Opening Nights Performing Arts Winter 2015 Program

Performing Arts

2014-2015 Season

Yo-Yo

Ma

Winter 2015 | Vol. III | Issue II 2015 Winter Program 1

2014-2015 Sponsors Platinum Level

FSU License Plate

Gold Level Michael Sheridan & J ud y W i ls o n S h e r i d a n

Silver Level

charles & Am y N e w e ll

Bobby Dick, Mark Webb, & Michael Robinson

K EN K ATO & NAN NA G Y

Bronze Level ARCHITECTURE INTERIOR DESIGN PLANNING

GILCHRIST ROSS CROWE

Dr. Cynthia Tie & John Taylor

ARCHITECTS

LAMPLHERBERT LAMPLHERBERT Strategies and Solutions for Natural Resources

Larry & Jo Deeb

G r a n t S u pp o r t

Contents

Winter 2015

Yo-Yo Ma

Forbidden Broadway Gregory Porter with Special Guest Avery*sunshine

Les Ballets Trockadero De Monte Carlo

Vijay Iyer Trio

Piper Kerman The Time Jumpers

The Knights with BĂŠla Fleck

4

Opening Nights Performing Arts

Cameron Carpenter

B h a n g r a ‘ n ’ B r a ss : D i r t y D o z e n B r a ss B a n d & R e d B a r a a t The King’s Singers

A Movie You Haven’t Seen Ragtime

P RI S M

Nellie McKay

Cover Photo Courtesy Jeremy Cowart Sony Music Entertainment

2015 Winter Program 5

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Florida State University John Thrasher, President Office of University Relations Kathleen Daly, Interim Vice President for University Relations Opening Nights Performing Arts Staff Christopher Heacox, Director Ashley Kerns, Operations & Engagement Coordinator Chrys Ivey Goodwyne, Development Officer Pat Campbell, Event Coordinator Bethany Atwell, Administration Manager Mary-Margaret Dale, Community Engagement Manager Nathan Grater, Production Manager Wade Jennings, Arts Administration Assistant Erin Hollen, Graphic Designer Opening Nights Performing Arts Advisory Board Mike Pate, Chair Ruth Akers, Ph.D. Carmen Butler Gus Corbella Johanna Money Nan Nagy Michael Obrecht John Schultz Susan Stratton Marjorie Turnbull Wendy Walker Ed West Rep. Alan Williams Florida State University Office of the President College of Arts and Sciences College of Motion Picture Arts College of Music College of Fine Arts Fine Arts Ticket Office Maggie Allesee National Center for Choreography University Communications University Relations

Welcome to the Winter 2015 season of Opening Nights Performing Arts at Florida State University It is with great enthusiasm that we present this diverse array of artists in our community, many for the first time.

Making their Tallahassee, Florida debuts in 2015 include cello virtuoso Yo-Yo Ma performing a solo recital of J. S. Bach’s Cello Suites; the New York City cast of Forbidden Broadway: Alive and Kicking!; GRAMMY award-winning jazz baritone Gregory Porter; pianist, composer, and MacArthur Genius Award winner Vijay Iyer; the all-male ballerina troupe Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo; Nashville’s The Time Jumpers featuring Vince Gill, Kenny Sears & Ranger Doug Green; author of Orange is the New Black Piper Kerman; organist Cameron Carpenter and his International Touring Organ; Brooklyn’s Bhangra/jazz/hip-hop brass band Red Baraat; and composer/actor/vocalist Nellie McKay. In your continued support of Opening Nights Performing Arts at Florida State University, please consider a gift of membership, sponsorship, or endowing one of our great programs in music, theatre, dance, film, and spoken word. Your generosity assists in the continuing mission of presenting exceptional artistic and educational experiences on campus and in our community. Ask any Opening Nights representative about these philanthropic opportunities at an upcoming performance or event.

Thank you again for your support of Opening Nights Performing Arts at Florida State University and our Winter 2015 season. Enjoy these outstanding performances!

All the best,

Christopher J. Heacox Director, Opening Nights Performing Arts Florida State University 2015 Winter Program 7

2014-2015 Members As o f 1 0 / 1 / 1 4 Producer’s Circle Mikey Bestebreurtje & Wilson Baker Larry & Jo Deeb Richard B. Earls Carol Gregg & Kathy Villacorta Stephen & Elma Haley Lee Hinkle Ken Kato & Nan Nagy Dr. Farhat & Mrs. Kristine Khairallah Nancy Linnan & Jim York Bernadette & Roger Luca Barbara & John Mahoney Jennifer Fitzwater & Geof Mansfield David & Cheri Paradice Mike & Judy Pate Natalie Radford, M.D. Jim & Betty Ann Rodgers Josh & Wendy Somerset Fred & Jayne Standley Charles & Susan Stratton Janet R. Thornton Rod & Virginia Vaughn & Dr. Charles E. Benedict

Partner Level Bob & Mary Bedford Jann & Ray Bellamy Gus & Tanya Corbella Talbot D’Alemberte & Patsy Palmer William & Caryl Donnellan Dr. Jack Widrich Foundation Patricia J. Flowers Lisa & Keith Foran Jana & Michael Forsthoefel TD & Kathi Giddings Debbie & Bill Giudice Grossman, Furlow & Bayo, LLC Mitchell Haigler Mart Hill Robert Holton Mike & Debbie Huey Bret, Leigh & Sam Ingerman Warren & Faith Jones Sandy & Jessie Kerr 8

Opening Nights Performing Arts

Lawton & Beth Langford Law Office of Linda A. Bailey John & Ellen Lewis Novey Law Liz & Bob Maryanski Jan & Mark Pudlow Sherrill & Jimmy Ragans Regional Therapy Inc. Marjorie R. Turnbull Mark & Susan VanHoeij Pam & Malte von Matthiessen Kim & Mayda Williams

Friend Level Jean Ainsworth Anonymous Mr. Scott Atwell & Dr. Michelle Bachtel Donna M. Barber Greg & Sharon Beaumont Brian & Carol Berkowitz Don & Eileen Bourassa Brandi & Steve Brown Patrick & Carrie Carlton Pete & Bonnie Chamlis Eleanor & Andre Connan Capt. James L. & Sandra J. Dafoe Jim & Maureen Daughton Greg & Carla DeLoach Kevin & Jo Deyo Diverse Computing, Inc. Steve & Linda Evans Ruth & Rick Feiock Barbara Foorman & Justin Leiber Louise & Marc Freeman Dr. Fanchon F. Funk Elenita Gomez & Jack Brennan Barbara Hamby & David Kirby Don Hansard & Nada Marz Brenda & Tracy Hatch Myrion & Judy Hayden Christopher & Claire Heacox Del, Diane & Roxanne Hughes Bill & Bunnie Hunter Duane E. Jacobs Debby Kearney

Helen & Tom Martineau Yvonne E. McIntosh, Ph.D. Hon. R. Bruce & Rev. Candace C. McKibben Meredith & Elsa L. McKinney Fran McLean Cheryl Oakley Mr. & Mrs. Michael Obrecht Niraj Pandit & Carey Dellock Charles B. Reed Randall & Marilynn Rhea Dottie Roberts & Doug Bruce Jo & Mike Rosciam Greg Schaberg & Rex Abert Nancy Smilowitz Dr. Linda J. Smith William & Meredith Snowden Del Suggs & Denice Jones M. M. Sutton Theriaque & Spain Dr. Bill & Ida Thompson Dr. Ernesto & Lisa Umana Donna Blanton & John Van Gieson Leigh VanDeMark Ryan Vaughan Wendy Walker WavSource.com John & Stacey Webb Paul Weimer & Betsy Voorhies Kip & Bev Wells Teresa Beazley Widmer Eliot Wigginton Ash & Jan Williams Judge Jim & JoLen Wolf David & Mary Jean Yon

Associate Level Dr. Don Alford Drs. Charles & Sharon Aronovitch Tom & Robyn Asbury Ingolf Askevold Carolyn Aziz & Suheyl Muskara Tom & Mary Ellen Bateman Joe & Patti Beckham Don Beeckler & Beth Novinger

Andy & Robin Behrman John & Kathy Bell Libby & Sid Bigham Richard & Alecia Bist Nancy Edmunds Bivins Ron & Genny Blazek Greg & Karen Boebinger Winston Borkowski & Nancy VanWilder Ernie Brock Judge Stephen & Mrs. Yvonne Brown Robert & Nicole Brown Dr. Steven C. Bryan Jenny & John Bryant Carmen & Will Butler Robert & Gina Byerts Dominic & Debbie Calabro Tony & Sherry Carvalho Kathryn Karrh Cashin Marshall & Susan Cassedy Jodi & Charlie Chase Goldie Chaves Terry & Linda Cole Rob Contreras & Ellen Berler Russell & Janis Courson Frannie Cox Berneice Cox & Gary Yordon Donald & Allison Crume Kathleen Daly & Reinhart Lerch Liz Dameron Bonnie & Dan Davis Bryan & Beth Desloge Miss Desmond Bob & Trudy Deyle Bob & Ellie Disbennett Kevin & Sarah Doar Pamala J. Doffek John Dozier & Martha Paradeis Nancy Elgin & James Moorer Ken & Marilynn Evert Grayal Earle Farr Matthew Farrar & Anna Alexopoulos Nancy Smith Fichter & Robert W. Fichter Stan & Carole Fiore Beverly Bonner Frick

Robert S. Goldman & Lu Ann Snider Owen & Chrys Goodwyne Edward Gray & Stacey Rutledge Kathy Greene & Cindy Kelley Dave & Margaret Groves Stan & Helen Haines Sue Hansen Linda Harkey Ken Hays Heckman Law Group, Chad & Jennifer Heckman James & Hennessey & Kathryn Gibson Scott & Frankie Higginbotham Calynne & Lou Hill Paul D. & Abbie P. Hodge Darlene Horton Horvat Family Doug & Melissa Ingram Inkbridge, LLC Liz Jameson Mimi Jones & Barbara Sterling Drs. Roland & Lynn Jones Bob & Malinda Jones Barbara Judd Helena & Edward Kadunc Terri Jo Kennedy Ashley Kerns & Emily Brown Rhoda Kibler & Sandy Sims Brad & Kate Kile John & Linda Kilgore Kelly & Rip Kirby Tom Kirwin Jonathan Klepper Jon & Jean Kline Rebecca Knapp & Erwin Bodo Robert & Gail Knight Tony & Mallen Komlyn Gregory Krasovsky David & Debra Lachter Jennifer & Jay LaVia Raoul Lavin & Greg Burke Bill & Dottie Lee Charles & Karl Lester Terry & Fran Lewis Jim & Sharon Lowe Doug Mann & Kris Knab Marge Masterman Jim & Susan Mau John & Erika McCarthy

Michael McGrew Jane McPherson & Jon Jefferson Robert & Marcia Meale Frank & Francesca Melichar Michael Mesler & Susan Potts Jacob & Johanna Money Nola Munasifi John & Jean Munn Chris & Randi New Steve & Jo Ostrov Ermine M. Owenby Sara Carter Pankaskie Dr. Durell & Mrs. Nancy Peaden Jay, Jessie & Lachlan Pelham Svetlana Pevnitskaya Diana Picklesimer Jorge & Betty Piekarewicz LuMarie Polivka-West Beth Anne Posey Eva-Lynn Powell David & Jo Ann Prescott Mary Anne Price J. Eric & Candace Pridgeon Elaine Prine Bill Quattlebaum Kenneth Reckford & Charlotte Orth Fred A. Roberson Lynda Roser & Marilyn Yon Connie Sauer-Adams & Len Adams Terry Schneider & Laura Newton John & Claudia Scholz Genevieve C. Scott Richard Senesac, Ph.D. Ronald Shaeffer Charles & Pamela Shields Chuck & Donnajo Smith Gary & Patricia Smith Kevin Smith Scott & Joanna Snyder Eileen Sperl-Hawkins Kent Spriggs & Kathleen Laufenberg Elfie Stamm Tony Starace & Mabel Wells Nancy & Larry Stokely Sharon Strickland & Richard Pearlman Mr. & Mrs. Jesse Suber De Witt & Neddy Sumners

Warren & Paula Sutton Elizabeth Swiman Phillip Tomberlin Jr. & Martin Kavka Joseph & Kathryn Travis Mark Vesuvio & Pam Presnell Kenny & Linda Walker Richard & Jane Walker of Walker Landscaping Paula & Stan Warmath Steve Moore Watkins, III David & Jane Watson Elisabeth Whetstone Barbara Mason White Cam & Denise Whitlock Wendy & Gary Williams Chet & Foy Winsor Anne Wright Gina Wurst Yeager & John Yeager Marilyn J. Young & Michael K. Launer Calvin & Rose Zongker

Debut Level Alice Abbitt Mr. & Mrs. Hector J. Aguirre Dr. Isabel Alfonso MH Allen & Nat Turnbull Anonymous Jim & Marsha Antista Bob & Drin Apgar Gloria Arias-Osborne Lana & Dwight Arnold Ann Marie Bachman Bob Baker Effren & Emerlin Baltazar DeAndrea L. Barber Kyle Barber Matt Barrios Melanie & Neil Bennett Ellen Berler & Rob Contreras Mary S. Bert Kathy Bible Benjamin Bloodworth Arielle Borovsky & Matthew Stumpf Keith & Valerie Bowers Branciforte Nancy Brand & Lon Sweat Nolia & Bill Brandt Freddy & Mary Linzee Branham

Mary Braunagel Mafe Brooks Gene D. Brown Toby Bruce & Shirley Bates Walt & Debbie Bunnell Barbara Busharis Leslie Carlile Madeleine Carr Bobby & Elizabeth Carrouth Lee & Leah Chapin Mary Noel Childers Betty Lou & Marian Christ Robert & Linda Clickner Kim & Karen Cloud Jim & Louise Cobbe Christine Coble & Sara Staskiews Thomas & Irene Cordi Nancy Cordill Roy & Donna Cosgrove Steve & Kristen Costa Gail Crisp Doug & Dianne Croley John D. & Ann S. Davis Glenn & Ellen Davis Anne Davis The Davis Family Paco & Lee de la Fuente A. Keith Dean, C.P.A. DeLopez & Shahawy Dermatology Associates of Tallahassee F. Marshall Deterding & Dr. Kelley Lang Jeannie H. Dixon Petra Doan Richard & Nora Doran Jim & Donna Raye Drummond Julia Duggan Bryan W. Duke Pamela Davis Duncan Mary E. Dyal Leslie Eckhart & Delaney Watson Carolyn Egan & Alex Ghio Marjorie Emery Lloyd Engel Ludmila De Faria Rick and Joyce Fausone The Ferrell Family Garrett & Nancy Foster Barbara Ann Frederich 2015 Winter Program 9

Rich history, native wildlife PLUS Tree to Tree Adventures -- the only zip line and high-flying obstacle course in town!

10

Opening Nights Performing Arts

850.575.8684

tallahasseemuseum.org

treetotreeadventures.com

3945 Museum Drive

2014-2015 Members C o n t i n u e d Tony Fusco Archie Gardner Archie Gardner & Michael Moore M.G. Garvin Melissa Georgieff Champany John & Mary Geringer Durene & Terry Gilbert Barbara Gill David & Marsha Gillespie Goodwin-Pichard Investigation Agency (GPI) Michael Green Cheri Greene Laurie Grubbs David & Kathy Hale Halfmoon Yoga Maureen J. Halligan Quincie Hamby Kurt & Sara Hamon & Family Martha Haynes & Don Yarbrough Topher Heacox Burt Hodge Laura & Jim Hodges Lori Holcomb & Bob Fingar Beverly Holmes Larry & Janice Houff Ken Hovey Sam & Marleena Huckaba Pamala L. Issitt Mr. & Mrs. Glenn Jackson Jan’s Hallmark - Thomasville Charlie Johnson & Sandy Holt Amy M. Jones Thomas & Heather Jordan joyfulmind.org Dean & Sally Jue Chet Kaufman Matthew Keelean Trevor & Millie Kelsey-Smith Bill & Hilda King King & Wood, P.A. Srinivasa Kishore Greg & Angela Knecht Davia Kramer Patterson Lamb Tara Singleton & Steven Lane Thomas & Carol Lehman Lemberg Bangura Family

Mark & Maria Leon Pamela Leslie Jack Levine & Charlotte Heuler Robert M. Levy Mary Ann Lindley Dr. Helen Livingston Wayne Logan Dr. & Mrs. Doug Loveless Lovers of the Arts Leslie Lundberg Dr. & Mrs. Edward Lyon Sam & Peggy Mahdavi Constance Manzi Tim & Ginger Martin George & Mary Massey James Mathes & Margaret Pendleton Steve Mathues & Lynda deMarsh-Mathues Tim & Letha McCarthy Matt & Susan McConnell John & Kathi McMillan McRae & Metcalf, P.A. Margaret Meeter Raymond & Rhonda Merritt Dr. Marion & Martin Merzer Lee Kendall Metcalf Wendy Metty Valerie & Steve Mindlin Nathan & Karen Moon Gordon & Ursula Morgan James & Joyce Morgan Dr. Mike & Judi Moss Rob & Carol Murrell Nathanial Myers & Jon Harris Maurer Robert & Janet Newburgh Mr. & Mrs. Cliff Nilson Marion Nimis Dianna & Bill Norwood Ed & Linda Oaksford Calvin & Lou Ogburn Darlene & Albert Oosterhof Jim O’Rourke & Helen Burke Jim and Cindy Parry Jerri Patterson M. L. Pearson Tom & Vivian Pelham Sonya & Jason Penley

Bill & Jeanette Perkins Pet Sitting By Craig Jackson Dr. Christine Peterson Sunny Phillips Tom & Dianne Phillips Kristin Pingree & Sheldon Gusky Vanessa J. Pinto Susan Ponder-Stansel Keith & Suzanne Post Anne & David Powell Nikki Pritchett & Steve Fox Julian & Betty Proctor Elizabeth Pulliam & Stephen Hodges Elizabeth & Jay Ralstin Eric & Kimberley Ramcharran Peggy Ramsey Cathy & Barney Ray Nolan & Zana Raybon Bill & Connie Reinhardt Dr. Stephen & Elizabeth Richardson Dr. & Mrs. Shane & Angie Rignanese Marylee & Glenn Robertson S. Rollin & M. Apple Eleanore P. Rosenberg Mark & Sally Rosser William & Jeanne Ryder Ron & Tere Saff Kelly Samek Winnie Schmeling Thomas Schmick & Julia Zimmerman Alexis & Mark Seganish Steven & Linda Service Matthew Shaftel Mr. William A. Shepherd, Jr. William C. Sherrill Mirella & Theo Siegrist Joe Sisson Gale Slavin Carey Smith Dee Ann Smith Lane & Fraser Smith Jill & Doug Smith Chesterfield & Tricia Smith Mike & Jeannie Sole Joseph & Sharon Sollohub

Jean Souter Mary Jo Spector Alice Spirakis Greg & Dawn Springs Margaret Stalvey Arthur L. Stern III & Mary E. Haskins John & Margie Stewart The Stiell Law Firm, P.A. Kent & Susan Strauss Mr. Neil Sullivan Val Sullivan & Val Kibler John & Laurie Svec Dan Taylor & Tony Archer Bettina Teson Sally Lines Thomas Dan & Robin Thompson C. L. Totten Marianna Tutwiler Casey Ufferman Lucas VanSickle Craig and Jessica Varn Teresa Vinson Dan Vollmer Marcia Warfel Forrest Watson & June Wright Jeff & Brenda Wegrzyn Andrew Welch Zach & Stacy Wheeler Michael & Barbara White Michael & Gale Whitehead Arthur R. Wiedinger, Jr. Marilynn Theresa Wills Windham Family Ken Winker Lynne & Oscar Winston Jean-Marc Wise & Jenny Grill Samuel & Hannah Wiseman Agata Wlodarczyk Diann Worzalla Nancy Wright, M.D. Paul Youn Mr. & Mrs. Zaritsky Julia Zimmerman & Thomas Schmick Coleman Zuber & Debbie Taggart

2015 Winter Program 11

Our Offers Will Be

Music

Ears.

To Your

3800 W. Tennessee St. Tallahassee, FL LegacyToy.com 850-575-0168

Yo-Yo Ma, cello Thursday 1/29 | 7:30 p.m.

Ruby Diamond Concert Hall Suite No.1 in G Major, BWV 1007 Prélude Allemande Courante Sarabande Menuett I Menuett II Gigue

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)

Suite No.5 in C minor, BWV 1011 Prélude Allemande Courante Sarabande Gavotte I Gavotte II Gigue

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)

Intermission Suite No. 3 in C Major, BWV 1009 Prélude Allemande Courante Sarabande Bourrée I Bourrée II Gigue

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)

Continued on pg. 43

Sponsored by

Photo: Todd Rosenberg 2015 Winter Program 13

Forbidden Broadway: Alive & Kicking!

Wednesday 2/4 | Fred Turner Auditorium at TCC | 8:00 p.m.

Presented by John Freedson and Harriet Yellin D a v i d C a l d w e l l Musical Director Starring C r a i g L a u r i e

Gina Kreiezmar

P h i l l i p G e o r g e Choreographer A l v i n C o l t Costume Design

Kevin B. McGlynn

Jeanne Montano

C a t h e r i n e B l o c h Stage Manager C a r o l S h e r r y Wig Design

C r e a t e d , W r i t t e n a n d o r i g i n a l l y d i r e c t e d b y G e r a l d A l e ss a n d r i n i D i r e c t e d b y P h i l l i p G e o r g e a n d G e r a r d A l e ss a n d r i n i Continued on pg. 45 Sponsored by

2015 Winter Program 15

Gregory Porter

with special guest Avery*Sunshine Thursday 2/5 | Ruby Diamond Concert Hall | 7:30 p.m.

G r e g o r y P o r t e r vocals C h i p C r a wf o r d piano E m a n u e l H a r r o l d drums A a r o n J a m e s bass Y o h s u k e S a t o h saxophone A v e r y * S u n s h i n e vocals, keyboard D a n a J o h n s o n guitar

L

iquid Spirit marks Gregory Porter’s Blue Note Records debut, which arrives on the heels of two critically acclaimed indie label albums that quickly propelled Porter to the upper echelon of contemporary male jazz singers and earned him two GRAMMY nominations. Don Was, President of Blue Note, encouraged Porter to stay true to his artistic vision. “I firmly consider myself a jazz singer, but I enjoy blues, black southern soul, and gospel,” Porter says, “Those elements make their way inside my music. And I’ve always heard them in jazz.” The singer retains the same core musicians that accompanied him on his previous two discs: pianist and music director Chip Crawford, drummer Emanuel Harrold, bassist Aaron James, alto saxophonist Yosuke Sato, and tenor saxophonist Tivon Pennicott. On a few selections, Porter complements that ensemble with trumpeter Curtis Taylor and organist Glenn Patscha.

Producer Brian Bacchus also returns, as well as arranger and associate producer Kamau Kenyatta.

Continued on pg. 49 Sponsored by

2015 Winter Program 17

Vijay Iyer Trio Friday 2/6 | Opperman Music Hall | 7:30 p.m.

V i j a y I y e r piano

M a r c u s G i l m o r e drums

S t e p h a n C r u m p bass

G

rammy-nominated composer-pianist Vijay Iyer (pronounced “VID-jay EYE-yer”) was described by Pitchfork as “one of the most interesting and vital young pianists in jazz today,” by the Los Angeles Weekly as “a boundless and deeply important young star,” and by Minnesota Public Radio as “an American treasure.” His most recent honors include a 2013 MacArthur fellowship, a 2012 Doris Duke Performing Artist Award, an unprecedented “quintuple crown” in the 2012 Down Beat International Critics Poll (winning Jazz Artist of the Year, Pianist of the Year, Jazz Album of the Year, Jazz Group of the Year, and Rising Star Composer categories), followed by wins in their 2014 Critics Poll, a “quadruple crown” in the JazzTimes extended critics poll (winning Artist of the Year, Acoustic/Mainstream Group of the Year, Pianist of the Year, and Album of the Year), the Pianist of the Year Awards for both 2012 and 2013 from the Jazz Journalists Association, and the 2013 ECHO Award (the “German Grammy”) for best international pianist.

Continued on pg. 52 2015 Winter Program 19

2014

Where Memories are Made

KL

From Coast to City to Country

n o r t h w e s t f l o r i d a w e d d i n g s . n e t | a r o w l a n d P U B l i s h i n g P U B l i C at i o n

Photo: Sascha Vaughn

Les Ballets Trockadero De Monte Carlo Saturday 2/7 | Ruby Diamond Concert Hall | 7:30 p.m.

Featuring Colette Adae, Varvara Bratchikova, Nadia Doumiafeyva, Minnie van Driver, Lariska Dumbchenko, Helen Highwaters, Nina Immobilashvili, Sonia Leftova, Ida Nevasayneva, Maria Paranova, Eugenia Repelskii, Moussia Shebarkarova, Alla Snizova, Olga Supphozova, Guzella Verbitskaya, Yakatarina Verbosovich, Doris Vidanya, Tatiana Youbetyabootskaya & Jacques d’Aniels, Ilya Bobovnikov, Roland Deaulin, Pepe Dufka, Stanislas Kokitch, Andrei Leftov, Araf Legupski, Marat Legupski, Sergey Legupski, Vladimir Legupski, Vyacheslav Legupski, Boris Nowitsky, Velour Pilleaux, Yuri Smirnov, Innokenti Smoktumuchsky, Kravlji Snepek, William Vanilla Director Tory Dobrin

Associate Director Isabel Martinez Rivera

General Manager Liz Harler

The Trocks dedicate the 40th anniversary season to the memory of Eugene McDougle, General Director 1974 to 2014.

Continued on pg. 53 Sponsored by

2015 Winter Program 21

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Rebates for first-time buyers, as well as gift certificates and information on purchasing your FSU license plate is available online at fsu.edu/mytag.

The Knights with Béla Fleck Sunday 2/8 | 7:30 p.m.

Ruby Diamond Concert Hall Gioachino Rossini (1792-1868)

Overture The Barber of Seville

Bela Fleck (b. 1958)

Big Country Bela Fleck, banjo

John Adams (b. 1947)

Chamber Symphony I. Mongrel Airs II. Aria with Walking Bass Eric Jacobsen, conductor Intermission

Bela Fleck (b. 1958)

The Imposter: Concerto for Banjo & Orchestra I. Infiltration II. Integration III. Truth Revealed Bela Fleck, banjo Se il mio nome saper voi bramate The Barber of Seville

Gioachino Rossini (1792-1868)

The Knights

...the ground beneath our feet

Collaboratively written by Alex Sopp, Michael P. Atkinson, Zach Cohen, Shawn Conley, Colin Jacobsen, and Jonnny Gandelsman. Featuring “Fade Away,” music and lyrics by Christina Courtin.

Continued on pg. 61

Sponsored by FSU License Plate

2015 Winter Program 23

The Time Jumpers Monday 2/9 | Ruby Diamond Concert Hall | 7:30 p.m.

B r a d A l b i n upright bass L a r r y F r a n k l i n fiddle P a u l F r a n k l i n steel guitar V i n c e G i l l vocals, electric & acoustic guitars “ R a n g e r D o u g ” G r e e n vocals, acoustic & rhythm guitars A n d y R e i ss electric guitar K e n n y S e a r s vocals, fiddle J o e S p i v e y vocals, fiddle J e ff T a y l o r accordion, piano B i l l y T h o m a s vocals, drums

T

ap any member of The Time Jumpers on the shoulder and the face that turns to greet you will be that of one who’s made major contributions to the richness and vigor of country music. The Time Jumpers was established in Nashville in 1998 by an assemblage of high-dollar studio musicians who wanted to spend some spare time drinking beer and jamming with their sonically gifted buddies.

The notion of building a rabidly devoted following was the last thing on their minds. But that’s what happened. Learning that Monday evenings were the slowest in the week for the Station Inn bluegrass club, the superpickers settled into that fabled venue at the start of each week and set up shop. Pretty soon Monday nights were sounding a lot like Saturday nights—and drawing commensurately lively crowds.

Continued on pg. 64 Sponsored by

2015 Winter Program 25

Piper Kerman Tuesday 2/10 | Ruby Diamond Concert Hall | 7:30 p.m.

I

n her memoir, Orange is the New Black: My Year in a Woman’s Prison, Piper Kerman recounts the 15 months that she spent in the Danbury Correctional Facility for a crime she had committed ten years prior as a very brief, very careless dalliance in the world of drug trafficking. Compelling, moving, and often hilarious, the stories of the women she met while in prison raise issues of friendship and family, mental illness, the odd cliques and codes of behavior, the role of religion, the uneasy relationship between prisoner and jailor, and the almost complete lack of guidance for life after prison. The memoir was adapted into an original Netflix series of the same name by Jenji Kohan. The Peabody Award-winning show, which has been nominated for 12 Emmys, has been called “the best TV show about prison ever made” by The Washington Post and was lauded by Time’s TV critic James Poniewozik for “the stunningly matter-of-fact way it uses the prison to create one of TV’s most racially and sexually diverse–and as important, complex–dramas [and] contrasts the power and class dynamics inside the prison with those outside the prison.”

Continued on pg. 69 Sponsored by

2015 Winter Program 27

Photo: Thomas Grube

Cameron Carpenter featuring the International Touring Organ

Wednesday 2/11 | Ruby Diamond Concert Hall | 7:30 p.m.

C

ameron Carpenter is having a ball smashing the stereotypes of organists and organ music, and all the while generating international acclaim and controversy unprecedented in his field. Cameron’s repertoire - from the complete works of J. S. Bach to film scores, his original compositions and hundreds of transcriptions and arrangements - is probably the largest and most diverse of any organist. He is the first ‘concert organist’ in history to prefer the digital organ to the pipe organ and to champion it as the future of the instrument. In 2014, Cameron launched his International Touring Organ - a monumental cross-genre digital organ built by Marshall & Ogletree to his own design - in extensive tours in Europe and the USA. His Sony Music debut album, If You Could Read My Mind, entered Billboard’s Traditional Classical chart at No. 1 on its US release.

Continued on pg. 69 2015 Winter Program 29

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Julie Montanaro

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For more than 50 years WCTV Eyewitness News has brought you the best most accurate news, weather and sports coverage in the area.

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Photo: Chris O’Donovan

The King’s Singers Thursday 2/12 | Ruby Diamond Concert Hall | 7:30 p.m.

David Hurley countertenor

Timothy Wayne-Wright countertenor

Christopher Bruerton baritone

A

Christopher Gabbitas baritone

Julian Gregory tenor Jonathan Howard bass

cclaimed for their life-affirming virtuosity and irresistible charm, The King’s Singers are in global demand. Their work – synonymous with the best in vocal ensemble performance – appeals to a vast international audience. They perform over 120 concerts each year, touring regularly to Europe, the United States, Asia, and Australasia. The King’s Singers are admired for their musical excellence and recognized as consummate entertainers – a class act with a delightfully British sense of humor. Their generous spirit and magical ability to move audiences have remained constant since the group’s foundation in 1968. They have premiered more than 200 new works, including landmark compositions by Luciano Berio, György Ligeti, James MacMillan, Krzysztof Penderecki, Toru Takemitsu, John Tavener, and Eric Whitacre, and commissioned thrilling arrangements of everything from jazz standards to pop chart hits.

Continued on pg. 69 Sponsored by

2015 Winter Program 31

Tallahassee symphony orchesTra maesTro Darko BuTorac, music DirecTor & conDucTor

experience The

magic!

SeaSon opener: power & proweSS sunDay, ocToBer 19, 2014

Ruby Diamond Concert Hall s 3:00 pm Katherine Chi, piano LUTOSLAWSKI s RACHMANINOFF s PROKOFIEV

Holiday Magic!

FriDay, DecemBer 19 & saTurDay, DecemBer 20, 2014 Ruby Diamond Concert Hall s 8:00 pm

elegance & elation

saTurDay, January 10, 2015

Ruby Diamond Concert Hall s 8:00 p.m.

Lisa Smirnova, piano ROSSINI s MOZART s BEETHOVEN

20

14 15

ConCert SeaSon orient expreSS

saTurDay, march 7, 2015

Ruby Diamond Concert Hall s 8:00 pm Amit Peled, cello BLAGOJEVIĆ s BRUCH s POPPER SMETANA s KODÁLY

tHree titanS

saTurDay, may 2, 2015

Ruby Diamond Concert Hall s 8:00 p.m.

Jennifer Frautschi, violin MOZART s MENDELSSOHN s MAHLER

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Photo: Erin Patrice OBrien

Bhangra ‘n’ Brass

Dirty Dozen Brass Band & Red Baraat Friday 2/13 | Ruby Diamond Concert Hall | 7:30 p.m.

D i r t y D o z e n B r a ss B a n d G r e g o r y D a v i s trumpet, vocals K e v i n H a r r i s tenor saxophone

R o g e r L e w i s baritone & soprano saxophones K i r k J o s e p h sousaphone T e r e n c e H i gg i n s drums Ef r e m T o w n s trumpet, flugelhorn Red Baraat

S u n n y J a i n dhol, MC

R o h i n K h e m a n i percussion

T o m a s F u j i w a r a drums

S o n n y S i n g h trumpet, vocals M i W i L a L u p a bass, trumpet, vocals M i k e B o m w e l l saxophone E r n e s t S t u a r t trombone J o h n A l t i e r i sousaphone, rap Continued on pg. 69 2015 Winter Program 33

Ragtime Friday 2/13 - Sunday 3/1 | Richard G. Fallon Theatre Book by Terrence McNally

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Music by Stephen Flaherty

Lyrics by Lynn Ahrens

Based on the novel “Ragtime” by E.L. Doctorow

s a new century dawns, the world is changing…and anything is possible. Set in the volatile melting pot of New York City, follow the struggle of three American families whose intersecting lives are influenced by the social upheaval of the era. The musical tapestry intertwines an African-American family, a Jewish immigrant family, and a wealthy, suburban family who are united through love, loss, and courage. Celebrate these families and their unrelenting hope for the future in this emotional and lavish musical journey.

Continued on pg. 73 Recommended age: 13+ Contains material that may be inappropriate for audiences under the age of 13.

2015 Winter Program 35

Photo by Jon Nalon, courtesy of The Tallahassee Ballet.

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PRISM Saturday 2/14 | Ruby Diamond Concert Hall | 7:30 p.m.

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elcome to the 32nd annual PRISM concert – an entertainment spectacular that has become one of Tallahassee’s premier musical attractions. The FSU College of Music would like to take this opportunity to thank those who have supported PRISM over the years, and welcome those experiencing this event for the first time. To better understand the nature of this event, we ask you to consider the effect that a prism creates as it refracts spectacular colors and forms to unexpected places. PRISM: Special Edition is an aural kaleidoscope of musical ensembles featuring music students from Florida State’s top-ranked College of Music. PRISM annually covers the spectrum of band activities at Florida State including the FSU Wind Orchestra, Symphonic Band, Concert Band, jazz ensembles, chamber ensembles, and of course, the Marching Chiefs. Because the musicians are spread throughout the auditorium, every seat is the best seat in the house. Patrons are able to get close to the action as performance areas quickly and suddenly change from one area in Ruby Diamond Concert Hall to another.

Special thanks to the FSU wind and percussion faculty, as well as the Ruby Diamond Concert Hall staff working the event this evening.

Please Note: Several selections on this program produce extreme volume, which may cause discomfort for some. For your convenience we are pleased to provide decibel-reducing earplugs. These are available at the door or from any usher.

Sponsored by

2015 Winter Program 37

a g n i d l i u B y t i n u m m o stronger c . s t r a e th through

Our bankers are proud to sponsor Opening Nights Performing Arts and this season’s performance by Nellie McKay.

402.7500 l www.ccbg.com

Nellie McKay Sunday 2/15 | Pebble Hill Plantation | 2:00 p.m.

Monday 2/16 | Goodwood Museum & Gardens | 7:30 p.m.

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ailed by The New Yorker as “funny and touching, ceaselessly clever and scarily talented,” Nellie McKay has recently finished an extended run in the off-Broadway hit, Old Hats (winner of the Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Alternative Theatrical Experience and Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Revue), and has written two acclaimed musical biographies, Silent Spring: It’s Not Nice to Fool Mother Nature, an exploration of environmental pioneer, Rachel Carson, and I Want to Live!, the story of Barbara Graham, the third woman executed in the gas chamber at San Quentin. David Byrne tells the Wall Street Journal, “Her last two ‘cabaret’ shows I saw have been jaw-dropping. They both completely subverted the genre…,” Among Ms. McKay’s charms, Mr. Byrne said, are the ways she playfully mixes what he called a “tragic noir vibe” with her “wicked sense of humor.”

For her 2014 show, Nellie with a Z, The New York Times writes, “[McKay] wears the mystique of a willful prodigy who is smarter, more talented and hipper than everyone else: a performer who answers only to herself.

Continued on pg. 73 Sponsored by

2015 Winter Program 39

Michael Sheridan & Judy Wilson Sheridan Sponsors of DanĂş Proudly support Opening Nights and the performing arts in the Tallahassee community

A Movie You Haven’t Seen Thursday 1/29 | Ruby Diamond Concert Hall | 7:30 p.m.

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ince its inception in 1999, Opening Nights has presented an annual film. Silent films, local creations, Oscar® nominees, and international film circuit delights–each has added to the collective cinema experience in Tallahassee. This year’s selected film will be appropriate for all audiences and will be followed by a panel discussion with industry professionals. Presented collaboratively with the FSU College of Motion Picture Arts Torchlight Program, this experience is sure to inspire, entertain, and educate.

Sponsored by

2015 Winter Program 41

Ken Kato and Nan Nagy and

Charles and Amy Newell Proud sponsors of The Hot Sardines

Yo-Yo Ma Continued from pg. 13

Yo-Yo Ma’s multi-faceted career is testament to his continual search for new ways to communicate with audiences and to his personal desire for artistic growth and renewal. Whether performing new or familiar works from the cello repertoire, coming together with colleagues for chamber music, or exploring cultures and musical forms outside the Western classical tradition, Mr. Ma strives to find connections that stimulate the imagination.

One of Mr. Ma’s goals is the exploration of music as a means of communication and as a vehicle for the migrations of ideas across a range of cultures throughout the world. Expanding upon this interest, in 1998, Mr. Ma established the Silk Road Project, a nonprofit arts and educational organization. Under his artistic direction, the Silk Road Project presents performances by the acclaimed Silk Road Ensemble, engages in cross-cultural exchanges and residencies, leads workshops for students, and partners with leading cultural institutions to create educational materials and programs.

created the Citizen Musician Initiative, a movement that calls on all musicians, music lovers, music teachers and institutions to use the art form to bridge gulfs between people and to create and inspire a sense of community. Citizenmusician.org features stories of Citizen Musician activity across the globe.

Mr. Ma is also widely recognized for his strong commitment to educational programs that bring the world into the classroom and the classroom into the world. While touring, he takes time whenever possible to conduct master classes as well as more informal programs for students – musicians and non-musicians alike. He has also reached young audiences through appearances on “Arthur,” “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood” and “Sesame Street.”

Mr. Ma’s discography of over 90 albums (including more than 17 Grammy Award winners) reflects his wide-ranging interests. He has made several successful recordings that defy categorization, among them “Hush” with Bobby McFerrin, “Appalachia Waltz” and “Appalachian Journey” with Mark O’Connor and Edgar Meyer, and two Grammy-winning tributes to the music of Brazil, “Obrigado Brazil” and “Obrigado Brazil – Live in Concert.” Mr. Ma’s recent recordings include Mendelssohn Trios with Emanuel Ax and Itzhak Perlman. His album, “The Goat Rodeo Sessions,” with Edgar Meyer, Chris Thile, and Stuart Duncan, received the 2013 Grammy for Best Folk Album. Across this full range of releases, Mr. Ma remains one of the best-selling recording artists in the classical field. All of his recent

The Project’s ongoing affiliation with Harvard University has made it possible to broaden and enhance educational programming. Developing new music is also a central undertaking of the Silk Road Project, which has been involved in commissioning and performing more than 60 new musical and multimedia works from composers and arrangers around the world.

As the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s Judson and Joyce Green Creative Consultant, Mr. Ma is partnering with Maestro Riccardo Muti to provide collaborative musical leadership and guidance on innovative program development for The Institute for Learning, Access and Training at the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and for Chicago Symphony artistic initiatives. Mr. Ma’s work focuses on the transformative power music can have in individuals’ lives and on increasing the number and variety of opportunities audiences have to experience music in their communities. Mr. Ma and the Institute have

Photo: Todd Rosenberg 2015 Winter Program 43

We’re Hiring kayescholer.com

albums have quickly entered the Billboard chart of classical best sellers, remaining in the Top 15 for extended periods, often with as many as four titles simultaneously on the list.

In fall 2009, Sony Classical released a box set of over 90 albums to commemorate Mr. Ma’s 30 years as a Sony recording artist.

Yo-Yo Ma was born in 1955 to Chinese parents living in Paris. He began to study the cello with his father at age four and soon came with his family to New York, where he spent most of his formative years. Later, his principal teacher was Leonard Rose at The Juilliard School. He has received numerous awards, including the Avery Fisher Prize (1978), the Glenn Gould Prize (1999), the National Medal of the Arts (2001), the Dan David Prize (2006), the Sonning Prize (2006), the World Economic Forum’s Crystal Award (2008), the Presidential Medal of Freedom (2010), the Polar Music Prize (2012), the Vilcek Prize in Contemporary Music (2013), and the Fred Rogers Legacy Award (2014). In 2011, Mr. Ma was recognized as a Kennedy Center Honoree. Appointed a CultureConnect Ambassador by the United States Department of State in 2002, Mr. Ma has met with, trained, and mentored thousands of students worldwide in countries including Lithuania, Korea, Lebanon, Azerbaijan, and China. Mr. Ma serves as a UN Messenger of Peace and as a member of the President’s Committee on the Arts & the Humanities. He has performed for eight American presidents, most recently at the invitation of President Obama on the occasion of the 56th Inaugural Ceremony.

Mr. Ma and his wife have two children.

He plays two instruments, a 1733 Montagnana cello from Venice and the 1712 Davidoff Stradivarius.

Mr. Ma is represented by Opus 3 Artists.

470 Park Avenue South 9th floor North New York NY 10016 opus3artists.com

Forbidden Broadway Continued from pg. 15

Cast Gina Kreiezmar (Performer) has been a part of the FB phenomenon since 1992, performing Forbidden Broadway and Forbidden Hollywood in Manhattan, throughout the 50 states, Singapore, Japan, South Africa, and parts of South America!

She has also had the honor of performing several versions of FB with orchestras and symphonies and can be heard in the DRG cast recording of “Forbidden Broadway goes to Rehab”. Other credits include Evita (Eva Peron), club dates at New York’s famed Rainbow Room in Rockefeller Center, and numerous commercials and voiceovers. A Florida native, she graduated from the University of Miami School of Music and The Burt Reynolds Institute for Theater Training in Jupiter, Florida, where she worked with and was directed by such notables as Charles Nelson Reilly, Carol Burnett, Liza Minnelli, and Burt Reynolds.

Her longest production is her marriage to her husband, Bob Goodman, and their most treasured collaboration, Max Tyler. Thank you Forbidden Broadway for all the laughs and memories!

Craig Laurie (Performer) has performed extensively with the hit Off-Broadway show Forbidden Broadway, appearing across the country as well as the Off-Broadway production in NY. He was seen for nearly 1000 performances in the mega smash hit musical Jersey Boys where he originated the role of Bob Crewe in the Chicago production. Most recently Craig appeared as Michael in I Do! I Do! at The Infinity Theatre Company in Annapolis, MD and opposite American Idol’s Clay Aiken in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat at the Ogunquit Playhouse. Craig was also seen as Guido Contini in Phoenix Theatre’s celebrated production of Nine. National Tours: Miss Saigon, Chicago, and The Music of Andrew Lloyd Webber guest starring Michael Bolton. Regional Theatres: Florida Studio Theatre, Barrington Stage, Stages St. Louis, Lenape PAC, White Plains PAC.

Trained at NY’s LaGuardia High School of the Performing Arts and Wagner College... and Craig is a triplet.

Kevin B. McGlynn (Performer) a native of Medford MA and a graduate of the Boston Conservatory, has appeared regionally as Javert in Les Miserables, Scrooge in a Christmas Carol, Lumiere in Beauty and the Beast and Thomas Andrews in Titanic. His national touring credits include Kiss Me Kate, All Shook Up, Forbidden Broadway and The Captain’s Daughter performed at the Hermitage in St Petersburg, Russia.

He has created roles in recent New York productions including The Countess of Storyville, The Kid Who Would Be Pope, Chasing Rainbows, and Flambe Dreams for which he won an Outstanding Performer Award. MANY thanks to family and friends for their CONSTANT love and support especially my Dad and my Mother and ANGEL, Mary Helen Lenox McGlynn.

Jeanne Montano (Performer) was most recently seen in the New York Company of Forbidden Broadway Comes Out Swinging!

She has been happily performing Forbidden Broadway both in New York, across the country and overseas (literally) for the past 9 years. Some NY theatre credits include: Broadway and Natl Tour: Cats (Jellylorum/Griddlebone) Off Broadway: Forbidden Broadway Alive and Kicking!

Forbidden Broadway SVU - (Tony Award for Excellence in the Theatre and Drama Desk Award for Best Review) Forbidden Broadway: Rude Awakening - (Recording) Regional Credits include: Pippin – (Fastrada) The Most Happy Fella (Cleo) Starring John Schuck, Little Shop of Horrors (Audrey), Funny Girl (Fanny), Joseph… (Narrator), Falsettos (Cordelia) and Nunsense (Sister Mary Amnesia) with “Superior Mothers” Alice Ghostly, Pat Carroll, and Lainie Kazan.

Originally a Jersey Shore girl - she now resides both in NYC and Asbury Park, NJ and is the President of the Board of Directors of the ReVision Theatre, Asbury Park, NJ. She is happily married to Robert Giannetta NYPD ret.

David Caldwell (Musical Director) has been the music director of Forbidden Broadway since 2004. He composed music and lyrics 2015 Winter Program 45

Consistently riotous! The most inviting introduction to the new season on Broadway.

– New York Times for All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten and Uh-Oh Here Comes Christmas, both based on the writing of Robert Fulghum. He also composed music for Fulghum’s novel Third Wish. Recently he composed music for Gotta Getta Girl, with lyrics by Peter Charles Morris. He conducted the American premiere of Stephen Schwartz’s Children of Eden. He recently music-directed two shows in China, with Inner Mongolian authors and casts. He arranged and orchestrated Marvin Hamlisch’s song “I’m Really Dancing” for Career Transitions for Dancers’ 25th Anniversary Gala, featuring Angela Lansbury, Chita Rivera, and Bebe Neuwirth. He is interviewed at length in Oliver Sacks’ book about music and the brain, Musicophilia.

and “Masterpiece Tonight,” a satirical revue saluting “Masterpiece Theatre” on PBS. He can be heard on four of the eight FB cast albums and on the soundtracks of Disney’s Aladdin and Pocahontas. Directing credits include many corporate industrials and regional musicals, including a production of Maury Yeston’s musical In the Beginning. Gerard also co-directed a revival of Irving Berlin’s last musical Mr. President, which he updated & “politically corrected.” Gerard is the recipient of an Obie Award, an Outer Critics Circle Award, two Lucille Lortel Awards, a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Drama League and three Drama Desk Awards for Best Lyrics for Forbidden Broadway. Most recently, Gerard received a 2006 Tony Honor for Excellence in the Theatre.

Catherine Bloch (Stage Manager) is delighted to be working with Forbidden Broadway again. She also tours with the very funny Forbidden Hollywood.

Phillip George (Director). As director Off-Broadway: Shout!, Forbidden Broadway: SVU, Forbidden Hollywood, Whoop-Dee-Doo (Drama Desk Award, Best Musical Revue), Forbidden Broadway Twentieth Anniversary Edition, Forbidden Broadway Cleans Up Its Act, Forbidden Broadway Strikes Back, Forbidden Broadway 2001: A Spoof Odyssey (Drama Desk Award, Best Musical Revue), The Remarkable Ruth Fields (1993 Bistro Award, Best Musical Best Director), When Pigs Fly (as Assoc. Director to Mark Waldrop), Blackout (Amas), Bring Me a Dwarf (Wing & Drop Co.), Miss Pretty Hard (Dance Theater Workshop with Katherine Griffith), Forbidden Broadway 1988–93. London: Kean (nominated for Evening Standard Award, Best New Musical); Forbidden Broadway (The Albery, West End); Shout!; Frankly, Scarlet (co-author with Peter Morris); Listen to the Wind; Much Revue About Nothing; Forbidden Broadway; The Famous Five; The Arcadians;

Gerard Alessandrini (Creator, Writer & Director) is best known for writing and directing all the editions of Forbidden Broadway and Forbidden Hollywood in New York, Los Angeles, London, and around the world. He was also a member of the original cast of Forbidden Broadway. Gerard is from Needham, Massachusetts and the Boston area, where he graduated from the Boston Conservatory of Music.

In 1982, he created Forbidden Broadway, which has spawned 15 editions, 8 cast albums and a 25-year-and-counting run in New York. Television credits include writing comedy specials for Bob Hope and Angela Lansbury on NBC, Carol Burnett on CBS 46

Opening Nights Performing Arts

Escape from Pterodactyl Island (1999 Michael Steward Award). Regionally: Forum (5th Ave Theatre, Seattle), Best Little Whorehouse, Footloose, Return to the Forbidden Planet, Annie Get Your Gun, The Secret Garden (Paper Mill). Currently Artistic Director: Wing & Drop Co. Club Acts: Ruben Flores, Randall Frizado, and Chris DiCristo.

Alvin Colt’s (Costume Design) costumes have been represented in 88 Broadway shows which include the original productions of On the Town and Guys and Dolls, plus Li’l Abner, Fanny, Destry Rides Again, Sugar, Pipe Dream, Wildcat, Lorelei, Greenwillow, and numerous others.

A Tony Award winner, he has also been nominated four times for both the Tony Award and television’s Emmy Award, having designed costumes for over 90 programs on all major networks. Mr. Colt is the recipient of TDF’s Irene Sharaff’s Award in costume design, and received a Drama Desk nomination for Forbidden Broadway. He was inducted into the Theatre Hall of Fame in 2001. Recently, The Museum of the City of New York celebrated Mr. Colt’s work with “Costumes and Characters: The Designs of Alvin Colt.”

John Freedson (Producer) has been associated with Forbidden Broadway for most of its 30year history and has produced the SpecialTony®-awarded New York company since 1994. John is also producer of the current national tour of the Off-Broadway hit I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change. With his partner Harriet Yellin, he produced Forbidden Broadway at London’s Menier Chocolate Factory and subsequent West

End production, in LA, San Diego, Detroit, Denver and on tour, as well as Forbidden Hollywood in LA, Japan and Off-Broadway.

He has directed both shows to acclaim around the world, winning Jefferson Award for Best Direction for the Chicago production of FH. Mr. Freedson co-produced 10 Forbidden Broadway CD’s for DRG records and, longago, appeared in the Off-Broadway and Boston productions. As a composer/ lyricist, he wrote three hit children’s musicals: A Swan is Born, Aesop’s Follies, and Country Mouse/City Mouse, which toured with the New England Theatre Guild. His voice can be heard on numerous radio and television spots and jingles, two Forbidden Broadway CD’s and Disney’s Aladdin. Originally from Reading, PA, Mr. Freedson attended the Boston Conservatory and is a graduate of Brandeis University.

Harriet Yellin (Producer) has been involved with Forbidden Broadway since 1984, when she produced and managed Forbidden Broadway in Boston, which ran for over six years, as well as the Los Angeles, San Diego, Washington, D.C., Detroit, and Denver productions of the show. With John Freedson, she is coproducer of the current run of Forbidden Broadway in New York, as well as previous New York editions since 1995. She was also co-producer of Forbidden Hollywood in Los Angeles, Chicago, Japan and New York. She was co-producer and General Manager of Forever Plaid’s four-year run in Boston, and spent over 15 years with Blue Man Group, first as General Manager of Blue Man’s smash engagement in Boston, later as CFO of what grew to become an international organization with 7 shows and over 700 employees during her tenure. In another long-ago life, she was a high-powered political consultant; she has worked for numerous senatorial and gubernatorial candidates and was National Media Director for the Dukakis and Tsongas Presidential campaigns.

Forbidden Broadway and Forbidden Hollywood Forbidden Broadway was first seen at Palsson’s Supper Club on New York’s Upper West Side in January, 1982. What began as a simple cabaret act to give creator/lyricist

Gerard Alessandrini a showcase for his talents and the opportunity to “find an agent” became New York’s longest running musical comedy revue. Hailed by critics and audiences alike, Forbidden Broadway won Drama Desk, Obie, and Outer Critics Circle awards and captured the heart of the theatre industry itself. Many of its legendary “victims,” including Mary Martin, Ethel Merman, Bernadette Peters, Tommy Tune, Angela Lansbury, Stephen Sondheim, Hal Prince, and Andrew Lloyd Webber, were among the celebrities who stopped by to applaud first-hand. Updated regularly for each new theatre season, Forbidden Broadway ran to packed houses at the 75-seat Palsson’s through August, 1987. In September, 1988, the show re-opened at the 125-seat Theatre East, where it ran an additional 5-1/2 years.

The show also became known for talented but as yet unknown actors, many of whom have gone on to stardom in various venues: Jason Alexander (Seinfeld’s George Costanza), Chloe Webb (Twins and the PBS series Tales of the City), Davis Gaines (Phantom), as well as Roxie Lucas (Damn Yankees), Gregg Edelman (City of Angels), Dee Hoty (Will Rogers Follies), Michael McGrath (Spamalot, The Martin Short Show), and Brad Oscar (The Producers).

Forbidden Broadway’s success was repeated in Boston, where it enjoyed a 6-1/2-year stay at the 250-seat Terrace Room; Chicago and Boca Raton (over two years each), Toronto and Philadelphia (one year each), Kansas City (nine months and two return engagements), Denver (six months), San Diego (two engagements including Forbidden Christmas), a record-breaking run in 1994 at the Tiffany Theatre in Los Angeles, Sydney, Tokyo, and Singapore among many others. In 1999, after a sell-out engagement at London’s Jermyn Street Theatre, it transferred for the summer to the famed Albery Theatre in the West End. Forbidden Broadway’s return to the Tiffany Theatre in Los Angeles in the spring of 2000 garnered two more Ovation Awards.

Mr. Alessandrini’s next spoof, Forbidden Hollywood, first appeared as a section of Forbidden Broadway in Boston in 1989. After several years of work on the project, the full length version previewed in San Diego,

then opened in Los Angeles in March, 1995. The run at the Coronet Theatre delighted audiences for nearly a year and was nominated for seven Ovation Awards.

Whoopi Goldberg, Carol Channing, and many other luminaries of the “industry” showed up to see themselves and their friends lovingly parodied. The show was subsequently produced in Chicago (which garnered three Jefferson Award nominations), Kansas City (a recordbreaking run), and Toronto. It was updated for New York and ran off-Broadway in 1996, and has had numerous successful runs across America since that time.

In the fall of 1996, the Forbidden crew, including John Freedson and Harriet Yellin (producers), Phill George (Associate Director), and of course, writer-director Gerard Alessandrini, turned their attention back to their first love: Broadway. A new edition of the show, Forbidden Broadway Strikes Back! returned to New York and its original home on West 72nd (now called the Triad and expanded to 135 seats), where it once again delighted audiences with its fastpaced spoofs of current Broadway shows and stars. The return of FB was again greeted with raves from critics (The New York Times called it “triumphant”) and the show won the Drama Desk, Lucille Lortel, and Drama League Awards. Bob Hope, Bea Arthur, Stephen Sondheim, Angela Lansbury, Savion Glover, George C. Wolfe, Elaine Paige, Rosie O’Donnell, Dame Maggie Smith and the casts of Lion King, Aida, and Rent are among the recent attendees. The show moved to the Douglas Fairbanks Theatre on 42nd Street with a brand new edition, Forbidden Broadway 2001: A Spoof Odyssey, which won the 2001 Drama Desk Award for Best Revue.

Forbidden Broadway’s 20th Anniversary Edition was followed by Forbidden Broadway: SVU, which won yet another Drama Desk Award for Best Musical Revue in 2005. In 2006, the show was recognized with a Tony Honors Award, for being an integral part of the theatre community for over twenty-five years. Most recently, after a 3-year hiatus, a new edition, Forbidden Broadway: Alive and Kicking opened in New York garnering rave reviews once again from almost every media outlet (this time, The New York Times called it “a godsend”). The 2014 London edition 2015 Winter Program 47

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had a sell-out run at the Menier Chocolate Factory, followed by an extended move to London’s West End. As long as there’s a Broadway, Forbidden Broadway will be there, poking, prodding, teasing, pleasing, jeering and cheering, but always, with love.

The actors and stage managers employed in the production are members of Actors Equity Association, the union of professional actors and stage managers in the United States.

Tour Direction by AWA Partners 1650 Broadway, New York, NY 10019 212.586.7777 Cast Albums available on DRG records.

Gregory Porter with special guest Avery*Sunshine Continued from pg. 17

Liquid Spirit marks Gregory Porter’s Blue Note Records debut, which arrives on the heels of two critically acclaimed indie label albums that quickly propelled Porter to the upper echelon of contemporary male jazz singers and earned him two GRAMMY nominations. Don Was, President of Blue Note, encouraged Porter to stay true to his artistic vision. “I firmly consider myself a jazz singer but I enjoy blues, black southern soul, and gospel,” Porter says, “Those elements make their way inside my music. And I’ve always heard them in jazz.”

The singer retains the same core musicians that accompanied him on his previous two discs: pianist and music director, Chip Crawford, drummer Emanuel Harrold, bassist Aaron James, alto saxophonist Yosuke Sato, and tenor saxophonist Tivon Pennicott. On a few selections, Porter complements that ensemble with trumpeter Curtis Taylor and organist Glenn Patscha. Producer Brian Bacchus also returns, as well as arranger and associate producer Kamau Kenyatta.

Porter describes the making of Liquid Spirit as very organic. “I didn’t say, ‘OK, this is a Blue Note record, let me get a Freddie Hubbard sound,’” Porter explains, “I didn’t have

any agenda with this record.” Porter wields one of the most captivating baritone voices in music today. It emits enormous soul that conveys both the emotions and intellect of any given song without relying on vocal histrionics. In The New York Times, Nate Chinen wrote: “Gregory Porter has most of what you want in a male jazz singer, and maybe a thing or two you didn’t know you wanted.” Jazz singer Dee Dee Bridgewater praised Porter in the pages of JazzTimes by saying, “We haven’t had a male singer like him in a long time. He’s such a wonderful writer. He tells these great stories.”

Indeed Porter has an amazing gift for writing poignant songs based upon personal experiences with a relatable and emotional immediacy. Even more, his hooky melodies penetrate instantly. Recommencing with the water analogy that characterized his debut disc, Porter sees Liquid Spirit as a logical progression in his burgeoning discography as it touches on some of the same themes, particularly the highs and lows of romance, his childhood, and socio-political observations.

More pointedly, he views the title track - a rousing, hand-clapping gospel-jazz romp – as replenishing “thirsty” listeners with more substantial music. It’s the flipside to last year’s “Bling Bling,” a blistering song on his previous album, Be Good, in which the protagonist has so many artistic gifts to give but no one to give them to. In part, “Liquid Spirit” is based upon Porter’s reflections on new fans, worldwide, which come to him saying, “Where have you been?” or “How come I’ve never heard you before?” “Not saying that I am ‘what is,’ Porter says, “But I think maybe what I’m doing is what people actually want to hear. There are some people who want that liquid spirit – a soulful, thoughtful sound – and they haven’t been getting it.”

Similar sentiments occur on “Musical Genocide” and his riveting take on the Ramsey Lewis-Dobie Gray classic, “The ‘In’ Crowd.” On the former, Crawford hammers a dark rhythmic figure against James’ bluesy bass accompaniment while Porter declares his refusal to accept the quashing of quality, diverse music and culture by a mainstream that favors disposable, homogenized pop.

The latter track showcases Porter sauntering through a finger-popping groove as he

croons Billy Page’s lyrics about finally breaking into the big leagues of so-called A-listers.

“I did this song in a way of being ironic. I’m so inclusive; I’m so against exclusive groups,” Porter says, again reflecting on his ascending cosmopolitan fame. “Someone asked me recently if I felt like I was in the ‘in crowd’ of jazz. I answered, ‘yes and no.’” Liquid Spirit contains two other standards: a testifying reading of Abbey Lincoln and Max Roach’s “Lonesome Lover” and a pithy treatment of Sammy Cahn and Julie Styne’s “I Fall In Love Too Easily,” which features Porter alongside Crawford’s gorgeous piano accompaniment and James’s emphatic bass counterpart. “On each record, I try to pull something from the people who deeply influenced me. [‘Lonesome Lover’] is me giving some love to Abbey Lincoln,” Porter explains. Regarding “I Fall in Love Too Easily,” he reveals that it’s just one of those standards that speaks to him on a deeply personal level. “I can live in that song. It’s a hard song to sing but given my personality, I’m cool being vulnerable.”

Porter’s “heart-on-the-sleeves” lyrics play an integral role in his appeal. Somehow heartache fuels some of his most winning compositions. Such instances happen on the mistyeyed piano-duo “Water Under Bridges,” a lament dealing with challenges of shifting past a broken relationship. While “Movin’” boasts a peppy exterior thanks to its funky groove, the lyrics tells a different story as the protagonist tries to win back a fleeing lover.

Three of Liquid Spirit’s best, yet bruised, moments are “Wolf Cry,” “Brown Grass,” and “Hey Laura.” “Wolf Cry” is another piano-voice duo as Porter croons from the perspective of romantic martyr constantly comforting a friend who never reciprocates the amorous affections but instead routinely returns to a bad relationship. In the somber ballad, “Hey Laura,” Porter, on the brink of breakup, pleas for tenderness from a nonresponsive lover. In the melancholy “Brown Grass,” Porter admits to leaving a solid relationship for something that initially seemed more fulfilling but is quickly revealed to be the very opposite.

Romance’s sunnier side radiates in Porter’s carefree “Wind Song,” a subtly whimsical gem in which he sings of everlasting love, and in “No Love Dying,” in which Porter 2015 Winter Program 49

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The next great male jazz singer.

– NPR Music

gently declares his longstanding love regardless of unforeseeable bumps in the road.

impressed with the young singer that he decided to include Porter on the album.

Porter shares his socio-political insight in the startling ballad “When Love Was King,” a tribute to Dr. Martin Luther, Jr., as well as the gritty jazz-funk workout, “Free,” in which Porter reflects on the struggles of a working-class family that strives to make things better for their children.

Another fortunate twist of fate was the presence that day of Laws’s sister, Eloise, a singer who was soon to join the cast of the new musical theater production, It Ain’t Nothin’ But the Blues. Porter had minimal theatrical experience but was cast in one of the show’s lead roles when the play opened in Denver.

He eventually followed it to Off-Broadway and then Broadway, where The New York Times, in its 1999 rave review, mentioned Porter among the show’s “powerhouse line up of singers.” It Ain’t Nothin’ But the Blues went on to earn both Tony® and Drama Desk Award nominations that year.

Raised in California, Porter’s mother was a minister, and he cites the Bakersfield Southern Gospel sound, as well as his mother’s Nat King Cole record collection, as fundamental influences on his own sound. Porter began singing in small jazz clubs in San Diego while attending San Diego State University on a football scholarship, where he played outside linebacker. Eventually it was music that Porter chose to pursue full-time at the encouragement of local musicians including his mentor Kamau Kenyatta. Kenyatta invited Porter to visit him in the studio in Los Angeles, where he was producing flutist Hubert Laws’ album, Remember the Unforgettable Nat King Cole. When Laws overheard Porter singing along while he was tracking the Charlie Chaplin song “Smile,” he was so

Porter eventually put down roots in Brooklyn and in 2010 released his debut album, Water (Motéma Music), which earned a GRAMMY nomination for Best Jazz Vocal Album. His sophomore album, Be Good (Motéma Music), followed in 2012 and earned him his second GRAMMY nomination for Best Traditional R&B Performance. Despite having now recorded or shared the stage with the likes of Van Morrison, Wynton Marsalis, Herbie Hancock, Dianne Reeves, Nicola Conte, and

David Murray, Porter remains grounded and humbled by all the new accolades. “Sometimes I haven’t had a chance to absorb and enjoy some of the audiences that I’ve been in front of, especially some of the icons of the music like Wynton and Herbie,” Porter says, “And they give me so much open-arm love; I couldn’t fathom that two years ago.” With the release of Liquid Spirit, Porter’s soaring career will surely ascend even higher.

Avery*Sunshine is without a doubt one of the most dynamic voices on the creative music scene, known for her invigorating and combustible live performances, compelling and revealingly honest song writing, and impeccable instrument. The earthy and charming singer who has lent her vocals to the silver screen and collaborated with the likes of Roy Ayers, Will Downing, and Musiq Soulchild, has also lent her choral directing and choirs to a few of the live performances from Michael Bublé, David Foster, Anthony Hamilton, and Jennifer Holiday. In 2005 she lent her voice to the soundtrack for Paramount Pictures’ The Fighting Temptations, and she was hired as lead keyboardist for Tyler Perry’s stage play Meet the Browns. In 2007, she was sought out by GRAMMY and Tony Award®-win2015 Winter Program 51

ning vocal powerhouse Jennifer Holliday to be choral director for the theatrical production of Dreamgirls during the National Black Arts Festival in Atlanta. Avery*Sunshine has also had the distinction of performing at the Democratic National Convention in Denver, CO, and four private events during the 2009 Inauguration of President Barack Obama.

At home in a variety of musical contexts, she has also sung background for gospel icon Yolanda Adams.

The SunRoom is Avery*Sunshine’s 2nd full length. It’s one of those albums that transports you both musically and emotionally. From organic soulful in-thepocket grooves, sublime ballads, and exuberant up-tempo numbers, the vocals shine throughout. The production is tight, and the songwriting is authentic and thought provoking. All of the material on the CD was co-written by Avery*Sunshine and Dana “BigDane” Johnson with the exception of the gospel track “Safe In His Arms.” The musical roots of Avery*Sunshine run deep as their creative core has collectively been inspired by such diverse iconic figures as Nina Simone, Gladys Knight, The Doobie Brothers, Curtis Blow, B.B. King, and John Coltrane to Parliament & Funkadelic, The Clark Sisters, Madonna, Miles Davis, Earth, Wind & Fire, and James Brown.

With the release of The SunRoom, it is obvious that Avery*Sunshine and Dana “BigDane” Johnson are no ordinary stars and that their magnetic field of positivity has a gravitational pull that is destined to resonate with the masses. “Our mission is simple: to inspire and encourage people to pursue whatever their life calling is and to operate at the highest level of themselves through that calling - ultimately to #SHINE.”

Vijay Iyer Trio Continued from pg. 19

March 2014 marked the release of Mutations, Iyer’s eighteenth album and his debut for the prestigious ECM label: a recording for piano, string quartet and electronics, the first album to document his works for chamber ensembles. His previous release, Holding It Down: The Veterans’ Dreams Project (2013), is his third 52

Opening Nights Performing Arts

collaboration with poet Mike Ladd, based on the dreams of veterans of color from America’s wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. It was hailed as #1 Jazz Album of the Year by the Los Angeles Times and described in JazzTimes as “impassioned, haunting, [and] affecting.”

Two tremendously acclaimed and influential albums, Accelerando (2012) and Historicity (2009), both feature the Vijay Iyer Trio (Iyer, piano; Marcus Gilmore, drums; Stephan Crump, bass), recently described by PopMatters as “the best band in jazz.” Accelerando was voted #1 Jazz Album of the Year for 2012 in three separate critics polls surveying hundreds of critics worldwide, hosted by DownBeat, JazzTimes, and Rhapsody, respectively, and also was chosen as jazz album of the year

by NPR, the Los Angeles Times, PopMatters. com, and Amazon.com. Historicity was a 2010 Grammy Nominee for Best Instrumental Jazz

The Vijay Iyer Trio has the potential to alter the scope, ambition and language of jazz piano forever.

– Jazzwise (UK) Album, and was named #1 Jazz Album of 2009 in The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, the Chicago Tribune, the Detroit Metro Times, National Public Radio, PopMatters. com, the Village Voice Jazz Critics Poll, and the Downbeat International Critics Poll. The trio won the 2010 Echo Award for best international ensemble and the 2012 Downbeat Critics Poll for jazz group of the year.

Previously Iyer was voted the 2010 Musician of the Year by the Jazz Journalists Association and named one of 2011’s “50 Most Influential Global Indians” by GQ India. His other honors include the Greenfield Prize, the Alpert Award in the Arts, the New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship, the India Abroad Publisher’s Special Award for Excellence, and numerous composer commissions. Iyer’s many collaborators include

Steve Coleman, Wadada Leo Smith, Roscoe Mitchell, Butch Morris, George Lewis, Amina Claudine Myers, William Parker, Graham Haynes, Rudresh Mahanthappa, Rez Abbasi, Craig Taborn, Ambrose Akinmusire, Liberty Ellman, Steve Lehman, Matana Roberts, Tyshawn Sorey, Miya Masaoka, Pamela Z, John Zorn, Mari Kimura, Dead Prez, DJ Spooky, Himanshu Suri of Das Racist, High Priest of Antipop Consortium, Karsh Kale, Suphala, and Talvin Singh; filmmakers Haile Gerima, Prashant Bhargava, and Bill Morrison; choreographer Karole Armitage; and poets Mike Ladd, Amiri Baraka, Charles Simic, and Robert Pinsky. His compositions have been commissioned and performed

by Bang on a Can All-Stars, The Silk Road Ensemble, Ethel, Brentano String Quartet, JACK Quartet, American Composers Orchestra, Hermès Ensemble, International Contemporary Ensemble, and Imani Winds.

A polymath whose career has spanned the sciences, the humanities and the arts, Iyer received an interdisciplinary Ph.D. in the cognitive science of music from the University of California, Berkeley. He has published in Journal of Consciousness Studies, Wire, Music Perception, JazzTimes, Journal of the Society for American Music, Critical Studies in Improvisation, in the anthologies Arcana IV, Sound Unbound, Uptown Conversation, The Best Writing on Mathematics: 2010, and in the forthcoming Oxford Handbook of Critical Improvisation Studies.

Iyer has taught at Manhattan School of Music, New York University, and the New School, and he is the Director of The Banff Centre’s International Workshop in Jazz and Creative Music, an annual 3-week program in Alberta, Canada founded by Oscar Peterson. Iyer recently finished a multi-year residency with San Francisco Performances, performing and working with schools and community organizations. In 2014 he began a permanent appointment at Harvard University’s Department of Music, as the Franklin D. and Florence Rosenblatt Professor of the Arts.

Vijay Iyer is a Steinway Artist.

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Les Ballets Trockadero De Monte Carlo Continued from pg. 21

Le Lac Des Cygnes (Swan Lake, Act II) Music by Pytor Ilyich Tchaikovsky Choreography after Lev Ivanovich Ivanov Costumes by Mike Gonzales Decor by Jason Courson Lighting by Kip Marsh Swept up into the magical realm of swans (and birds), this elegiac phantasmagoria of variations and ensembles in line and music is the signature work of Les Ballets Trockadero.

The story of Odette, the beautiful princess turned into a swan by the evil sorcerer, and how she is nearly saved by the love of Prince Siegfried, was not so unusual a theme when Tchaikovsky first wrote his ballet in 1877–the metamorphosis of mortals to birds and visa versa occurs frequently in Russian folklore.

The original Swan Lake at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow was treated unsuccessfully; a year after Tchaikovsky’s death in 1893, the St. Petersburg Maryinsky Ballet produced the version we know today. Perhaps the world’s best known ballet, its appeal seems to stem from the mysterious and pathetic qualities of the heroine juxtaposed with the canonized glamour of 19th century Russian ballet.

Benno: Roland Deaulin (friend and confidant to) Prince Siegfried: Sergey Legupski (who falls in love with) Queen of the Swans: Lariska Dumbchenko Swans: Nadia Doumiafeyva, Minnie van Driver, Nina Immobilashvili, Sonia Leftova, Maria Paranova, Moussia Shebarkarova, Guzella Verbitskaya, and Doris Vidanya (all of whom got this way because of) Von Rothbart: Yuri Smirnov (an evil wizard who goes about turning girls into swans)

Pas de Deux or Modern Work

Paquita

to be Announced

Music by Ludwig Minkus

Go For Barocco Music by J.S. Bach Choreography by Peter Anastos Costumes by Mike Gonzales Lighting by Kip Marsh Stylistic heir to Balanchine’s Middle-BlueVerging-On-Black-and-White Period, this ballet has become a primer in identifying stark coolness and choreosymphonic delineation in the neo-new classic dance. It has been called a wristwatch for Balanchine clock-time.

First Movement (Moderato) Eugenia Repelskii and Doris Vidanya with Helen Highwaters, Colette Adae, Nina Immobilashvili, Maria Paranova Second Movement (Adagio) Eugenia Repelskii and Doris Vidanya Third Movement (Allegro) ALL INTERMISSION II

Choreography after Marius Petipa Staged by Elena Kunikova Costumes & decor by Mike Gonzales Lighting by Kip Marsh Paquita is a superb example of the French style as it was exported to Saint Petersburg in the late 19th Century. Paquita was originally a ballet-pantomime in two acts, choreographed by Joseph Mazillier, to music

by Ernest Deldevez. The story had a Spanish theme, with Carlotta Grisi (creator of Giselle) as a young woman kidnapped by gypsies, who saves a young and handsome officer from certain death. Premiering at the Paris Opera in 1846, the ballet was produced a year later in Russia by Marius Petipa. Petipa commissioned Ludwig Minkus, the composer of his two most recent successes (Don Quixote and La Bayadère), to write additional music in order to add a brilliant “divertissement” to Mazillier’s Paquita. Petipa choreographed for this a Pas de Trois and a Grand Pas de Deux in his characteristic style.

These soon became the bravura highlights of the evening - to the point that they are the only fragments of Paquita that have been preserved. The dancers display a range of choreographic fireworks, which exploit the virtuoso possibilities of academic classical dance, enriched by the unexpected combinations of steps.

Ballerina & Cavalier: Olga Supphozova with Vyacheslav Legupski Variations Variation 1 Alla Snizova Variation 2 Nina Immobilashvili Variation 3 Nadia Doumiafeyva Variation 4 Doris Vidanya Variation 5 Olga Supphozova

INTERMISSION I 2015 Winter Program 53

Company History Celebrating its 40th Anniversary season, Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo was founded in 1974 by a group of ballet enthusiasts for the purpose of presenting a playful, entertaining view of traditional, classical ballet in parody form and en travesti. Les Ballets Trockadero first performed in the late-late shows in Off-Off Broadway lofts. The Trocks, as they are affectionately known, quickly garnered a major critical essay by Arlene Croce in The New Yorker, and combined with reviews in The New York Times and The Village Voice, established the Company as an artistic and popular success. By mid 1975, the Trocks’ inspired blend of their loving knowledge of dance, their comic approach, and the astounding fact that men can, indeed, dance en pointe without falling flat on their faces, was being noted beyond New York. Articles and notices in publications such as Variety, Oui, The London Daily Telegraph, as well as a Richard Avedon photo essay in Vogue, made the Company nationally and internationally known.

The 1975-76 season was a year of growth and full professionalization. The Company found management, qualified for the National Endowment for the Arts Touring Program, and hired a full-time teacher and ballet mistress to oversee daily classes and rehearsals. Also in this season, they made their first extended tours of the United States and Canada.

Packing, unpacking, and repacking tutus and drops; stocking giant sized toe shoes by the case; and running for planes and chartered buses all became routine parts of life.

Since those beginnings, the Trocks have established themselves as a major dance phenomenon throughout the world. They have participated in dance festivals in Bodrum (Turkey), Bogota, Holland, Finland, San Luis Potosi, Madrid, Montreal, New York City, Paris, Lyon, Rome, Spoleto, Turin, and Vienna. There have been television appearances as varied as a Shirley MacLaine special, The Dick Cavett Show, What’s My Line?, Real People, On-Stage America, with Kermit and Miss Piggy on their show Muppet Babies, and a BBC Omnibus special on the world of ballet hosted by Jennifer Saunders. There have been solo specials on national networks in Japan and Germany, as well as a French

television special with Julia Migenes. A documentary was filmed and aired internationally by the acclaimed British arts program The South Bank Show. The Company was featured in the PBS program about arts in America, The Egg, winning an Emmy award for the director, and appeared in a segment of Nightline in December 2008. Several performances were taped by a consortium of Dutch, French, and Japanese TV networks at the Maison de la Danse in Lyon, France, for worldwide broadcast and DVD distribution.

Awards that the Trocks have won over the years include the Company Prize for Outstanding Repertoire (Classical) from the prestigious Critic’s Circle National Dance Awards (2007) (UK); the Theatrical Managers Award (2006) (UK); and the 2007 Positano Award (Italy) for excellence in dance. In December 2008, the Trocks appeared at the 80th anniversary Royal Variety Performance to aid the Entertainment Artistes’ Benevolent Fund in London, which was attended by members of the British royal family.

The Trocks’ numerous tours have been both popular and critical successes - their frenzied annual schedule has included ten tours to Australia and New Zealand, twenty eight to Japan (where their annual summer tours have created a nation-wide cult following and a fan club), nine to other parts of Asia, twelve to South America, three to South Africa, and seventy six tours of Europe, including twenty one tours of the United Kingdom. In the United States, the Company has become a regular part of the college and university circuit in addition to regular dance presentations in cities in 49 states. The Company has appeared in over 34 countries and over 600 cities worldwide since its founding in 1974.

Increasingly, the Company is presenting longer seasons, which have included extended engagements in New York City (at the Joyce Theater), Amsterdam, Athens, Auckland, Bangkok, Barcelona, Beijing, Berlin, Brisbane, Buenos Aires, Caracas, Cologne, Dusseldorf, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Hamburg, Hong Kong, Johannesburg, Leipzig, Lisbon, London, Lyon, Madrid, Melbourne, Moscow (at the famed Bolshoi Theater), Paris (at the Chatelet Theater and Folies Bergere), Perth, Rome, Singapore, Sydney, Tokyo, Vienna, and Wellington.

The Company continues to appear in benefits for international AIDS organizations such as DRA (Dancers Responding to AIDS) and Classical Action in New York City, the Life Ball in Vienna, Austria, Dancers for Life in Toronto, Canada, London’s Stonewall Gala, and Germany’s AIDS Tanz Gala. In addition, The Trocks have given, or participated in special benefit performances for Connecticut Ballet Theater, Ballet Hawaii, Indianapolis Ballet Theater, Rochester City Ballet, Dancers in Transition (NYC), Sadler’s Wells Theater in London, the Gay and Lesbian Community Center and Young Audiences / Arts for Learning Organization, and the Ali Forney Center, benefiting homeless gay youths in New York City. In 2009, the Trocks gave a benefit performance for Thailand’s Queen Sirikit’s Scholarship Fund in Bangkok, which helps finance schooling for children of impoverished Thai families.

The benefit helped raise over four hundred thousand dollars.

The original concept of Les Ballets Trockadero De Monte Carlo has not changed. It is a Company of professional male dancers performing the full range of the ballet and modern dance repertoire, including classical and original works in faithful renditions of the manners and conceits of those dance styles. The comedy is achieved by incorporating and exaggerating the foibles, accidents, and underlying incongruities of serious dance. The fact that men dance all the parts–heavy bodies delicately balancing on toes as swans, sylphs, water sprites, romantic princesses, angst-ridden Victorian ladies–enhances rather than mocks the spirit of dance as an art form, delighting and amusing the most knowledgeable, as well as novices, in the audiences. For the future, there are plans for new works in the repertoire: new cities, states and countries to perform in; and for the continuation of the Trocks’ original purpose: to bring the pleasure of dance to the widest possible audience. They will, as they have done for forty years, “Keep on Trockin’.”

Meet the Artists Colette Adae was orphaned at the age of three when her mother, a ballerina of some dubious distinction, impaled herself on the first violinist’s bow after a series of rath2015 Winter Program 55

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er uncontrolled fouetté voyage. Colette was raised and educated with the “rats” of the Opera House, but the trauma of her childhood never let her reach her full potential.

However, under the kind and watchful eye of the Trockadero, she has begun to flower and we are sure you will enjoy watching her growth.

Varvara Bratchikova, People’s Artist and Cat’s Meow, was educated at the Revanchist Institute. She began her career as Pistachia in V. Stolichnaya’s production of the The Nutcracker and achieved stardom as Odette/ Odile/Juliet/Giselle/Aurora in the famous Night of the 1000 Tsars. Her repertoire encompasses the works she appears in.

Nadia Doumiafeyva. No one who has seen Heliazpopkin will soon forget the spiritual athleticism of Nadia Doumiafeyva, a child of Caucasus who changed her name for show business reasons. Her fiery attack combined with lyric somnolence produces confusion in audiences the world over, especially when applied to ballet.

Minnie Van Driver. Always running from rehearsals, costume fittings, and perfor-

mances, Miss Van Driver has a strong sense of movement. She has performed worldwide and has a natural aptitude for touring. Famous for her beautiful port de bras, she gives credit to her many hours behind the wheel.

Lariska Dumbchenko. Before defecting to the West, Lariska’s supreme agility aroused the interest of the Russian space program and in 1962 she became the first ballerina to be shot into orbit. Hurtling through the stratosphere, she delivered handy make-up tips to an assembled crowd of celebrities back on earth, including the now legendary “Whitney Houston, we have a problem...”

Helen Highwaters has defected to America three times and been promptly returned on each occasion–for “artistic reasons.” Recently discovered “en omelette” at the Easter Egg Hunt in Washington, D.C., she was hired by the Trockadero, where her inexplicable rise to stardom answers the musical question: Who put the bop in the bop-shibop shibop?

Nina Immobilashvili, for more years than she cares to admit, has been the Great Terror of the international ballet world. The omniscient and ubiquitous Immobilashvili

is reputed to have extensive dossiers on every major dance figure, living and/or dead.

This amazing collection has assured her entry into the loftiest choreographic circles; the roles she has thus been able to create are too numerous to mention. We are honored to present this grand dame in her spectacular return to the ballet stage.

Sonia Leftova, “The Prune Danish of Russian Ballet,” abandoned an enormously successful career as a film actress to become a Trockadero ballerina. Her faithful fans, however, need not despair as most of her great films have been made into ballets: the searing Back to Back, the tear-filled Thighs and Blisters, and the immortal seven-part Screams from a Carriage. Because of her theatrical flair, Sonia has chosen to explore the more dramatic aspects of ballet, causing one critic to rename her Giselle, “What’s my Line?”

Ida Nevasayneva, socialist real ballerina of the working peoples everywhere, comes flushed from her triumphs at the Varna Festival, where she was awarded a specially created plastic medal for Bad Taste. Comrade Ida became known as a heroine of the Revolution when, after effortlessly bourrée-ing 2015 Winter Program 57

through a mine field, she lobbed a loaded toe shoe into a capitalist bank.

Maria Paranova’s remarkable life story, only now coming to light after 19 dark years in near hopeless conviction that she was Mamie Eisenhower, will never fully be told.

The discovery of her true identity (at a Republican fundraiser in Chicago) brought her to the attention of the Trockadero where she is slowly recovering her technical powers.

Yakatarina Verbosovich. Despite possessing a walk-in wardrobe so large that it has its own postal code, Yakatarina remains a true ballerina of the people. Indeed, she is so loved in her native Russia that in 1993 the grateful citizens of Minsk awarded to her the key to the city.

That might well have remained the “golden moment” of this great ballerina’s career, had they not subsequently changed the locks.

spare time to selling his new line of Michael Flatley Wigs on the QVC shopping channel.

Pepe Dufka. The ballet world was rocked to its foundations last month when Pepe Dufka sued 182 of New York’s most ardent ballet lovers for loss of earnings. Mr. Dufka claims that nineteen years of constant exposure to rotten fruit and vegetables has led to painful and prolonged bouts of leafmould, cabbage root fly, and bottom end rot. Sadly, this historic court case comes too late for a former colleague, whose legs were recently crushed by a genetically modified avocado; he will never dance again.

Doris Vidanya. The legendary Doris Vidanya first achieved recognition as a child performer, appearing with the famous Steppe Brothers in the world premiere of Dyspepsiana (based on an unfinished paragraph by M. Gorki). As a favorite of Nicholas, Alexandra, Olga, Tatiana, Maria, Anastasia, and the czarevich, La Effhrvia, as she is known to her admirers, was compelled to flee St. Petersburg disguised as a Karsky shashlik. Upon arrival in the New World, she established herself as the Prima Ballerina Assoluta de Kalamazoo, a title she still retains.

Stanislas Kokitch. “The Forgotten Man” of ballet, is hardly ever mentioned in reviews by critics or in discussions by devoted balletomanes despite having created several important roles in now forgotten ballets. He is the author of The Tragedy of My Life, an autobiography not at all reliable.

Alla Snizova enjoyed great success as a baby ballerina at the mere age of 9. Being a child prodigy, she developed serious allergy problems and could only perform short pieces.

Known as the “little orphan,” Miss Snizova joined the Trockadero on tour, appearing cloaked in an enigma (complete with zipout lining). A consummate actress, she has danced the part of Little Miss Markova and the title role of Glinka’s Popoy the Sailor Man.

Tatiana Youbetyabootskaya comes to the ballet stage after her hair-raising escape from the successful (but not terribly tasteful) overthrow of her country’s glamorous government. She made a counter-revolutionary figure of herself when she was arrested for single-handedly storming the People’s Museum, where her fabulous collection of jewels was being insensitively displayed alongside a machine gun. The resilient Madame Youbetyabootskaya is currently the proprietress of American’s only mail-order course in classical ballet.

Andrei Leftov, “The Prune Danish of Russian Ballet,” abandoned an enormously successful career as a film actor to become a Trockadero premier danseur. His faithful fans, however, need not despair as most of his great films have been made into ballets: the searing Back to Back, the tearfilled Thighs and Blisters, and the immortal seven-part Screams from a Carriage. Because of his theatrical flair, Andrei has chosen to explore the more dramatic aspects of ballet, causing one critic to rename his Siegfried, “What’s my Line?”

Olga Supphozova made her first public appearance in a KGB line-up under dubious circumstances. After a seven-year-to-life hiatus, she now returns to her adoring fans.

When questioned about her forced sabbatical, Olga’s only comment was “I did it for Art’s sake.” Art, however, said nothing.

Jacques d’Aniels was originally trained as an astronaut before entering the world of ballet.

Strong but flexible, good natured but dedicated, sensible but not given to unbelievable flights of fantastic behavior, Mr. d’Aniels is an expert on recovering from ballet injuries (including the dread “Pavlova’s clavicle”).

Guzella Verbitskaya. Guzella was born on a locomotive speeding through the Ural Mountains. As a teenager, she quickly realized the limitations of her native folk dancing and quaint handicrafts. After her arrival in America, she learned everything she now knows about ballet from a seminar entitled “Evil Fairies on the Periphery of the Classical Dance.”

Ilya Bobovnikov, the recipient of the Jean de Brienne Award, is particularly identified for his Rabelaisian ballet technique. A revolutionary in the art of partnering, he was the first to introduce Krazy Glue to stop supported pirouettes.

The Legupski Brothers Araf, Marat, Sergey, Vladimir and Vyacheslav are not really brothers, nor are their names really Araf, Marat, Sergey, Vladimir or Vyacheslav, nor are they real Russians, nor can they tell the difference between a pirouette and a jeté... but...well...they do move about rather nicely...and...they fit into the costumes.

Eugenia Repelskii. The secrets of Mme Repelskii’s beginnings lie behind the Kremlin wall. In fact, no fewer than six lie in the wall (in jars of assorted sizes). Dancing lightly over pogroms and other sordid reorganizational measures, Eugenia has emerged as a ballerina nonpareil whose pungency is indisputable.

Moussia Shebarkarova. A celebrated child prodigy back in the Brezhnev era, Shebarkarova astounded her parents at the age of two by taking a correspondence course in ballet.

Sadly, due to the unreliable Russian postal system, she has only just graduated.

58

Opening Nights Performing Arts

Roland Deaulin. Having invented the concept of the “bad hair year” or “annus hairibilis,” French born Roland now devotes his

Mikhail Mudkin, the famed Russian danseur for whom the word “Bolshoi” was coined, comes to American from his triumphs as understudy to a famous impresario in the role of The Bear in Petrushka.

Boris Nowitsky has been with the greatest ballerinas of our time - he has even danced

with some of them. One of the first defective Russian male stars, he left the motherland for purely capitalistic reasons. Amazingly, between his appearances on television and Broadway, in movies, commercials, magazines, special events, and women’s nylons, he occasionally still has time to dance.

Velour Pilleaux, whose political adaptability saw him through two world wars and numerous police actions, comes to America in conjunction with the release of his tenth cookbook, “Ma Brie.” When asked by an American reporter to describe his most exciting experience in ballet, M. Pilleaux referred to pages 48-55: the night he danced the Rose Adagio (en travesti) in Buenos Aires with four political figures, the names of whom he assured us we would recognize.

Yuri Smirnov. At sixteen, Yuri ran away from home and joined the Kirov Opera because he thought Borodin was a prescription barbiturate.

Luckily for the Trockadero, he soon discovered that he didn’t know his arias from his elbow, and decided to become a ballet star instead.

Innokenti Smoktumuchsky is known only to the most cultured and refined balletomanes in the dark alleyways of St. Petersburg. Originally a promising dancer-choreographer, his only ballet, Le Dernier Mohicain, was stolen by the director of the company. In severe depression and shock, he burned his ballet slippers and fled to the sewers, only to surface these forty years later.

Kravlji Snepek comes to the Trockadero from his split level birthplace in Siberia, where he excelled in toe, tap, acrobatic, and Hawaiian. This good natured Slav is famous for his breathtaking technique - a blend of froth and frou-frou, centered on a spine of steel, painfully acquired at the hands and feet of his teacher, Glib Generalization, who has already trained many able dancers. As an artist in the classical, heroic, tragic mold, young Kravlji wrenched the hearts of all who saw him dance Harlene, the Goat Roper in The Best Little Dacha in Sverdlovsk.

William Vanilla. Despite the fact that he is American, he is very popular within the company. He is extremely personable, the ballerinas very much enjoy dancing with him, the

management finds him agreeable, his costumes are never soiled, his fans admire his directness, he photographs well, he keeps regular hours, brushes his teeth after every meal, and he has never said a bad word about anybody. He will never really understand Russian ballet.

Dancers Olga Supphozova & Yuri Smirnov, Robert Carter Moussia Shebarkarova & Vyacheslav Legupski, Paolo Cervellera Sonia Leftova & Andrei Leftov, Boysie Dikobe (on leave) Guzella Verbitskaya & Mikhail Mudkin, Jack Furlong, Jr. (on leave) Ida Nevasayneva & Velour Pilleaux, Paul Ghiselin Varvara Bratchikova & Sergey Legupski, Giovanni Goffredo Helen Highwaters & Vladimir Legupski, Duane Gosa Alla Snizova & Innokenti Smoktumuchsky, Carlos Hopuy Yakatarina Verbosovich & Roland Deaulin, Chase Johnsey Tatiana Youbetyoubootskaya & Araf Legupski, Laszlo Major Nadia Doumiafeyva & Kravlji Snepek, Philip Martin-Nielson Lariska Dumbchenko & Pepe Dufka, Raffaele Morra Colette Adae & Marat Legupski, Christopher Ouellette Doris Vidanya & Ilya Bobovnikov, Matthew Poppe Nina Immobilashvili & Stanislas Kokitch, Alberto Pretto Maria Paranova & Boris Nowitsky, Carlos Renedo Eugenia Repelskii & Jacques d’Aniels, Joshua Thake Minnie van Driver & William Vanilla, Matthew Van (on leave)

Company Staff Director, Tory Dobrin Associate Director / Production Manager, Isabel Martinez Rivera General Manager, Liz Harler

Ballet Master, Paul Ghiselin Associate Ballet Master, Raffaele Morra Lighting Supervisor, Emily McGillicuddy Wardrobe Supervisor, Ryan Hanson Associate Production Manager, Barbara Domue Development Manager, Lauren Gibbs Costume Designer, Kenneth Busbin General Director (emeritus), Eugene McDougle Costume Designer (emeritus), Mike Gonzales Company Archivist (emeritus), Anne Dore Davids Stylistic Guru, Marius Petipa Program Notes, P. Anastos, et al.

Orthopedic Consultant, Dr. David S. Weiss Photographers, Zoran Jelenic & Sascha Vaughan

Company Biographies Robert Carter, birthplace: Charleston, SC. Training: Robert Ivey Ballet School, Joffrey Ballet School. Joined Trockadero: November 1995. Previous companies: Florence Civic Ballet, Dance Theater of Harlem Ensemble, Bay Ballet Theater.

Paolo Cervellera, birthplace: Putignano (Bari), Italy. Training: San Carlo Opera House Ballet School. Joined Trockadero: November 2012. Previous company: San Carlo Opera House Ballet Company, Naples Italy.

Boysie Dikobe (on leave), birthplace: Brits, South Africa. Training: South African Ballet Theatre School, The National School of the Arts, The Washington School of Ballet.

Joined Trockadero: February 2011. Previous companies: South African Ballet Theatre, Cape Town City Ballet.

Jack Furlong, Jr. (on leave), birthplace: Boston, MA. Training: Valentina Kozlova. Joined Trockadero: September 2014. Previous company: Quark Contemporary Dance Theater.

Paul Ghiselin, birthplace: Chapel Hill, NC. Training: Tidewater Ballet Academy, Joffrey Ballet School. Joined Trockadero: May 1995. Previous companies: Ohio Ballet, Festival Ballet of Rhode Island.

Giovanni Goffredo, birthplace: Noci, Italy.

Training: Ballett-Akademie Munchen, La 2015 Winter Program 59

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Scala Opera Ballet School. Joined Trockadero: October 2013. Previous companies: DeMa Dance Company, Peridance Contemporary Dance Company.

Duane Gosa, birthplace: Chicago, IL. Training: University of Akron, Ailey School.

Joined Trockadero; September 2013. Previous companies: Jennifer Muller/The Works, Brooklyn Ballet, The Love Show.

Carlos Hopuy, birthplace: Havana, Cuba.

Training: Escuela Nacional de Arte, Havana.

Joined Trockadero: February, 2012. Previous companies: National Ballet of Cuba, National Ballet of Costa Rica, Ballet San Antonio.

Awards: International Ballet Competitions in Havana (Gold medalist 1999, 2001, 2002) Nagoya (Gold medalist 2002), and Jackson, Mississippi (finalist, 2010).

Chase Johnsey, birthplace: Winter Haven, FL. Training: Harrison Arts Center, Virginia School of the Arts. Joined Trockadero: April 2004. Previous company: Florida Dance Theatre. Named Dance Magazine’s 25 to Watch in 2008.

Laszlo Major, birthplace: Mosonmagyaròvàr, Hungary. Training: Györ Dance and Art School. Joined Trockadero: September 2014. Previous companies: North Carolina Dance Theater, Atlantic City Ballet, Compagnie Pàl Frenàk.

Philip Martin-Nielson, birthplace: Middletown, NY. Training: Natasha Bar School of American Ballet, Chautauqua Institution of Dance. Joined Trockadero: September 2012 Previous company: North Carolina Dance Theater.

Raffaele Morra, birthplace: Fossano, Italy.

Training: Estudio de Danzas (Mirta & Marcelo Aulicio), Accademia Regionale di Danza del Teatro Nuovo di Torino. Joined Trockadero: May 2001. Previous company: Compagnia di Danza Teatro Nuovo di Torino.

of Ballet Arizona. Joined Trockadero: June 2014. Previous companies: Boston Ballet, Ballet Arizona.

Alberto Pretto, birthplace: Vicenza, Italy. Training: Academie de Danse Classique Princesse Grace, Monaco. Joined Trockadero: February 2011. Previous companies: English National Ballet, Stadttheater Koblenz.

Carlos Renedo, birthplace: Barcelona, Spain. Training: Jorge Fdez-Hidalgo Estudi de Dansa Barcelona, Steps on Broadway (NYC). Joined Trockadero: February 2012.

Previous companies: Metropolitan Opera Ballet, Steps Ensemble, Rebecca Kelly Ballet.

Joshua Thake, birthplace: Providence, RI. Training: Boston Ballet School, San Francisco Ballet School, Brae Crest School of Classical Ballet. Joined Trockadero: November 2011. Previous company: Man Dance Company of San Francisco.

Matthew Van (on leave), birthplace: Sydney, Australia. Training: Ellison Ballet School, New York, NY. Joined Trockadero: May 2014.

Previous company: The Metropolitan Opera.

Les Ballets Trockadero De Monte Carlo, Inc. is a nonprofit dance company chartered by the State of New York. Vaughan de Kirby, president; Lucille Lewis Johnson, vice-president; Tory Dobrin, secretary/treasurer. All contributions are tax-deductible as provided by law.

Les Ballets Trockadero De Monte Carlo P.O. Box 1325, Gracie Station New York City, NY 10028 trockadero.org Special thanks to the following institutions and individuals for their generosity and support during The Trocks’ 40th Anniversary Season:

Christopher Ouellette, birthplace: San Francisco, CA. Training: San Francisco Ballet School. Joined Trockadero: May 2014. Previous company: Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre.

The Harkness Foundations for Dance The SHS Foundation The Joyce Theater Foundation Theodore S. Bartwink, Hilda Kraker, and Heather Knight, Stephanie Webb, Ludmila Raianova and Jenny Palmer and Lina Yang of IMG Artists.

Matthew Poppe, birthplace: Phoenix, AZ. Training: School of American Ballet, School

Music for Swan Lake, Go for Barocco, and Paquita is conducted by Pierre Michel Du-

rand with the Czech Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra, Pavel Prantl, Leader.

International Booking Liz Harler, General Manager liz.harler@gmail.com USA/Canada Booking IMG Artists Carnegie Hall Tower 7 West 54th Street New York, NY 10019 212.994.3500 phone 212.994.3550 fax imgartists.com

The Knights with Béla Fleck Continued from pg. 23

Béla Fleck is often considered the premier banjo player in the world. Others claim that Béla has virtually reinvented the image and the sound of the banjo through a remarkable performing and recording career that has taken him all over the musical map and on a range of solo projects and collaborations.

If you are familiar with Béla, you know that he just loves to play the banjo and put it into unique settings.

Born and raised in New York City, Béla began his musical career playing the guitar. In the early 1960’s, while watching the Beverly Hillbillies, the bluegrass sounds of Flatt & Scruggs flowed out of the TV set and into his young brain. Earl Scruggs’ banjo style hooked Béla’s interest immediately. “It was like sparks going off in my head,” he later said.

It wasn’t until his grandfather bought him a banjo in September of ‘73, that it became his full time passion. That week, Béla entered New York City’s High School of Music and Art. He began studies on the French horn but was soon demoted to the chorus, due his lack of musical aptitude. Since the banjo wasn’t an offered elective at Music & Art, Béla sought lessons through outside sources. Erik Darling, Marc Horowitz, and Tony Trischka stepped up and filled the job. Béla joined his first band, Wicker’s Creek, during this period. Living in NYC, Béla was exposed to a 2015 Winter Program 61

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wide variety of musical experiences. One of the most impressive was a concert by Return to Forever featuring Chick Corea and Stanley Clarke. This concert encouraged further experimenting with bebop and jazz on the banjo, signs of things to come.

Several months after high school, Béla moved to Boston to play with Jack Tottle’s Tasty Licks. While in Boston, Béla continued his jazz explorations, made two albums with Tasty Licks, and at 19 years old made his first solo banjo album, Crossing the Tracks, on Rounder Records. This is where he first played with future musical partners Sam Bush and Jerry Douglas.

After the break up of Tasty Licks, Béla spent a summer on the streets of Boston playing with bass player, Mark Schatz. Mark and Béla moved to Lexington, KY, to form Spectrum, which included Jimmy Gaudreau, Glen Lawson, and Jimmy Mattingly. Spectrum toured until 1981. While in Spectrum, he and Mark traveled to California and Nashville to record his second album, Natural Bridge, with David Grisman, Mark O’Connor, Ricky Skaggs, Darol Anger, Mike Marshall, and other great players.

In 1981, Béla was invited to join the progressive bluegrass band New Grass Revival, lead

by Sam Bush on mandolin, fiddle, and vocals.

With the addition of Pat Flynn on guitar and NGR veteran John Cowan on bass and vocals, New Grass Revival took bluegrass music to new limits, exciting audiences and critics alike. Through the course of five albums, they charted new territory with their blend of bluegrass, rock and country music. The relentless national and international touring

by NGR exposed Béla’s banjo playing to the bluegrass/acoustic music world.

During the 9 years Béla spent with NGR, he continued to record a series of solo albums for Rounder, including the ground breaking 1988 album Drive. He also collaborated with Sam Bush, Jerry Douglas, Edgar Meyer, and Mark O’Connor in an acoustic super group called Strength in Numbers. The MCA release, The Telluride Sessions, is also considered an evolutionary statement by the acoustic music community. Towards the end of the New Grass years, Béla and Howard

Levy crossed paths at the Winnipeg Folk Festival. Next came a phone call from a friend who wanted to introduce him to an amazing bass player. Victor Lemonte Wooten played some licks on the phone for Béla and the second connection was made. In 1988 Dick Van Kleek, Artistic Director for the PBS Lonesome Pine Series based in Louisville, Kentucky, offered Béla a solo show.

Béla put several musical sounds together with his banjo, a string quartet, his Macintosh computer, and also the more jazz based combo.

Howard and Victor signed on for the concert, but the group still lacked a drummer.

The search was on for an unusual drummer/ percussionist. Victor offered up his brother Roy Wooten, later to become known as FutureMan. Roy was developing the Drumitar (Drum - Guitar), and it was then in its infancy.

A midi trigger device, the Drumitar allowed FutureMan to play the drums with his fingers triggering various sampled sounds. The first rehearsal held at Béla’s Nashville home was hampered by a strong thunderstorm that knocked the electricity out for hours. The four continued on with an acoustic rehearsal and the last slot on the TV show became the first performance of Béla Fleck and the Flecktones.

Next came the self-titled CD, which Béla financed himself. The recording attracted the attention of the folks at Warner Brothers Records. It was released in 1990, dubbed a “blubop” mix of jazz and bluegrass, and soon became a commercially successful disc. The album was Grammy nominated, and their second recording, Flight of the Cosmic Hippo, followed suit. Howard Levy toured and recorded with the Flecktones until the end of 1992. After several years as a trio and touring with special guests, saxophonist Jeff Coffin joined the Tones. Famed for a non-stop touring schedule, the Flecktones have reached more than 500,000 audience members yearly from 2001 on.

Still releasing albums and touring, the Tones have garnered a strong and faithful following among jazz and new acoustic fans. They have shared the stage with Dave Mathews Band, Sting, Bonnie Raitt and the Grateful Dead, among many others, and made several appearances on The Tonight Show in the Johnny Carson days and the Jay Leno days, as well as Arsenio Hall and Conan O’Brian.

Béla also appeared on Saturday Night Live and Late Night with David Letterman.

Although the first Flecktones albums were created live-in-the-studio, the group went on to experiment with overdubs and guest artists on later albums, with contributions from artists as diverse as Chick Corea, Bruce Hornsby, Branford Marsalis, John Medeski, Andy Statman, the Alash Group, and Dave Matthews. The Flecktones went on tour with Dave Matthews Band in 1996 and 1997, and Fleck is featured on several tracks on DMB’s 1998 album Before these Crowded Streets. In 2003, Béla Fleck & the Flecktones released the landmark three-disc set Little Worlds simultaneously with a highlights disc entitled Ten From Little Worlds. In 2006 the band released The Hidden Land, which won the Grammy for Best Contemporary Jazz Album in 2007. In 2008 the band released a holiday album, Jingle All The Way, which won a Grammy in 2009 for Best Pop Instrumental Album.

Any world-class musician born with the names Béla (for Bartok), Anton (for Dvorak) and Léos (for Janacek) would seem destined to play classical music. Already a powerfully creative force in bluegrass, jazz, pop, rock and world beat, Béla at last made the classical connection with Perpetual Motion, his critically acclaimed 2001 Sony Classical recording that went on to win a pair of Grammys, including Best Classical Crossover Album, at the 44th annual Grammy Awards.

Collaborating with Fleck on Perpetual Motion was his long time friend and colleague, Edgar Meyer, a bassist whose virtuosity defies labels and also an acclaimed composer.

In the wake of that album’s release, Fleck & Meyer came up with the idea of a banjo/bass duo, which they developed and refined during a concert tour of the US. Live recordings from that tour are the basis for their latest Sony Classical recording Music For Two which also includes a bonus DVD featuring a documentary film by Sascha Paladino (Fleck’s brother) that captures the duo’s collaboration and crafting of repertoire while on tour. Béla and Edgar also co-wrote and performed a double concerto for banjo, bass, and the Nashville Symphony, which debuted in November 2003.

2015 Winter Program 63

rectors of The Knights, with Eric Jacobsen as conductor. In December 2012, the Jacobsens were selected from among the nation’s top visual, performing, media, and literary artists to receive a prestigious United States Artists Fellowship.

The Knights’ roster boasts remarkably diverse talents, including composers, arrangers, singer-songwriters, and improvisers, who bring a range of cultural influences to the group, from jazz and klezmer to pop and indie rock music. The unique camaraderie within the group retains the intimacy and spontaneity of chamber music in performance.

Photo: Sarah Small

Béla Fleck has won 14 Grammys and 30 nominations since 1998. He has been nominated in more different categories than anyone in Grammy history.

Mr. Fleck is represented by Opus 3 Artists.

The Knights The Knights are an orchestral collective, flexible in size and repertory, dedicated to transforming the concert experience. Engaging listeners and defying boundaries with programs that showcase the players’ roots in the classical tradition and passion for musical discovery, The Knights have, as the New Yorker observes, “become one of Brooklyn’s sterling cultural products, [and] are known far beyond the borough for their relaxed virtuosity and expansive repertory.”

The Knights’ 2014-15 season kicks off with a performance at Brooklyn’s Roulette, marking the first of a series of New York City residencies to be undertaken by the group over the next three seasons with support from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Other highlights include the Caramoor Fall Festival, where The Knights serve as curators and give three performances featuring saxophonist Joshua Redman and violinist Gil Shaham; the ensemble’s debut at Carnegie Hall in the New York premiere 64

Opening Nights Performing Arts

of the Steven Stucky/Jeremy Denk opera, The Classical Style; a collaboration with The National’s Bryce Dessner, broadcast on WNYC’s New Sounds Live; and a residency at the University of Georgia. In the new year, The Knights tour the East Coast with banjo virtuoso Béla Fleck before embarking on a European tour with soprano Dawn Upshaw, featuring performances in Salzburg, Baden-Baden, Darmstadt, and at Vienna’s legendary Musikverein.

Recent season highlights include The Knights’ debut at the Tanglewood and Ojai Music Festivals, and collaborations with Yo-Yo Ma, Itzhak Perlman, Dawn Upshaw, Jeremy Denk, the Mark Morris Dance Group, the Joshua Redman Quartet, santur player Siamak Aghaei, and pipa virtuoso Wu Man, and the creation of the ensemble’s first original group composition. Recordings include an all-Beethoven disc released in January 2013 by Sony Classical (their third project with the label), and 2012’s “smartly programmed” (NPR) A Second of Silence for Ancalagon.

The Knights evolved from late-night chamber music reading parties with friends at the home of violinist Colin Jacobsen and cellist Eric Jacobsen. The Jacobsen brothers, who are also founding members of the string quartet Brooklyn Rider, serve as artistic di-

The Time Jumpers Continued from pg. 25

As word spread along Music Row that something special was happening at Station Inn, big stars began dropping by, some to sit in with the band, others just to enjoy the vast array of country, swing, jazz, and pop standards The Time Jumpers rejoiced in playing.

Among those drop-bys were Bonnie Raitt, Reba McEntire, Norah Jones, Robert Plant, The White Stripes, Kings Of Leon, Jimmy Buffet, and Kelly Clarkson. None asked for their money back.

The current edition of The Time Jumpers includes 11 members, each a master of his (and, in one case, her) instrument. Alphabetically—which is the only diplomatic way to present such a phalanx of evenly matched talent—they are Dennis Crouch (upright bass), Larry Franklin (fiddle), Paul Franklin (steel guitar), Vince Gill (vocals, electric and acoustic guitars), “Ranger Doug” Green (vocals, acoustic rhythm guitar), Andy Reiss (electric guitar), Kenny Sears (vocals, fiddle), Joe Spivey (fiddle, vocals) Jeff Taylor (accordion, piano) and Billy Thomas (drums, vocals).

To list the artists these pickers have recorded and toured with would be tantamount to posting all the Billboard country charts for the

past 30 years. Suffice it to say that the list ranges from Ray Price to John Anderson to Carrie Underwood. And the stages these luminaries have graced extend from the Grand Ole Opry to Carnegie Hall. That there are three fiddles in the band is a tipoff that these guys have an overwhelming affection for western swing.

The Time Jumpers—the band’s new and first album for Rounder Records—is also the group’s first studio project. Their live album—Jumpin’ Time, released in 2007— earned them two Grammy nominations and a high-profile segment on National Public Radio’s All Things Considered. The new Rounder album reveals a side of The Time Jumpers that’s largely gone unheralded— that is the members’ ability to write vivid new songs in the stylistic vein of the standards they love to perform, whether they’re breezy, euphoric dance tunes or mournful testimonies to the destructive power of love.

Let’s start with Larry Franklin’s fiddle fantasia, “Texoma Bound.” Talk about music made visible! You can almost see tiny figures skipping along the tips of ocean waves as the three fiddles race along at breakneck speed, sometimes in unison, sometimes veering away from formation like the Blue Angels in flight. Jeff Taylor’s accordion flourishes give the fiddles a run for their money. Even Bob Wills would have been dazzled by this one.

Kenny Sears’ “Nothing but the Blues” turns a purely personal problem into a danceable moment as he bemoans a lover gone astray, a situation complicated by his best friend who’s giving her comfort. Depression never sounded so good.

“Ranger Doug” Green—“the idol of American youth” in his customary role as front man for Riders In The Sky—channels the sounds and imagery of Sons of the Pioneers in his “Ridin’ on the Rio,” the tale of a wandering cowboy and the senorita who waits for him back home.

Vince Gill, the 20-time Grammy winner and member of the Country Music Hall of Fame and the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame, contributes five songs. “Faint of Heart” is a smooth, smoky, jazz-inflected rumination on the theme that love takes real commit-

ment and stamina. “The Woman of My Dreams” ponders the irreplaceable loss of the ideal lover, a bleak mood further darkened

by Paul Franklin’s mournful steel guitar.

Sadder still is “New Star over Texas,” in which the singer sees in the night sky a sign of the loved one whom “only heaven” could have taken from him-and did. “Three Sides to Every Story” acknowledges the complex reasons a relationship goes, observing that in each situation there’s “your side, my side, and the truth.” Gill turns flirtatious, however, in the bouncy “On the Outskirts of Town,” inviting a lady of some experience to join him in the myriad delights of the Twilight Roadhouse, where “they love to play the jukebox loud.” It’s quite an impressive sales pitch.

The three remaining songs are from outside the band. Mundo Earwood’s “Texas on a Saturday Night” features Kenny and Dawn singing alternating verses and paints such an irresistible picture of good times that you’d think it was commissioned by the Texas Chamber of Commerce.

Johnny Mercer and Robert Emmet Dolan’s “Yodel Blues” is a perfect showcase for the vocal gymnastics of Ranger Doug, Dawn, and Vince as they contrast the differences between the New York City and Texas ways of life. There’s no surprise as to which locale comes out on top.

Harlan Howard and Bill Hervey’s “Someone Had to Teach You” was recorded earlier by George Strait and Wade Hayes. Here Dawn gives the song a decidedly feminine twist in which it’s the man—not the woman—who has to be taught how to cry. It’s a fitting way to wrap up this extraordinary album.

In the spring of 2012, The Time Jumpers departed their beloved ancestral home at the Station Inn to provide more seating for their fans at the substantially larger 3rd & Lindsley nightclub near downtown Nashville. So if you’re in Music City on a Monday night, please swing by. You never know who else will be there. But you can always be sure the music will be spectacular.

Drummer Billy Thomas is the newest member of The Time Jumpers. He came to

Nashville from Los Angeles in 1987 and immediately began working with Vince Gill.

He has been a member of Gill’s touring band ever since and regularly sings and plays on Gill’s records. Besides his musical labors for Gill, Thomas has also recorded and/or toured with Patty Loveless, Emmylou Harris, Steve Wariner, Marty Stuart, Ricky Nelson, Don Williams, Earl Scruggs, and Dolly Parton.

During the early ‘90s, Thomas was a founding member of the MCA Records trio, McBride & The Ride. The band’s Top 10 singles included “Sacred Ground,” “Going Out of My Mind,” “Just One Night” and “Love on the Loose, Heart on the Run.” Thomas’ songs have been recorded by McBride & The Ride, Gill, Dottie West, Little River Band, Ricochet, the Oak Ridge Boys, and Andy Griggs, among others.

The Time Jumpers welcome Brad Albin as their newest member! Originally from Illinois, upright and electric bassist Brad Albin has been playing professionally for twenty-seven years, the last seventeen of which have been in Nashville, Tennessee. As the newest member of the Grammy-nominated band The Time Jumpers, Albin also maintains a busy schedule as a performer on recording sessions, live performances, and as a teacher. A few notable country artists that he has toured and/or recorded with include Mandy Barnett, Joe Nichols, Jim Lauderdale, and the Sons of the Pioneers. Albin is also very active performing in Nashville’s Musical Theatre community, including productions for the Tennessee Repertory Theater, Nashville Children’s Theatre, and Ryman Auditorium. He resides in East Nashville with his wife, Jenny, of Doyle & Debbie fame. He received his Bachelor of Music from Southern Illinois University in 1990.

Larry Franklin grew up on a farm in Whitewright, Texas, and began playing the fiddle when he was seven years old under the guidance of his father, Louis Franklin.

He eventually won virtually every fiddling contest in Texas, culminating with the World Championship title when he was only l6. After a three-year stint in the Army, he co-founded the Cooder Browne Band, which recorded on Willie Nelson’s Lone Star label and toured with Nelson. Franklin went on to perform with Asleep at the 2015 Winter Program 65

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Wheel for seven years, during which time he won two Grammys. His third Grammy came in 1999 for “Bob’s Breakdown” on the Ride With Bob tribute album to Bob Wills.

Since moving to Nashville in 1991, he has recorded with Kenny Chesney, Grace Potter, Randy Travis, Alan Jackson, Loretta Lynn, Vince Gill, Lauren Alaina, Rodney Atkins, Joe Nichols, Lee Ann Womack, Easton Corbin, Brian Wilson, Reba McEntire, Shania Twain, and Lady Antebellum, among dozens of others.

Oklahoma-born Vince Gill has performed with The Time Jumpers for many years but only became an official member in 2010. A member of the Country Music Hall of Fame since 2007, Gill is widely recognized for his achingly beautiful tenor voice, award-winning songwriting skills, and virtuoso guitar chops. Together, these talents have yielded him millions of album sales, 20 Grammys, and 18 CMA Awards. In 2005, he was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame. Gill is also regarded as one of country music’s most generous humanitarians, beloved for participating in countless charitable events throughout his career, including All for the Hall, the campaign to support the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum. He was the Museum’s artist in residence in 2009. Gill has recorded with scores—possibly hundreds—of performers in all genres of music, among them Eric Clapton, Keb Mo, Barbra Streisand, Joe Bonamossa, Elvis Costello, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Bill Gaither, Steve Martin, Rita Wilson, George Jones, and Charlie Haden.

eral Jackson showboat, The Skaggs Family Christmas Tour, and many appearances on the Grand Ole Opry backing numerous artists. He has recorded with Elvis Costello, Paul Simon, Harry Connick Jr., Keith and Kristyn Getty, Amy Grant, George Strait, The Chieftains, Martina McBride, Buddy Greene, Vince Gill, and Ricky Skaggs. He was a featured artist on the Ricky Skagg’s and Kentucky Thunder Instrumentals CD that won a Grammy in 2007 for Best Bluegrass Album. Besides excelling on accordion and piano, he also shines on the concertina, penny whistle, mandolin, and bouzouki.

Illinois native “Ranger Doug” Green spent much of his youth in Michigan and graduated from the University of Michigan in 1968.

He learned to play rhythm guitar during the

Recognized as one of the foremost scholars of country music, Green is author of Singing in the Saddle, the definitive book on western music. Riders in the Sky also had a CBS TV show (“Riders in the Sky”) as well an NPR radio show (“Riders Radio Theater”) and sang “Woody’s Roundup” in Toy Story 2.

Green has been with The Time Jumpers for 12 years. riderinthesky.com A native of Shreveport, Louisiana, Joe Spivey has been playing fiddle since he was 16, influenced primarily by the great Chubby Wise and Tommy Jackson. After working at a gospel radio station (where he eventually rose to the rank of program director), he served from 1977 to 1982 as the music director for the revamped Louisiana Hayride.

In 1984, he moved to Colorado Springs and formed Cimarron, a band that went on to win the state championship in the Marlboro Country Music Roundup competition.

Spivey moved on to Nashville in 1986 and joined John Anderson’s band in July of that year. He continues to tour with Anderson. As a studio musician, he has recorded with Anderson, Merle Haggard, Shania Twain, Faith Hill, Kris Kristofferson, Joan Baez, Hank Williams Jr., Clay Walker, and many others. His hobbies include studying music history and collecting cameras and Victrola phonographs.

...everyone is amazing on their own, but together, everyone is listening to each other. Nobody’s trying to be the star. So you do like a boxer—you pick your moments to stick and move. This is a band of listeners. When it needs something, you add it.

Jeff Taylor grew up in Batavia, New York, and began playing accordion and keyboards in his dad’s band when he was 10. He studied classical piano at the Eastman School of Music and was the leader of a small jazz/rock group when he was in the Air Force in Ohio.

He has lived in Nashville since 1990. Taylor counts among his performing highlights his two years as bandleader at the Ryman Auditorium for the musical production Always, Patsy Cline, hundreds of shows as bandleader at Opryland theme park and on the Gen-

– Larry Franklin, fiddle “folk scare” of the ‘60s. While still in college, he began playing bluegrass and even toured with Bill Monroe and his Blue Grass Boys between his junior and senior years. That experience encouraged him to consider a career in music. He moved to Nashville, enrolled at Vanderbilt University, and earned his master’s degree while continuing to play music on the side. He worked briefly with Monroe again in 1969 and then with Jimmy Martin. Green says he “rediscovered” Sons of the Pioneers in the mid-‘70s and was drawn to the group’s “sweeping poetic lyrics, great loping beat, complicated chord changes, beautiful soaring harmonies, and yodeling.” He and Fred “Too Slim” LaBour formed Riders in the Sky in 1977. The group has won two Grammys and been a member of the Grand Ole Opry since 1982.

Guitarist Andy Reiss left his hometown of San Francisco and moved to Nashville in 1981 after having played in a variety of lessthan-stellar rock, show, and casino bands.

One of his first contacts in Nashville was legendary producer and steel guitarist Pete Drake, who introduced and oriented Reiss to the inner workings of the local studio scene. Reiss’s first Nashville session was an album for the actor Slim Pickens, a session that also involved such A-Team pickers as Drake, Charlie McCoy, Bob Moore, Pete Wade, Pig Robbins, and the Jordanaires.

“Talk about an education!” Reiss exclaims regarding that breakthrough experience. He has been a studio mainstay ever since and has played on hundreds of hit records, including two that went on to win Grammy awards: B. 2015 Winter Program 67

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J. Thomas’s “Amazing Grace” and the Reba McEntire-Linda Davis No. 1 duet, Does He Love You. Reiss has recorded with many jazz greats as well, including Pete Christlieb, Beegee Adair, Benny Golson, and as a member of the Lori Mechem Quartet.

Kenny Sears was born in Denison, Texas and raised on a farm in Liberty, Oklahoma.

He purchased his first fiddle when he was seven with money earned picking cotton and turned professional when he was 11 after he was invited to join the staff band of the Big D Jamboree in Dallas. This gave him the opportunity to work with Grand Ole Opry artists who routinely played the Jamboree. Another contact young Sears made there was Billy Gray, Hank Thompson’s former bandleader. When the Big D Jamboree closed down, Gray asked Sears to join his troupe. Sears recalls it as a great training ground in swing and country music. But he had another musical life as well.

Since the fourth grade, he had been playing classical violin with the Austin College Symphony. This gig netted him a scholarship to North Texas State University and the chance to study music in depth. He subsequently played in the Dallas Symphony Orchestra. Sears moved to Nashville in 1975 and in the years that followed toured with Mel Tillis, Ray Price, Faron Young, and Dottie West, among others, worked in Ralph Emery’s staff band and the Grand Ole Opry band, and established the reputation he still holds as one of Nashville’s most revered session players.

Piper Kerman Continued from pg. 27

Kerman has delivered lectures to campuses across the country, including the University of Tulsa, Roanoke College, Fairfield University, Rutgers University, New York Law School, and many others. She has spoken at the White House, and also to groups that include the American Correctional Association’s Disproportionate Minority Confinement Task Force, federal probation officers, public defenders, justice reform advocates and volunteers, and formerly and currently incarcerated people. She serves on the board of the Women’s Prison Association.

Cameron Carpenter Continued from pg. 29

A former child prodigy, Cameron Carpenter trained at The American Boychoir School, the North Carolina School of the Arts, and has two degrees from The Juilliard School. He holds the 2012 Leonard Bernstein Award, is the first solo organist ever nominated for a GRAMMY® Award for a solo album, and has appeared with many of the great orchestras around the world. He has spoken and debated at think tanks and conferences including TED, IdeaCity, The Entertainment Gathering, and many more.

Cameron Carpenter appears by arrangement with Columbia Artists Music, LLC. Mr. Carpenter records exclusively for Sony Classical. cameroncarpenter.com

The King’s Singers Continued from pg. 31

The King’s Singers are double Grammy® award-winning artists, honored in 2009 for their Signum Classics release, Simple Gifts, and again in 2012 for their contribution to Eric Whitacre’s Light & Gold album on Decca. In June 2013 they were chosen as one of only two vocal ensembles to enter the Gramophone Hall of Fame, honored for their unique discography of over 150 albums.

They make splendid use of vocal arrangements to tap into current cultural idiom.

Fusing forms, timbres and styles, they turn education and entertainment into art and back again.

– New York Times

Highlights of the group’s 2014/15 season include: two performances in the Amsterdam Concert gebouw, a Christmas performance in Washington National Cathedral, a visit to the Grand Philharmonic Hall of St. Petersburg, an invitation to perform at the American Choral Directors Association annual conference in Salt Lake City where they will give the world premiere of a new work by Jake Heggie, and their second residential Summer School in the UK. Visit kingssingers.com for the latest news, blog entries, video blogs, podcasts, tweets and YouTube updates. kingssingers.com The King’s Singers’ recordings are available on the Signum Records, EM Records, TELARC, RCA Victor & Red Seal/BMG Classics, and EMI/Angel record labels.

The King’s Singers appear by arrangement with IMG Artists.

Carnegie Hall Tower 7 West 54th Street New York, NY 10019. imgartists.com Recording Distributor for The King’s Singers’ American concerts: DJ Records P.O. Box 445, Trout Lake, WA 98650 dj-records.com In addition to sheet music and music books available from DJ Records, a comprehensive catalogue of The King’s Singers’ choral arrangements is available from Hal Leonard Corporation, 777 West Bluemound Road, Milwaukee, WI 53213.

The King’s Singers are dressed by Marc Wallace. marcwallace.com

Bhangra ‘n’ Brass Continued from pg. 33

Dirty Dozen Brass Band In 1977, The Dirty Dozen Social and Pleasure Club in New Orleans began showcasing a traditional Crescent City brass band.

It was a joining of two proud, but antiquated, traditions at the time: social and pleasure clubs dated back over a century to a time when black southerners could rarely afford 2015 Winter Program 69

The Dirty Dozen Brass Band continues to be a national treasure: steeped in both the past and present, impossible to categorize, and mighty funky.

– New York Times life insurance, and the clubs would provide proper funeral arrangements. Brass bands, early predecessors of jazz as we know it, would often follow the funeral procession playing somber dirges, then once the family of the deceased was out of earshot, burst into jubilant dance tunes as casual onlookers danced in the streets. By the late ‘70s, few of either existed. The Dirty Dozen Social and Pleasure Club decided to assemble this group as a house band, and over the course of these early gigs, the seven-member ensemble adopted the venue’s name: The Dirty Dozen Brass Band.

Thirty-five years later, The Dirty Dozen Brass Band is a world famous music machine whose name is synonymous with genre-bending romps and high-octane performances. They have revitalized the brass band in New Orleans and around the world, progressing from local parties, clubs, baseball games, and festivals in their early years to touring nearly constantly in the U.S. and in over 30 other countries on five continents.

The Dirty Dozen have been featured guests on albums by artists including David Bowie, 70

Opening Nights Performing Arts

Elvis Costello, Dr. John, Widespread Panic, Modest Mouse, Dave Matthews Band, and the Black Crowes.

Red Baraat Formed in 2008, Red Baraat is a pioneering eight-piece band from Brooklyn, New York.

Conceived by Sunny Jain, the group has drawn worldwide praise for its singular sound –a merging of hard driving North Indian bhangra rhythms with elements of jazz, gogo, brass funk, and hip-hop. Created with no less a purposeful agenda than manifesting joy and unity in all people, Red Baraat’s spirit is worn brightly on its sweaty and hard-worked sleeve. And it is being returned to them in cities all over the world as word spreads of the band’s incredibly powerful live performances.

In 2013 Red Baraat released Shruggy Ji, their second full length and first properly distributed record. It debuted at #1 on the Billboard World Music Charts. An even more estimable feat, considering the band chose to self-release the record on their own Sinj Records imprint. At the same time, Red Baraat

occupied three of the top ten selling records on iTunes North American world music sales charts. In June, Red Baraat issued Big Talk, a platter of songs recorded during the Shruggy Ji sessions, which also includes remixes by friends and bandmates in TV on the Radio and Antibalas.

With their records receiving feature attention and critical praise in major outlets including the Wall Street Journal, NPR, Weekend Edition, and the BBC, the group’s frantic touring schedule continues without rest, touring nearly 200 dates a year, with major festivals like Bonnaroo, Central Park Summerstage, Monterey Jazz Festival, Austin City Limits, and Bumbershoot under their belt. The group also took tours of both India and Pakistan before the close of 2013.

If in theory Red Baraat reads like some kind of ethnomusicologist’s academic dream, in practice, it’s a peyote dream. This is apparent from the needle drop on Shruggy Ji. Red Baraat’s sound is infused with a soul and energy that bursts through the seams of its songs. “Halla Bol” is a power-to-the-people

anthem sung in Hindi, literally translating to “raise your voice.” “Burning Instinct” plays like a Tarantino car chase. The title track sits as a perfect testament to the album and the band itself. Impossible to define by genre, it’s just an incredible party jam that moves your parts. The record was produced by Sunny Jain and follows the band’s 2010 debut Chaal Baby, and the digital only live document Bootleg Bhangra.

Live, these songs take on a new life. Night by night, the whip-smart, road-tested band challenges itself, dipping in and out of improvisation, teaching the audience dance moves, and visibly having a blast. Watch closely and you might see the bass horns change course at seemingly no more than the raised eyebrow of the bandleader. But there is no single front man on stage. Each player commands his own space with unique style and verve. Notice has come from high quarters, and the band has found itself in some incredible places.

Red Baraat performed their own TED Talk at the flagship TED Conference in front of a dancing audience of thought leaders including Al Gore, Matt Groening, and David Byrne. They accepted an invitation to the White House, where an assembly of elected and business leaders expecting a string quartet were treated to a full throttle bhangra throw down. They were brought clandestinely to Google’s Mountain View Campus by a fan on the inside – and second-lined the joint— with Google employees streaming in from all directions as the event went from zero to viral within two songs. And they were handpicked to close the London 2012 Paralympic Games in the center of Trafalgar Square. The creation of Red Baraat in one of the world’s most dense and diverse metropolises began as an expression of that identity. and has now become more than that. While searching for a set of tabla while on vacation in New Delhi, India, Jain picked up the dhol, a barrel shaped double sided drum, which hangs over the player’s shoulder. The instrument inspired the artist immediately and he started to look back -- at Punjabi music and Bollywood rhythms he’d listened to his whole life -- and inward, to his own identity, a first-generation Indian American

raised in Rochester, New York, navigating the spectrum of cultural dissonance with a home for both Neil Peart and centuries old traditional South Asian drum forms.

Brooklyn’s Red Baraat stormed the stage with a sound that fused hip-hop, jazz, and Indian folk music for something that was greater than the sum of its parts and simply impossible not to move to.

– The Boston Globe “I had a desire to create a large, acoustic band that brought a powerful, primal sound - just drums and horns. As I was thinking of instrumentation, I knew that I wanted a wide variety of musical minds.” Stepping away from the drum kit and an established career as a jazz drummer, Jain spent months seeking out specific players in the New York scene who he hoped could bring their own particular sound to bring his idea to life.

“It’s the guys in the band that collectively come together to make up the sound of Red Baraat,” says Jain. Playing together for years, it’s immediately clear that Red Baraat’s unique sound is as reflective of Jain’s original concept as it is of each of the individual member’s personality and playing.

While it’s clear that Red Baraat is building a startling history of performances in iconic settings, the band’s bread and butter remains the sweaty clubs, festivals, packed performing arts centers, and college auditoriums that have kept the band criss-crossing the world’s stages. It’s here where the band does what it does best: communing with their audience in a joyful, near hedonistic celebration of music and dance which, tellingly, draws a crowd even more diverse than the players on stage. Here, the universality of what Red Baraat does is undeniable. And this is no happy accident. It is the product of intention and design. Says Jain, “We are simple creatures that desire community. If we can unite people of all backgrounds and ethnicities to partake in the exuberance of life through the universal language of music, then life is that much sweeter.”

Photo: Ferny Chung 2015 Winter Program 71

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Ragtime Continued from pg. 35

Song List Act I Ragtime Admiral Peary’s March Goodbye, My Love Journey On Crime of the Century What Kind of Woman Success His Name Was Coalhouse Walker The Getting’ Ready Rag Henry Ford Nothing Like the City Your Daddy’s Son The Courtship New Music Wheels of a Dream The Night That Goldman Spoke at Union Square Gliding Booker T. Washington’s Speech Justice Till We Reach That Day Act II Coalhouse’s Soliloquy Coalhouse Demands What Game!

Atlantic City Buffalo Nickel Photoplay, Inc. Our Children Harlem Sequence Sarah Brown Eyes He Wanted to Say Back to Before Look What You’ve Done Make Them Hear You Epilogue Garfield Hammonds is thrilled to debut with the FSU Theatre family! New York: La Traviata (Baron Douphol), Sleepy Hallow (Rasmus), The Ticket (Spider Brown). Nat’l Tour: Kiss Me, Kate. Regional: Big River, Smokey Joe’s Café. Opera: Metropolitan Opera Competition (Distr. Winner), L’Elisir

d’Amor, Cosi Fan Tutte, La Cenerentola, Porgy & Bess. TV: The Good Wife. Film: Annie (2014). Hammonds is a proud member of Actor Equity!

The School of Theatre at Florida State As one of the top-tier theatre training programs in the nation, the School of Theatre at Florida State provides its students with a wide variety of theatrical and educational opportunities. The primary mission of the School of Theatre is to offer students a comprehensive education in theatre and to prepare emerging artists to enter the professional theatre industry. As a result, the School of Theatre provides both student artists and community audience members a diverse array of productions that explore the spectrum of our shared humanity.

Founded in 1973 under the vision and leadership of then-Dean Richard G. Fallon, the School of Theatre enjoys a national reputation, in large part, because of the excellence of its undergraduate and graduate programs, as well as a gifted faculty of nationally recognized professional artists/ educators. The London Theatre Studies program, the chance to work side by side with guest artists and eminent scholars, as well as showcase opportunities in New York City and Los Angeles are just a few of the many reasons why students are attracted to our various professional and academic degrees from all over the United States, many foreign countries, and every county in Florida.

Alumni of the program include Broadway stars Montego Glover and Leslie Flesner, television producer Steven Sears, Emmy award-winners John Papsidera and John Brace, Broadway producers Heather Provost and Darren Bagert, Playwright and Professor Suzan Zeder, and a host of talented entertainment industry professionals. Through their creative work, research, publication, and service, School of Theatre alumni contribute to the commercial, educational, and cultural life of the citizens of Florida and the nation.

The School of Theatre at Florida State is a member of the University/Resident Theatre Association, Inc. and is accredited by the

National Association of Schools of Theatre.

Presented through a special arrangement with Music Theater International (MTI). All authorized performance materials are also supplied by MTI. Music Theater International 421 West 54th Street, New York, NY 10019 For more information on the School of Theatre productions, ticket information, and academic programs, please visit theatre.fsu.edu.

Nellie McKay Continued from pg. 39

Gifts that others spend years refining seem to come naturally to her…she can write and sing in any style, and you can’t always be certain that one of her original songs is not an obscure period piece.”

Nellie produced her critically acclaimed, debut double album, Get Away From Me, with Beatles’ engineer Geoff Emerick, followed

by Pretty Little Head, Obligatory Villagers, Normal as Blueberry Pie: A Tribute to Doris Day (“among the killer overhauls of American standards” - The New York Times), and her latest, Home Sweet Mobile Home.

McKay has won a Theatre World Award for her portrayal of Polly Peachum in the Broadway production of The Threepenny Opera and performed onscreen in the film PS I Love You, as well as writing original music for the Rob Reiner film Rumor Has It and the Emmy-winning documentary, Gasland.

Nellie’s music has been heard on the TV shows Mad Men, Boardwalk Empire, Weeds, Grey’s Anatomy, NCIS, and Nurse Jackie, and McKay has appeared on numerous TV shows including Late Show with David Letterman (with the Brooklyn Philharmonic). In 2010, the Chase Brock Experience produced a ballet of Obligatory Villagers, and her writing has appeared in The Onion, Interview, and The New York Times Book Review, where she delivered an incisive in-depth review of a Doris Day biography.

2015 Winter Program 73

Joshua Bell

Ra isin’ Ca ne

Violin

Starring Jasmine Guy

S tee p Canyo n Ra nger s & Della M ae

Dia na Kr a l l

Wallflower World Tour

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Opening Nights Performing Arts

...musical composer Nellie McKay steals the spotlight (and most of the laughs) with her sharply tongue-in-cheek tunes...an endearing, multi-faceted performance artist... combined charm and biting wit.

– Jan Rosenberg, Show Business Weekly A recipient of The Humane Society’s Doris Day Music Award in recognition of her dedication to animal rights, Nellie is known as an outspoken and fierce advocate for feminism, civil rights and other deeply felt progressive ideals.

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