Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, February 19, 1993 TAG: 9302190261
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Joe Kennedy
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
THE TIPOFF
GOOD MORNING: Writer, actress, poet and teacher Maya Angelou will speak Monday night at 7:30 at Burruss Auditorium of Virginia Tech in Blacksburg.The poem she read at Bill Clinton's inauguration as president was just a nugget from Angelou's long career of moving people with her thoughts and words.
Blacksburg is the place, and Thursday is the day for more good stuff. Admission to Burruss will be free.\ \ WAR OF THE HEART: "Aida," the Giuseppi Verdi masterwork, will be performed in concert Monday night at 8 at the Roanoke Civic Center auditorium.
Victoria Bond will conduct the Roanoke Symphony Orchestra, the Roanoke Valley Choral Society, singers from Opera Roanoke and soloists including Neil Breeden and Deborah Mayer. The concert will be sung in Italian with English supertitles.
The concert will be dedicated to the late Marion Bradley Via, longtime benefactor of many Western Virginia arts, educational and charitable institutions.
Tickets are $10, $14, $16 and $18. Call 343-9127.\ \ ZEST: The New Virginians from Virginia Tech will bring its colorful variety show to the Roanoke Civic Center auditorium tonight at 8. Tickets are $7 in advance and $8 at the door. The show is sponsored by the Raleigh Court and Williamson Road Lions clubs.\ \ UPLIFT: Singers from the High Street Baptist Church choir, the Pilgrim Baptist Church choir and the youth gospel choir of Our Lady of Sorrows church in Maryland will present a free Black History Month concert Saturday night at 7:30 at St. Andrew's Catholic Church in Roanoke.
\ LIGHT FARE: "Once Upon a Mattress" is the production under way at Showtimers in Roanoke. The popular musical will go on tonight through Sunday and Wednesday through Feb. 28.
Show time is 8 o'clock except on Sundays, when it is at 2. For information or reservations, call 774-2660.\ \ SWING: The Count Basie Orchestra, directed by Frank Foster, will play at Burruss Hall of Virginia Tech in Blacksburg on Thursday night at 7:30. Tickets for the general public are $14, or $7 for children age 12 and under. Call 231-5615 or (800) 843-0332.\ \ DANCE: "Steve's House Dance Collective," directed by Ray Eliot Schwartz, will be presented in the Botetourt dance lab of Hollins College on Saturday night at 8:15 and Sunday afternoon at 2:15. Admission is free.
Schwartz is from Richmond. He has studied in many places, including Southeast Asia. He describes his work as a mix of lyricism, earthiness, cacophony, slapstick, allegory and the macabre.
Seating will be limited, and you're advised to bring a cushion or pillow. Call 362-6596.\ \ SHOW STOPPER: Richard Elliott, an organist with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, will perform Sunday afternoon at 4 at Greene Memorial United Methodist Church in downtown Roanoke.
His program will include works by Bach and Reger, a spiritual and more.
Admission is free. Call 344-6225.\ \ WHAT PLUCK: The Lyric Ensemble, a string quintet from Richmond, will present free concerts Monday afternoon at 2 and Monday night at 7:45 in Moomaw Center of Dabney S. Lancaster Community College in Clifton Forge.
Jonathan Romeo leads the group, whose repertoire spans classical works from Renaissance to contemporary, plus Romeo's original compositions.
The concert is free.\ \ MID-WINTER MUSIC: Church music of Imperial Russia will be featured during "Music for a Mid-Winter's Day" from the Jefferson Choral Society of Lynchburg.
The program will be given tonight at 8 and Sunday afternoon at 2 at Heritage United Methodist Church in Lynchburg. Works will include Rachmaninoff's "Vespers," sung in English; Brahms' "Gypsy Songs"; and Schumann's "Gypsy Life."
Tickets are $5. Call 237-6702.