Leading Israeli Percussionist to Perform at USAO

He is one of the leading percussion soloists in Israel and is known for exhibiting preternatural musical skills. Chen Zimbalista brings his talent to Chickasha March 23 at the University of Science and Arts for the fourth and final performance of the Davis-Waldorf Performing Arts Series.

Zimbalista! is scheduled at 7:30 p.m. in Te Ata Memorial Auditorium on the USAO campus. Tickets are available at the USAO Business Office, 1727 W. Alabama, or by calling 405-574-1213. Tickets also can be purchased online at www.usao.edu/dwpas.

The Davis-Waldorf Performing Arts Series is supported by Mid-America Arts Alliance with generous underwriting by the National Endowment for the Arts, Oklahoma Arts Council, the Kirkpatrick Family Fund, the USAO Foundation and foundations, corporations and individuals throughout Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma and Texas.

Zimbalista studied with Alon Bohr (Israel Philharmonic Orchestra), at the TelAviv Academy of Music, with Morris Lang (New York Philharmonic), and with Bent Lillof in Copenhagen.

He has performed with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, Israel Chamber Orchestra, and all of the leading orchestras in Israel. In the United States, he has performed with the Detroit Symphony, the Los Angeles Jewish Symphony and the Jupiter Symphony Chamber Players.

Zimbalista received the Francois Shapira Prize, the Young Artists Performing Israeli Music Prize and the first prize from the National Council for Culture and Arts for performing his work Impulse 1.

He has toured China, the United States, Canada, Brazil, Germany, Holland, Portugal, Italy, Africa, Turkey, England, France and Taiwan. He has performed at festivals throughout the world including the Israel Festival, the TelAviv Museum Biannual for Contemporary Music, and Kfar Blum Music Festival, where he serves as musical consultant in Israel.

He also has performed at the Schleswig Holstein Music Festival, Bahnhof Rolandseck Music Festival in Germany, the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and Art Midwest Festival; Stresa Music Festival in Italy and Kaohsiung Arts Festival in Taiwan.

A believer that music transcends all boundaries and can demonstrate the importance of respecting and appreciating others' differences, some of his most successful performances have been in Turkey, in Africa at a special peace concert, in Germany with the Stuttgart Percussion Ensemble, as well as at the Israel Festival 2000.

Zimbalista's unique creativity has inspired composers to write especially for him -- Noam Sheriff, Menachem Weisberg, Benjamin Yosopov and Mark Hagerty. He recorded a CD with the cooperation of the Jerusalem Music Center, as well as a solo CD, Desert Beat, on Koch Discovery.

Tickets for the performance are $10 for the general public, $8 for seniors 60 and above, $3 for high school students and children under 18, $5 for USAO staff or faculty and $2 for USAO students.