White Plains CitizeNetReporter - Beach Departure Confirmed: SUNY Purchase Lauds His Achievements.

WPCNR STAGE DOOR. From Anne Brady, SUNY PURCHASE Performing Arts Center. November 11, 2004: Christopher Beach, Director of The Performing Arts Center, Purchase College, announced Monday that he plans to step down from his post at the end of the 2005/2006 season, which concludes in June, 2006.

Speaking at a meeting of The Performing Arts Center Foundation Board of Trustees, Beach said he is eager to pursue new personal challenges after having guided The Center through 16 years of uninterrupted growth.   "In this business I have been here for what is considered a very long time," he
told the Board. "I have added what I can to The Center and I believe it is now time for someone else to add their energy and vision to The Center. It has been an honor for me to play a part in the achievements of The Center."

Purchase College Provost Elizabeth Langland will shortly form a search
committee comprised of members of The Performing Arts Center Board and
Purchase College faculty, staff and students. Leaders of other arts
organizations will be consulted and a search firm will be engaged.
Throughout the process faculty, staff and the community will be involved in
critical decisions and the entire Performing Arts Center Board will
participate in the final selection.

"We are enormously grateful to Christopher Beach for his superb leadership
of The Performing Arts Center and his foresight in identifying new and
emerging talent," said Purchase College President Thomas J. Schwarz. "His
unflagging energy and enthusiasm have brought some of the world's finest
artists to Purchase and he has greatly enriched the cultural life of our
campus and the surrounding community. We value the standards of excellence
he has defined and his many contributions. He has received enthusiastic
praise from all who have worked with him and we wish him much success. I
also am grateful for the advance notice he has given the College in order
for us to insure a smooth transition to new leadership."

Beach came to Purchase in 1987, as Managing Director of PepsiCo Summerfare,
an international festival of cutting edge and contemporary music, dance and
theatre.

Praising the "wonderful and generous support" of the Board and the "hard
work and dedication" of his staff of The Performing Arts Center, Beach said
the timing of his announcement was made to ensure an orderly transition and
to allow ample time for the College and Board to choose his successor.

Noting "the outstanding contribution" that Beach has made to The Performing
Arts Center, Perry Lewis, the Board's Chairman, lauded him "for enabling The
Center to reach and, in fact, exceed all of the very ambitious goals set
forth in our five-year plan." He added, "His energy, commitment, knowledge
in all aspects of the performing arts and theatre management, his
programming skills and his exemplary leadership qualities have been
indispensable to the success of The Performing Arts Center."

During Beach's tenure, the number of public events at The Center has
expanded nearly five-fold, from 125 in the 1988/1989 season to over 600 in
the current 2004/2005 season. During the same period, ticket sales have
grown from $125,000 to $1.7 million, while donor contributions have grown
from $6,000 to $1 million. Most remarkably, notes Beach, the tremendous
growth has been achieved without any increase in staff. The number of
full-time staff has remained at 24 since 1988.

Perhaps the Director's most important contribution, however, has been to
create an identity for The Performing Arts Center: one that conforms to the
College's mission to equate arts with academics, and to serve both students
and the community. "When I came on board as Director, I asked Sheldon
Grebstein (then the President of Purchase College) what he wanted me to
accomplish," Beach recalls. "He said, 'I want you to fill The Performing
Arts Center all year long with the best the world has to offer.'"

After meeting monthly with Westchester and Fairfield County residents, Beach
expanded the classical music programs to include international orchestras
and emerging artists. The greatest classical artists in the world have come
to Purchase, including Daniel Barenboim, Mitsuko Uchida, Leontyne Price, Yo
Yo Ma, Maxim Vengerov, Evgeny Kissin, Isaac Stern, Lang Lang, Jessye Norman,
Garrick Ohlsson, Shura Cherkassky, Earl Wild, William Christie's Les Arts
Florissants, and many others.

The highly respected reputation achieved by The Center under Beach's
direction has made it "the venue" for American premieres, as well as for
dozens of artists and companies, which have presented exclusive New York
area performances at Purchase. The legendary Daniel Barenboim, for example,
gave his only American recital at Purchase last season. The Suzuki Theatre
Company's production of King Lear in Japanese had its American debut at The
Center. This season features the New York premiere of jazz composer Uri
Caine's jazz orchestra performing Beethoven's Diabelli Variations.

The Center itself has also undergone dramatic change during Beach's tenure.
He conceived, directed and was instrumental in the design of a $3.2 million
renovation of the public spaces at The Center. Along with Perry Lewis, he
spearheaded the creation of The Performing Arts Center Foundation. The
group has raised over $7 million for beautification of The Center's theatres
and in support of The Center's many programs.

His special relationships with artists such as piano virtuoso and White
Plains native Garrick Ohlsson, British conductor Jane Glover, and
groundbreaking French jazz pianist Jacques Loussier has benefited the
college and its students with a close and continued relationship. "Many
great artists have agreed to conduct master classes and open rehearsals at
the College, providing models of excellence for our students," Beach noted.

In addition to integrating The Performing Arts Center into the academic life
of the College, Beach said, "I've wanted to establish The Performing Arts
Center as a place where artists know they'll be well-presented, appear
before a discriminating audience, appear in the company of distinguished
colleagues, and be supported by a first-rate staff."

Along with the classics, Beach also added new series in jazz, film, comedy,
cabaret, world music, dance, rock and roll, and family and children's
performances to The Center's programming.   He has become a familiar face to
patrons in the lobby, where he is ever-present at more than 600
performances.

CHRISTOPHER BEACH, BIO

Christopher Beach has been the Director of The Performing Arts Center at
Purchase College since October, l989. Mr. Beach oversees a professional
staff of 24 and a year-round schedule of over 600 events. A graduate of
Johns Hopkins University, Mr. Beach's performing arts experience is
extensive. He has been Production Manager for the Baltimore Opera Company,
Production Stage Manager for the Santa Fe Opera, and for five seasons, was
the Administrative Assistant to John Dexter, the Director of Production at
the Metropolitan Opera.

Mr. Beach founded the Santa Fe Festival Theatre in 1980, the first
professional theatre company in New Mexico, and then returned to the
Metropolitan Opera as Operation Director in 1985.

Mr. Beach served for two years (1987-89) as Managing Director of PepsiCo
SUMMERFARE, an international festival of cutting edge and contemporary
music, dance and theatre that took place on the campus of Purchase College
for ten years. Under his leadership since 1989, The Performing Arts Center
at Purchase College has grown from a local venue for primarily classical
music to the largest professional performing arts series in the SUNY system.


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