2010-2011 Season Brochure by Center for the Performing Arts at Penn State

CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS @ PENN STATE 2 0 1 0

2011

Nina Brown 1922–2010 Our 2010–2011 season is dedicated to the memory of Nina Brown, director of the Penn State Artists Series from its inception in 1957 until its 1985 merger with Auditorium Management to form the Center for the Performing Arts.

Vision Enriching lives through inspiring experiences.

Mission The Center for the Performing Arts at Penn State engages and enriches the University and communities through exemplary programs in presentation, education, research, and service.

Dear Friends Welcome to our 2010–2011 season. We hope you find plenty to entice and inspire you. Our signature presentation features violin virtuoso Joshua Bell in an intimate recital. We welcome marvelous touring Broadway musicals, including classic favorites and recent blockbusters. Monty Python’s SPAMALOT, THE COLOR PURPLE, and SPRING AWAKENING make their Centre County debuts. New productions of A CHORUS LINE and FIDDLER ON THE ROOF— fresh from Broadway—renew their ageless appeal. Our season has an underpinning of piano music with concerts by both established and rising keyboard stars. We’ve co-commissioned three works with the prestigious Music Accord consortium that enhance this season’s programs.

We present The Laramie Project, one of the most important works of our time, and The Laramie Project: Ten Years Later–An Epilogue performed by the theatre company that wrote and first produced each play. The Merce Cunningham Dance Company’s Legacy Tour offers the last chance to see choreography by an iconic figure in American dance performed by the company he trained. We take advantage of the Pasquerilla Spiritual Center’s excellent acoustics for a concert by the soaring sopranos of Trio Mediæval. And those are just a few highlights. Join us for another exciting season of performances.

George Trudeau Director

Chris Lee

â&#x20AC;&#x153;Bell is dazzling.â&#x20AC;? Bill Phelps

Gramophone

oshua Bell is the most celebrated and popular classical violinist of his generation. The Indiana native, who made his Center for the Performing Arts debut in March 2007 with the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, returns to Eisenhower Auditorium in an intimate recital. Musical America named the violinist 2010 Instrumentalist of the Year.

An Evening with Joshua Bell 7:30 p.m. Thursday, February 3 Eisenhower Auditorium Adult $65 University Park Student $40 18 and Younger $50

Bell, who records exclusively for Sony Classical, has released more than thirty-five albums that transcend genres. At Home with Friends, his September 2009 release, features collaborations with Chris Botti, Sting, Kristin Chenoweth, Josh Groban, Anoushka Shankar, Regina Spektor, and others. In 2004, Billboard named Bell Classical Artist of the Year and his Romance of the Violin Classical Album of the Year. Live From Lincoln Center Presents Joshua Bell with Friends @ The Penthouse aired nationally on PBS stations in January 2010. The violinist entered the national limelight at age 14 when he performed with The Philadelphia Orchestra. In the three decades since, he has performed with many of the greatest symphony orchestras, as a chamber musician, and as a soloist of the first order. Experience the concert from a premium seat and enjoy an elegant post-performance reception with the artist for $150 per person. sponsors

John L. Brown Jr. and Lynn Sidehamer

Steve J. Sherman

Painting by Eugène Delacroix

T Jeffrey Siegel Keyboard Conversations® Chopin for Lovers! 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, September 15 Schwab Auditorium Adult $38 University Park Student $15 18 and Younger $28

he year 2010 marks the 200th anniversary of piano genius Frédéric Chopin’s birth. Juilliard-trained piano virtuoso Jeffrey Siegel, who opened last season with an enthusiastically received all-Beethoven concert-plus-commentary, returns with a Keyboard Conversations® program devoted exclusively to Chopin. A different woman in the composer’s love life inspired each work on the program, which features the vivacious Waltz in E Flat, the dreamy Larghetto Op. 21, several lyric and dynamic Preludes from Op. 28, and the stormy Scherzo No. 3. The witty and informative Siegel, who has appeared as a soloist with the world’s great orchestras, speaks with the audience about the music before performing each work. Bring a significant other, and enrich your lives with some of the most stirring music ever written.

sponsors

Bill and Honey Jaffe Bud and Carol Rowell Classics underwriter

Foxdale Village, a Quaker-Directed Continuing Care Retirement Community

814 -863-0255 • w w w.cpa.psu.edu • 1-800-ART S-TIX

Courtesy Photo

Monty Python’s SPAMALOT

inner of the 2005 Tony Award for Best Musical, Monty Python’s SPAMALOT is the outrageous new musical comedy lovingly ripped off from the film classic Monty Python and the Holy Grail. With a book by Eric Idle and music and lyrics by the Grammy Award-winning team of Idle and John Du Prez, SPAMALOT tells the tale of King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table as they embark on their quest for the Holy Grail. Flying cows, killer rabbits, taunting Frenchmen, and showstopping musical numbers are just a few of the reasons audiences everywhere are eating up SPAMALOT.

7:30 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday, September 28 and 29 Eisenhower Auditorium Adult $57, $51 University Park Student $42, $36 18 and Younger $52, $46

September 29 Touring Broadway underwriter

AT&T

814 -863-0255 • w w w.cpa.psu.edu • 1-800-ART S-TIX

The Laramie Project 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, October 6 Eisenhower Auditorium

The Laramie Project: Ten Years Later–An Epilogue 7:30 p.m. Thursday, October 7 Eisenhower Auditorium

Tectonic Theater Project One play: Adult $32 University Park Student $15 18 and Younger $26 Both plays: Adult $50 University Park Student $20 18 and Younger $40

n October 1998, Matthew Shepard was kidnapped, beaten, tied to a fence on the outskirts of Laramie, Wyoming, and left to die. Five weeks later, Moisés Kaufman and fellow members of New York City’s Tectonic Theater Project went to Laramie, where they conducted more than 200 interviews with townspeople. From those interviews they wrote the play The Laramie Project, a chronicle of the life of the town in the year after the murder. A reviewer for the Associated Press calls The Laramie Project, which has become one of the most frequently produced plays in America, “astonishing. Not since Angels in America has a play attempted so much: nothing less than an examination of the American psyche at the end of the millennium.” A decade after Shepard’s death, Tectonic Theater Project members went back to Laramie to ask more questions. Has the murder had a lasting impact on the community? How has the town changed? What does Laramie tell us about life in today’s America? The results of the follow-up interviews form the basis of a sequel production, The Laramie Project: Ten Years Later–An Epilogue.

Each presentation includes a post-performance discussion among the actors and audience members. sponsors

Sandra Zaremba and Richard Brown

Davin DeHaven

Taylor Eigsti Trio with special guest Becca Stevens 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, October 12 Schwab Auditorium Adult $28 University Park Student $15 18 and Younger $21

azz legend Dave Brubeck thinks pianist-composer-bandleader Taylor Eigsti is special. “He’s the most amazing talent I’ve ever come across,” Brubeck says. “Remember him.” Eigsti (pronounced IKE-stee), like his friend and frequent collaborator guitarist Julian Lage, is musically advanced beyond his years. Only in his mid-20s, Eigsti has already released two lauded albums (Lucky to Be Me and Let it Come to You), been nominated for two Grammy Awards, and appeared on the covers of Jazziz and Keyboard magazines. While steeped in tradition, Eigsti is committed to taking jazz in new directions. “There comes a time in every former prodigy’s life when they have to be judged on their output as an adult,” writes a critic for the All Music Guide. “Eigsti just keeps getting more compelling and inspiring.” Becca Stevens, a singer-songwriter The New York Times calls a “best-kept secret,” joins the trio at Penn State. Her poetic music and beguiling singing blur the boundaries of jazz, folk, and pop. sponsor

Kelleann Foster Jazz underwriter

Corvette America

814-863-0255 • www.cpa.psu.edu • 1-800-ARTS-TIX

The Chautauquan Daily

Sally Brown

Apollo’s Fire Monteverdi’s Vespers of 1610 7:30 p.m. Friday, October 15 Schwab Auditorium Adult $40 University Park Student $19 18 and Younger $27

pollo’s Fire, the Cleveland Baroque Orchestra, returns to Penn State—after its triumphant Schwab Auditorium debut in November 2007—to perform Claudio Monteverdi’s Vespers for the Blessed Virgin, 1610. The Vespers, based on Catholic evening prayers and featuring orchestra, soloists, and chorus, is considered the most ambitious work of religious music before the compositions of Johann Sebastian Bach. Apollo’s Fire, directed by conductor and harpsichordist Jeannette Sorrell, has earned a national reputation for its dramatic, spontaneous, and improvisatory performances of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century music played on period instruments. “The entire account [of Monteverdi’s Vespers] was an Apollo’s Fire triumph,” writes a reviewer for Cleveland’s Plain Dealer. “Sorrell must be one of the best conductors around in this repertoire. In her hands, the glory of Monteverdi’s accomplishment couldn’t have been more radiant or moving.”

Classics underwriter

Foxdale Village, a Quaker-Directed Continuing Care Retirement Community

814 -863-0255 • w w w.cpa.psu.edu • 1-800-ART S-TIX

ew York City’s RIOULT (pronounced re-YOU), which showcases the modern dance of choreographer Pascal Rioult, performs a family-friendly program. Born into the American modern dance tradition, the company of ten dancers is creating its own legacy of contemporary dance that speaks to the mind and the heart. The performance features Bolero and Small Steps, Tiny Revolutions, a work including young central Pennsylvania dancers selected through audition. Bolero (2002), a bold interpretation of Maurice Ravel’s famous musical score, uses perpetual motion and ever-changing patterns to build to an illusive but inevitable climax. The unrelenting crescendo of energy creates a riveting tour de force. Small Steps, Tiny Revolutions (2008), set to an original score by Steven Sametz, tells the story of a young boy and his estranged father. The boy’s forbidden desire to dance leads him into the fantastic land of the shapes. The father’s poignant search to find his child speaks to the transforming power of love.

RIOULT 2 p.m. Sunday, October 17 Eisenhower Auditorium Adult $35 University Park Student $18 18 and Younger $24

814 -863-0255 • w w w.cpa.psu.edu • 1-800-ART S-TIX

A CHORUS LINE 7:30 p.m. Thursday, October 21 Eisenhower Auditorium Adult $55, $49 University Park Student $40, $34 18 and Younger $50, $44

n an empty theatre, on a bare stage, casting for a new Broadway musical is almost complete. For seventeen dancers, this audition is the chance of a lifetime. It’s what they’ve worked for—with every drop of sweat, every hour of training, every day of their lives. It’s the one opportunity to do what they’ve always dreamed—to have the chance to dance. This is A CHORUS LINE, the musical for everyone who’s ever had a dream and put it all on the line. Winner of nine Tony Awards, including Best Musical, and the Pulitzer Prize for drama, this singular sensation is the longest-running American musical ever. Now, A CHORUS LINE returns. Come meet the new generation of Broadway’s best.

Touring Broadway underwriter

AT&T

814 -863-0255 • w w w.cpa.psu.edu • 1-800-ART S-TIX

BUIKA

“S

ad love, crazy love, bad love, joyful love, life-or-death love: those were what Concha Buika sang about in her magnificent New York City debut … . While the lyrics were in Spanish, the emotion was luminous and unmistakable,” writes a New York Times reviewer. “Buika, as she bills herself, is a Spanish singer and songwriter who has conceived her own diaspora: one in which the Gypsies, who catalyzed flamenco, crossed the Atlantic to meet Cuban music and jazz. Her music is the rare fusion that honors all its sources.” Buika (pronounced BWEE-kah), the daughter of political refugees from the tiny West African nation Equatorial Guinea, grew up on the Mediterranean island of Mallorca. The dynamic, husky-voiced singer came of age in a Gypsy neighborhood listening to flamenco, jazz, soul, and African music. Her 2008 recording Niña de Fuego earned a Latin Grammy nomination for Album of the Year. El Último Trajo, released in 2009, is her collaboration with Cuban pianist Chucho Valdés.

Buika 7:30 p.m. Thursday, October 28 Eisenhower Auditorium Adult $32 University Park Student $10 18 and Younger $22

814 -863-0255 • w w w.cpa.psu.edu • 1-800-ART S-TIX

Nina Choi

he most sought-after piano trio in the world makes its Penn State debut in a program mixing classic and contemporary selections. The Eroica Trio, which has earned multiple Grammy Award nominations, thrills audiences with flawless technical virtuosity, irresistible enthusiasm, and sensual elegance. Whether playing the great standards of the piano trio repertoire or daring contemporary works, pianist Erika Nickrenz, violinist Susie Park, and cellist Sara Sant’Ambrogio electrify the concert stage with performances of depth and precision. Since earning the prestigious Naumburg Award in 1991, the American trio has toured widely in the United States, Europe, and Asia. The trio has also released eight acclaimed recordings for Angel/EMI Classics Records. The Eroica program at Schwab Auditorium features Jean-Baptiste Loeillet’s Trio Sonata No. 2 in B minor, Astor Piazzolla’s Three Tangos, and Robert Schumann’s Piano Trio No. 2 in F Major. The program also includes Kevin Puts’ Trio-Sinfonia (2007), a piece co-commissioned by the Center for the Performing Arts through its membership in Music Accord.

Eroica Trio 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, November 3 Schwab Auditorium Adult $38 University Park Student $15 18 and Younger $31

Chamber Music underwriter

Norma and Ralph Condee Chamber Music Endowment

814 -863-0255 • w w w.cpa.psu.edu • 1-800-ART S-TIX

Moscow State Symphony Orchestra Pavel Kogan, conductor Jennifer Koh, violinst 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, November 9 Eisenhower Auditorium Adult $55 University Park Student $22 18 and Younger $37

or almost seven decades, the Moscow State Symphony Orchestra has been recognized as one of the foremost interpreters of the classic Russian composers. But since Pavel Kogan became music director and chief conductor in 1989, the orchestra has broadened its repertoire to include contemporary compositions from Russia and beyond. His career as a violinist and a conductor has taken him to engagements on five continents. Chicago native Jennifer Koh, a graduate of Philadelphia’s Curtis Institute of Music, joins the orchestra as soloist for Max Bruch’s Violin Concerto No. 1 in G minor. “Jennifer Koh is a risk-taking, highoctane player of the kind who grabs the listener by the ears and refuses to let go,” writes a critic for The Strad. “Unlike so many players of this temperament, however, she supports her mesmerizing flights of fancy with a beguilingly silvery tone, fabulous technique, and dead-center intonation.” The orchestra’s program also includes Pyotr Illyich Tchaikovsky’s Capriccio Italien and Maurice Ravel’s arrangement of Modeste Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition.

sponsors

Dotty and Paul Rigby Classics underwriter

Foxdale Village, a Quaker-Directed Continuing Care Retirement Community

814 -863-0255 • w w w.cpa.psu.edu • 1-800-ART S-TIX

Michael Wilson

Lee Crum

New Orleans Nights Allen Toussaint Nicholas Payton The Joe Krown Trio

ew Orleans Nights, a love letter to the rich musical traditions of the Crescent City, features Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Allen Toussaint, trumpeter Nicholas Payton, and The Joe Krown Trio. Producer, bandleader, arranger, songwriter, pianist, and singer Toussaint has had a seminal influence on the music of New Orleans. Toussaint’s timeless hits include “Working in the Coal Mine,”“Mother-inLaw,” and “Southern Nights.” He has written for or worked with a who’s who of musicians from various genres. The Grammy-winning Payton, who last appeared at Penn State with The Blue Note 7 in April 2009, is a composer, bandleader, and trumpeter who The New York Times calls “abundantly gifted” and “a high-wire soloist.” A fan favorite on Sunday nights at the Maple Leaf Bar in New Orleans, The Joe Krown Trio features Krown on piano and Hammond B-3 organ, Walter “Wolfman” Washington on guitar and vocals, and Russell Batiste Jr. on drums.

7:30 p.m. Tuesday, November 16 Eisenhower Auditorium Adult $45 University Park Student $22 18 and Younger $38

sponsors

Glenn and Nancy Gamble Jazz underwriter

Corvette America

814 -863-0255 • w w w.cpa.psu.edu • 1-800-ART S-TIX

Photo by Margaret Malandruccolo

Natalie MacMaster Christmas in Cape Breton 7:30 p.m. Thursday, December 2 Eisenhower Auditorium Adult $37 University Park Student $17 18 and Younger $27

814 -863-0255 • w w w.cpa.psu.edu • 1-800-ART S-TIX

qually at home on the concert stage or at a folk festival, Cape Breton fiddler Natalie MacMaster is one of the most versatile and exciting young musicians on the folk and Celtic music scenes. MacMaster has collaborated and performed with Alison Krauss, The Chieftains, Paul Simon, Luciano Pavarotti, and Yo-Yo Ma. In her Christmas show, MacMaster invokes the holiday traditions of her native Cape Breton, an island that’s part of the Canadian province of Nova Scotia. Foot-tapping rave-ups, heart-wrenching ballads, and world-class step dancing—combined with MacMaster’s fiddling fireworks on Celtic melodies and Christmas carols—generate a “traditional fusion” delivered with ferocious energy. “To call Natalie MacMaster the most dynamic performer in Celtic music today is high praise,” writes a Boston Herald critic, “but it still doesn’t get at just how remarkable a concert artist this Cape Breton Island fiddler has become.”

ltra-talented pianist Jonathan Biss began piano studies at age 6. Eleven years later he was already studying with Leon Fleisher at Philadelphia’s Curtis Institute of Music. The pianist has performed extensively in recital and as a soloist for the Cleveland Orchestra, the National and Indianapolis symphony orchestras, and other ensembles. His Schwab Auditorium concert features Leoš Janáček’s Sonata 1.X.1905, From the Street; Ludwig van Beethoven’s Sonata No. 23 in F minor, Appassionata; and Robert Schumann’s Fantasy in C Major. The program also includes a new Bernard Rands work co-commissioned by the Center for the Performing Arts through its membership in Music Accord. Two days after his Penn State premiere, Biss performs the same program in his muchanticipated debut at Carnegie Hall’s Isaac Stern Auditorium.

Jonathan Biss 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, January 19 Schwab Auditorium Adult $27 University Park Student $10 18 and Younger $17

sponsors

Gay D. Dunne and James H. Dunne Classics underwriter

Foxdale Village, a Quaker-Directed Continuing Care Retirement Community

814 -863-0255 • w w w.cpa.psu.edu • 1-800-ART S-TIX

photo by Joan Marcus

Click, Clack, Moo TheatreworksUSA

Illustration from CLICK, CLACK, MOO by Doreen Cronin with illustrations by Betsy Lewin. Used with permission from Pippin Properties, Inc.

2 p.m. Sunday, January 23 Eisenhower Auditorium Adult $18 University Park Student $8 18 and Younger $13

heatreworksUSA’s musical Click, Clack, Moo—based on the Caldecott Award-winning book Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type by Doreen Cronin and Betsy Lewin—concerns a herd of cows who protest their working conditions in a unique way. They type on a laptop. When Farmer Brown declares a “tech-free zone,” he puts his granddaughter Jenny’s laptop computer and printer in the cold barn with the shivering cows. The creative cows use the equipment to type and print messages, which Duck delivers to the stubborn farmer. When the cows withhold their milk, the chickens join the strike and withhold their eggs. Click, Clack, Moo ultimately proves to be a “moo-ving” musical about compromise. TheatreworksUSA specializes in productions for families and children. Since 1961, the company has entertained and enlightened a total of more than eighty-five million people at home in New York City and on the road in the United States and Canada. Matinees for Kids underwriter

McQuaide Blasko Attorneys at Law

814 -863-0255 • w w w.cpa.psu.edu • 1-800-ART S-TIX

FIDDLER ON THE FROOF

IDDLER ON THE ROOF, the Tony Award-winning musical that has captured the hearts of people around the world with its universal appeal, embarks on a North American tour. Based on the stories of Sholom Aleichem, FIDDLER ON THE ROOF has been lauded by critics again and again. Filled with a rousing and heartwarming score, including “Tradition,”“Matchmaker, Matchmaker,”“If I Were a Rich Man,” and “Sunrise, Sunset,” FIDDLER ON THE ROOF is a timeless classic. No other musical has so magically woven music, dance, poignancy, and laughter into such an electrifying and unforgettable experience. Relive a glorious tradition of the musical theatre with FIDDLER ON THE ROOF.

FIDDLER ON THE ROOF 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, January 25 Eisenhower Auditorium Adult $55, $49 University Park Student $40, $34 18 and Younger $50, $44

sponsor

Kranich’s Jewelers Touring Broadway underwriter

AT&T

814 -863-0255 • w w w.cpa.psu.edu • 1-800-ART S-TIX

Jimmy Katz

D John Scofield and Joe Lovano Quartet 7:30 p.m. Thursday, January 27 Schwab Auditorium Adult $38 University Park Student $15 18 and Younger $31

eluxe jazz musicians John Scofield and Joe Lovano have been friends for three decades. But other than a brief pairing in the early 1990s in the group ScoLoHoFo, which also featured bassist Dave Holland and drummer Al Foster, guitarist Scofield and tenor saxophonist Lovano have rarely performed together in public. Now, Scofield and Lovano bring the sum of their collective years of experience, creativity, and technique to a new partnership. Along with Pat Metheny and Bill Frisell, Scofield is considered one of the “big three” living jazz guitarists. He’s a superb improviser whose music bridges post bop, funk-edged jazz, and R&B. Lovano’s top-tier music making, which frequently explores new directions, can be heard in ensembles large and small. The post-bop saxophonist has released almost twenty albums on the Blue Note label, including 2007’s Grammy-nominated Kids, a duet recording with iconic pianist Hank Jones.

Jazz underwriter Corvette America

814 -863-0255 • w w w.cpa.psu.edu • 1-800-ART S-TIX

Anna Finke

Photo: Richard Rutledge

CapuçonTrio Merce Cunningham Dance Company 7:30 p.m. Saturday, February 12 Eisenhower Auditorium Adult $38 University Park Student $15 18 and Younger $28

erce Cunningham, who died in 2009, was a giant figure in American modern dance—both as a choreographer and, for much of his life, as a dancer. In celebration of Cunningham’s lifetime of artistic achievement, the Merce Cunningham Dance Company’s final, two-year world tour showcases seminal works from throughout Cunningham’s career. The Legacy Tour provides the last chance to see Cunningham’s choreography performed by the company he trained. “Merce spent his life exploring new possibilities and transforming the way we experience the arts,” says Trevor Carlson, executive director of the Cunningham Dance Foundation. “Since the company’s first international tour in 1964, he has been recognized around the world as an artistic visionary and leader of the American avant-garde.” Dance underwriter

814 -863-0255 • w w w.cpa.psu.edu • 1-800-ART S-TIX

32 36

Penn State International Dance Ensemble Endowment

or the first time in its colorful history, Cirque Éloize (serk El-waz) has embraced the world of urban culture. The Montreal company’s new show ID features ten circus disciplines against the throbbing backdrop of hip-hop, rock music, and science fiction videos. Set in a surreal futuristic city, ID explores individuality, identity, and anonymity in a decidedly visual culture, where the omnipresence of images causes us to lose our reference points. The show is about expressing similar values in different codes. The playful energy of ID, with its signature mix of uncanny physical feats and the gentle poetry that audiences have come to love about Cirque Éloize, is sure to enchant diverse audiences. The company last appeared at Eisenhower Auditorium in a February 2006 performance of Rain.

Cirque Éloize ID 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, February 15 Eisenhower Auditorium Adult $38 University Park Student $22 18 and Younger $27

sponsor

The Village at Penn State Life Care Retirement Community

814-863-0255 • w w w.cpa.psu.edu • 1-800-ARTS-TIX

Richard Houghton

Ellen Appel

Takács Quartet 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, February 22 Schwab Auditorium Adult $38 University Park Student $15 18 and Younger $31

ne of the world’s great string ensembles, the Takács Quartet plays with a unique blend of drama, warmth, and humor. The Takács (pronounced tah-KAHSH) combines four distinct musical personalities to bring fresh insights to its repertoire. Based in Boulder at the University of Colorado, the quartet performs about ninety concerts a year worldwide. Second violinist Károly Schranz, cellist András Fejér, and two others formed the quartet in 1975 when they were students at the Franz Liszt Academy in Budapest, Hungary. Edward Dusinberre, originally from England, became first violinist in 1993. Geraldine Walther, a Florida native who had been principal violist of the San Francisco Symphony, joined the quartet in 2005. The Penn State program includes Franz Joseph Haydn’s Quartet No. 59 in G minor, Op. 74, No. 3, The Rider; Béla Bartók’s Quartet No. 3; and Franz Schubert’s Quartet D. 887.

Chamber Music underwriter

Norma and Ralph Condee Chamber Music Endowment

814 -863-0255 • w w w.cpa.psu.edu • 1-800-ART S-TIX

Tango Buenos Aires Fire and Passion of Tango

“T

ango Buenos Aires … doesn’t need much bait to hook an audience,” writes a Newark Star-Ledger reviewer. “The tango, that sultry dance for lovers, is enough.” Tango Buenos Aires has become one of Argentina’s outstanding cultural exports, known throughout the Americas, Europe, and East Asia as an authentic and uncompromising representative of the sensual dance style. Graceful dance couples and superb musicians fill the stage with simmering but subdued passion. “The tango is lean, clean, and mean; the dancers boast skill and attitude in equal measure; and the musicians rock,” writes a critic for the Washington Post. “… Whereas tango shows can sometimes go overboard with heavy story lines, glittering gowns, and big sets, this program has kept the dance and music front and center.” Julian Vat, Argentina’s most prolific composer and a leading musician, serves as music director of the orchestra, which features bandoneón master Pablo Mainetti.

7:30 p.m. Thursday, February 24 Eisenhower Auditorium Adult $38 University Park Student $15 18 and Younger $28

Dance underwriter

Penn State International Dance Ensemble Endowment

814 -863-0255 • w w w.cpa.psu.edu • 1-800-ART S-TIX

7:30 p.m. Wednesday, March 2 Eisenhower Auditorium Adult $38 University Park Student $22 18 and Younger $27

Photo by Gene Schiavone

Photo byJorge Caria

Ballet Grand Prix

outh America Grand Prix, the world’s largest dance talent network, conducts annual student competitions in the United States, Europe, Asia, and South America. Its annual gala in New York City presents the leading talent from the international competition finals dancing toe to toe with stars from the foremost ballet companies. Youth America Grand Prix alumni have joined fifty of the best ballet companies across the globe, including American Ballet Theatre, New York City Ballet, Paris Opera Ballet, Royal Ballet, Stuttgart Ballet, and many others. Ballet Grand Prix evokes the spirit of the gala with eighteen exceptional winners of past competitions, now professionals with leading dance companies, and stars of the ballet world together performing selections from popular classical and contemporary ballets. Star dancers performing on the tour include New York City Ballet’s Jared Angle (an Altoona native), Kirov Ballet’s Ekaterina Kondaurova and Islom Baimuradov, American Ballet Theatre’s Irina Dvorovenko and Maxim Belotserkovsky, Berlin State Opera Ballet’s Mikhail Kaniskin and Elisa Carrillo Cabrera, and Morphoses/The Wheeldon Company’s Drew Jacoby and Rubinald Pronk.

sponsors

Robert and Helen Harvey

814 -863-0255 • w w w.cpa.psu.edu • 1-800-ART S-TIX

Photo by Scott Suchman

ºEJG: =:6GI 6 7GD69L6N =>I »

Illustration by Peter Sylvada

*--6453"5*0/ #: 1&5&3 4:-7"%" "5*0/ #: 1&5&3 4:-7"%" *--6453"5*0/ #: 1&5&3 4:-7"%" "5*0/ #: 1&5&3 4:-7"%"

JH6 IdYVn

HE COLOR PURPLE is a soul-stirring musical based on the classic Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Alice Walker and the moving film by Steven Spielberg. It is the unforgettable and inspiring story of a woman named Celie, who finds her unique voice in the world. Nominated for eleven Tony Awards, THE COLOR PURPLE is a landmark theatrical event, a celebration of love, and a Broadway phenomenon. With a joyous Grammy-nominated score featuring jazz, gospel, and blues, THE COLOR PURPLE captures the hearts of young and old—and unites audiences in a community of joy. “Blessed with talent,” writes Ben Brantley of The New York Times. “A bright odyssey of survival and triumph with a fairytale sense of wonder.” March 23

THE COLOR PURPLE 7:30 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday, March 22 and 23 Eisenhower Auditorium Adult $57, $51 University Park Student $42, $36 18 and Younger $52, $46

Touring Broadway underwriter

AT&T

814-863-0255 • www.cpa.psu.edu • 1-800-ARTS-TIX

Lemony Snicket’s The Composer is Dead 2 p.m. Sunday, March 27 Eisenhower Auditorium Adult $18 University Park Student $8 18 and Younger $13

he show must go on. But the actor is mute, the director is crying, the dancer is lazy, and the composer is dead! A live stage adaptation of the popular book by best-selling author Lemony Snicket, The Composer is Dead features a score by (living) composer Nathaniel Stookey. Director Tony Taccone’s raucous production for Maximum Entertainment and Berkeley Repertory Theatre unleashes laughs through classic clowning and uppity puppets created by the pioneering Phantom Limb Company. An outlandish inspector seeks to solve a murderous riddle. Where were the violins on the night in question? Did anyone see the harp? Aren’t the trumpets protesting a bit too boisterously? Each instrument is brought to life in this uproarious musical mystery. The production, a San Francisco Chronicle reviewer writes, is “a deliciously morbid entertainment in the vein of [Snicket’s] Series of Unfortunate Events. … [It’s a] hugely enjoyable undertaking for young and old alike.” Matinees for Kids underwriter

McQuaide Blasko Attorneys at Law

814-863-0255 • www.cpa.psu.edu • 1-800-ARTS-TIX

Photo Credit: CF-Wesenberg-kolonihaven.no

Trio Mediæval 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, March 29 Pasquerilla Spiritual Center Adult $30 University Park Student $15 18 and Younger $23 general admission seating

hen Trio Mediæval first came to Penn State to perform with Bang on a Can All-Stars in November 2009, the women visited Pasquerilla Spiritual Center for a bit of vocalizing. What they discovered astounded them. The Scandinavian singers reported that Pasquerilla was among the best acoustical spaces in which they had sung in North America. So Trio Mediæval is back, this time in a new setting. The sopranos sing an inviting repertoire of polyphonic medieval music from England and France, Norwegian folk ballads, and traditional-style songs composed for them. “Singing,” a San Francisco Chronicle critic asserts, “doesn’t get more unnervingly beautiful” than that of Trio Mediæval. “To hear the group’s note-perfect counterpoint … is to be astonished at what the human voice is capable of.” Complimentary round-trip shuttle service is provided between the Eisenhower Parking Deck and the Pasquerilla Spiritual Center. sponsor

Designer’s Studio Chamber Music underwriter

Norma and Ralph Condee Chamber Music Endowment

814 -863-0255 • w w w.cpa.psu.edu • 1-800-ART S-TIX

Photo by Ravinia Festival

wo piano legends share the billing when Dave Brubeck and Ramsey Lewis come to Penn State for an evening of jazz. Brubeck, who attained widespread fame in the 1950s for a lightly swinging sound known as West Coast Cool, has been building on his distinctive harmonic approach and daring improvisations for well more than half a century. He was inducted, along with Louis Armstrong and Frank Sinatra, into the first Playboy Jazz Hall of Fame, and in 1999 he was named a National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Master. “He is an American original,” says actor/director/jazz aficionado Clint Eastwood, “who continues to make significant contributions to music and introduced a whole new generation to the world of jazz.” Lewis, who became an NEA Jazz Master in 2007, performs bebop informed by a grounding in gospel and classical music. Known as “The Great Performer,” Lewis released his first album in 1956. Since then he has earned three Grammy Awards and had seven gold records.

Dave Brubeck Quintet and Ramsey Lewis Trio Two Legends, One Stage 7:30 p.m. Friday, April 8 Eisenhower Auditorium Adult $50 University Park Student $25 18 and Younger $43

Jazz underwriter

Corvette America

814 -863-0255 • w w w.cpa.psu.edu • 1-800-ART S-TIX

Room on the Broom Tall Stories Theatre Company 2 p.m. Sunday, April 10 Eisenhower Auditorium Adult $18 University Park Student $8 18 and Younger $13

he musical Room on the Broom, adapted from the best-selling book by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler and performed by London’s Tall Stories Theatre Company, features incredible puppets, original songs, and lots of fun. The playful and lively show follows a happy witch and her cat as their enjoyable broomstick ride is interrupted by a stormy wind that blows away the witch’s hat, bow, and wand. A dog, a bird, and a frog find the witch’s things and hop on the broom for a ride. The broomstick isn’t built for five, though, and it soon snaps in two. When a hungry dragon appears, who will save the witch? And will the broom ever accommodate everyone? The musical showcases the British company’s distinctive physical and visual performance style.

Matinees for Kids underwriter

McQuaide Blasko Attorneys at Law

814 -863-0255 • w w w.cpa.psu.edu • 1-800-ART S-TIX

Photo credit: Joan Marcus

SPRING AWAKENING 7:30 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday, April 12 and 13 Eisenhower Auditorium Adult $57, $51 University Park Student $42, $36 18 and Younger $52, $46

inner of eight Tony Awards, including Best Musical—and told by Duncan Sheik and Steven Sater through “The most gorgeous Broadway score this decade” (Entertainment Weekly)—SPRING AWAKENING explores the journey from adolescence to adulthood with poignancy and passion you will never forget. SPRING AWAKENING is an electrifying fusion of morality, sexuality, and rock and roll that is exhilarating audiences across the nation like no other musical in years. Join this group of late nineteenth-century German students as they navigate teenage self-discovery and coming of age in a powerful celebration of youth and rebellion. SPRING AWAKENING is daring and remarkable. “Broadway,” a New York Times reviewer writes, “may never be the same again.” This performance includes mature themes and language. April 13 Touring Broadway underwriter

AT&T

814-863-0255 • www.cpa.psu.edu • 1-800-ARTS-TIX

ussia’s impact on music is difficult to overstate. The names Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninov, Shostakovich, and Prokofiev stand like giant pillars in the musical landscape. Russian Spirit, performed by seven musicians selected from the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center’s roster of virtuosos, features two of those monumental composers along with a new voice—that of Lera Auerbach. Poetic, powerful, and deeply connected to her Russian heritage, Auerbach’s music continues the great tradition of her forbearers. The program features Prokofiev’s Sonata for Two Violins and Auerbach’s new Sextet, co-commissioned by the Center for the Performing Arts through its membership in Music Accord and written for pairing with Tchaikovsky’s brilliant and lyrical Sextet for Strings, Souvenir de Florence. The musicians are Shmuel Ashkenazi, Erin Keefe, and Yura Lee, violins; Beth Guterman and Paul Neubauer, violas; and Nicolas Alstaedt and Fred Sherry, cellos.

Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center Russian Spirit 7:30 p.m. Thursday, April 14 Schwab Auditorium Adult $38 University Park Student $15 18 and Younger $31

Chamber Music underwriter

Norma and Ralph Condee Chamber Music Endowment

814 -863-0255 • w w w.cpa.psu.edu • 1-800-ART S-TIX

Create your own discounted Choice series or select individual-performance tickets Purchase tickets to individual presentations or create your own Choice series—and receive a 10-percent discount and other benefits—by purchasing together tickets to four or more presentations. Tickets for An Evening with Joshua Bell are non-discountable and ineligible for a Choice series.

PURCHASE TICKETS ONLINE, BY PHONE, OR IN PERSON

www.cpa.psu.edu 814-863-0255 1-800-ARTS-TIX EISENHOWER AUDITORIUM corner of Shortlidge and Eisenhower roads, University Park campus weekdays 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. PENN STATE TICKETS DOWNTOWN in the Penn State Downtown Theatre Center, 146 S. Allen St., State College weekdays 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturdays 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. HUB-ROBESON CENTER Pollock Road, University Park campus weekdays 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. when Penn State classes are in session fall and spring semesters

BRYCE JORDAN CENTER corner of University Drive and Curtin Road, University Park campus weekdays 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. A downloadable order form is available at www.cpa.psu.edu. If you do not have Internet access but want an order form, phone the Arts Ticket Center at 814-863-0255 or 1-800-ARTS-TIX. GROUP DISCOUNTS A group of fifteen or more receives a discount of 20 percent off the regular ticket prices for all presentations except An Evening with Joshua Bell. 814-865-5340 1-800-ARTS-TIX arts-group-sales@psu.edu Visit the group discounts office at Penn State Tickets Downtown in the Penn State Downtown Theatre Center, 146 S. Allen St., State College. The office is open weekdays 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

BEFORE ORDERING, YOU SHOULD KNOW

EXCHANGE TICKETS

Complimentary parking is provided in the Eisenhower Parking Deck for patrons attending performances presented by the Center for the Performing Arts.

Choice series buyers may exchange Choice-event tickets for another Center for the Performing Arts 2010–2011 presentation without paying a service fee. Individual-event ticket buyers may exchange for another 2010–2011 presentation for a $4-perticket fee.

To sit with friends or relatives, you must purchase tickets at the same time. The price of each ticket may include a county/regional impact fee and/or other applicable fees. Seating for latecomers is not reserved. Everyone, including children of all ages, must have a ticket for admission. Audio and visual recording devices are not permitted in our venues. All artists, programs, dates, and times are subject to change.

If you can’t attend one of the performances for which you purchased tickets, you may return those tickets prior to the presentation and apply the face value toward the purchase of another event. For Choice buyers only, if you’re not sure at the time you return tickets which other performance you want to attend, we’ll hold a credit in your account until you decide. If you haven’t used your credit by the end of the 2010–2011 season, we’ll provide you with a receipt for a tax-deductible contribution in the amount of your credit. Tickets must be returned to the Arts Ticket Center at Eisenhower Auditorium or Penn State Tickets Downtown no later than noon on the day of a weeknight performance or by noon on the Friday before a weekend performance.

Keep in mind SPECIAL NEEDS

AUDIO DESCRIPTION

GETTING HERE AND PARKING

ARTISTIC VIEWPOINTS

We’re committed to making the arts accessible to all patrons. Wheelchair seating is available in Eisenhower Auditorium at a discounted price. Wheelchair seating in Schwab Auditorium, located at the front of the house, is available at the regular price. A number of appropriately located seats have been reserved for our patrons with disabilities, and, upon advance request, signing is available for our performances and educational activities. For our hearing-impaired patrons, Eisenhower is equipped with an infrared listening system, and Schwab has an induction-loop system. Our publications, including OnStage performance programs, are available in large-print or alternative media upon request. Live audio description, which can enhance appreciation of what’s taking place on stage, is provided for selected performances. Audio description, when provided, is available to all ticket holders.

Audio description—available at no extra charge to ticket holders—offers live verbal description of the visual elements of selected performances. Especially helpful to patrons with sight-loss, audio description can also improve information processing for people with learning disabilities. The service’s trained audio describers use a transmitter and microphone to relay a pictorial description to patrons wearing earpieces attached to palm-sized receivers. Audio description clarifies details and provides background information, but it doesn’t interfere with other key audible elements of a performance.

We want your performance-day experience to be enjoyable—even before you reach the front doors of our venues. We recommend you park in Eisenhower Parking Deck, located behind Eisenhower Auditorium. Complimentary parking in the Eisenhower deck is provided for patrons attending Center for the Performing Arts presentations. If you’re attending one of our presentations in Schwab Auditorium or Pasquerilla Spiritual Center, park at the Eisenhower deck and take a short trolley ride across campus. The shuttle to and from Schwab or Pasquerilla, like the parking, won’t cost you a thing.

Artistic Viewpoints, an informal moderated discussion that provides insight from a visiting artist or local expert, is offered at the event venue one hour before each performance—except the Keyboard Conversations® Chopin concert; Click, Clack, Moo; Lemony Snicket’s The Composer is Dead; and Room on the Broom—and is free for ticket holders. Artistic Viewpoints for Eisenhower presentations regularly fills to capacity. Seating is available on a first-arrival basis.

Contact the Arts Ticket Center for your special needs.

Look for the audio description logo next to the description of each performance for which the service is provided.

For more information, visit www.cpa.psu.edu and click on DIRECTIONS. KIDS CONNECTIONS Kids Connections, which is free for ticket holders and includes a craft-centered, child-friendly activity, takes place in Eisenhower Auditorium one hour before Click, Clack, Moo; Lemony Snicket’s The Composer is Dead; and Room on the Broom. Due to space and time restrictions, participation is limited.

Members make it happen Extraordinary artistry Connecting the arts to schools First experiences Creative engagement New works Specialized programs About 60 percent of Center for the Performing Arts income comes from ticket sales revenue combined with Penn State support. Membership support makes a real difference in the programs the Center for the Performing Arts is able to offer to the community. Your support is the bridge that brings artists and audiences together. When you become a member of the Center for the Performing Arts, you join hundreds of people who believe the performing arts are important to the vitality of our region and who share our mission of enriching lives through inspiring experiences. Make it happen. Make a difference. Please join us. For more information about membership, contact Dave Shaffer, assistant director for special programs, at 814-863-1167 or DaveShaffer@psu.edu.

Our membership categories and the benefits they include: LEADERSHIP CIRCLE ($3,000 and more) Invitation for two to an exclusive recognition event for Leadership Circle members Reserved season parking space for Center for the Performing Arts presentations Total of six tickets for friends to a performance of choice * Plus benefits of Director’s Circle DIRECTOR’S CIRCLE ($1,500 to $2,999) Name recognition in Eisenhower Auditorium lobby Invitation for two to an exclusive recognition event for Director’s Circle members Season access to preferred parking for Center for the Performing Arts presentations Total of four tickets for friends to a performance of choice * Plus benefits of Encore Circle ENCORE CIRCLE ($1,000 to $1,499) VIP ticket office assistance, including access to premium seating based upon availability and contractual obligations Two tickets for friends to a performance of choice * Plus benefits of Advocate

ADVOCATE ($500 to $999) Invitation to recognition luncheon with the director and backstage tour Plus benefits of Partner PARTNER ($250 to $499) Invitation to the season celebration Advance notice and pre-sale ticket opportunities for special events added throughout the year Plus benefits of Friend FRIEND ($150 to $249) Advance purchase privilege for Center for the Performing Arts premium ticket packages Recognition in OnStage, our performance program Plus benefits of Debut Circle DEBUT CIRCLE ($50 to $149) First opportunity to purchase Center for the Performing Arts tickets Receive advance mailing of the season brochure, by First-Class mail, to ensure early receipt Recognition listing in the Center for the Performing Arts annual report

THE JAZZ TRAIN A special membership category that helps to present world-class jazz artists. With a gift of $200 or more, the benefits include: Invitations to performance-related receptions Advance purchase privilege for Center for the Performing Arts premium ticket packages First opportunity to purchase Center for the Performing Arts tickets Receive advance mailing of the season brochure, by First-Class mail, to ensure early receipt Recognition in OnStage, our performance program Recognition listing in the Center for the Performing Arts annual report * Based upon availability and contractual obligations. Value will be provided on gift receipt.

Thank you

CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS @ PENN STATE GRANTS

Cultural Learning Initiative with McQuaide Blasko (CLIMB) Helen and Sidney S. Friedman Endowment * Honey and Bill Jaffe Endowment

Central Pennsylvania Convention and Visitors Bureau Doris Duke Charitable Foundation as re-granted by the Association of Performing Arts Presenters Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation National Endowment for the Arts Pennsylvania Council on the Arts University Park Allocation Committee

ARTS ENDOWMENTS Lynn Donald Breon Endowment * John L. Brown Jr. and Marlynn Steele Sidehamer Endowment Richard Robert Brown Program Endowment Norma and Ralph Condee Chamber Music Endowment Eisenhower Auditorium Endowment Glenn and Nancy Gamble Endowment Hall-LeKander Endowment William E. McTurk Endowment * Penn State International Dance Ensemble Endowment Gerald B. M. and Sylvia Stein Endowment * * Future pledged endowment

TICKET AND ENVELOPE SPONSOR Penn State Hospitality Services PROGAM PARTNERS Centre County Office of Aging C. Barton McCann School of Art Pasquerilla Spiritual Center Penn State Institute for the Arts and Humanities Penn State School of Music Penn State School of Theatre

2010 2011

Performances begin at 7:30 p.m. unless otherwise noted. Performances are in Eisenhower Auditorium unless indicated as being in Schwab Auditorium (SA) or Pasquerilla Spiritual Center (PSC). Artists, programs, dates, and times are subject to change.

Calendar CALENDAR

ARTS ENDOWMENT BENEFACTORS

Jeffrey Siegel Keyboard Conversations® Chopin for Lovers! Wednesday, September 15 (SA) Monty Python’s SPAMALOT Tuesday and Wednesday, September 28 and 29 The Laramie Project Tectonic Theater Project Wednesday, October 6 The Laramie Project: Ten Years Later–An Epilogue Tectonic Theater Project Thursday, October 7 Taylor Eigsti Trio with special guest Becca Stevens Tuesday, October 12 (SA) Apollo’s Fire Monteverdi’s Vespers of 1610 Friday, October 15 (SA) RIOULT 2 p.m. Sunday, October 17

A CHORUS LINE Thursday, October 21 Buika Thursday, October 28 Eroica Trio Wednesday, November 3 (SA) Moscow State Symphony Orchestra Pavel Kogan, conductor Jennifer Koh, violinist Tuesday, November 9 New Orleans Nights Allen Toussaint, Nicholas Payton, and The Joe Krown Trio Tuesday, November 16 Natalie MacMaster Christmas in Cape Breton Thursday, December 2 Jonathan Biss Wednesday, January 19 (SA) Become a fan of our Facebook® page PENN STATE CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS

CALENDAR

2010 2011

Click, Clack, Moo TheatreworksUSA 2 p.m. Sunday, January 23

THE COLOR PURPLE Tuesday and Wednesday, March 22 and 23

FIDDLER ON THE ROOF Tuesday, January 25

Lemony Snicket’s The Composer is Dead 2 p.m. Sunday, March 27

John Scofield and Joe Lovano Quartet Thursday, January 27 (SA) An Evening with Joshua Bell Thursday, February 3

Trio Mediæval Tuesday, March 29 (PSC)

Merce Cunningham Dance Company Saturday, February 12

Dave Brubeck Quintet and Ramsey Lewis Trio Friday, April 8

Cirque Éloize ID Tuesday, February 15

Room on the Broom Tall Stories Theatre Company 2 p.m. Sunday, April 10

Takács Quartet Tuesday, February 22 (SA)

SPRING AWAKENING Tuesday and Wednesday, April 12 and 13

Tango Buenos Aires Fire and Passion of Tango Thursday, February 24 Ballet Grand Prix Wednesday, March 2

Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center Russian Spirit Thursday, April 14 (SA) Become a fan of our Facebook® page PENN STATE CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS

This publication is available in alternative media on request. The Pennsylvania State University is committed to the policy that all persons shall have equal access to programs, facilities, admission, and employment without regard to personal characteristics not related to ability, performance, or qualifications as determined by University policy or by state or federal authorities. It is the policy of the University to maintain an academic and work environment free of discrimination, including harassment. The Pennsylvania State University prohibits discrimination and harassment against any person because of age, ancestry, color, disability or handicap, national origin, race, religious creed, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, or veteran status. Discrimination or harassment against faculty, staff, or students will not be tolerated at The Pennsylvania State University. Direct all inquiries regarding the nondiscrimination policy to the Affirmative Action Director, The Pennsylvania State University, 328 Boucke Building, University Park PA 16802-5901; tel. (814) 865-4700/V, (814) 863-1150/TTY. U.Ed. ARC 10-173

Cover Illustation by Scott McKowen

THE PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIVERSITY CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS EISENHOWER AUDITORIUM UNIVERSITY PARK, PA 16802-2108 TICKETS ON SALE: May 10 Members May 17 Choice 2009–2010 Subscribers June 1 General Public