Playbill Insert

THE LIED CENTER FOR PERFORMING ARTS PRESENTS

DOC SEVERINSEN & HIS BIG BAND February 27, 2012

This presentation is made possible in part with generous support provided by KLKN - TV.

ABOUT DOC SEVERINSEN “Heeeeere’s Johnny!” That lead-in, followed by a big band trumpet blast, was the landmark of late night television for three decades. The ‘Johnny’ was Johnny Carson, the announcer was Ed McMahon and the bandleader was Doc Severinsen.

Beginning in October 1962, The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson ruled the night air for thirty years. On May 22, 1992, it came to an end . . . . . . And the Beginning of a New Career for Doc Severinsen.

Within a week of the final telecast, Doc Severinsen and His Big Band was on the road. Doc’s group has been composed of The Tonight Show’s best musicians — Ed Shaughnessy on drums, Ernie Watts on tenor sax and Snooky Young (1919–2011) on trumpet. Their repertoire includes Ellington and Basie standards, pop, jazz, ballads, big band classics and, of course, The Tonight Show theme. Audiences are finally able to hear the depth of talent belonging to a band that rarely played a whole tune on the air. Severinsen can blow the roof off with a trumpet solo, but he is not the only accomplished soloist. Many of his band members get their well-deserved turns in the spotlight and Doc’s tour dates are consistently sold out.

Touring with Doc Ask Doc about retirement and the answer you will get leaves you with a very clear impression: he is not ready to hang up his horn or his traveling shoes.

Since moving to Mexico at the end of 2006, Doc has kept a busy performance

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schedule and made new discoveries of very talented musicians from Mexico.

Together with Gil Gutierrez he has crafted an innovative and exciting program. It is classical Spanish with a jazz flair, gorgeous ballads, both Latino and American, plus some great movie music and among their best received— gypsy jazz, a la Django Reinhardt. The musicians are virtuosos and combined are electric. Add to this the soaring trumpet of Doc (not to mention his wardrobe!) and the experience is indescribably brilliant.

Recordings from Doc A GRAMMY® award winner, Doc has made more than 30 albums—from big band to jazz-fusion to classical. Two critically acclaimed Telarc CDs with the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra showcase his multifaceted talents from Bach to ballads.

The Very Best of Doc Severinsen reprises fifteen of Doc’s signature pieces. His other recordings include Unforgettably Doc with the Cincinnati Pops on Telarc, and the GRAMMY® nominated Once More With Feeling on Amherst. He received a GRAMMY® Award for “Best Jazz instrumental Performance – Big Band” for his recording of Doc Severinsen and The Tonight Show Band-Volume I. Doc Severinsen and His Big Band/Swingin’ the Blues is his latest release with Ed Shaughnessy and Ernie Watts. In 2007 he released his first recording with Gil and Cartas, Gil + Cartas, En Mi Corazon with Special Guest Doc Severinsen and in 2007 he released Doc Severinsen/ Gil&Cartas, El Ritmo de la Vida.

Background Severinsen’s accomplishments began in his hometown of Arlington, Oregon, population: 600. Carl H Severinsen was born on July 7th, 1927, and was nicknamed “Little Doc” after his father, Dr. Carl Severinsen. Little Doc had originally wanted to play the trombone, but the senior Severinsen, a gifted amateur violinist, urged him to study the violin. The younger Severinsen insisted on the trombone, but had to settle for the only horn available in Arlington’s small music store — a trumpet. A week later, with the help of his father and a manual of instructions, the seven-yearold was so good that he was invited to join the high school band. At the age of twelve, Doc won the Music Educator’s National Contest and, while still in high school, was hired to go on the road with the famous Ted Fio Rito Orchestra.

However, his stay with the group was cut short by the draft. He served in the Army during World War II and following his discharge, landed a spot with the Charlie Barnett Band. When this band broke up, Severinsen toured with the Tommy Dorsey, then, the Benny Goodman bands in the late 40’s.

After his days with Barnett and Dorsey, Doc arrived in New York City in 1949 to become a staff musician for NBC. After years of playing with the peacock network’s studio bands, Severinsen was invited to do a gig with the highly respected Tonight Show Band. An impressed conductor, Skitch Henderson, asked him to join that band in 1962 as first trumpet. Five years later, Doc took over as Music Director for The Tonight Show and stayed with the show until Johnny Carson retired from late night television in 1992.

Today, Doc has not lost his flair for outrageous fashions and witty banter.

Yet, he is highly regarded as one of the most technically proficient trumpeters.

Doc has the best stage presence of anyone out there. He can blow a horn like few others . . . he is a high note virtuoso, a genuinely funny man, and always a fashion fiend.

Somewhere along Doc’s journey from Oregon, to New York, to this evening’s concert, the “Little” was lost, but he remains ageless. Doc Severinsen continues to be an audience favorite.

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SPONSOR STORY It was unheard of, maybe even a bit unbelievable that a city the size of Lincoln, Nebraska before March 1996 had only one local commercial television station.

This was the case until Channel 8 KLKN-TV flipped the switch in the spring of 1996, providing Lincoln with its own ABC affiliate and something more in a television station for the Lincoln and surrounding community. That something more includes quality programming, a commitment to the community and a strong resolution to provide Lincoln with the best, most comprehensive news coverage in the area.

From the start, KLKN has devoted time, energy, and resources into developing newscasts, which provide quality local news, weather and sports. In 1996, Channel 8 KLKN-TV signed on the air with local newscasts, Monday through Sunday at 6 p.m. and 10 p.m. Since then, a midday, an early morning and a 5 p.m. news have been added to the schedule of regular newscasts. In September of 1998, News 8 at 5 became the first locally produced 5 p.m. television newscast in Lincoln. All totaled, Channel 8 Eyewitness News produces 22 hours of local news each week, all in high definition.

Channel 8 KLKN TV was the first Nebraska television station to broadcast HD. In 2012, KLKN-TV will add the Live Well Network from ABC to its digital side channel at 8.2 over-the-air, 997 on the digital tier on Time Warner Cable and on channel 398 on Charter Cable.

Channel 8 KLKN-TV is proud of our commitment to the community. We prove that commitment by sponsoring numerous local special events. Some of our partnerships include The Gathering Place, The Lincoln Foodbank, The Lied Center for Performing Arts, People’s City Mission, the Capitol Humane Society, The American Red Cross and Foundation for Lincoln Public Schools. Channel 8 KLKN-TV also sponsors community events like, Celebrate Lincoln, among others.

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THE LIED CENTER FOR PERFORMING ARTS PRESENTS

SUSAN WERNER

WITH SPECIAL GUEST TRINA HAMLIN March 9, 2012

This presentation is made possible in part with generous support from the Burket Graf Endowment and is supported by Mid-America Arts Alliance with generous underwriting by the National Endowment for the Arts, Nebraska Arts Council and foundations, corporations and individuals throughout Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, and Texas..

BURKET GRAF ENDOWMENT

ABOUT SUSAN WERNER Called the empress of the unexpected by NPR, singer-songwriter Susan Werner turns another corner in her multifaceted musical career with her vibrant new album, Kicking the Beehive. It’s an 11-song collection of provocative, poignant, lyrical originals that are infused with the rustic roots of American folk, blues and country music. Produced by Rodney Crowell, recorded in Nashville and featuring such all-star guests as Vince Gill, Keb’ Mo’ and Paul Franklin, Kicking the Beehive is a personal project where Werner intuitively explores the full impact of looking beyond the superficial and delving into soulful honesty.

With pockets of humor, wit, heartbreak, incisive social commentary and kick-ass rowdiness, Kicking the Beehive is the strongest Werner recording to date. On it she passionately tells condensed short stories of characters who confront such issues as homelessness, addiction, social alienation and disappointment. “A good song is a good window,” Werner says. “All these songs can let us see outside ourselves. And as a songwriter, the best moments come when I can hold the songs up like a mirror so that people can also see themselves.”

Kicking the Beehive is Werner’s follow-up to her 2009 recording, Classics, a compelling pop-meets-classical album of contemporary standards supported by the Boston

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Symphony Orchestra. “That was a very conservatory project,” Werner says. “There were a lot of string arrangements, and I learned a great deal about arranging and songwriting. But after that, I wanted to do something different.” (Classics was the third in an ear-opening series of innovatively themed projects, including 2008’s “agnostic gospel” album The Gospel Truth that melded Werner’s own tunes written in the traditional gospel tradition and 2004’s I Can’t Be New where she channeled the cabaret standard songwriting of George Gershwin and Cole Porter.)

In a return to her musical roots, Werner decided to embark on a more down-home recording, inspired by her blues pilgrimage in the Mississippi Delta that started in Memphis, went through Clarksdale and led to New Orleans. An Iowan native, she desired to follow the Mississippi River downstream from where she had grown up. “It was perfect for me,” says Werner, who is based in Chicago. “I rented a car, brought a guitar, a pad and a ball point pen with me. I left my computer at home. I wanted to keep it all basic. No high technology. I was thinking that I might have something to say.”

That’s an understatement.

The simplicity of that pilgrimage—from going to juke joints to having encounters with regional musicians—bore fruit. “I had to go down that river,” she says. “And I’m glad I went. I experienced the music that I love firsthand, and I participated in a tradition that spoke to me.” One experience she had was going to Clarksdale, Mississippi, the historical city that not only houses a fascinating Delta blues museum but also actor Morgan Freeman’s Ground Zero Blues Club, where Werner participated in an improvisation-steeped jam. “I’ve sat

in a million times in a million different settings, but this experience exceeded all my expectations,” she says. She laughs and adds, “It was exciting and scary.”

Through a series of coincidences that Werner attributes to a mojo bag that a voodoo shopowner in New Orleans put together for her (“I told her that I needed a mojo bag because all the blues musicians had one,” says Werner), she found fertile new ground. That “spell” not only resulted in an opportunity to sign on with legendary Nashville manager Burt Stein, but it also swung open the door to bring Crowell aboard as the producer of her new recording. In the Kicking the Beehive liner notes, Werner thanks him and engineer Steve Marcantonio for making “such a beautiful album” and salutes Crowell: “Rodney, you’re my hero.”

Werner says that Crowell “believed” in the songs she sent him and brought to the session and encouraged her to record the album live in the studio with a core session band that comprised electric and acoustic guitarist Steuart Smith, bassist Viktor Krauss and drummer/percussionist Bryan Owings.

However, Werner had her doubts. “What if I screwed up on a song while singing and playing along with the best guys,” she says.

“But Rodney sold me on it. We recorded in the old-fashioned way. I’ve worked with many great producers over the years, but Rodney was the best. He’s a legend and he lived up to it.”

Werner opens the album with the title track, an upbeat, straight-talking number that humorously sets the tone of her singer-songwriter role as, what she calls, “a troublemaker, an instigator, a provocateur.”

In the tune she sings about how kicking over the beehive and playing with matches is the best way “to feel alive again.” The beehive metaphor came from the Dale Carnegie

saying, “If you want to gather honey, don’t kick over the beehive,” that her longtime road manager used when advising her. Werner turns the adage on its head, promoting the notion of stirring up trouble. She opens the tune in the key of A and moves to G in the chorus. “I got that from listening to Rodney,” she says. “That makes the song have a very country-like, Texas-like feel musically. It’s a plain-spoken, nothing-fancy song.”

The blues tradition thematically informs some of Werner’s tunes on the album. For example, the heartfelt, acoustic-guitar, foot-tapping “Doctor Doctor” is about a dying partner.

“The experience of illness and mortality has always been a part of blues songs,” says Werner. “That’s when personal experiences show up.”

Keb’ Mo’ guests with a killer slide accompaniment. Werner toured with him for a month early in 2010 and was schooled in the blues acoustic guitar styling by him.

“I had been doing my blues homework listening to Otis Spann and Muddy Waters, and I learned how to play a bottleneck slide by listening to Bob Brozman, but to learn directly from Kevin was special,” says Werner. “Every day he would show me something new by telling me how to place my hands. Sharing this tradition with me in person made it true for me.”

The blues also plays a role in the deeply emotional song, “My Different Son,” written from a mother’s point of view about an atypical child (“schools and rules were never made for him”). It’s written in a Chicago style blues form that brings to mind classic laments from B.B. King and Muddy Waters.

Werner adds, “If women wrote the blues, they would sing about love, of course, but they’d also sing about family and children.” And the determined character on the rocking “I Know What I Want” borrows much of her phrasing

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says. That comes through in the poignant tune “Manhattan, Kansas,” the story of a single woman and a difficult decision to make. “I’ve always admired Jimmy Webb’s songs, songs like Wichita Lineman and Galveston, songs with towns in the title and a story in the town,” says Werner, “And I may have stumbled on my own kind of tribute to him, with this. He himself has been encouraging of my songwriting, and hopefully I’ve lived up to that.”

from field hollers Werner studied as part of her blues pilgrimage.

Featuring lap steel legend Paul Franklin, “The Last Words of Bonnie Parker” is an intimate and moving piece about loving someone no matter the consequences. “When I started writing this, I knew somehow this wasn’t exactly me speaking, but who was it?” Werner explains. “And, almost like a painting, the song revealed itself – and the character revealed herself to be the legendary Bonnie from Bonnie and Clyde. I researched her a bit, found that she had been married before – that was interesting to me - and that she wrote poetry, which gave me the courage to try to write for her and hopefully with her.

And you know you got some of it right when you feel all your guy band mates leaning in and listening as you sing the track – which is exactly what happened in the studio. It’s probably the most gorgeous piece of music I’ve ever recorded.

Like many songwriters with a literary bent, Werner worries that much of pop music is a mile wide and an inch deep.

“But seems to me, the best songs are more like an inch wide and a mile deep,” she

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Other story songs include the smoky jazz waltz, “Botanical Greenery Blues,” flavored

by Tony Harrell’s Hammond organ, about characters whose habit of getting high conceals all kinds of lows; the practical and discouraging details of homelessness in “Sleeping on a Train”; and the gospel-tinged final song “On the Other Side” about a light and a voice that “I’d surely like to see for myself.” Of the latter Werner says, “This is a song that’s much less certain than songs I’ve written even a few years ago. This isn’t buttoned up, not at all. Maybe if you don’t tie something up in a neat bow, it’s more real.

And real life is messy, intense, uncertain— that’s what makes it human.”

Kicking the Beehive offers up some of Werner’s signature dry wit in the bass thumping, jazzy “Irrelevance,” which is a song that Werner says “I just couldn’t stop myself from writing, unfortunately.” She adds, “It’s the unvarnished truth - there are no bumpers on this tune, nothing to soften the blow. Comes a time in your life where futility hits you straight on, and you either crumble beneath it or laugh your way through it. Rodney brought in this great jazz trumpeter and kept telling him to play worse – imagine that, worse. So you hear him starting a fantastic phrase and then failing spectacularly. Good metaphor for ambition, seems to me.”

And Kicking the Beehive also delivers sexy fun in the hot country cooker “Red Dress” where

such main guests as Gill and harmonica ace Trina Hamlin as well as Crowell on acoustic show up to join in on the rollicking ride.

“This was so much fun to play,” Werner says.

“I even got to do some honky-tonk piano myself. It’s funny about this song –people read different meanings into it. Is this a straight couple or two lesbians? Everyone brings their own experience to the songs.

And the good news is, this song is equal opportunity fun.”

Werner credits part of the success of Kicking the Beehive to it being recorded in Nashville

(“That’s where the tradition of a character speaking in a song is really appreciated”).

But she’s also frank about the fact that this album, unlike her last few efforts, was not based on a concept. “I didn’t set out to shape this album at all,” she says. “I didn’t herd the songs into a corral. This is more about being out in a field someplace or on the plains. It’s almost like a herd of bison roaming. That freedom gave me the opportunity to speak more directly without artifice. I had no intention of impressing anybody. Every song on this album is one hundred percent heartfelt and honest.”

ABOUT TRINA HAMLIN With a rich, powerful voice, Hamlin reveals a rare confluence of Midwestern innocence, contemplative focus, and raw passion while adding a disarmingly sharp wit in her stage banter. She seamlessly moves from guitar to piano with self accompaniment on harmonica leaving many who have seen her wondering what she can’t do. Regarded as one of the best harmonica players around, she presents a driving, sensuous rhythm in her performance reawakening audiences to the art of the instrument. Trina tours full-time throughout the US and Europe. Additionally, she is a much sought after harmonica player and percussionist, accompanying numerous nationally recognized singer/songwriters in the studio and live on stage. Having earned a degree in professional music from Berklee College in Boston, she graduated to the club scene in New York City with the band Blue Leaves, and has gone on to write and co-produce five albums of her own. Trina was chosen as one of the “most wanted new artists” at the Falcon Ridge Folk Festival and has performed to a sold out crowd at the Newport Folk Festival in the company of Ani Di Franco, Dar Williams, and The Indigo Girls. She’s performed on The Late Show with

Conan O’Brien and has had her music chosen as a backdrop for the CBS TV movie Friends at Last, as well as the WB’s series Dawson’s Creek. Her songs have also been featured on Bravo’s Tale Lights, Lifetime’s The Things We Do For Love, and MTV’s Real World, as well as ABC Family’s Beautiful People. In addition, Trina has shared the stage with Taj Majal, Charlie Musslewhite, John Hiatt and Ricki Lee Jones, to name a few.

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THE BURKET GRAF ENDOWMENT

SPONSOR STORY The Lied Center for Performing Arts presents world-class artists and performances with the help of sponsors like the Burket Graf Endowment.

Burket Graf was a prominent Lincoln citizen for many years. He graduated and taught at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and returned to Lincoln to open his architecture firm after serving in the Navy during World War II. His architectural work is still admired today.

Graf was an avid arts supporter. He was appreciative of the Lied Center’s fine acoustics and facilities. “Lincoln has supported the performing arts for a long time, but for years we had to make do with the Coliseum and strain to hear and see such diverse offerings as the Sadler-Wells Ballet, Paul Robeson, and the First Drama Quartet.” Graf felt the Lied Center filled a huge void in Nebraska’s performing arts community. “Now, with the Lied Center, we can and do have it all,” he stated. The Burket Graf Endowment has sponsored numerous performances in the Lied’s 22 seasons, from the Russian National Ballet to Harry Belafonte. When asked why he supported the arts, Graf did not hesitate: “How could one imagine a life without music, without dance, without the variety of human expression which art allows?

What a dull life that would be!”

Burket Graf passed away on May 29, 2007, at age 89 in Lincoln. We invite you to enjoy his generosity through tonight’s performance by Susan Werner and special guest Trina Hamlin.

The Lied Center for Performing Arts would like to acknowledge Graf ’s tremendous impact on the arts and culture in our community, which you are about to witness first hand.

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THE LIED CENTER FOR PERFORMING ARTS PRESENTS

SECOND CITY March 10, 2012

This presentation is made possible in part with generous support from the Nebraska Lottery, Cornerstone Bank and Patron Friend Sponsors Chuck and Karen Harris.

BIOS MICHAEL KOSINSKI is so happy to perform with The Second City National Touring Company! Prior to touring on land, he toured the seas of Hawaii, the Caribbean, Alaska, Bermuda, and Europe with The Second City aboard Norwegian Cruise Lines and is happy to answer any questions about cruising you may have. In Chicago, Mike has performed at ComedySportz, the i.O. Theater, The Annoyance, and The Playground. Big thanks to his cast mates, teachers, and directors past and present!

EILEEN MONTELIONE loves Quantum Physics, writing bios and hating mayonnaise! She studied Acting at UIC and Theatre of Moscow Southwest and has traveled the world, writing for and performing on stage and screen. She has toured with Second City Theatricals and is now a proud understudy of The Second City Mainstage and The Second City e.t.c. Eileen is one half of Sit‐and‐Run (with Joel Wiersema), one of Chicago’s favorite comedy duos.

Recently, she performed in David Cromer’s Jeff‐Recommended production Cherrywood (Mary‐Arrchie Theatre) and became a company member of The Old‐ World Theatre. Eileen would like to thank EVERYONE, especially her teachers.

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TAWNY NEWSOME is excited to be part of such a talented ensemble! Tawny comes to the Second City’s Touring Company after appearing in I’ll Be Geneseeing You; The Second City Does Rochester. A DePaul alum, Tawny has worked as an actor for many Chicago companies, including Chicago Shakespeare Theater, Victory Gardens, Writers’ Theatre, Porchlight Music Theater, Collaboraction, and Walkabout Theater. Additionally, Tawny appears as a singer and DJ with several Chicago bands ranging from indie rock to electropop. She frequently tours with local post‐punk group Jon Langford and Skull Orchard, who recently showcased at this year’s South By Southwest in Austin, TX. Their latest album, Old Devils, was released on Bloodshot Records in August of 2010.

TIM RYDER is honored to perform with The Second City. He is a native of southern Illinois and a graduate of Drake University. While at Drake he founded DICEY, the university’s first improv troupe.

Since moving to Chicago, he has performed with The Second City Touring Company, ComedySportz, Baby Wants Candy, The Beatbox, Sears Tower (iO) and The Senate (The Playground Theater). He thanks his family for their love and support and his wife Rebecca for loving him enough to put up with his shenanigans.

DANIEL STRAUSS is beyond excited to be performing with the Touring Company! Originally from Washington DC and a graduate of the University of Michigan (BFA, Theater), Daniel can be seen around Chicago performing the Harold at the iO Theatre with Den Mother and his independent team, Computer. He’s toured with the Second City aboard the Norwegian Jewel, and is a graduate of the Second City Conservatory and iO improv program. Recently seen as the Pizza Guy in John Pinette’s stand up special, Still Hungry (Comedy Central), he can be found online at danielstrauss.com. Thanks to Brooke and Dawn at Gray Talent, and love to his family, especially his parents, his brothers, Jeremy and Marty, and, of course, Rachel.

LAURA HUM (Stage Manager) is delighted to be joining Second City and returning to her hometown of Chicago. She recently ventured to the mystical lands near Philadelphia as the company manager for the Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival and stage manager for their WillPower Tour. She also recently stage managed in the not‐so‐mystical and far more cow‐ridden lands of Columbus, OH, where she received her Bachelor’s Degree from The Ohio State University.

ALEX KLINER (Music Director) is honored to join Second City’s Touring Company. A

recent transplant to Chicago, Alex has been acting, directing, music directing, and sound designing in the Baltimore/Washington, DC area for several years. Alex is the Executive Artistic Director for the Chicago‐based Lights Out Theatre Company (www. lightsouttheatre.org). Outside of performing, Alex enjoys winning arguments on the internet and free‐style rapping about seafood.

Alex received his BA in Theatre Performance from Towson University in 2007 and a Graduate Certificate in Arts Management from American University in 2009.

RYAN BERNIER (Director) is thrilled to be directing the Second City Touring Company.

His directing credits include Second City’s Six Degrees of Desperation, Him & Her, Deadly Sins, Battle Masters, An Unscripted Romance, and Hitler Sisters: The Musical. Ryan assistant directed the Second City e.t.c.’s The Absolute Best Friggin’ Time of Your Life, as well as The Second City: Miracle on 1280 Peachtree Street.

Ryan wrote, performed and toured with veteran sketch group Money in the Pants.

He studied at Suffolk University and Improv Asylum in Boston, as well as the Annoyance, iO, the Second City conservatory and directing programs in Chicago. Ryan teaches at the Second City Training Center. He thanks Laura for all her support.

All actors and stage managers are members of Actors’ Equity Association, the professional union for actors and stage managers.

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SPONSOR STORY The mission of the Nebraska Lottery is to generate proceeds for good causes while providing quality entertainment options to Nebraskans. Proceeds from the sale of Nebraska Lottery tickets benefit the environment, education, the Nebraska State Fair, and compulsive gamblers assistance. Lottery proceeds are used to provide scholarships for Nebraska college students, restore habitat for wildlife, and improve facilities at the Nebraska State Fair.

The Nebraska Lottery sells $1, $2, $3, $5, $10 and $15 Scratch tickets, and offers Lotto games such as Powerball, 2by2, Nebraska Pick 5, Nebraska Pick 3, MyDaY, and Mega Millions. These games are sold through a retailer network of more than 1,200 locations statewide. Nebraska Lottery retailers range from convenience stores to supermarkets and from service stations to cafĂŠs in 270 Nebraska communities.

Nebraska Lottery tickets are perfect gifts for friends, co-workers, or something fun for the person who already has everything. And, when you purchase a Nebraska Lottery ticket, you’re Helping to Build a Better Nebraska. Over $413 million in proceeds has been provided to Nebraska Lottery beneficiary funds since 1993. All 93 counties in Nebraska have benefited from projects funded with Nebraska Lottery proceeds.

For more information about the Nebraska Lottery, visit the Nebraska Lottery website at nelottery.com.

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SPONSOR STORY Giving back to the community and the arts is a commitment Cornerstone Bank firmly believes in. Tonight’s performance of Second City: Laugh Out Loud would not have been possible without the help of our sponsor, Cornerstone Bank.

President, CEO and Chairman of the Board of Cornerstone, C.G. “Kelly” Holthus, believes that it is imperative for the company to sponsor the arts.

“There is a sense of responsibility to give back to the community. The Lied Center provides us with that opportunity, and we feel fortunate that a venue of this caliber is located in Lincoln,” said Mr. Holthus.

Cornerstone Bank, formerly First National Bank of York, received its charter in April 1882, with a mission to meet the financial needs of central Nebraska. Surviving the pioneer days, the Great Depression and a bank robbery in 1933, the bank has grown through the past 130 years to have 31 locations in 22 communities throughout Central Nebraska. Total assets of the bank have grown to over $1 billion, compared to $23 million in 1970.

Within the past year, Cornerstone welcomed a new bank in Shelton, Nebraska and built a new insurance office in Aurora, Nebraska. Holthus’s son, Kendell Holthus, Executive Vice President at Cornerstone, was also named Chairman of the Nebraska Bankers Association for the 2011–2012 term.

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COME SEE TOMORROW’S STARS TODAY! Silver Hawk Theatre is soaring at Lincoln Southwest! Join us for the spring shows of our 10th Anniversary season!

CRAZY FOR YOU

April 12 –14, 2012 | 7:00 P.M. April 14, 2012 | 2:00 P.M. April 19 –21, 2012 | 7:00 P.M. Reserve Tickets go on sale: 3/12/12

ENCORE 5: 10 SEASONS OF LOVE

May 23–25, 2012 | 7:00 P.M. Reserved Tickets are now on sale.

SEATS FOR SILVER HAWK THEATRE SHOWS ARE RESERVED Tickets can be reserved after each show’s “on sale” date by calling the box office, 402.436.1335 anytime. http://wp.lps.org/bhenrich

water and global security

i t ’ s n ot c h i l d ’ s p l a y. e.n. thompson forum 2011-12

feb

16 mar 28

Mogens bay & e. robert Meaney “is a Global Water crisis avoidable?” lewis e. harris lecture on public policy thursday, 7:00 pm don worster “an unquenchable thirst: how the Great plains created a Water abundance and then lost it” Wednesday, 7:00 pm

enthoMpson.unl.edu l ied c e nt er f o r per f o rminG art s

Silver Hawk Theatre

THE LIED CENTER FOR PERFORMING ARTS PRESENTS

SFJAZZ COLLECTIVE March 13, 2012

Antonio Hart alto saxophone

Mark Turner tenor saxophone

Avishai Cohen trumpet

Robin Eubanks trombone

Stefon Harris vibraphone

Edward Simon piano

Matt Penman bass

Eric Harland drums

spring 2012 tour Music of stevie Wonder And neW coMpositions

sfjazz.org

Music of Stevie Wonder Spring 2012 Antonio Hart Mark Turner Avishai Cohen Robin Eubanks Stefon Harris Edward Simon Matt Penman Eric Harland

Alto Saxophone Tenor Saxophone Trumpet Trombone Vibraphone, Marimba Piano Bass Drums

REPERTOIRE

Each year the SFJAZZ Collective honors the work of an acknowledged master by revisiting classics from that artist’s repertoire. For 2012, Stevie Wonder is the ensemble’s featured composer. The group approaches the work of Wonder, an artist outside of the jazz tradition, but one whose sophisticated songcraft and timeless melodies are more than worthy of exploration.

Stevie Wonder Material Superstition Sir Duke

Arranged by Miguel ZenonJohn Arranged by Avishai Cohen

Blame it on the Sun

Arranged by Mark Turner

Look Around

Arranged by Stefon Harris

My Cherie Amour

Arranged by Edward Simon

Race Babbling

Arranged by Robin Eubanks

Creepin’

Arranged by Matt Penman

Do I Do

Arranged by Eric Harland

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Original Compositions Young and Playful

Edward Simon

Family

Avishai Cohen

Life Signs

Stefon Harris

The Economy

Matt Penman

Orpheus

Mark Turner

Metronome

Robin Eubanks

Eminence

Eric Harland ALL SUBJECT TO CHANGE.

In addition to the works above, each band member is commissioned by SFJAZZ to write a piece specifically for the ensemble. These original compositions appear with the Stevie Wonder material on a new multi-CD set, release of the SFJAZZ Collective’s eighth limited-edition set, SFJAZZ Collective: Music of Stevie Wonder and New Compositions, Live in New York 2011 – Season 8. The CD is available at this performance. It is also available on iTunes and directly from sfjazz.org.

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THE CONCEPT If you’re not already familiar with the eight artists who comprise the SFJAZZ Collective, you will be. As soloists, composers and bandleaders, they represent what’s happening now in jazz. They also demonstrate that jazz has truly become an international language. Hailing from New York, Venezuela, Israel, Houston, Berkeley and New Zealand, the Collective’s multi-cultural lineup mirrors the explosion of jazz talent around the globe. However, the jazz community only reached its current state by maintaining its traditions while simultaneously embracing innovation. This, too, is the essence of the SFJAZZ Collective. These exceptional artists come together in the name of jazz as a constantly evolving, quintessentially modern art form. Prior to going on tour, the band engages in a multi-week residency in San Francisco where they rehearse the year’s repertoire.

This includes rearrangements of work from a modern music master (this year, Stevie Wonder), plus all-new original compositions, commissioned exclusively for this ensemble by SFJAZZ. In addition, they mentor promising young musicians, including the acclaimed SFJAZZ High School All- Stars, through workshops and other outreach. The residency is a rare opportunity in the jazz world for such focused creativity, collaboration and preparation, and would not be possible without SFJAZZ institutional backing.

Each of the Collective’s annual tours is documented on a live, limited-edition multiple CD set. Over the past seven years these recordings have received extensive critical acclaim. After exploring the work of Ornette Coleman (2004), John Coltrane (2005), Herbie Hancock (2006), Thelonious Monk (2007), Wayne Shorter (2008), McCoy Tyner (2009) and Horace Silver (2010), the Collective takes on the material of pop music icon Stevie Wonder for its Spring 2012 tour.

The group approaches the work of Wonder, an artist outside of the jazz tradition, but one whose sophisticated songcraft and timeless melodies are more than worthy of exploration.

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HISTORY The idea for the Collective arose from discussions between SFJAZZ’s founder and executive director, Randall Kline, and saxophonist and founding Collective member Joshua Redman. While deeply respectful of jazz’s origins and early traditions, SFJAZZ was concerned that the modern side of jazz, from roughly the mid-20thcentury to the present day, was often overlooked in the public eye in comparison with the music of jazz’s so-called “Golden Age.” Both Kline and Redman were eager to showcase, in a manner that would resonate with jazz aficionados and newcomers alike, the artistic continuum from modern masters to today’s new generation of players. Much like chamber music, the music is designed for a small group of instruments to be performed in intimate settings and atmospheres including performing arts centers, concert halls and salons.

Past Collective members have included the likes of Joshua Redman, Bobby Hutcherson, Dave Douglas, Nicholas Payton, Joe Lovano, Josh Roseman, Renee Rosnes, Robert Hurst, Brian Blade and other jazz stars.

BAND MEMBER BIOGRAPHIES MARK TURNER, Tenor Saxophone Member 2010 – Present Described by JazzTimes as “an extremely thoughtful and cerebral player,” Mark Turner has been quietly building a reputation as a musician’s musician.

He attended Berklee College Of Music in the late ‘80s where he met musicians that would figure prominently in his later work, including Kurt Rosenwinkel and Joshua Redman. Turner has recorded five critically acclaimed albums as a leader and he has also performed or recorded with artists such as Dave Holland, Brad Mehldau, Lee Konitz, Dave Douglas and Lee Konitz. His latest project is the trio FLY with bassist Larry Grenadier and drummer Jeff Ballard. Their album, Sky and Country, appeared on ECM in early 2009.

STEFON HARRIS, Vibraphone & Marimba Member 2008 – Present Stefon Harris is committed to exploring the rich potential of jazz composition and blazing new trails on the vibraphone.

A graduate of the Manhattan School of Music, Harris has received numerous accolades including the Jazz Journalists Association’s “Best Mallet Player” for four years running (2000–2003) and “#1 Rising Star Vibraphonist” in the 2006 DownBeat Critics Poll. His string of GRAMMY®- nominated albums for Blue Note includes Kindred, Black Action Figure, and The Grand Unification Theory. His latest release, 2009’s Urbanus, was GRAMMY® - nominated for “Best Contemporary Jazz Album.”

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EDWARD SIMON, Piano Member 2010 – Present A 2010 Guggenheim Fellow, Edward Simon was born in the coastal town of Punta Cardón, Venezuela, where he grew up in a family of musicians surrounded by the sounds and rhythms of Latin and Caribbean music. Settling in New York City in 1989, he played with numerous jazz masters, including Herbie Mann, Paquito D’Rivera, Bobby Hutcherson, Bobby Watson, Terence Blanchard and Don Byron. He has produced seven critically acclaimed albums as a leader, including two New York Times top ten jazz records of the year: Edward Simon (Kokopelli, 1994) and Simplicitas (Criss Cross, 2005). Currently, Simon leads his own trio, Ensemble Venezuela, collaborates with saxophonist David Binney in the quartet Afinidad and also appears alongside his brothers in the group Simon, Simon & Simon.

MATT PENMAN, Bass Member 2005 – Present Originally from New Zealand, Matt Penman studied at Boston’s Berklee College of Music before relocating to New York in 1995. In addition to releasing his own critically acclaimed CDs as a leader, Catch of the Day (2007) and The Unquiet (2002), he has recorded as a sideman on some 70 other discs and has performed with the likes of Joshua Redman, Nicholas Payton, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Gary Bartz, Kenny Werner, Nnenna Freelon, Madeleine Peyroux, Brian Blade, John Scofield and Guillermo Klein.

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ERIC HARLAND, Drums Member 2006 – Present A leading drummer on the national scene, Texas-born Eric Harland has performed with jazz legends like Betty Carter, Joe Henderson and McCoy Tyner, and has played on more than 70 recordings with such artists as Terence Blanchard, Greg Osby, Charles Lloyd and Zakir Hussain. In DownBeat’s 65th Annual Readers Poll, he was included in the short list of top drummers, in the company of masters like Roy Haynes and the late Elvin Jones. His released his debut CD, Voyager, Live By Night, in 2010.

AVISHAI COHEN, Trumpet Member 2010 – Present Trumpeter Avishai Cohen is a leading figure on the international jazz scene and one of the most soughtafter players of his generation – “an assertive and accomplished trumpeter with a taste for modernism” according to The New York Times. Originally from Tel Aviv, Israel, Cohen began performing at age 10 and toured the world with the Young Israeli Philharmonic Orchestra. Relocating to the U.S. to attend the Berklee College Of Music, he placed third in the prestigious Thelonious Monk Trumpet Competition in 1997. After developing his craft at New York’s Smalls jazz club alongside contemporaries such as pianist Jason Lindner and bassist Omer Avital, Cohen has expanded his sonic palette to include African music (with Lionel Loueke), funk (Me’shell Ndegeocello), folk/pop (Keren Ann) and effects-laden avantgarde explorations.

ROBIN EUBANKS, Trombone Member 2008 – Present A five-time “Trombonist of the Year” in the DownBeat Magazine Critics Poll, Robin Eubanks is the premier jazz trombonist of his generation. In addition to leading his own groups, EB3 and Mental Images, Eubanks has performed and composed on GRAMMY®-winning recordings with Dave Holland and Michael Brecker. In addition, he has worked with music legends Art Blakey, McCoy Tyner, Elvin Jones and the Rolling Stones, to name a few. The native Philadelphian, an acclaimed composer, is the recipient of composition grants from Chamber Music America and ASCAP. Robin is a sought-after educator and is now a tenured professor of trombone at the renowned Oberlin Conservatory.

ANTONIO HART Alto Saxophone Holding down the alto chair for Zenón during the Collective’s spring 2012 tour is Antonio Hart. From Baltimore, MD, Hart is currently a Professor of Jazz Studies at Queens College City University of New York.

He received a 1997 GRAMMY®-nomination for his solo on “The Community” from his Impluse! CD, Here I Stand. Hart has released eight albums as a leader and has recorded as a guest on over 80 recordings with artists such as McCoy Tyner, Roy Hargrove, Donald Byrd, Jimmy Heath, Cyrus Chestnut, Robin Eubanks, Slide Hampton, Dizzy Gillespie, Terence Blanchard, the Dave Holland Big Band and the Mingus Big Band. Hart says, “I am excited to be in the company of these high level musicians. I have known some of them for many years as friends, classmates, or just from their performances and recordings.

I look forward to the chance to build new friendships, musical intimacy and the opportunity to push myself in some other musical directions.”

ABOUT SFJAZZ SFJAZZ, founded in 1983, is the largest nonprofit presenter of jazz in the western United States. SFJAZZ presents over 100 concerts a year to over 100,000 fans and is dedicated to advancing the art form of jazz and cultivating new jazz audiences through artistic and educational programming, including: The San Francisco Jazz Festival, SFJAZZ Spring Season, SFJAZZ Collective, SFJAZZ Summerfest, SFJAZZ Education, SFJAZZ Membership and SFJAZZ Hotplate.

The organization is planning to build the SFJAZZ Center as a permanent home for SFJAZZ. This remarkable new facility, to be located in San Francisco’s vibrant Hayes Valley neighborhood, will be a 35,000 square-foot transparent free- standing structure designed by renowned architect Mark Cavagnero. With the SFJAZZ Center, jazz will take its place alongside major arts institutions such as the San Francisco Symphony, Opera and Ballet in the Civic Center performing arts district.

Visit sfjazz.org to learn more about this exciting new development.

For more information, please visit www.sfjazz.org.

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First Peoples of the Plains Traditions Shaped by Land & Sky

Now open in Morrill Hall

A contemporary exhibit celebrating Native American cultures of the Great Plains. museum.unl.edu University of Nebraska State Museum Portrait by Don Doll, S.J. The University of Nebraska-Lincoln is an equal opportunity educator and employer.

COMING SOON TO THE LIED Doc Severinsen and His Big Band .................................. February 27 In the Heights ..................................................................... March 2–3 Susan Werner ......................................................................... March 9 Second City Laugh Out Loud ............................................... March 10 SFJAZZ Collective: The Music of Stevie Wonder .................... March 13 Angel’s Theatre Company: Marvin’s Room ..................... March 14–18 Red Star Red Army Chorus & Dance Ensemble ................ March 17 Angels Theatre Company: Daytrips ............................... March 22–25 The Fab Four: The Ultimate Tribute .................................... March 24 Itzhak Perlman .................................................................... March 31 Moulin Rouge ®– The Ballet...................................................... April 1 Sons of the Pioneers .................................................................. April 7 Ragamala ................................................................................ April 11 This is Tango Now: Identidad ................................................ April 14 Kathryn Stott ........................................................................ April 17 Boyz II Men .......................................................................... April 21 Benjamin Britten’s War Requiem with the LSO ................... April 28 VISIT LIEDCENTER.ORG FOR MORE INFORMATION

March 2–3

SAT March 24 | 7:30 PM

402.472.4747 LIEDCENTER.ORG

gAther with us For A seAson As rich in beAuty And diversity As AmericA.

united stAtes oF Abendmusik

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2011-2012 concert series

JAn 28

Luther College Nordic Choir in Concert

Feb 19

Choral Evensong with Organist Gerre Hancock

mAr 4

Song of Hope: AbENdCHOr Sings American Music

APr 28

War requiem by benjamin britten (Lied Center)

APr 29

The American boychoir

*All concerts will be held at First Plymouth Congregational Church except the War requiem on April 28th at the Lied Center.

Tickets now available

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Abendmusik.org | 402-476-9933

Thank You Red Cross First Aid Team

Thank you to these licensed emergency medical responders registered with the state of Nebraska for volunteering their time through the Cornhusker Chapter of the American Red Cross to make sure their neighbors are safe at the Lied Center and across the community.

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