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Trombonist Abbie Conant performs in Dalton

March 28, 2006

KALAMAZOO--Internationally regarded trombone artist Abbie Conant will perform in the Dalton Center at 8:15 p.m. Monday, April 3, presenting "Cybeline" and "Music for the End of Time," composed by Conant and her husband, William Osborne. Admission is free.

"Cybeline," for performance-artist, glove controller, trombone, video, and quadraphonic surround sound, is a music theater work about a cyborg trying to be a talk show host to prove she is human. It is about nature, virtual reality, biotechnology, and the mass media--about finding the heart and poetry in technology as it also contemplates its horrors. "Music for the End of Time," by Osborne, is for trombone and quadraphonic tape, and is based on the Book of Revelation.

Conant also will present a trombone master class Monday, from 10 a.m. to noon.

The International Trombone Association Journal described Conant as being "in the first rank of world-class trombonists." She has recorded a highly acclaimed CD of trombone and organ music and performs internationally as a concerto soloist, recitalist, improviser and performance artist. This work has taken her to most of the large state theaters in Germany, where she has performed to great critical and public acclaim. In addition, in recent years she has performed as a soloist in more than 60 American cities.

Conant received a bachelor's degree from Temple University, a master's degree from the Juilliard School, followed by a Meister diploma from the Staatliche Hochschule fur Musik in Cologne, Germany. From 1980 to 1993 she was solo trombonist of the Munich Philharmonic. In 1992, the Baden-Wurtenburg State Ministry for Education, in recognition of her international reputation as a trombonist, named her full tenured professor of trombone at the esteemed Staatliche Hochschule fur Musik in Trossingen, Germany. In 1998, she was the first woman to serve as an adjudicator for the International Trombone Competition in Geneva, Switzerland.

Media contact: Kevin West, (269) 387-4678, kevin.west@wmich.edu

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