The Center for the Arts at Monmouth University has announced that tickets are on sale for a special benefit concert, featuring the vocal ensemble Bravo Amici, presented on World Autism Day, April 2.
At 8 p.m. inside the recently refurbished Pollak Theatre, the event represents an encore appearance for the touring sensation led by New Zealand native Geoff Sewell — the tenor, impresario and philanthropist who co-founded “the world’s first opera band,” Amici Forever. For the crowd-pleasing show’s return to the West Long Branch campus, Bravo Amici will deliver its signature mix of modern Broadway classics (Phantom’s All I Ask of You), songbook surprises (Dean Martin’s novelty That’s Amore), and favorite operatic arias (La Traviata’s Brindisi) — with an extra dimension of relevance to the Autism Day cause, and a special treat in store for the Monmouth audience.
Produced in partnership with the New Jersey chapter of the nonprofit Autism Speaks and the Autism MVP Foundation, proceeds from the concert will go to benefit the missions of both these organizations. The partnership is also one that carries a personal element for Sewell, as he and his wife Simone are themselves parents to an autistic daughter, Sienna. For the April 2 concert, a special video for the original song “Heal Me” — co-written by the Sewells, and featuring Sienna as well as her sister Olivia — will be screened above the Pollak Theatre stage.
As an additional component of the alliance with Autism Speaks NJ and the Autism MVP Foundation, the concert will be presented concurrent with the opening of ART+AUTISM, a juried exhibition designed to showcase the work of artists living with Autism Spectrum Disorder, and to illustrate the ways in which art helps those individuals and the community to understand and address the challenges of living with autism. Select artwork will be offered for sale (with a portion of proceeds dedicated to Autism Speaks NJ and the Autism MVP Foundation), in the exhibition that hosts its free, public-invited April 2 opening reception from 5 to 7 p.m., with the art remaining on display through May 31 at the theatre building’s in-house Pollak Gallery.
Following the World Autism Day gallery reception, Geoff Sewell and his stable of talents from Incognito Artists take the Pollak stage for the first time since the auditorium’s renovation project that included installation of 700 new seats and an enhanced performance area — the better to accommodate Bravo Amici’s celebrated “mix of handsome tenors and stunning divas” who “perform an uplifting, moving collection of well-known classical and contemporary arias.”
Tickets for the World Autism Day concert by Bravo Amici are priced at $45 and $60 (with a Gold Circle seating option priced at $100), and can be reserved through the Monmouth University Performing Arts Box Office at 732-263-6889, or online at www.monmouth.edu/arts.
IMAGE TAKEN from www.monmouth.edu
