2012-13 Performance Series Brochure

2012-2013

Performance Series

NATIONAL SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA OF CUBA November 1

CAMERON CARPENTER September 27

DIANNE REEVES November 28

HAIR

Febuary 19

THE DEL MCCOURY BAND May 30

BRIAN STOKES MITCHELL

January 26

QUATUOR EBÈNE

April 25

ANDERSON & ROE April 3

WEST SIDE STORY June 19

Revolutionary

CAMERON CARP

PENTER September 27, 2012

Cameron Carpenter…exists in a kind of parallel world…where outrageous showmanship can sit with an uncompromising musical intellect.

-The Age, Melbourne, Australia

This is truly one of the most amazing minds I have ever encountered, a talent of Mozartean proportions, and a technique the likes of which I don’t think has existed on this planet.

-John Weaver, The Juilliard School and The Curtis Institute of Music When Cameron Carpenter steps up to the 3-manual, 50-rank virtual pipe organ installed just for the occasion on stage at the Opelika Center for the Performing Arts, all preconceptions about organ playing and its traditions will be reduced to rubble before your very eyes and ears – and with only two hands and two feet!

Now the most sought-after concert organist in the world, Cameron Carpenter’s staggering virtuosity, electric showmanship, and profound musicality leave audiences begging for more and more, encore after encore. Prepare to be astonished.

Rhapsody in Blue

NATIONAL SYMP ORCHESTRA OF Enrique Pérez Mesa, Music Director Guido López-Gavilán, Guest Conductor

Nachito Herrera’s career has vaulted from a stunning debut at age twelve playing Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2 with the Havana Symphony, to becoming Music Director for both Havana’s Tropicana Club and the touring Latin jazz group Cubanismo.

Rhythmically intense…jaw-droppingly good.

-Minneapolis Star-Tribune

PHONY CUBA November 1, 2012

Since 1930, the National Symphony Orchestra of Cuba has toured the world, proudly introducing audiences to the exciting music of Cuba and Latin America, while equally showcasing its classical prowess in the standard symphonic repertoire. Now the pride of Havana embarks on its first-ever North American tour with a shimmering program of orchestral favorites including George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue, featuring Cuba’s own jazz and classical virtuoso, Ignacio “Nachito” Herrera. Miss this and you’ll be blue!

Christmas Time is Here

DIANNE REEVES Grandeur with refinement: that describes the aura of Dianne Reeves…the vocal heir of Sarah Vaughan, whose voice could also travel anywhere.

-Stephen Holden, New York Times

When jazz fans of the future look back, I believe Dianne Reeves will stand out as one of the best voices of our generation… Not only does she nail all the things that define great jazz singers, but she also expands the idea of what a jazz vocalist is.

-Felix Contreras, NPR

Swing into the Holiday Season with one of the jazz world’s most radiant stars! Dianne Reeves' stellar career has illuminated audiences from Wynton Marsalis’ Jazz at Lincoln Center, to the Kennedy Center, the Chicago Symphony, and the Berlin Philharmonic.

Her recordings have garnered an unparalleled four consecutive Grammy Awards, including one for her soundtrack performance in George Clooney’s Academy Award-nominated film, Good Night, and Good Luck. She was also the first singer to appear at the famed Frank Gehry-designed Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles. With Dianne Reeves’ glowing vocals backed by her ever brilliant instrumental ensemble, you’ll definitely Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas!

November 28, 2012

January 26, 2013

A Night on Broadway

BRIAN STOKES

Brian Stokes Mitchell is a true renaissance man with a rich and varied career on Broadway, in films, television, recordings, and in America’s great concert halls.

From his early days on Trapper John, M.D. and Fresh Prince of Bel Air, his recurring role on Frazier, and recent appearances on Glee; to Broadway leading man in Kiss of the Spider Woman, Ragtime, Man of La Mancha, and Kiss Me Kate; to cabaret at Feinstein’s at the Regency; and concerts at Carnegie Hall with Reba McIntire; to…well, there’s almost no end! It’s been an Impossible Dream to get him to Opelika — a dream now coming true in a theater near you!

It is no exaggeration to say that Brian Stokes Mitchell is right now in a class by himself as a Broadway leading man. No other actor can match his singing voice. No other singer can claim his acting range or experience.

-Bruce Weber, New York Times

He is merely sensational.

-Rex Reed, New York Observer

MITCHELL

Febuary 19, 2013

WINNER! BEST MUSICAL REVIVAL 2009 TONY AWARD! The Tribe is back and the celebration on stage is electric! Hair, that ever-exuberant musical about a group of young Americans choosing to speak up and sing out as they search for peace and love in a turbulent time, is striking resonant chords with audiences across the nation, young and old alike. Featuring an extraordinary cast and unforgettable songs - Aquarius, Good Morning, Starshine, and Easy To Be Hard - its relevance is undeniable, its energy unbridled, and its truth unwavering. It’s America’s Tribal Love-Rock Musical, and it’s time to Let the Sunshine In!

Today Hair seems, if anything, more daring than ever.

-Richard Zoglin, Time

Exhilarating! Floating on a cloud of euphoria.

-Los Angeles Times

A celebration of life and freedom!

-Daily News

Raucous, powerful and exuberant!

-Newsday

ANDERSON & R

…Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers transposed from the dance floor to the keyboard.

Their hand movements and the intertwining of arms, and it seemed at times of fingers, was elaborately and brilliantly choreographed…as wonderful to watch as to hear.

-Southampton Press, NY

A piano-playing Sonny and Cher, Anderson & Roe were irresistible…

-Democrat & Chronicle, Rochester

ROE April 3, 2013

Greg Anderson and Elizabeth Joy Roe are the most thrilling young duo-pianists on stage today with their adrenalized performances revolutionizing the concert experience for the 21st century. Both graduates of The Juilliard School who have made guest appearances on MTV and NPR, their concert arrangements run the gamut from Carmen to Billie Jean, and the Blue Danube Waltz to Star Wars Fantasy. Anderson and Roe’s interactive website has generated tremendous enthusiasm among fans and Internet bloggers, and their wildly creative, self-produced music videos have been viewed millions of times on YouTube alone. Their joyous camaraderie, refined artistry, and jaw-dropping precision as limbs are flying, are dazzling audiences around the world in their personal quest – in their own words – to free the world from the constraints of sleep-inducing concerts. Sleepers, wake!

If you grow up in France learning to play a violin, viola, or cello; study in Paris; admire Schubert, Brahms, Springsteen and the Beatles; are fascinated by American film scores; and have an affinity for vocal harmonizing and jazz improvisation; what on earth do you do with yourself when you grow up? For Pierre Columbet, Gabriel Le Magadure, Mathieu Herzog, Raphael Merlin, the answer was easy – you create Quatuor Ebène, now the most sought-after string ensemble in the world. Their equally compelling classical and jazz performances in concert halls and nightclubs around the globe, from Carnegie Hall to the Follies Bergère, are leaving audiences astonished at their versatility and virtuosity – Mozart by way of The Streets of Philadelphia…who knew?

April 25, 2013

…an almost palpable sense of wonder.

-Gramophone

… A rare degree of expressive subtlety, blended sonorities, and electrifying joy.”

-The Times, London

…bound for greatness.

-The New Yorker

QUATUOR EBÈNE

THE DEL MCCOU May 30, 2013

What I most admire about someone like Del is that he’s one of the last patriarchs that really played the music in its authentic way. And even though he’s willing to bend a little bit…it doesn’t sound like what the new people do with bluegrass…he’s at the top of everybody’s list of what’s going on today with bluegrass.

-Vince Gill

It gives hope to everybody – fifty years is a long time to be playing music in any field, but to keep the purity that you need to do this kind of music, and the drive and the energy, it takes a special kind of guy.

-Elvis Costello

URY BAND

Del McCoury is something special- a living link to the days when bluegrass was made only in hillbilly honkytonks, schoolhouse shows, and on the stage of the Grand Ole Opry. Yet he’s also a commandingly vital presence today, from prime-time television and late-night take shows, to music festivals with audiences numbering in the hundreds of thousands. With big-name admirers in the music field ranging from Steve Earle and Elvis Costello, to Bjork and Phish; and his fan base of thousands of fanatic, wildly enthusiastic Del-heads across the country, every Del McCoury Band concert is an event. So, as Del’s mentor Bill Monroe sang, be Close By or you’ll be the one In Despair...

June 19, 2013

The true stars of West Side Story are Jerome Robbins’ graceful, endlessly expressive choreography and Leonard Bernstein’s score, which still sounds bracingly modern a half-century after it was first heard. The music is a primal force.

-Variety

…It’s both airborne and transcendent, with moments of astonishing stagecraft.

John Lahr, The New Yorker

More than fifty years ago, when Arthur Laurents, Leonard Bernstein, and Stephen Sondheim joined forces to create a new American musical for the Broadway stage, everyone should have known Something’s Coming…That show about New York City changed musical theater forever as Romeo and Juliet became Tony and Maria, and the Montagues and the Capulets became the Sharks and the Jets. Now, it’s making history all over again! From the first notes to the final breath, West Side Story remains as powerful, poignant, and timely as ever with a score that includes Tonight, America, Maria, I Feel Pretty, One Hand, One Heart, and Somewhere. And Jerome Robbins’ extraordinary, Tony®-winning choreography changed completely the language of Broadway dance. This groundbreaking new production, directed on Broadway by the legendary Mr. Laurents, offers a bold new design that builds on the show’s raw power and emotion to create a fresh experience unlike any that came before it.

Don’t miss this thrilling presentation of a matchless work of art. Tonight, tonight, won’t be just any night…

At the Depot MEET YOU AT THE DEPOT Originally one of two large waiting rooms at Opelika’s historic train station, the beautifully restored Harris Conference Room

The Arts Association of East Alabama is located in the Historic Opelika Depot 1032 South Railroad Avenue, Opelika, AL 36801.

is available to the community at nominal charge for a wide variety of meetings and receptions.

FEATURE GALLERY AT THE DEPOT The Feature Gallery is a front-door exhibit

Office hours are 10-12, 1-3, Monday through Friday.

FOR GENERAL INFORMATION & FOR TICKETS PLEASE:

space welcoming visitors to The Arts Association of East Alabama office. Shows feature visual and sculptural works and installations by local, regional, and nationally-renowned artists as well as those of

CALL: 334.749.8105 FAX: 334.705.5546 EMAIL: INFO@EASTALABAMAARTS.ORG

area students.

THE LECTURE SERIES Brown-bag luncheon lectures offer insights on issues relating to the arts, literature, cultural heritage, local history, historic preservation, and current events.

www.eastalabamaarts.org

Opelika Center for the Performing Arts

THE 1150 SEAT OPELIKA CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS IS LOCATED AT 1700 LAFAYETTE PARKWAY, OPELIKA, ALABAMA. From I-85

From US-431N

• Take Exit 62, turn west onto Columbus Parkway/US-280W • Turn right at Fox Run Pkwy/US431N • Center for the Performing Arts is directly across from Southern Union State Community College

• Head South towards US-29 • Center for the Performing Arts is directly across from Southern Union State Community College

From US-280 (Birmingham Hwy) • Turn North on US-29 • Proceed through Opelika 3.3 miles • Turn left onto Lafayette Pkwy/US431N • Center for the Performing Arts is directly across from Southern Union State Community College

Visit our website, Facebook page, and Twitter feed to purchase tickets and get the latest information about our events.

Check out our artist interviews, video, and photos; and keep track of our monthly performance event, Food for Thought, plus upcoming art exhibitions at the Historic Opelika Depot.

www.facebook.com/eastalabamaarts www.twitter.com/eastalabamaarts www.youtube.com/eastalabamaarts

www. eastalabamaarts.org ©EHA 2012 001050

1032 South Railroad Avenue Opelika, AL 36801 Address Service Requested

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