old." Joan Baez, the iconic voice of a generation, comes to The
Batte Fine Arts Center's Austin Auditorium on the Wingate University
campus for one night only on Friday, Nov. 19 at 7:30 p.m.
For over half a century, Baez has been a potent force in American
music, combining art and activism both onstage and off. From her
classic self-titled debut LP in 1960 to the landmark Diamonds and Rust
(1975) to her acclaimed Dark Chords on a Big Guitar (2003), Baez has
remained a folk icon and superstar of the first order, and the social
conscience for a generation. On her latest release, the Grammy
nominated Day After Tomorrow, she returns to songs that evoke the
spirit and message of her defining early work.
Even as an 18-year old, introduced onstage at the first Newport Folk
Festival in 1959, her repertoire reflected a different sensibility
from her peers. In the traditional songs she mastered, there was an
acknowledgment of the human condition. She remains a musical force of
nature whose influence is incalculable - marching on the front line of
the civil rights movement with Martin Luther King Jr., inspiring
Vaclav Havel in his fight for a Czech Republic, singing on the first
Amnesty International tour and standing alongside Nelson Mandela when
the world celebrated his 90th birthday in London's Hyde Park. She
brought the Free Speech Movement into the spotlight, took to the
fields with Cesar Chavez, organized resistance to the war in Southeast
Asia, then forty years later saluted the Dixie Chicks for their
courage to protest war.
Her earliest recordings fed a host of traditional ballads into the
rock vernacular, before she unselfconsciously introduced Bob Dylan to
the world in 1963. She focused awareness on songwriters ranging from
Woody Guthrie, Dylan, Phil Ochs, Richard Farina, and Tim Hardin, to
Kris Kristofferson and Mickey Newbury, to Dar Williams, Richard
Shindell, Steve Earle and many more.
Tickets are $42 & $52 and on sale via the Batte Center box office,
www.battecenter.org, and the CarolinaTix phone room and website. For a
complete schedule of events, ticket prices, as well as membership
information call 704-233-8300.
Opened in 1999, the George A. Batte, Jr. Fine Arts Center presents
events in the McGee Theatre, Plyler-Griffin Recital Hall and Austin
Auditorium. Located just a short, 5 minute drive from Monroe, The
Batte is just two blocks off of Highway 74 and 30 miles east of
Charlotte. Free parking is plentiful and all three performance spaces
offer full wheelchair accessibility.
About Wingate University
Wingate University, ranked as the 8th "best value" in the South by
U.S. News & World Report, serves more than 2,500 students on three
campuses in Wingate, Matthews and Hendersonville, N.C. Founded in
1896, the University offers 34 undergraduate majors, 37 minors and
career concentrations, numerous pre-professional programs, graduate
degrees in business, accounting, education, physician assistant
studies and sport administration, and doctorates in pharmacy and
education. With a 14 to 1 student/teacher ratio, Wingate students gain
the tools and support needed to excel in academics and apply that
learning toward an extraordinary career and life.
In addition to a robust intramural athletics program, Wingate student
athletes compete in 19 NCAA Division II sports. The University has won
the South Atlantic Conference Echols Athletic Excellence Award for the
past five years. For more information, go to www.wingate.edu.
