January-February Places

Places

A preview of Performing Arts at Johnson County Community College

www.jccc.edu/CarlsenCenter

January/February 2009

National Acrobats of China

Roby Lakatos National Acrobats of China William Joseph Tomáseen Foley’s St. Patrick Celebration Czech Symphony Orchestra Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad Rubberbandance Group

Spirit Enlivens Gypsy Music

The exotic stereotype of a nomadic Gypsy comes to life with Roby Lakatos, mustachioed and dressed in a flamboyant long dress coat, playing a purported 100 notes per second.

Roby Lakatos, King of the Gypsy Violin, performs at 8 p.m. Friday, Jan. 23, in Yardley Hall of the Carlsen Center, just four days before his Carnegie Hall appearance.

Referred to as the “devil’s fiddler,” Lakatos is as much at home in classical music and jazz as he is at home in Hungarian folk music. In this concert, Lakatos is supported by his legendary band: Lászlo Bóni, second violinist, Robert Feher, double bass, Frantisek Janoska, piano, Jeno Lisztes, cimbalom (the national instrument of Hungary) and Laszlo Balogh, guitar.

“Professional classical violinists will travel hundreds of miles to see Roby play, as even they are not sure how he masters such speed and accuracy,” said Charles Rogers, artistic director, Carlsen Center. “It’s one thing to play fast and smear. It’s another to play fast and clear like he does.”

The band’s playing is an explosive mix of authentic Gypsy music with great themes from all around the world. Traditional Gypsy pieces like Ciflico, Divertimento or Hejre Kati are performed with energy, dedication and virtuosity. Lakatos also adds his style to impressionistic French music,

Indian tabla, mariachi guitars and even some bossa nova. Themes are coming from the French repertoire (Que reste-t-il de nos amours?), American Jazz (Got a Match?), Hollywood classics (Papa Can You Hear Me?) or even from Japan (Sakura).

Born in 1965 into the legendary family of Gypsy violinists descended from Janos Bihari, considered the king of Gypsy violinists, Lakatos was introduced to music as a child, and at age 9 he made his public debut as first violin in a Gypsy band. His musicianship evolved not only within his noble family but also at the Béla Bartók Conservatory of Budapest, where he won the first prize for classical violin in 1984. Between 1986 and 1996, he and his ensemble delighted audiences at Les Atéliers de la grande Ille, Brussels, their musical home throughout this period. He has collaborated with Vadim Repin and Stéphane Grappelli, and his playing was greatly admired by Sir Yehudi Menuhin, who always made a point of visiting the club in Brussels to hear Lakatos.

When Lakatos mixes classical and jazz music with the magic of the Hungarian-Gypsy vitality, it offers new sounds to listeners and enlivens anyone who possesses a wandering spirit.

Tickets $20 and $30

Artful Acrobats Astonish

The National Acrobats of China combine the 2,000-year-old traditions of the Han dynasty with the 21st century lights and music of a Las Vegas cirque show. The acrobats (aka artists, dancers, contortionists, athletes and magicians) are awe-inspiring as men dive through flaming hoops juxtaposed by 12 women in graceful ballet spinning six plates apiece.

The National Acrobats of China, all graduates of the Fu Hsing Academy, display dramatic folk arts in their performance, The Chinese Blossom, at 8 p.m. Friday-Saturday, Jan. 30-31, in Yardley Hall of the Carlsen Center.

Considered the foremost acrobatic troupe in China, the 35 members of National Acrobats go beyond ordinary circus tricks. Their program gives an artful bow to traditional Chinese images – musical instruments, bamboo, lanterns, colorful silk scarves and lotus blossoms. Acts have titles like Heroic Drums and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon that combine martial arts and music; A Ceremony on the Steep Cliff with men dressed in Taiwanese aboriginal costumes performing hand acrobatics and fire

dancing; and The Mirror Image, a magic show culminating in a disappearing apprentice.

The bring-the-audience-to-its-feet act is a young man who balances on top of seven chairs stacked one on top of the other, the bottom one “anchored� by its four legs in champagne bottles. In a change of pace, lovers walk through a forest of flowers, and an elegant actress balances lighted candlesticks on the soles of her feet, forehead, hands and even on her mouth.

The astounding athletes undertake feats that range from gravity-defying balancing acts to spine-bending contortions. Their mission is to make traditional folk acrobatic arts versatile and accessible, and to spread Chinese culture, promote folk arts and establish cultural exchanges with other countries.

Tickets $30 and $40

Pianist Keys into Valentine’s Day

William Joseph’s matinee-idol good looks paired with his classical piano virtuosity have propelled him to stardom in a few short years.

A perfect Valentine’s gift for a special someone or for yourself – Joseph will play his romantic style of piano music at 8 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 14, in Yardley Hall of the Carlsen Center.

A piano prodigy, Joseph was awarded a scholarship at age 8 from the Boys Club of America that put him under the tutelage of Russian instructor Stella Saperstein. From that point on, the Phoenix native performed and wrote music through his early teens.

Following his Latter Day Saints-mission to Australia, Joseph got his career break in 2003, when he was discovered by composer-producer David Foster, who was in Phoenix to conduct the orchestra for a fundraiser honoring Muhammad Ali. Joseph has seen the release of his first CD, Within, and a 2008 release, Beyond. The majority of songs are his own compositions.

Joseph has now started his own headline tours with a vigorous performance style, enjoying the experience of connecting with fans and remaining a prolific composer.

Tickets $20 and $30

Tomáseen Foley Celebrates St. Patrick’s Day Spend an evening with Irish storyteller Tomáseen Foley and some of the most gifted Celtic musicians, dancers and singers in a St. Patrick Celebration at 8 p.m. Friday-Saturday, Feb. 20-21, in Yardley Hall of the Carlsen Center.

The show stars the charming and witty Foley, who restores the Celtic art of storytelling to its ancient glory, accompanied by authentic Irish music (fiddle, tin whistle and uilleann pipes) and Irish step dance – all paying tribute to the “drowning of the shamrock.”

The fact that St. Patrick’s Day almost always comes during Lent was a blessing in the remote parish of Teampall an Ghleanntáin in the west of Ireland. For there, in that tiny community, when Foley was a boy, the 40 days of Lent were days of rigorous penance, when even the most recalcitrant had to forswear all vice. Music fell silent, and dancers were required to still their feet and twiddle their thumbs.

But oh, how that changed on St. Patrick’s Day when penance was gleefully cast aside, and the neighbors gathered at each other’s cottages for celebration. At the end of the celebration, party-goers would drop a shamrock into their glasses in a “drowning of the shamrock.” When the drink was finished, the drowned shamrock was thrown over the left shoulder in a toast: “Slainte na bfear is go mara na mna go deo” (Good health to the men and may the women live forever).

Tickets $25 and $35

‘New World’ Played by Old World Orchestra

Conductor Theodore Kuchar leads the Czech Symphony Orchestra on a U.S. tour with a performance of Dvorák’s New World Symphony at 7 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 15, in Yardley Hall of the Carlsen Center. Also featured in the evening’s program is Paavali Jumppanen, pianist, performing Bohuslav Martinû’s Double Concerto for Two String Orchestras, Piano and Timpani and Jennifer Frautshi, violinist, performing Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto. William Everett, musicologist at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, will present Artists Insights at 6 p.m. in Recital Hall.

The Czech Symphony Orchestra (known as the Janácek Philharmonic Orchestra of Ostrava in its home county) was established in 1954 and arose from the Czech Radio Orchestra. While the Czech Symphony Orchestra is renowned for its performances of the works of Janácek and other significant Czech composers such as Dvorák, Smetana and Martinû, the Orchestra’s repertoire goes beyond the works of Czech composers, to include the works of Beethoven, Mozart, Schubert, R. Strauss, Reger, Szymanowski, Schumann, Bruch and Bruckner.

Kuchar is one of the world’s most internationally acclaimed and prolifically recorded conductors of the past decade. For the past 15 years, he has served as artistic director and principal conductor of two prestigious Eastern European orchestras — the Czech Symphony Orchestra and the National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine. He has recorded more than 90 compact discs for the Naxos, Brilliant Classics, Ondine and Marco Polo labels.

Kuchar and the Czech Symphony Orchestra have recorded 10 compact discs, devoted to the complete symphonies of Carl Nielsen, the complete overtures and tone poems of Dvorák and the complete orchestral works of Bedrich Smetana.

Joining the Orchestra is violinist Frautshi, an Avery Fisher career grant recipient gaining acclaim as an adventurous performer with a wide-ranging repertoire. Born in Pasadena, Calif., Frautshi began playing the violin at age 3. She was a student of Robert Lipsett at the Colburn School for the Performing Arts in Los Angeles. She also attended Harvard, the New England Conservatory of Music and The Juilliard School, where she studied with Robert Mann.

Selected by Carnegie Hall for its Distinctive Debuts series, she played her New York recital in April 2004. As part of the European Concert Hall Organization’s Rising Star series, she made debuts at 10 of Europe’s most celebrated concert venues. She appears as soloist, most recently with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony Orchestra at the Ravinia Festival, Seattle Symphony, Orchestra of St. Luke’s at opening night of the Caramoor International Festival and at Wigmore Hall and Lincoln Center’s Mostly Mozart Festival, and is an avid chamber musician. She has a growing list of widely praised CDs, most recently The Robert Craft Collection: The Music of Arnold Schoenberg, Vol. 2.

Finnish pianist Jumppanen, first prize winner in the 2000 Young Concert Artists International Auditions, made his New York concerto debut with the New York Chamber Symphony at Alice Tulley Hall in 2002 and performed Bartók’s Piano Concerto No. 3 with the Hungarian Sympohony in Yardley Hall in February 2007.

In January 2007, Jumppanen embarked on a cycle of eight concerts during a period of two years at the Isabella Gardner Museum performing the 32 Beethoven sonatas. He also performs the same series in three different cities in Finland during the same period. Jumppanen has performed the complete piano concertos by Beethoven in a cycle with the Symphony orchestra of the city of Kuopio. He has also performed with the Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra in Sweden, Orchestra des Concerts Lamoureux at Theatre des Champs Elysees in Paris and the Rochester Philharmonics and the Pasadena Symphony.

Jumppanen performances also included the solo-piano cycle Vingt Regards sur l’enfant Jesus by the French composer Olivier Messiaen in celebration of the Messiaen centennial in 2008.

Born in Espoo, Finland, Jumppanen began to play piano at age 5 at the Espoo Music Institute, where he studied with Marja Huhtamaki and Katarina Nummi. He studied at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki with Margit Rahkonen.

Tickets $35 and $45

‘Underground Railroad’ Tracks Freedom Using words and music, Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad is a tribute to the great American heroine who freed herself and hundreds of other slaves. Her courage helped to change the world.

Co-produced by the Black History Museum and Cultural Center of Virginia, Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad will give local students an opportunity to see this accurate and deeply moving musical history lesson at 9:45 a.m. and noon Tuesday, Feb. 10, in Yardley Hall of the Carlsen Center, as part of the Carlsen Center ArtsEducation program.

The drama unfolds with the real-life story of Tubman, born a slave in 1821 in Bucktown District, Md., who escaped in 1849 following the Underground Railroad to Philadelphia. Here she was persuaded to take on the dangerous role of a conductor for the Underground Railroad, using her extraordinary tracking ability to rescue others.

At the start of the Civil War, Tubman became a spy for the Union Army and later a nurse and a scout. The Emancipation Proclamation and end of the Civil War did not end her trials. When riding a train in the South, Tubman was injured because she refused to leave her seat.

Returning to Auburn, N.Y., to care for her aging parents, Tubman opened her house to numerous black and Union soldiers. After public pressure, Congress awarded her a small pension, and she spent the rest of her life speaking out against injustice.

In addition to history, students will be exposed to the songs employed by slaves to send secret messages. According to tradition, when Tubman decided to escape her master’s plantation, she announced her intentions by singing When That Old Chariot Comes. Another song, Follow the Drinking Gourd, covertly referred to the position of rivers, information to be used by runaway slaves.

Tickets $5

Performing Arts Events J o h n s o n

C o u n t y

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C o m m u n i t y

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January 2009

C o l l e g e

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KC Symphony Sunday Midori, violin 2 p.m. Yardley Hall $32-$55 Roby Lakatos 18

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Roby Lakatos, violinist

Special Event

8 p.m. Yardley Hall

$20, $30

26 Festival of Faiths Jon Meacham + ODEI 6-7 p.m. reception Carlsen Center Lobby 7-9 p.m. Yardley Hall $20 adults, $10 students

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National Acrobats of China

31 National Acrobats of China Center Stage Series 8 p.m. Yardley Hall $30, $40

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February 2009

Sunday

Monday

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Saturday

Tomáseen Foley’s Saint Patrick Celebration, Friday, Saturday, Feb. 20, 21

For best seats, order early.

Call

Tuesday

913-469-4445 or visit

www.jccc.edu/CarlsenCenter for tickets and information.

Purchase live online

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Allegresse 9

8 Kansas City Symphony Peter and the Wolf 2 p.m. Yardley Hall $15, $25, $35

15 Czech Symphony Orchestra Classics Series 7 p.m. Yardley Hall $35, $45

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*Alan Murray, Kerri Shiflett, Geoff Wilcken Ruel Joyce Recital Series noon Recital Hall

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11 Underground

17 *Tim Wise

*Jazz Series

13 *Brown & Gold Valentine Tea 2 p.m. reception, Carlsen Center Lobby 3 p.m. performance Polsky Theatre

14 William Joseph, pianist Special Event 8 p.m. Yardley Hall $20, $30

(members only)

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19 Highway, Byway and Runway ◊ FMD

Black History Month + ODEI 11 a.m.-1 p.m. Craig Community Auditorium 6-7 p.m. reception Carlsen Center Lobby 7-9 p.m. Yardley Hall

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Railroad

and the Underground Railroad ArtsEducation School Show 9:45 a.m. or noon Yardley Hall $5

noon and 7 p.m.

Polsky Theatre $5 students and JCCC employees, $8 in advance, $10 at the door

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21 Tomáseen Foley’s Saint Patrick Celebration Center Stage Series 8 p.m. Yardley Hall $25, $35

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27 28 Rubberbandance Group Rubberbandance Group Residency Dance Series ArtsEducation 8 p.m. Yardley Hall grades 6 and up, call 913-469-8500, ext. 4221

noon Recital Hall

$25, $35

*JCCC Concert Band JCCC Music Department 7:30 p.m. Polsky Theatre

Alan Murray

William Joseph

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*Ruel Joyce Recital Series noon Recital Hall

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Czech Symphony Orchestra, Sunday, Feb. 15 10 Harriet Tubman

*Allegresse Ruel Joyce Recital Series noon Recital Hall

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Rubberbandance

*Holiday by Philip Barry JCCC Theatre Department, 7:30 p.m. Black Box Theatre

▲ Box Office: 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Friday • Call 913-469-4445 Tickets are required for most events in Polsky Theatre and Yardley Hall. Programs, dates and times are subject to change.

There is a $1 per ticket handling charge at the JCCC box office. Discounts are available for music, theater and dance students.

Carlsen Center Administrative Office: Open 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Friday • Call 913-469-4450 A request for interpretative services must be made 72 hours before a performance. Call the box office at 913-469-4445 or TDD/TTY 913-469-4485.

Geoff Wilcken, Feb. 16

Persons with disabilities who desire additional support services may contact services for patrons with disabilities, 913-469-8500, ext. 3521, or TDD/TTY 913-469-3885. *free-admission event

+Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

◊Fashion Merchandising and Design

Rubberbandance Group Stretch Dance

commissioned piece for the classical ballet company Pacific Northwest Ballet.

The utilitarian function of rubber bands is to hold items together. The fun of rubber bands is snapping them to see how far they fly. The Canadian Rubberbandance Group, as the name implies, has an elastic perspective – sometimes from its feet, sometimes from its hands and always from a powerful performance that combines ballet, contemporary, hip-hop and breakdance styles.

A well-known member of the Montreal dance community, the company has highlights at Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, Bumbershoot Music and Arts Festival, Fall for Dance Festival at City Center New York, Spoleto Festival USA, Breakin’ Convention at Sadler’s Wells in London, ACT Festival ’04 in Holland, and URB Festival in Finland.

The energetic six-member Rubberbandance Group makes it Midwest premiere in Punto Ciego (Blind Spot), an evening-long performance that fuses contemporary dance and hip-hop, at 8 p.m., Saturday, Feb. 28, in Yardley Hall of the Carlsen Center. A post-performance Q&A by a company member follows the performance.

RBDG is a collection of world-class dancers brought together in 2002 by Victor Quijada, co- artistic director and choreographer. His pieces examine humanity and human relationships through a unique combination of dance and theater styles. He constantly surprises audiences, and this work promises the same with stunning duets dance by Quijada and co-artistic director Anne Plamondon and three humorous video sequences.

Since its beginning, RBDG has been sought after as a guest at hip-hop and contemporary dance festivals throughout North America, Europe and Japan.

RBDG‘s performance is funded in part by the National Dance Project of the New England Foundation for the Arts, with lead funding from Doris Duke Charitable Foundation. Additional funding provided by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, The Ford Foundation and MetLife Foundation.

ArtsEducation will host RBDG in residency Thursday-Friday, Feb. 26-27, for grades 6 and up. For more information, call 913-469-8500, ext. 4221.

Tickets $25 and $35

Dressed in jeans and sneakers, this extraordinary group articulates the perfect marriage between explosive hip-hop physicality and the subtle profoundness of contemporary storytelling. A combination of the narrative and spectacular freedom of breakdance with the abstraction, nuances and techniques of contemporary dance result in a true hybrid of dance forms.

Quijada earned the name “Rubberband” for his elastic body style in Los Angeles, where he attended the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts. His first stages were L.A. streets and underground hip-hop clubs.

He went on to work with greats like Twyla Tharp, Eliot Feld and Les Grands Ballet Canadiens de Montreal. The former street dancer choreograhed a

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