The Center's 2009-2010 Performing Arts & Lectures Series

Lecture Series

SUN VALLEY CENTER for the ARTS

Performing ARTS & LECTURE Series WINTER 2009 / 2010

Dear Friends, We are so pleased to present our 2009 / 2010 Performing Arts and Lecture series to you. As you will see, an extensive amount of research, thought and conversation went into the planning of these two distinguished series.

Since the announcement of these programs this past August, the reaction to our season has been remarkable. We trust that after reading the enclosed information, you too will be struck by the wonderful diversity of our lineup for the coming season.

The Lecture series offers the most topical and stimulating community engagement found anywhere today. The Center prides itself on providing our audiences with an intimate experience that includes up-close access to the most thought-provoking and entertaining speakers of our times—right here in the Wood River Valley.

Our Performing Arts series continues to bring in exciting talent, both established artists and up-and-coming performers, all of whom have the ability to fill the stage with life and vitality. We’re sure that you’ll enjoy the balance and breadth of this amazing lineup.

You won’t want to miss a single lecture or performance or risk not being able to get a ticket because an event is sold out. Subscribe to each series and take advantage of great discounts, too.

We look forward to seeing you at both The Center’s 2009 / 2010 Performing Arts AND Lecture Series!

Sincerely, Bill Ryberg, Executive Director P.S. Having recently arrived in the valley, my wife, Evelyn, and I have been astonished by the high level of cultural offerings that are available year round. I am sure you know that ticket sales do not begin to cover the cost of these programs. The only way they can be sustained is through the generosity of arts patrons who step up and underwrite programs. If you are willing and able, we hope you will consider supporting The Center’s lecture and performing arts series by becoming a member of our Editor’s Series and Critic’s Circle. Your support helps make this a world-class valley for all of us!

2009 / 2010 SUN VALLEY CENTER for the ARTS

Lecture Series David Sedaris

Sunday, October 25

Junot Díaz

Friday, November 20

Roxana Saberi

Thursday, January 7

Sir Salman Rushdie

Thursday, February 11

Donna Shalala Monday, March 22 SERIES PRICING $115 / $165 nonmembers Editor’s Series Sponsor ticket $500 Includes:  Preferred seating  Special reception before Salman Rushdie talk  Luncheon for Editor’s Series sponsors on Wednesday, March 31  The knowledge that you have helped sustain this exceptional series for the whole community!  $250 tax deductible contribution Tickets may be purchased online at www.sunvalleycenter.org, or call or stop by The Center at the corner of 5th and Washington in Ketchum 208.726.9491.

The 2009 / 2010 Lecture Series is generously sponsored in part by Gail and Jack Thornton and the Waxenberg Wolfson Family Foundations.

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Sunday, October 25, 7pm Limelight Room, Sun Valley $30 / $40 nonmembers

“Sedaris’s droll assessment of the mundane and the eccentrics who inhabit the world’s crevices make him one of the greatest humorists writing today.”—Chicago Tribune

One of America’s pre-eminent humorists, David Sedaris is a frequent contributor to Public Radio’s This American Life and recipient of the Thurber Prize for American Humor. He is the author of the bestselling collections of personal essays Barrel Fever, Holidays on Ice, Naked, Me Talk Pretty One Day, Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim, and When You Are Engulfed in Flames. Time Out New York raves, “David Sedaris just may be the funniest man alive.” And, he’s even funnier when he reads his material out loud.

Lecture Sponsors: Martine and Dan Drackett, Wodecroft Foundation Rebekah and Larry Helzel

Junot Díaz Friday, November 20, 7pm Church of the Big Wood, Ketchum $20 / $30 nonmembers “Hip, irreverent, funny, and above all, fiercely intelligent” and one of The New Yorker’s 20 top writers for the 21st century, Junot Díaz won the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for his “astoundingly great” (Time magazine) debut novel, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. Born in the Dominican Republic, Díaz draws heavily on his own experience of American culture as an immigrant living in two cultures. He teaches creative writing at MIT and is the fiction editor at the Boston Review.

Roxana Saberi Thursday, January 7, 7pm Church of the Big Wood, Ketchum $20 / $30 nonmembers While working as a freelance journalist in Tehran in January of 2009, Roxana Saberi became the center of international attention when she was accused of spying for the United States and sentenced to eight years in jail. She spent 100 days in prison before she was able to appeal her case and was eventually released by President Ahmadinejad.

Iranian Military Plane Crashes —by Roxana Saberi

into Tehran Building

Iranians Urged to Dress More Conservatively —by Roxana Saberi

Iran Bans Women from Attending Men’s Soc cer Games —by Roxana Saberi

Sir Salman Rushdie Part of the multidisciplinary project Outside In: Indian Art Abroad Thursday, February 11, 7pm Limelight Room, Sun Valley $30 / $40 nonmembers Raised in India and Pakistan and educated in England, Sir Salman Rushdie is famous for exploring the post-colonial relationships between Eastern and Western cultures in his fantastic novels.

Rushdie is one of the most celebrated and controversial authors and critics of our time. His novel The Satanic Verses provoked a fatwa (religious edict) by Ayatollah Khomeini calling for his death, as a result of which he spent nearly a decade “underground,” seldom appearing in public. His other books include The Moor’s Last Sigh, Midnight’s Children and The Enchantress of Florence. A leading proponent for free speech, Rushdie was knighted by the British government in 2007 for “services to literature.”

Lecture Sponsors: Martine and Dan Drackett, Wodecroft Foundation Judith and Richard Smooke

Donna Shalala Monday, March 22, 7pm Church of the Big Wood, Ketchum $20 / $30 nonmembers From 1993 to 2000, Donna Shalala served as President Clinton’s Secretary of Health and Human Services— the longest serving HHS Secretary in U.S. history. In 2008, President Bush presented her with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian award.

She served as co-chair of the Commission on Care for Wounded Warriors and is currently president of the University of Miami as well as a leading voice in the current health care debate.

Lecture Sponsors: Richard Carr and Jeanne Meyers

Performing Arts Series

2009 / 2010 SUN VALLEY CENTER for the ARTS

performing arts series Christylez Bacon Saturday, November 7

The Campbell Brothers Saturday, December 12

Ragamala Dance

Friday, January 15

Hot Club of San Francisco Saturday, January 23

Sweet Plantain

Friday, March 26

Series tickets: $100 / $150 nonmembers Critic’s Circle Sponsor ticket $500 Includes:  Preferred seating  Luncheon for Critic’s Circle sponsors on Wednesday, March 31  The knowledge that you have helped present music and dance for the whole community! (including free performances and workshops in our local schools)  $250 tax deductible contribution Tickets may be purchased online at www.sunvalleycenter.org, or call or stop by The Center at the corner of 5th and Washington in Ketchum 208.726.9491.

The 2009 / 2010 Performing Arts Series is generously sponsored in part by Gail and Jack Thornton.

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A native of Washington, DC, Christon “Christylez” Bacon is a testament to groundbreaking Hip-Hop, self-expression and pure artistry. As a performer, Christylez multitasks between various instruments including the West African djembe drum, acoustic guitar and the syncopated oral percussions of the human beatbox. Christylez has been featured at many venues not commonly associated with HipHop music, such as the National Cathedral and the Kennedy Center. With versatility, clever songwriting and unbounded talent, Christylez brings a dynamic perspective to Hip-Hop. Don’t miss your opportunity to hear live Hip-Hop here in the valley!

Christylez will also be doing school performances and workshops, free of charge in our local schools.

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The Campbell Brothers present “sacred steel”: African American gospel music with electric steel guitar and vocals. This tradition is just now emerging from the House of God Keith Dominion Church, where for sixty years it has been an integral part of worship and a vital American tradition. As the music moves from sanctuary to concert hall—the group has appeared at the Hollywood Bowl, the Kennedy Center and the Brooklyn Academy of Music—secular audiences are now able to appreciate a performance both devoted and rocking. The Campbell Brothers present a compelling, rich variety of material from the African American Holiness-Pentecostal repertoire with a new twist: the growling, wailing, shouting, singing and swinging voice of the steel guitar, played as you have never heard it played before.

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Part of the multidisciplinary project, Outside In: Indian Art Abroad, Ragamala Music and Dance Theater provides a bridge between cultures both ancient and modern. Rooted in Bharatanatyam, a classical dance form from southern India, Ragamala blends dance, music and poetry. Old forms are used in new ways to retain the past, enhance the present and inspire the future. Striving to push Bharatanatyam beyond the boundaries of cultural specificity while maintaining its authenticity, Ragamala has crafted a new intercultural dance framework that is uniquely contemporary. “Ragamala astounds audiences with works that expand one’s perception of dance, cross-cultural collaboration, and spiritual meaning.” —Minneapolis Star Tribune Ragamala will also be doing a school residency and master classes in the Wood River Valley.

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The Hot Club of San Francisco plays the gypsy jazz music of guitarist Django Reinhardt and violinist Stepháne Grappelli and the original Hot Club de France. This unique jazz form recalls Paris in the 1930s and offers a swinging beat with a sweet melody. An all-acoustic string ensemble of violin, bass and guitars, the Hot Club of San Francisco performs traditional jazz, swing, bebop, blues, Cajun, bossa nova, gypsy and original compositions spanning many decades. An evening with the Hot Club of San Francisco offers a night of unforgettable music. Their performance will feature their “Silent Surrealism” program, a series of four black and white short films from the 1930s with musical accompaniment.

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Sweet Plantain is a string quartet that specializes in genre-blurring, original compositions and arrangements as well as contemporary works by Latin American composers. Its unique style fuses Latin, classical, jazz and improvisational forms. The group’s mission is to give voice to a contemporary, urban, Latino sound, and much of the group’s repertoire is rooted in improvisation. Sweet Plantain weaves in improvisation by arranging existing pieces and writing original compositions that contain improvised sections. The group also makes use of extended percussive techniques to showcase the rhythmic vitality characteristic of Latin music.

Sweet Plantain will also be doing a school residency in the Wood River Valley.

Performance Sponsors: Barbara and Tod Hamachek

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Gary St. George Principal, Woodside Elementary School 2006-2009 (Musician Perla Batalla came to the Wood River Valley in December 2008 and in addition to her public performance, performed in our local schools for over 500 students.)

When I heard that Perla Batalla was coming to town, I ran right to the Sun Valley Center for the Arts and said, “We HAVE to have her at my school.” I’ve had three or four different presentations that are special gifts from the Sun Valley Center for the Arts to our school and I’ll sign up for every one that comes along, my kids need it so much.

Sylvie Krekow Community School graduate, first year student at Barnard Walking through a bookstore in New York City with a friend, we compared our favorite books. He picked up “The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay” by Michael Chabon and said, “This book is incredible! Definitely one of my all time favorites.” I mentioned how great the author was in person and how I had introduced him at a lecture sponsored by the Sun Valley Center for the Arts.

The next day in class, our professor reminded us to get a book edited by Henry Louis Gates, Jr. Afterward, I remarked how impressed I was when he spoke (again, thanks to The Center) in Sun Valley about race and genetics. My professor was amazed that I’d had an opportunity to hear him in person in such a small town. Everyone thinks I’m living in the cultural capital of the country, New York. Certainly, that’s true to an extent. But since I arrived here I’ve realized just how much culture The Center brings to the valley.

Lonnie Barber Superintendent of schools, Blaine County School District – from a letter to all District teachers, Fall 2009 I have been so impressed with the great teaching that I have already seen across the district. I wanted to write and advocate for the terrific partnership that we have with the Sun Valley Center for the Arts. As you probably know Blaine County School District and The Center have a long history of working together to enrich our valley’s children. I want to remind you that when you are planning for your field trips this year, don’t forget about The Center. Exposure to the Arts is critical to the education of the whole child. Please look over the list of this year’s offerings and see if there are opportunities to integrate their shows into your curriculum.

A Special Evening

MID-WINTER CABARET WITH CATHERINE RUSSELL Saturday, February 20, 7:30pm NexStage Theatre, Ketchum Not included as a part of the Performing Arts Series.

Table for Two $75 (includes a bottle of wine or champagne) Table for Four $150 (includes a bottle of wine or champagne) Individual ticket $38 (includes a ticket for one drink) Catherine Russell is that rarest of entities—a genuine jazz and blues singer who can sing virtually anything. She launches fearlessly into each tune, getting inside the melody and capturing every emotion. Whether she’s shimmying through a barrelhouse stomper, channeling fifties R & B, dragging her weary heart through a torchy juke joint number, or kicking up her heels honky tonk style, Russell can withstand comparison to her greatest forebears.

As a special treat, we’ll set up the theater cabaret style and give you the option of reserved table seating. Food and drink will be available for all patrons.

Sun Valley Center for the Arts Post Office Box 656 Sun Valley, Idaho 83353

Sun Valley Center for the Arts Ketchum, 191 Fifth Street East Hailey, 314 Second Avenue South 208.726.9491 • www.sunvalleycenter.org

non-profit org. u.s. postage paid Boise, ID permit no. 679