Saturday, May 4 @ 7:30pm
Jermie Arnold, Christine Guter, Jeff Jarvis, Johannes Stosch, and Jonathan Talberg, conductors
The 2024 Celebrating Music Concert will uniquely feature the Bob Cole Conservatory Symphony Orchestra, Pacific Standard Time, Concert Jazz Orchestra, Combined Chamber and University Choirs, and the Wind Symphony. These groups, in addition to several small ensembles, will present a kaleidoscope of music that will delight music lovers of all genres.
We are excited to announce that the concert will also honor Dr. Richard Carpenter, who will receive the inaugural College of the Arts Medallion for Exceptional Achievement in the Arts, and Sangeeta Kaur, who will receive the Bob Cole Conservatory Celebrating Music Award. We extend a warm invitation to music lovers of all kinds to come and celebrate music with us!
Our 2024 Distinguished Honorees
Dr. Richard Carpenter
By any measure, the Carpenters are among the most popular acts in recording history. Their worldwide sales top 100 million copies. Their many honors include three Grammy Awards, the first American Music Award ever presented for favorite Pop Group, and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
The Carpenters were the #1 American hit makers of the 1970s, according to Joel Whitburn’s authoritative Top Pop Singles. And Karen and Richard’s success went far beyond their homeland. They topped the charts from Holland to Hong Kong and in Japan, remain the best-selling non-Japanese artists ever.
Richard and Karen were born to Harold, and Agnes Carpenter, in New Haven, Connecticut: Richard in October, 1946 and Karen in March, 1950. By the age of 16, Richard was studying piano at Yale University. In 1963 the family moved to Southern California, where soon thereafter Richard enrolled in music classes at USC and California State University Long Beach, where Richard and Karen soon discovered their musical talents complimented each other.
After several years of making demos and enduring the usual rejections, Karen and Richard were signed to A&M Records in April of 1969. Karen and Richard’s first major hit, "Close To You," exploded the following year. With her unforgettable voice, Karen was the star of the act, but Richard’s behind-the-scenes contributions to the team’s success were enormous. As the chief architect of the Carpenters’ sound, Richard arranged and orchestrated almost all of the duo’s recordings. He produced most of them, composed many, and played keyboards on all but a few. He also conceived—and contributed to—the duo’s famed overdubbed harmonies.
"We’ve Only Just Begun" received a Grammy nomination for Song of the Year and became the wedding song for a generation (in 1998, the Carpenters’ recording of "We’ve Only Just Begun" was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame).
Richard also teamed with lyricist John Bettis to write six of the Carpenters singles. Four reached the Top 10 in both the US and the UK: "Goodbye To Love", "Yesterday Once More", "Top Of The World" and "Only Yesterday".
In his Rolling Stone review of The Singles 1969-1973, critic Paul Gambaccini made note of Richard’s role in the Carpenters’ success. "Heard together, the duo’s hits prove that Richard Carpenter didn’t study music at Yale for nothing. His clean arrangements, delicate piano turns and conservatively employed strings enhance almost every cut, and after a few tracks it becomes obvious his contributions have been grossly underestimated."
Richard’s arrangements have been highly influential. His arrangement of "We’ve Only Just Begun", which blends the romanticism of easy listening with the pulse of pop/rock, provided a virtual blueprint for the modern "adult contemporary" format. Richard is widely credited with creating the "power-ballad" when he hired guitarist Tony Peluso to play a head-turning fuzz guitar solo on the Carpenters’ 1972 single, "Goodbye To Love."
In the years since Karen’s death, Richard has continued to make music. He has personally compiled numerous Carpenters collections, including Interpretations, Love Songs, As Time Goes By, and the 2002 boxed set, The Essential Collection. In addition, he has recorded two solo albums for A&M, Time and Pianist, Arranger, Composer, Conductor. Richard has also performed solo concerts in both the US and Japan, and is currently working on a solo Christmas album for A&M Records.
Sangeeta Kaur
Sangeeta Kaur is a 2021 Grammy® award-winning Vietnamese American singer, multimedia artist, and producer. This milestone makes her the very first female Vietnamese American singer to have won a Grammy in all of history. Sangeeta’s body of work is both cinematic in scope and spans a wide range of genres such as Classical, New Age, Contemporary, and Spiritual. Sangeeta is a Voting Member and she serves as a governor on the board of the GRAMMY Recording Academy, Texas Chapter.
Sangeeta earned a Bachelor of Music degree in Opera Performance from the Bob Cole Conservatory of Music at California State University Long Beach and a Master of Music degree in Vocal
Performance from the Boston Conservatory at Berklee. While traveling the world as a classical vocalist, Sangeeta was introduced to the power of spiritual mantra as well as the discipline of yogic practices which has greatly influenced her musical expression. As she says, "My life’s mission is to create and share music that brings joy and positive transformation to the listener."
Sangeeta has released five award-winning albums: Niguma, Ascension, Mirrors, Compassion, and Illuminance. She is the first Vietnamese American singer to have received a Grammy nomination in the category of Best Classical Solo Vocal Album for her performance on Mythologies, composed by the award-winning composer, Danaë Vlasse.
On September 19, 2021 Sangeeta had her PBS debut on Season 10 of the award-winning show Front and Center. Her one-hour show "Sangeeta Kaur and Friends" on Front and Center features some of today’s most sought-after artists and musicians such as world- renowned ukulele master Jake Shimabukuro, violinist Caroline Campbell, guitarist Laurence Juber, and many others. The show will continue to run for 12 months nationwide.
In 2016, she wrote, produced, and premiered the ambitious and acclaimed mantra opera, Niguma, at the Broad Stage in Los Angeles. The production included yoga-inspired modern dance choreographed by world-renowned choreographer Talia Favia and featuring visual content created by cutting-edge production company FRAMEWORX LA.
Her growing list of collaborations include work with the rock-and-roll legend Jon Anderson of the band Yes, noteworthy pop producer Narada Michael Walden, two-time Grammy-winning New Age composer Peter Kater, Stewart Copland, Grammy-winning singer Hila Plitmann, Grammy-nominated engineer Gerhard Joost, Grammy winner Ricky Kej, award-winning composer and producer Nicholas Neidhardt, and more.
Sangeeta is also the owner of Studio Hill recording studio in Austin, Texas with Gerhard Joost, who she has been working with for over 8 years as her Chief Engineer.
Sangeeta brings new meaning to the world of music, not only with her innovative live productions, but also with her highly sensitive awareness of how sound can impact and transform the human spirit.
Sangeeta is currently co-producing the album Mythologies II, composed by Grammy-winning composer, Danaë Vlasse. It was recently recorded at the iconic Abbey Road Studios with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. The album is scheduled to release late Summer of 2024.
Maps & Location
The Carpenter Performing Arts Center is located directly adjacent to the Bob Cole Conservatory of Music. Parking is available in Parking Lot G12.
Bob Cole Conservatory Directions Map
PDF format (1.1m) cole_directions.pdf
