FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

August 28, 2007

CONTACT: Mary Wright 610-867-8528 or mcw3@lehigh.edu

Where Bethlehem’s City Council normally holds its sometimes spirited meetings, the sweet sound of music (blues, classical guitar, Celtic and jazz) will be in the air on Sundays in October.

The Bethlehem Fine Arts Council is pleased to announce that in addition to its popular “Sculpture Garden Concert Series” that runs during June and July, it will be expanding the series to a “Rotunda Concert Series” that will take place on the four Sundays of October from 4 – 6pm in the Rotunda at Bethlehem’s City Hall. The concerts are all free to the public.

“We never knew the acoustics were so good there until we had to use it as an emergency rain location two summers ago for the Craig Thatcher Band. They loved the space, so did the audience. In fact, the band wanted to know if they could record their next CD in the space!” comments BFAC concert co-chair Mary Wright. The space is smaller than the Sculpture Garden which means that its intimacy is perfect for some of the smaller and acoustic groups that might not work out in a park.

Indeed - the Craig Thatcher Band, with sponsorship from Martin Guitar, will launch the series on Sunday, October 7th. “We wanted to honor them for having helped us discover the space as a concert venue in the first place,” says co-chair Tim Fox. On October 14th the Pennsylvania Classical Guitar Quintet will present a concert of classical music. The next week the duo of Kane and Beatty will present authentic Celtic music on guitar and a wide variety of other instruments. The new concert series finishes up with jazz performed by 2-Part-Invention (flute and guitar).

All concerts are free and open to the public. Seating is limited, so it is suggested that you come early. Unlike the Sculpture Garden series, food and drink are not allowed in the Rotunda itself. For more information on the bands or the concerts, go to the Bethlehem Fine Arts Commission’s web-site at www.bfac-lv.org

The Bethlehem Fine Arts Commission is a purely volunteer organization whose mission is to support and promote the arts in the city of Bethlehem. “We believe the arts create a better community, a better quality of life, and a better way of experiencing the world,” says Wright. Commission members are appointed by the Mayor and City Council. Anyone interested in finding out more can contact the Commission via the web-site. The Commission is also looking for other volunteers who believe strongly in the arts and might be interested in working on one of the Commission committees.

In addition to the concert series, other Commission sponsored programs are: the Fine Arts and Crafts Fair in May, annual awarding of small grants to local arts organizations, Paint-Out, exhibits of art in the City’s Rotunda, and the annual Tribute to the Arts Luncheon where awards are given to area artists, arts organizations and corporations with a strong arts emphasis.