Berkeley Arts Festival

Benefit for Matthew Thrun at Art House Gallery

Benjamin Ofori (Traditional African Drum Master) and Dance Experience
a Benefit for Matthew Thrun.
Join the fun! Learn to drum and dance, enjoy some amazing food.
Benjamin Ofori, from Ghana (West Africa) is the founder of BODAC Cultural group and Institution in Africa. He shares his African culture and the diversity it brings to all ages through performing and teaching drum and African percussion as well as dance. He has studied and traveled with this company around many regions of Africa including Togo, Nigeria, Ivory Coast, Libya and Mali.

Help Mattman crush his latest nemesis, Leukemiaman!
He needs your help! Despite his secret superhero status, Mattman AKA Matthew Thrun is in need of your support. This year he was diagnosed with Leukemia and is facing overwhelming medical bills. You can be a hero too by supporting his cause.

Suggested donations $10 or more
*100% of all donations go to Matthew Thrun to help pay for his medical treatments and other expenses resulting from his condition

472-3170

5pm to 9pm, Art House Gallery and Cultural Center 2905 Shattuck Ave.

The Hippest Etudes in Town

Leslie Adams' Twenty-Six Etudes for Solo Piano

This lecture-recital will present Part II of living African-American composer Adams' Twenty-Six Etudes (2000-07). The fourteen etudes are classically rooted, invoking a sound world reminiscent of Rachmaninoff, while also containing strong elements of jazz/pop, thus giving them an engaging "crossover" vibe. Key technical and musical issues will be identified, along with strategies for negotiating them successfully. To close, selected etudes will be performed in their entirety.

Pianist Thomas Otten, a California native born of German-American parents, has been hailed by the New York Times as "an extremely original player who puts a formidable technique at the service of his ideas." He made his debut at age seventeen with the National Symphony Orchestra at the John F. Kennedy Center, and has performed in Australia, Europe, the Caribbean, and throughout the U.S. Dr. Otten currently chairs the piano division at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he joined the faculty in 2002. He has played at the national conventions of the Conductors' Guild, the National Federation of Music Clubs, the World Piano Pedagogy Conference, and the American Liszt Society. His debut CD, Tristan und Isolde: Piano Transcriptions of Franz Liszt, was released by MSR Classics in 2005.

8pm to 10pm, 2133 University Ave

Grant Milliken Quartet

This acoustic band led by vibraphonist Grant Milliken features
some of the finest up-and-coming players in jazz: Jill Ryan,
alto saxophone; Nick Lamb, piano and keyboards; Erik Shiboski, bass;
and Malachi Whitson, drums.

$10
845-5373

8pm to 10pm, Jazzschool 2087 Addison Street