Sunday, December 17, 2006

COUNTRY STAR JESSI COLTER TO HEADLINE RITTER INAUGURAL CONCERT


JESSI COLTER TO HEADLINE INAUGURAL CONCERT
 
Three More Musical Acts Also Will Perform at Jan. 12 Celebration
 
The Ritter-O'Brien Inaugural Committee announced today that country-music star Jessi Colter will headline the Jan. 12 inaugural concert. Three other musical acts also are slated to perform at the inaugural celebration at the Colorado Convention Center's Wells Fargo Theatre.
 
"We're extremely pleased a musician of Jessi Colter's caliber will be the main act for Gov.-elect Ritter and Lt. Gov.-elect O'Brien's inaugural concert," said Inaugural Committee co-chairs Frances Koncilja and James Crowe. "This will be a wonderfully entertaining night."
 
Gov.-elect Ritter has long admired Colter's brand of music. Twenty years after her last solo project, Colter released her Out of the Ashes CD in February 2006. Much of the music is inspired by Colter's grief following the 2002 death of her husband, Grammy-winner Waylon Jennings.
 
"The governor-elect is thrilled she will be part of the inaugural festivities," Koncilja and Crowe said. "He and his family are equally excited that we're going to have additional musicians who will bring a diverse cultural mix to the evening's entertainment."
 
The inaugural concert will begin about 8:30 p.m. Jan. 12. Tickets cost $20 per seat and are now available by going to www.coloradopromise.org or calling TicketsWest at 1-800-325-SEAT (7328).   
 
Colter will appear after three other musical performances by:
 
·         Mariachi Vásquez. For nearly 20 years, this popular family group has captured the hearts of audiences around the United States and Mexico with their Mariachi music. The group organizes and produces the annual Denver Mariachi Festival and has released three albums.
 
·         Spirituals Project Choir. The choir is composed of 70 singers of all ages, backgrounds and musical experience. The choir has performed in a number of theatrical performances around Colorado, and at various events and venues around the state.
 
·         Kissidugu. Founded in 2004 by Master Drummer and Dancer Fara Tolno, Kissidugu offers audiences explosive West African percussion and dance. The troupe, based in Boulder, dazzles crowds with awe-inspiring, complex percussion and tightly choreographed, high-flying, Guinea-style dance including "dunun dancing" rarely seen in the United States.