José Feliciano Receives Gerard Manley Hopkins, S. J., Award for Excellence
Internationally renowned musician and performing artist José Feliciano will be presented with the Gerard Manley Hopkins, S.J., Award for Excellence in the Arts during a ceremony at Ƭapp before his 8 p.m. performance at the Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts on Saturday, September 28, 2013. Ƭapp President Rev. Jeffrey von Arx, S.J., will present the award to Mr. Feliciano. Ƭapp established the Gerard Manley Hopkins, S.J., Award for Excellence in the Arts when the Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts opened its doors in 1990. Past recipients of the award have included jazz pianist Dave Brubeck , actor Jason Robards, the painter Paul Cadmus , the composer and lyricist Stephen Sondheim , ballerina Gelsey Kirkland , and realist painter Robert Vickrey , to name a few.
“We are very pleased to host a performance by Mr. Feliciano and to be presenting him with the Gerard Manley Hopkins, S.J., Award for Excellence in the Arts ,” said Rev. Jeffrey von Arx, S.J. , Ƭapp president. “His music has reached across the globe, and his artistic achievements are truly remarkable. It is only fitting that we recognize Mr. Feliciano at his concert at the Quick Center, and I know the audience will enjoy being part of this special occasion.”
The Gerard Manley Hopkins Award for Excellence in the Arts is named after Rev. Gerard Manley Hopkins, S.J., (1844-1889), a Jesuit priest, who was also one of the most important innovators in the history of English poetry. He developed original poetic forms and rhythms in order to revitalize the language and to find fresh ways to describe and illuminate the Spirit of Creation that he saw in the world around him. He is considered as one of the three or four greatest poets of the Victorian era by the Poetry Foundation, regarded by different readers as the greatest Victorian poet of religion, of nature, or of melancholy.
José Feliciano is recognized the world over for his accomplishments as a singer, songwriter, guitarist, performer, and recording artist. He was born blind, to humble beginnings, in 1945 in Lares, Puerto Rico. He immigrated to New York City with his family when he was five. He was immediately drawn to music, and over the course of his remarkable career he has been awarded forty-five Gold and Platinum records; he has won nineteen Grammy nominations, earning nine Grammy Awards, including the LARAS Award for Lifetime Achievement. Billboard Magazine selected him to receive its Lifetime Achievement Award, and New York City honored him by re-naming Public School 155 in East Harlem, “The José Feliciano Performing Arts School.” He’s been knighted by The Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre, a Papal Order of the Catholic Church, and has performed for Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI. Guitar Player Magazine has awarded him “Best Pop Guitarist,” placing him in their “Gallery of the Greats,” and he’s been voted both Best Jazz and Best Rock Guitarist in the Playboy Magazine reader’s polls. Recording milestones in his career include his original interpretation of The Doors’ “Light My Fire,” which topped the charts globally in 1968, and “Feliz Navidad,” the Christmas song that has now become a holiday classic worldwide.
Concert tickets are $75, $65, and $55. For information, contact the Quick Center Box Office: (203) 254-4010, or toll-free 1-877-ARTS-396. (1-877-278-7396). Tickets can also be purchased online at . The Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts is located on the campus of Ƭapp at 1073 North Benson Road in Fairfield, Connecticut. Entrance to the Quick Center is through the Barlow Road gate at 200 Barlow Road. Free, secure parking is available. Access for people with disabilities is available throughout the Quick Center for audience members and performers. Hearing amplification devices are available upon request at the Box Office. Ƭapp is located off exit 22 of Interstate-95. For further information and directions, call ( 203) 254-4010 or 1-877-278-7396, or visit
photo credit: David Bravo
