, and the Phoenix Boys Choir on October 16 -- will have an added attraction. On those evenings the Columbia lobby will also be the site of “Dinner and a Picture Show,” an exhibit of Phil Thompson’s paintings of New Orleans scenes, complemented by a stellar display of antique silver that graced New Orleans tables from 1780 until 1920. The exhibits can be viewed from 6:30-10 p.m.
      Also on October 16, an exhibit showcasing the talents of approximately two-dozen Southeastern alumni will open with a reception from 5-7:30 p.m. at Southeastern’s Sims Memorial Library. The exhibit will be on display through the end of the month.
      Fanfare’s third week closes with the Sweet Home Folklife Days, scheduled for 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Friday and Saturday, October 17 and 18,  at the Sweet Home Baptist Church Museum on Hwy. 51 North in Kentwood.
      A celebration of Kentwood’s African American community, the event features activities such as hands-on demonstrations of story telling, home remedies, hair styling, childhood games and music, buggy rides along a scenic nature trail and a traditional baptism at the “baptizing hole”–Cool’s Creek. Traditional African American foods, such as fruit pies, sweet potato pones, outdoor open kettle fried chicken, collard greens, red beans and rice and crackling bread, will be offered for sale.
      Tickets are $2 for adults and $1 for children, and additional information is available at 985-229-5016.
      For a Fanfare brochure and ticket order form or for additional information about Fanfare events, contact Fanfare, 985-543-4366 or fanfare_ctpa@selu.edu. Fanfare information is also available online under the “2003 Season” link at www.selu.edu/fanfare. 
www.selu.edu/fanfare Fanfare tickets are available at the Columbia Theatre for the Performing Arts box office, 220 East Thomas St., Hammond, 985-543-4371. Box office hours are noon to 5 p.m., weekdays. The box office is open until performance time for events at the Columbia Theatre. Tickets can also be purchased online at www.ti cketweb.com.