Click on image for publication quality photo

---

Grammy Award winner Kathy Mattea, two-time recipient of the Country Music Association’s female vocalist of the year award, will be the headliner for Fanfare 2003, Southeastern Louisiana University’s October festival of the arts. Mattea will perform at 7:30 p.m., October 14, in the Columbia Theatre for the Performing Arts.

---

On October 6, Fanfare’s spotlight will be on Common Ground, a troupe of Irish step dancers, tap dancers, and cloggers who combine choreography with traditional and original music. The troupe will perform at 7:30 p.m., October 6, at the Columbia Theatre for the Performing Arts. 

---

The Grammy award-winning Phoenix Boys Choir, two dozen young singers whose have been thrilling audiences for more than 40 years, will join the Southeastern Louisiana University Fanfare 2003 schedule on October 16 at  7:30 p.m. in the Columbia Theatre for the Performing Arts.

---

Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Rick Bragg, author of best-selling novels “All Over But the Shoutin’” and “Ava’s Man,” will present a Fanfare guest lecture at Southeastern Louisiana University at 7:30 p.m., October 8, at the Columbia Theatre for the Performing Arts.

SOUTHEASTERN’S FANFARE CELEBRATES 18TH SEASON IN OCTOBER
      HAMMOND -- Fanfare, Southeastern Louisiana University’s annual October festival of the arts, humanities, and sciences, is just around the corner. 
      The festival’s 18th season will host a wide variety of exciting events, from theater and dance productions to nationally and internationally renowned musicians, lecturers and other artists and performers. 
      “We are turning 18! Celebrate with us by celebrating the arts,” said Donna Gay Anderson, director of Fanfare/Columbia Theatre for the Performing Arts. “We are proud of the season that we are presenting this year. It is going to be a wonderful birthday for all of us!” 
      Anderson said Fanfare tickets will be available at the Columbia Theatre box office – 220 East Thomas St., Hammond, 985-543-4371 -- beginning September 15. Tickets for most events can also be purchased online at www.ticketweb.com. Box office hours are noon to 5 p.m., weekdays. The box office is open until performance time for events at the Columbia Theatre for the Performing Arts, Southeastern’s renovated historic theatre in downtown Hammond.
      “Last year, Fanfare attracted 49,000 patrons and was a tremendous success,” Anderson said. “Several favorites will be returning to this year’s festival, such as the Missoula Children’s Theatre, the Aquila Theatre Company, and the Capitol Steps. As always, Fanfare will be both educational and entertaining. It’s fun for the whole family and for our entire community.” 
      Since its inception in 1986, Fanfare has included a “festival within the festival” just for children, offering area schools a wealth of matinees, master classes, and personal visits by guests artists. Anderson said that this year more than 5,500 young people are expected to participate in Fanfare education outreach events by artists such as Common Ground, “Wyatt Earp,” Monique McDonald, Missoula Children's Theatre, the Phoenix Boys Choir, “Let's Go Science Show,” and the Aquila Theatre Company. 
      Anderson said that once again many Fanfare events will be showcased in the Columbia Theatre, including Fanfare 2003's “headliner,” two-time Grammy award winner Kathy Mattea. 
      Mattea has twice been honored as the Country Music Association’s female vocalist of the year and has garnered two Grammy Awards. Now, the velvet voiced singer is following a new musical path, entering into the gentle and sophisticated world of folk music with a style she describes as “contemporary folk with a Celtic twist.” 
      Fanfare 2003 highlights also include:
      * The traditional festival kickoff -- the Brown Bag Concert -- in Hammond’s downtown Cate Square.
      * Pulitzer Prize winning New York Times journalist Rick Bragg, author of best-selling novels “All Over But the Shoutin’” and “Ava’s Man.”
      * The Grammy award-winning Phoenix Boys Choir, two dozen young singers whose engaging smiles, wonderful humor and angelical voices have been thrilling audiences for more than 40 years.
      * The Capitol Steps, a hilarious company of current and former Congressional staffers, who provide side-splitting and satirical musical views on today’s political events.
      * Common Ground, a troupe of Irish step dancers, tap dancers, and cloggers who combine choreography with traditional and original music and present a historical to present-day journey through the evolution of Irish dance and music.
      * The Aquila Theatre Company, performing Shakespeare’s classic “Othello.” The outstanding troupe currently is the Company in Residence at the Center for Ancient Studies at New York University, and has received the prize for Dramatic Excellence from the Greek government and several prestigious British Council Touring awards.
      * The nationally-acclaimed chamber wind ensemble the Prairie Winds, whose performance blends humor, fascinating musical information, and powerful performing.
       * The Missoula Children’s Theatre, a perennial Fanfare favorite, which will present the classic children’s fairy tale “The Frog Prince.” The theatre company chooses over 100 local child actors to fill its various roles. 
      * A theatrical production of “Wyatt Earp,” a one-man play written by Terry Earp, Wyatt’s wife, and performed by one of his descendants. The play is set in the mid-1920s as an elderly Wyatt Earp recounts his adventures during the final phase of America’s frontier. 
      * Fanfare Consort, a Connecticut-based ensemble which freshly unearths the splendors of the 16th and 17th century music, presenting it as it would have been heard then, period instruments and all. 
      * Starring at the popular Picnic ‘n Pops, Swing Set, three sassy female vocalists with an 
updated “Andrews Sisters” style backed by a hot six-piece band. The swinging combo brings class, elegance, and fun to the nostalgic melodies of  Glenn Miller and Duke Ellington and the rip-roaring tunes of Louis Prima and Louis Jordan.
      * “Amazing Place, This New Orleans,” personable and witty writer Roberts Batson’s virtual tour of New Orleans, a one-man show that is a veritable treat of a treatise on the unique, amazing Crescent City.
      * The “Music for a Sunday Afternoon” series at area churches, featuring Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra harpist Rachel van Voorhees, pianist Jure Rozman, and award-winning soprano Monique McDonald.
      * Freelance choreographer, dancer, and teacher Nicole Caccivio, whose fresh and innovative modern dances incorporate unique and interesting partnering and weight sharing techniques. 
      * Exhibits showcasing drawings by artists and friends Mark Pearlman and Kurt Kemp of Sonoma State University, talented Southeastern alumni, local students sponsored by the
House of Blues Foundation, and the New Orleans scenes of  Phil Thompson. The Thompson exhibit will be complimented by a stellar collection of antique silver that graced New Orleans’ finest dinner parties from 1780 until 1920.
      Contributions from Southeastern faculty and staff include:
      * “Lightning Bolt – Works That Illuminate,” a program of three dances and four films, united by a common “illuminating” theme, presented by Southeastern’s award-winning dance program director Martie Fellom.
      * The Southeastern Chamber Orchestra, conducted by Yakov Voldman, which will welcome as soloists a trio of young, award-winning violinists: Nora Romanoff-Schwarzberg, Georgy Valtchev, and Southeastern student Valentin Nicolaescu.
      * The Southeastern Wind Symphony, under the direction of Glen Hemberger, which will be joined by Eric Ruske, associate principal horn of the Cleveland Orchestra, in a concert including works by Gustav Mahler and Richard Strauss, and Eric Whitacre's “Godzilla Eats Las Vegas!”
      * The Southeastern Theatre’s production of “The Curious Savage,” John Patrick’s comic morality tale that pokes fun at the perennial desire for money and power, and the Opera-Music 
Theatre Program’s “Some Enchanted Evening,” featuring everyone's favorite songs from Rodgers & 
Hammerstein's hit Broadway shows.
      * “Then & Now,” an entertaining and eclectic lecture series sponsored by Southeastern’s history and political science department featuring the wit and wisdom of Southeastern faculty on topics such as the Kennedy Assassination, Nostradamus, Hollywood’s treatment of the military in movies, Louisiana’s Italians, Nietzsche and Eastern thought -- and the return of the ever-popular “Togaman.” 
      * Award-winning Southeastern English professor and author Norman German reading his latest short story, "Sportfishing with Cameron." 
      * The annual Fanfare’s Foreign Film Series and a special showing of the critically acclaimed and visually breathtaking film “The Russian Ark.”
      * As a special treat on the eve of Fanfare, a docu-drama by Southeastern’s Center for Southeast Louisiana Studies detailing the complex conspiratorial and bloody details involved in the West Florida Revolt, which ultimately completed the Louisiana Purchase and carved a distinctive identify for the Florida Parishes.
      Joining Fanfare from the community are:
      * The Hungarian Cultural Celebration, an annual event at Hungarian Settlement in Livingston Parish that exhibits the area’s rich traditions and customs. 
      * Art and All That Jazz, a gallery stroll and community celebration throughout historic downtown Hammond.
      * Sweet Home Folklife Days, a celebration of the Kentwood area’s African-American heritage.
      * Fun-filled mornings for children at Hammond’s public library, with emphasis on "Stories and Jazz" and Halloween "Hoots and Haunts.”
      * Family Arts Festival, a day of free fun and excitement for the entire family at the Hammond Square Mall.
      * Ponchatoula’s Great Invitational Quilt Expo, a day-long quilting celebration including activities for children, a quilter-merchant’s mall, antique shopping, speakers and demonstrations.
      For a brochure, ticket order form or additional information, contact Fanfare at 985-543-4366 or email fanfare_ctpa@selu.edu. Information is available online at www.selu.edu/fanfare. 
      Since Kathy Mattea and Common Ground are part of the Columbia Theatre season, a limited number of tickets are available.