Concert group to hold first program of season

"Harp and Vibes" on Sunday will be the first program of the 2002-03 season of the Capital Community Concert Association.

The artists are Beverly Colgan on the harp and her husband Joe Venuto playing vibraharp.

"Harp and Vibes" will be at the Carson City Community Center at 3 p.m. Sunday. Season tickets for the 2002-2003 concert season may be purchased at the door: adults $45; students $20; families, $100. Single-admission tickets, $15, may also be purchased at the door.

The impressionist works of Claude Debussy and some of Joe Venuto's jazz pieces will be performed Sunday.

What started as a practice session for a symphony rehearsal led to the discovery of the sound of harp and vibraharp played in duo. Colgan and Venuto found they could do just about anything from classical to jazz.

Venuto was voted Most Valuable Player in the vibraharp category by the New York chapter of ASCAP in 1987 for his jazz work in the recording field with such artists as Benny Goodman, Morton Gould, Gene Krupa and Leonard Bernstein. He is a former percussionist at Radio City Music Hall, the Bell Telephone Hour, ABC-TV and the Sauter Finnegan Orchestra. He is the principal percussionist with the Reno Philharmonic.

Colgan is the principal harpist with the Reno Philharmonic, the Nevada Opera and the Reno Chamber Orchestra. She plays in showroom orchestras and has accompanied such celebrities as Frank Sinatra and Luciano Pavarotti. She is the harp instructor for the University of Nevada, Reno.

For information call Judy Harris, 246-5783, Carol Frazier, 246-7047 or Dr. Raymond Foote, 882-8360.