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4 SCHOOL OF THE ARTS CONCERTS TO BE ELSEWHERE

There are five concerts remaining this season on the St. John School of the Arts schedule after the Dec. 30 performance by guitarist Dennis Koster — and four of them will be elsewhere.
And an extra concert has just been added to the calendar — to make up for the cancellation of the Junior Mance Trio in November because of Hurricane Lenny. (The concert date was two days after Lenny, but because the artists were housed on St. Thomas and ferries were not running, there was no way for them to get to St. John to perform.)
At the beginning of the season, it was announced that classical pianist Awadagin Pratt would play in Nazareth Lutheran Church for his Jan. 27 appearance, for the compelling reason that the church has a new baby grand, whereas the school has none.
Now, the Westin Resort has offered to host the performances of the Siegel-Schwall Blues Band on Jan. 13, the Charlie Musselwhite Blues Band on Feb. 17 and the Cabaret Evening of George Gershwin Music by Mary Cleere Haran and Richard Rodney Bennett on March 16. All three will take place in the resort ballroom, with dance floor space part of the plans.
What this means for the School of the Arts, director Ruth "Sis" Frank explains, is that it can "sell up to 250 to 300 tickets as a fund raiser for the school," which is double the capacity of the school's own performance space.
For all three concerts in the Westin ballroom, the resort will offer two optional pre-performance dinners — a barbecue and a dining room dinner, Frank says.
"I called Corky Siegel and asked him, 'Hey, do you mind if we move you to the Westin?'" Frank relates. His reply: "I don't care where we play, just as long as we play on St. John."
She notes that Siegel (who's also the leader of Corky Siegel's Chamber Blues, which has made two V.I. tours in recent years) will be doing a special performance for Julius E. Sprauve School students at the School of the Arts on Jan. 13.
The new concert, set for Jan. 17, will be by jazz pianist Gary Dial, a performer, composer and educator who is in close contact with Mance and who just happens to own a time-share at the Westin that he is planning to use in the next few weeks.
Dial, who heads the jazz department at the New School of Social Research in New York, contacted Frank to ask if he could practice the piano at the School of the Arts while he on island. "I said, how would you like to give a concert?" she recalls. What she instantly had in mind was the opportunity to "make up for Junior Mance."
She explains: "We were not able to refund money for tickets to the Mance concert, because we had to pay the artists anyway. But for this concert, any season ticket holder and anyone who purchased tickets for the Mance concert will be able to come for free.
For others, tickets are $25 general admission, $15 for students. For reservations, call 779-4322 or 776-6777.

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