Press Releases

Mid Atlantic Tours Announces 2008-2009 Venues and Dates

Baltimore, MD – June 24, 2008 - Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation will support a total of 46 engagements through its Mid Atlantic Tours program in 2008-2009. Performances by Inbal Pinto Dance Company, Cephas & Wiggins, Simon Shaheen, Christian McBride Band, and The Acting Company will take place throughout the mid-Atlantic region over the next year. A complete list of venues and dates can be downloaded here . Patrons should contact tour venues directly for ticket prices, schedules, and other information.

Dance: Inbal Pinto Dance Company
Inbal Pinto Dance Company, the celebrated Israeli contemporary dance company, was founded in 1992 by choreographer and designer Inbal Pinto and actor-director Avshalom Pollak.  Together, they have built an international reputation for creating unique, highly accessible and entertaining dance theatre works. The 12-member company of dancers and actors has toured extensively around the world.  Inbal has received numerous dance awards including Israel’s Ministry of Culture Award for Dance (2000) and a New York Dance and Performance “Bessie” Award for her creation “Wrapped." 
http://www.inbalpinto.com/  

Blues: Cephas & Wiggins
John Cephas and Phil Wiggins are leading exponents of the Piedmont Blues – specifically its distinctive guitar style.  The two musicians joined forces in 1977, championing the East Coast style first popularized by artists like Blind Boy Fuller, Rev. Gary Davis, Blind Willie McTell and Blind Blake.  Cephas & Wiggins were awarded the “W.C. Handy Blues Entertainers of the Year” in 1987 and “Best Traditional Album of the Year.” Cephas is a 1989 NEA National Heritage Award Fellow.
http://www.cephasandwiggins.net/

World Music: Simon Shaheen
Palestinian-American oud/violin maestro and master educator Simon Shaheen, a 1994 NEA National Heritage Award winner, is one of the most significant Arab musicians, performers and composers of his generation. Known for dazzling his listeners as he deftly leaps from traditional Arabic sounds to jazz and Western classical styles, Shaheen’s soaring technique and melodic ingenuity have earned him international acclaim as a virtuoso on his instruments. His work incorporates and reflects a legacy of Arabic music, while it forges new frontiers, embracing many different styles in the process. In 2008-2009 he will be touring with his world-class ensemble.
http://www.simonshaheen.com/
 
Jazz: Christian McBride Band 
Over the course of three albums as a leader and over a hundred as a sideman, Christian McBride has arguably become the most acclaimed acoustic and electric bassist to emerge from the jazz world in the 1990's. He has performed with an impressive array of artists from McCoy Tyner and Sting to Kathleen Battle and Diana Krall. His own recordings encompass a diverse canon of original compositions and imaginatively arranged covers. McBride currently leads a quartet featuring saxophonist Ron Blake, keyboardist Geoffrey Keezer and drummer Terreon Gully.
http://www.christianmcbride.com/

Theater: The Acting Company
The renowned national-touring classical repertory theater, The Acting Company, was founded in 1972 out of the first graduating class of the Juilliard School’s Drama Division.  Established to tour smaller cities, towns and communities and make the language of theater accessible in performance, classes and educational outreach activities, the company’s alumni include the likes of Frances Conroy, Kevin Kline, Patti LuPone and David Ogden Stiers. For the 2008-2009 season, The Acting Company joins forces with the Tony-Award winning Guthrie Theater to tour a new co-production of Shakespeare’s Henry V and a new adaptation of The Spy by James Fenimore Cooper. 
http://www.theactingcompany.org/

Mid Atlantic Tours offers support to presenters interested in engaging MAAF-identified artists from within the region and internationally. The program places special consideration for touring contemporary dance, folk/traditional, jazz, and theater and providing presenters with affordable performance fees.


Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation supports the richness and diversity of the region's arts resources and promotes wider access to the art and artists of the region, nation and world. The region includes nine states and jurisdictions that are closely related by geography or culture: District of Columbia, Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, the U.S.Virgin Islands, Virginia, and West Virginia.