Nationally Acclaimed Pianists to Perform For Paul Laurence Dunbar Middle School

FORT MYERS, FLA., January 11, 2018– Middle school students of the Paul Laurence Dunbar Middle School will have a rare opportunity to hear nationally acclaimed pianists Andreas Kern and Paul Cibis Tuesday, Jan. 30, when the duo performs a private concert for the students in the school auditorium.
The concert is provided courtesy of the Fort Myers Community Concert Association as part of its outreach program for Lee County public school students.
“We provide seats for each of our concerts at no cost to students in Lee County public schools, but we realize that not all students have the ability to get to our weeknight performances.  To expose as many young people as possible to classical music, our Board of Directors decided to take some of our concerts to the students,” said Community Concert Association President Mary Lee Mann.
The musicians will perform for about an hour beginning at 10 a.m. and answer questions from students interested in the arts and music.
Mann said the Community Concert Association Board of Directors chose Kern and Cibis for its school outreach because “they have been so well received by other communities and we thought they would be perfect for our student outreach program.”
The school performance precedes the duos’ performance that night when they will go head-to-head in a piano duel featuring a variety of classical and contemporary music. The audience will decide the winner.  About 1,700 people are expected to attend the performance at the Barbara B. Mann Performing Arts Hall on the Florida SouthWestern State College campus in Fort Myers.  For tickets, call 239-481-4849. Prices are $45 for orchestra seats, $35 for lower balcony seats and $25 for upper balcony seats.
Born in South Africa, Kern has extensive experience as a soloist and chamber musician in Europe, Canada, Hong Kong, China, Japan, India and South Africa.  He created the critically acclaimed “arte lounge” for the French-German TV channel Arte and served as its co-host. He also was the architect of the Piano City Berlin Festival in 2010, which featured more than 100 piano performances within one weekend.  Kern recorded an album of original piano creations in 2014.
Cibis has performed at international festivals in the United Kingdom, Germany, the United States, South Africa, Hong Kong, China, Taiwan, Australia and New Zealand.   In addition to his many concert performances, he has been featured in radio and television programs around the world.  Cibis has released several albums, including a collection of French melodies and piano works.  He also has taught at Trinity College of Music in London and frequently gives master classes in Germany, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and South Korea.
 
About the Fort Myers Community Concert Association
The Fort Myers Community Concert Association is an all-volunteer not-for-profit organization founded by the late Barbara B. Mann in 1949 to bring world-class entertainment to Southwest Florida at affordable prices.  The association consists of more than 1,700 members, underwriters and sponsors.  Performers brought to Fort Myers recently by the association include Academy of St. Martin in the Fields with violinist and conductor Joshua Bell, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra with Pinchas Zukerman, the Russian National Ballet Theater production of “Sleeping Beauty,” and pianist Emanuel Ax. For more information, visit www.fortmyerscommunityconcerts.org.