September/October Places

Places

A preview of Performing Arts at Johnson County Community College www.jccc.edu/TheSeries

September – October 2009

Sones de México Ensemble L.A. Theatre Works War of the Worlds, The Lost World Tommy Emmanuel, guitar The Spencers, Theatre of Illusion Dame Emma Kirkby, soprano, and Jakob Lindberg, lute Rasta Thomas’ Bad Boys of Dance

Tommy Emmanuel

Sones de México Ensemble

Sones de México Ensemble plays a festive fiesta Sones de México Ensemble, Chicago’s premier Mexican folk music group, opens the Performing Arts Series at Johnson County Community College with a joyous performance of music and dance at 8 p.m. Friday, Sept. 25, in Yardley Hall.

In the atmosphere of a traditional fandango (dance fiesta), Sones de México Ensemble entertains audiences with a collection of more than 70 acoustic instruments, bright four-part vocal arrangements and acrobatic dance.

NPR calls a Sones de México presentation “a sight to behold” with the group’s magnitude of instruments and showmanship. Audiences are easily moved to dance and can do so during a segment of this performance.

Since its formation in 1994, Sones de México is known for preserving a tradition of folk songs collectively known as “son” from Mexico’s diverse cultural regions, performing them with a preservationist’s care on more than 25 folk string, percussion and wind instruments. They are a unique ensem­ ble of seasoned folk musicians and a leader in Mexican music education.

“Son” is a term used to define a large family of regional music and dance styles. Each region of México has its own brand of “son” – guston, son jarocho, son huasteco, etc. – each with its own repertoire, instruments and style of singing and dancing. Sones de México’s cross-cultural view of music links “son” to the diverse ethnic roots of Mexico’s mestizo culture: Native American, Spanish and the often-overlooked influence of black music in Mexico.

As performers and recording artists, the ensemble has developed and popularized many original arrangements of Mexican traditional tunes while combining them with symphonic, Irish, folk, country and western, jazz and rock music.

Their 2007 album Esta Tierra es Tuya (This Land Is Your Land), which received both Grammy and Latin Grammy nominations, shows off their musical range from traditional Mexican to Bach, Led Zeppelin to Woody Guthrie.

The Chicago Tribune describes the hybridization well:

“They move seamlessly between styles and instruments playing with rock’n’roll energy without sacrificing cultural authenticity.”

The band is composed of director Víctor Pichardo (violin, clarinet, jarana, guitar, huapanguera), an award-winning musician, arranger, composer and educator; producer, ethnomusicologist Juan Díes (guitarrón, guitar); award-winning dancer and musician Lorena Iñiguez (dance, vihuela, jarana and small percussion); master violinist Juan Rivera (violin, requinto, jarana); multi-instrumentalist Zacbé Pichardo (marimba, harp, vihuela, percussion); and master drummer Javier Saume (drums, maracas, percussion).

Tickets $25, $15

Join members of Sones de México Ensemble at 7:15 p.m. Friday, Sept. 25, in the Carlsen Center for a free 20-minute Beyond the Music preconcert lecture/demo that will introduce Mexico’s regional folk music instruments and styles. This program is sponsored in part by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.

Performing Arts Education presents a Sones de México school show at noon Sept. 25 in Yardley Hall. Tickets are $5, available at the box office, 913-469-4445. Educational outreach to schools is also available. Students can learn La Danza del Sol (Dance of the Sun), The Mexican Corrido (a lesson in folk literature for middle school students and older) or Animals in Mexican Folk Music (a lesson in history and anthropology). For more information, call 913-469-8500, ext. 4221.

Set your dial for L.A. Theatre Works

four-person expedition through the remote jungles of South America to

settle the validity of his extraordinary claim that prehistoric animals exist.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s rollicking adventure tale follows a scientific

expedition deep into the Amazon jungle — right back into the times of

dinosaurs and cave men. Before Jurassic Park, before Indiana Jones —

there was The Lost World.

Both original pieces of science fiction were written at the time of an

extensive British Empire. Their fascination still resonates today as concerns

swirl around our environment and protecting our borders.

In a special back-to-back double bill of chills, thrills and great science literature, America’s premier radio theater company L.A. Theatre Works, with Susan Albert Loewenberg producing director, presents War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells, adapted by Howard Koch, and The Lost World, written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, adapted by John de Lancie and Nat Segaloff, at 8 p.m. Friday-Saturday, Oct. 2-3, in Yardley Hall. Plays are complete with props, sets and costumes.

This 60-minute War of the Worlds performance recreates Orson Welles’ infamous Oct. 30, 1938, radio broadcast simulating an “eyewitness report” of an invasion from Mars, so real that it caused a nationwide panic.

The broadcast used an adaptation of the original 1898 H.G. Wells book, which was updated by Howard Kock, Mercury Theatre of the Air writer, who changed the time and location from Victorian England to a small town on the U.S. East Coast. LATW follows this tradition.

In The Lost World, 50-minutes, Professor Challenger leads a harrowing

Under the leadership of producing director, Susan Albert Loewenberg,

LATW produces and records radio plays performed in front of live audiences

and also provides weekly broadcasts to select NPR stations and XM

Satellite Radio, internationally on the BBC, CBC, Voice of America and

many other English language networks.

Works by Eugene O’Neill, David Henry Hwang, Athol Fugard, Wendy

Wasserstein, Neil Simon, David Mamet, Charlayne Woodard, Arthur Miller

and others have been performed and recorded by LATW with casts of

the most critically acclaimed film and stage actors — Leonard Nimoy,

Richard Dreyfuss, Chad Lowe, Hilary Swank, Laurence Fishburne,

Neil Patrick Harris, Ed Asner and many others.

Cast for this production are actors from the Sci-Fi and Star Trek TV series.

Tickets $30, $20

The Performing Arts Education program will sponsor a master class where acting professionals share their craft. For more information, call 913-469-8500. ext. 4221.

Guitar extraordinaire

Atkins eventually recorded with Emmanuel in 1996 on The Day the Finger

Pickers Took Over the World, for which Emmanuel received his first

Grammy award nomination. This was also Atkins’ last recording.

Emmanuel recorded a new double CD and DVD, Center Stage, released in

2008, which contains many of the guitarist’s current showstoppers —

a Beatles Medley, Mombasa, Initiation (an aboriginal tribute song), House

of the Risin’ Sun and Sukiyaki for his Japanese fans.

In addition to his storied career, which includes 16 music and instructional

recordings, Emmanuel is also an accomplished record producer and musical

arranger. Accolades include his 2007 Grammy nomination for Gameshow

Rag from The Mystery CD, induction into the Thumb Pickers Hall of Fame

in Muhlenberg, Ky., (the only non-American so honored), and Acoustic

Guitar Magazine readers’ poll for placing in the top three favorite artists.

Emmanuel was voted Rolling Stone (Australia) Magazine’s “Most Popular

Guitarist” for two consecutive years.

Emmanuel has performed with hundreds of musical legends including

Les Paul, Keith Urban, Eric Clapton, Sir George Martin, Tina Turner,

Joe Walsh, Stevie Wonder, Nokie Edwards (of the Ventures), Philharmonic,

the Dortmund (Germany) Symphony and the Western Australian

Symphony Orchestra.

As a solo performer, Emmanuel’s dazzling performance, flawless guitar

skills and voluminous repertoire never fail to amaze and engage his

audiences. From the wilds of Australia’s outback to major cities throughout

the world, Emmanuel’s flair and unforgettable showmanship have created

a faithful fan base that continues to grow even larger every year.

Tickets $30

Recognized as one of the greatest living acoustic guitar players, two-time Grammy nominee Tommy Emmanuel will perform at 8 p.m. Friday, Oct. 9, in Yardley Hall.

A household name in his native Australia, Emmanuel has a unique style, known as “finger style,” which is akin to playing guitar the way a pianist plays piano using all 10 fingers.

Locals may know him, too, from appearances at the Walnut Valley Festival, Winfield.

Emmanuel describes his music as “soulful, yet playful.” During concerts, he plays the guitar (and sometimes the drums), sings the lyrics and connects with audiences. The repertoire is jazz, rock, blues, folk, country and classical.

Emmanuel’s professional career spans more than five decades and continues to intersect with some of the finest musicians throughout the world. He began playing guitar at age 4, by learning to play by ear without any formal instruction. Emmanuel and his older brother Phil were child prodigies, starting their professional careers in the 1960s. By the age of 6, Tommy was already working as a professional musician. Shortly after his father’s death in 1966, the Emmanuel family was approached by Australian country music star Buddy Williams, who took the family on the road until they were forced by the Australian child welfare department to stop traveling.

Guitar legend Chet Atkins was one of the first to inspire Emmanuel to pick up the guitar as a child. Decades later, Atkins himself became one of Emmanuel’s biggest fans, honoring Emmanuel with the title of “Certified Guitar Player” for his lifetime contribution to the instrument in 1999.

Witness the impossible

Be prepared to witness the impossible. Kevin and Cindy Spencer penetrate walls and levitate with the best of them, and they do it with world-class charisma and style. This husband and wife combine a passion for magic with a love of theater in a how-did-they-do-that? performance,Theatre of Illusion, at 7 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 10, in Yardley Hall.

The Spencers perform the mandatory magician-cutting­ a-woman-in-half act, but add their own signature twist.

They also pay tribute to Harry Houdini with the Walking Through a Wall, first seen in 1914 and rarely performed since, and an edge-of-your-seat re-enactment of his underwater escape. Minds are read, and the entire audience is swept up in one illusion. People levitate, walk through walls, vanish and reappear. The couple creates magic that is about spectacle, danger, personality and several tons of state-of-the-art equipment and special effects.

The Spencers have redefined the art of illusion and are shattering the stereotype of the traditional magician and assistant. They present a big high-tech stage show that combines drama, comedy, romance and suspense with elaborate stage illusions that include special effects, a magnificent set and, of course, magic. The two constantly work with leading creators to give audiences never-before­ seen illusion, designed exclusively for them. The Spencers are the only artists in history to be named Performing Arts Entertainers of the Year for a record-breaking six consecutive years and have twice been named America’s Best Entertainers.

The duo is described as “Modern Day Houdinis” by the media. They are skilled performers who captivate their audience from the moment they take the stage. Their personalities travel beyond the stage lights to touch the viewers’ inquisitive minds as well as their hearts.

In part, that’s because since 1984, the Spencers have been using magic to work with the physically challenged through a program, Healing of Magic. They use the rehabilitative therapy of magic to work with people who have experienced strokes, spinal cord or head injuries, learning or developmental disabilities, or alcohol and drug addictions. The most important aspect of this therapy is the ability of the patient to transfer the skills learned by performing magic tricks into activities of daily living.

Healing of Magic has been approved by more than 50,000 members of the American Occupational Therapy Association.

Performing Arts Education and JCCC Health and Human Services is offering a Healing of Magic residency with the Spencers for occupational therapists. For more information, call 913-469-8500, ext. 4221.

Tickets $35, $25

Kevin and Cindy Spencer The Spencers have been named 2009 Magicians of the Year by the International Magicians Society.This is the highest honor awarded in the magic community, equivalent to an Oscar or Emmy. Other recipients include David Copperfield, Doug Henning, Harry Blackstone Jr, Siegfried & Roy and Criss Angel.

Dame Emma Kirkby and Jakob Lindberg breathe new life into old music Dame Emma Kirkby, soprano, and Jakob Lindberg, lute, celebrate the genius of two of England’s greatest composers in Orpheus in England — Dowland and Purcell at 8 p.m. Friday, Oct. 30, in Polsky Theatre.

Artist Insights begin at 7 p.m.

The first half of the program are works by Dowland (1563-1626), the greatest English composer for the lute, known for his melancholy songs.

This program includes his best known works such as Come, heavy sleep and Lachrimae. The second half is a range of solo songs by Baroque composer Purcell (1659-1695), a program created at the 350th anniversary of Purcell’s birth and a suite of dance arranged for lute.

The two performers bring the best of their art forms – Kirkby with a voice of purity and simplicity, Lindberg with a 10-course Renaissance lute by Sixtus Rauwolf.

Haydn and J.C. Bach. Despite all the recording activity, Kirkby still prefers live concerts, especially the pleasure of performing favorite programs, such as this one, with a colleague. As an early music specialist, she is valued as a teacher and inspiration to subsequent generations of musicians.

Dame Emma Kirkby and Jakob Lindberg

Kirkby is known as the “Queen of Early Music,” and BBC Music Magazine named her in the top 10 of The 20 Greatest Sopranos in April 2007.

Originally Kirkby had no expectations of becoming a professional singer.

As a classics student at Oxford and then a schoolteacher, she sang for pleasure in choirs and small groups, always feeling most at home in Renaissance and Baroque repertoire. She joined the Taverner Choir in 1971 and, in 1973, began her long association with the Consort of Musicke, taking part in the early Decca Florilegium recordings with both the Consort of Musicke and the Academy of Ancient Music. She found a niche with a sound appropriate for early instruments.

To date she has made more than a hundred recordings of all kinds, from sequences of Hildegarde of Bingen to madrigals of the Italian and English Renaissance, cantatas and oratorios of the Baroque, works of Mozart,

Kirkby was named a Dame Commander of the British Empire in 2007 and was awarded an honorary doctor of music degree by Oxford University in 2008. Kirkby performed previously at Yardley Hall with the Academy of Ancient Music in 1997.

Lutenist Lindberg was born in Djursholm, Sweden, and developed his first passionate interest in music through the Beatles. He is now one of the most prolific performers in this field. It is particularly through his live solo performances that he has become known as one of the finest lutenists in the world today; he has given recitals in many parts of Europe, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Australia, Canada and the United States. Lindberg also teaches at the Royal College of Music in London, where he succeeded Diana Poulton as professor of lute in 1979. He has numerous recordings and is the first lutenist to have recorded the complete solo lute music by Dowland; his recording of Bach’s music for solo lute is considered to be one of the most important readings of these works.

Tickets $30

Performing Arts Education will offer a master class with Emma Kirkby for students who want to work on early music. Students are asked to stay throughout the approximately two-hour and 30-minute class so they can learn from the experiences of others. Observers will be allowed. For more information, contact Angel Mercier, Performing Arts Education program director, 913-469-8500, ext. 4221.

Performing Arts Events

September 2009 Sunday

*free-admission event

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Friday

Saturday

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14 *Elena Lence Talley

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19 Japan Festival

Japan Festival

10 a.m.-8 p.m.

Carlsen lobby entrance adults $7 students and children $4 children under 5 free

clarinet Alex East, cello Dan Velicer, piano Ruel Joyce Recital Series noon Recital Hall

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*One Piano, Four Hands Ruel Joyce Recital Series noon Recital Hall

Sones de México Ensemble

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29 *Charles Perkins/

28 *Richard Cass, piano Ruel Joyce Recital Series noon Yardley Hall

Gerald Spaits Quartet Jazz Series noon Recital Hall

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Sones de México Ensemble Special Event 8 p.m. Yardley Hall Tickets: $25, $15

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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.

*JCCC Jazz Nights 7:30 p.m. Polsky Theatre

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

There is a $1 per ticket handling charge at the JCCC box office.

Discounts are available for music, theater and dance students.

Purchase live online

October 2009

For best seats, order early. Call 913-469-4445 or visit www.jccc.edu/TheSeries for tickets and information.

Sunday

Monday

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Carlsen Center Administrative Office: Open 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Friday

Thursday

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performance. Call the box office at 913-469-4445 or TDD/TTY 913-469-4485.

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.

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Tamamo Gibbs

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*Closer Than Ever JCCC Academic Theatre 2 p.m. Black Box

War of the Worlds, The Lost World, L.A. Theatre Works, radio plays Center Stage Series, 8 p.m. Yardley Hall, $30, $20

9 *Closer Than Ever 10 JCCC Academic Theatre, 7:30 p.m. Black Box Theatre

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*Ed Pharr Trio Jazz Series noon Recital Hall

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*Don Lipovac accordion Ruel Joyce Recital Series noon Recital Hall

Tommy Emmanuel guitar Special Event 8 p.m. Yardley Hall, $30

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*Tamamo Gibbs, violin Ruel Joyce Recital Series noon Recital Hall

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*DuoSolo flute and piano Ruel Joyce Recital Series noon Recital Hall

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*Nathanael May, piano Ruel Joyce Recital Series noon Recital Hall

*Bram Wijnands Quartet Jazz Series noon Recital Hall

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Bad Boys of Dance

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Kirkby and Lindberg

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Kansas City Symphony Bach, Haydn and Mendelsohn 2 p.m. Yardley Hall Tickets at 816-471-0400

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The Spencers

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*Chris Clarke Trio Jazz Series noon Recital Hall

DuoSolo

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The Spencers Theatre of Illusion Special Event, 7 p.m.

Yardley Hall $35, $25

*Beach Nuts Jazz Series noon Recital Hall Tommy Emmanuel

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*Closer Than Ever, JCCC Academic Theatre 7: 30 p.m. Black Box

Call 913-469-4450 A request for interpretative services must be made 72 hours before a

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Saturday

24 Rasta Thomas’ Bad Boys of Dance Dance Series 8 p.m. Yardley Hall $35, $25

Dame Emma Kirkby, soprano Jakob Lindberg, lute Classics Series, 8 p.m. Polsky Theatre, $30

*Halloween Family Concert Brown & Gold, City of O. P., Reception, costume parade, 6 p.m. Carlsen Center Lobby Overland Park Orchestra, 7 p.m. Yardley Hall

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JOHNSON COUNTY COMMUNITY COLLEGE 12345 COLLEGE BLVD OVERLAND PARK KS 66210-1299

NONPROFIT ORG U.S. POSTAGE PAID Johnson County

Community College

www.jccc.edu/TheSeries

Bad Boys gone good

Founded by dance superstar Rasta Thomas, this talented and versatile group brings physical prowess, raw masculinity and technical perfection to electrify an audience and stretch the boundaries of male dancing.

Their choreography mixes a pas de deux with an acrobatic backflip and martial arts kick.

Bad Boys is a show for dance afficionados as well as first-time dance-goers with added appeal to a younger audience attracted to the company’s youth, good looks and athleticism. Music ranges from classical to popular to avant-garde.

Thomas has gathered international medalists and dancers from well-known companies to form the Bad Boys, who debuted at Jacob’s Pillow in July 2007 to sold out houses and rave reviews.

Thomas, himself, is an undeniably watchable, cutting-edge performer.

Though a Californian by birth, he spent his early years in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Trained at the Kirov Academy, Washington, D.C., under Oleg Vinogradov, Rasta was a prodigy and featured in the Russian television special Stars of the Kirov Ballet, when he was only 12 and won the Senior Division Gold Medal at the prestigious Jackson International Ballet Competition when was 16. He created an instant sensation dancing on the stages of Japan, China, Russia and New York, to name a few. Thomas most recently starred in Twyla Tharp’s Broadway hit, Movin’ Out, in association with American Ballet Theatre for their 2007 Met season.

Thomas’ skills in martial arts and acrobatics, his precision, dramatic ability and bravura give him versatility beyond the boundaries of Rasta Thomas’ Bad Boys of Dance, a company of male classical ballet. As he searched for wider expression, he affectionately dancers who combine ballet, Broadway, tango, tap and became known as the ultimate “Bad Boy.” hip-hop, will present their high-energy show at 8 p.m. Friday-Saturday, Oct. 23-24, in Yardley Hall.

Tickets $35, $25