Written by | Ray Cornelius
My good friends over at the Rialto Center for the Arts at Georgia State are celebrating their centennial year in a big way. The historic Atlanta landmark is bringing some of the biggest and brightest names in jazz, world music, dance and the performing arts for its 2017-18 season.
Festivities will kick off this fall with jazz legend Pharoah Sanders and his Quartet on October 14 followed by Ailey II on October 21. Grammy winning singer and one of the featured talents in the Oscar winning film, “20 Feet from Stardom,” Lisa Fischer will appear along with Grand Baton on October 28. Other amazing talents include Niyaz featuring Azam Ali and “The Fourth Light Projet” on November 18.
The celebration continues into the New Year with Juan De Marcos and the Afro Cuban All Stars on February 3 and The Annual Johhny Mercer Tribute with ATL’s own Joe Gransden and blues icon Francine Reed on February 11.
South Africa’s own Ladysmith Black Mambazo will bless the stage with their amazing voices on March 3 and René Marie will appear with the Georgia State University Jazz Band in April for Jazz Appreciation Month.
“Not only do we have several surprises to delight our audiences as we continue our time-honored tradition of introducing stellar new artists to Atlanta, we also have legendary world music and dance performers who will captivate and fascinate during this special season,” said Leslie Gordon, Director of the Rialto.
Click here to see the entire season + watch a snippet of “20 Feet from Stardom” below:
Photo Credits: VIMEO + Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre
