CONTENTS DATE
EVENT
PAGE
JAN 23
The Color Purple: The Musical
2
JAN 26
Martha Redbone—Bone Hill: The Concert
12
FEB 6
KU Percussion Group with Eriko Daimo, marimba
18
FEB 16
Russian National Ballet: Don Quixote
22
These events are sponsored, in part, by the Lied Performance Fund.
Please be mindful of the following in the Auditorium and the Pavilion:
• Please silence cellular phones and electronic devices. • No cameras or recording devices. • Refreshments purchased from KU Memorial Unions at concessions are permitted. No outside food or drinks.
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Thursday
JAN 23 7:30 pm
This event is made possible through the generous support of the Frances Wright Strickland Programming Fund. Sponsored by
Giving back in the communities where we live, work and play is one of the best ways we put people first at U.S. Bank. The building blocks of thriving communities, where all things are possible, include: stable employment opportunities, a home to call your own and a community connected through culture, recreation and play. U.S. Bank is proud to support the Lied Center’s mission to present diverse and world-class performing arts experiences, enriching the lives of the people in our community.
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JAN 23 | The Color Purple: The Musical
JAN 23 | The Color Purple: The Musical
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JAN 23 | The Color Purple: The Musical
JAN 23 | The Color Purple: The Musical
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20-Minute Intermission
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JAN 23 | The Color Purple: The Musical
JAN 23 | The Color Purple: The Musical
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JAN 23 | The Color Purple: The Musical
JAN 23 | The Color Purple: The Musical
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JAN 23 | The Color Purple: The Musical
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Saturday Sunday
SEP JAN24 26 7:30 7:30 pm pm
Martha Redbone–
Bone Hill: The Concert
Funded in part by the New England Foundation for the Arts’ National Theater Project, with lead funding from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and support from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation. This project is supported, in part, by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts. To find out more about how NEA grants impact individuals and communities, visit www.arts.gov.
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JAN 26 | Martha Redbone—Bone Hill: The Concert
There will be no intermission during this event.
PROGRAM Bone Hill: The Concert Created by Martha Redbone and Aaron Whitby Music and Lyrics by Martha Redbone and Aaron Whitby CAST Charlie Burnham . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Tibby, storyteller Alan Burroughs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Storyteller Fred Cash Jr . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Storyteller Soni Moreno . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Liza Aaron Whitby . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Mr. Whittaker Martha Redbone . . . . . . . . . Herself, Easter, Janice, Little Red, Creech, Tommy Sizemore BAND Luca Benedetti . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Guitar Charlie Burnham . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Violin, harmonica Alan Burroughs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Dobro, banjo, guitar Fred Cash Jr . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Bass Tony Mason . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Drums Soni Moreno . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Vocals Aaron Whitby . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Music director, piano, organ SONGS “40 Wheels” “Mamaw Mason” “Census Man” “Bake a Cake” “Coal (Hardworking Miner)” “Strikebreaker” “Caught My Eye” “My Country Tis of Thee” “Love is a Simple Thing” “Breakdown for Freedom” “One Drop” “Two Dead Indians / I am Undone” Bone Hill: The Concert was commissioned by Joe’s Pub and The Public Theater as part of the New York Voices artists’ initiative and co-commissioned by the Lincoln Center David Rubinstein Atrium, PA’I Foundation and the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. Bone Hill: The Concert is the recipient of the NEFA National Theater Project, NPN Creation and Touring Grant, and Redbone is a 2015 Native Arts and Cultures Foundation Fellow. Redbone and Bone Hill: The Concert are represented by SRO Artists, Inc. This engagement is part of KU’s ongoing Indigenous Cultures Festival.
JAN 26 | Martha Redbone—Bone Hill: The Concert
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Inspired by her own life and stories of the women Martha Redbone is descended from, the lives of the Bone family members are driven by songs that span across many genres of American music, almost telling a parallel history—from traditional Cherokee chants and lullabies to bluegrass, blues, country, gospel, jazz, rock ‘n’ roll and R&B. Bone Hill: The Concert is an epic story of one woman’s return to her childhood homeland on Black Mountain and the coal mines of Harlan County, KY, where her family has dwelled for centuries. Traveling back in time to her childhood and through four generations of women in a Cherokee family, Bone Hill explores their lives and stories. It is a story about the family’s connection to the land, the simplicity and sacredness of that connection and the ruptures that threaten to extinguish it. This piece reveals erased, forgotten truths—and it does so with humor, pathos and exuberance. “Martha Redbone is a mesmerizing performer, writer and storyteller. Bone Hill is a uniquely American story of family and dreams. No matter who you are or where you’re from, Martha takes you home.” —Charles Randolph-Wright (Director, Motown the Musical) “’Bone Hill isn’t tripped up by uncomfortable truths and unresolved conflicts: It grooves through them… And it asks, with a coy wink and stern stare: ‘What is native to American music?’” —Larry Blumenfeld (The Wall Street Journal)
BONE HILL FAMILY TREE LIZA
NORA
SWEETCAKE
MR. WHITTAKER
EASTER
TIBBY
JUNIOR
BILLY BONE
JANICE
MARTHA
!
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JAN 26 | Martha Redbone—Bone Hill: The Concert
Martha Redbone (herself/Easter/Little Red/Sweetcake/Janice/Creech/Tommy Sizemore) A multi-award-winning musician, Martha Redbone is one of the most vital voices in American Roots music. The charismatic songstress is celebrated for her tasty gumbo of roots music—embodying the folk and mountain blues sounds of her childhood in the Appalachian hills of Kentucky, mixed with the eclectic grit of her teenage years in pre-gentrified Brooklyn. With her gospel-singing father’s voice and the spirit of her Cherokee/Choctaw mother’s culture, Redbone broadens the boundaries of Americana. Her latest CD, The Garden of Love: Songs of William Blake (produced by Nitty Gritty Dirt Band founder and Grammy-winner John McEuen), is an unexpected twist. Redbone’s magnificent voice, Blake’s immortal words and a masterful cornucopia of roots music (folk, country, piedmont blues, gospel, bluegrass, soul and traditional Native) make “a brilliant collision of cultures” (New Yorker). Redbone and her longtime collaborator, pianist Aaron Whitby, are called “the little engine that could” by their “band of NYC’s finest blues and jazz musicians” (Larry Blumenthal, The Wall Street Journal). From humble beginnings with residencies at the original Living Room on the Lower East Side, at Joe’s Pub, and powwows across Indian Country in support of her debut album Home of the Brave (“Stunning album, the kind of woman who sets trends.” —Billboard), Redbone has built a passionate fan base with her mesmerizing presence and explosive live shows. Her album Skintal is described as the soulful sound of “Earth, Wind and Fire on the Rez” (Native Peoples Magazine) and is recognized as an example of Contemporary Native American music in the Permanent Library Collection at the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian. The Redbone/Whitby team’s newest work, Bone Hill: The Concert, is based on the stories of her Appalachian mining family’s heritage and culture. In the piece, Redbone travels back in time to her own childhood and beyond into the memories and tales of her Cherokee ancestors, revealing an untold American story fueled in a celebration of American music. Redbone is a 2016 Fellow of the Native Arts and Cultures Foundation. Aaron Whitby (Mr. Whittaker/music director/piano/organ) Co-creator of Bone Hill: The Concert, London born-and-raised producer, composer, songwriter and pianist Aaron Whitby, is best known for the multiple award-winning albums he has written and produced with longtime collaborator Martha Redbone. Whitby also tours with wife Redbone as bandleader. He engineered Natalie Cole’s Grammy-winning single “Living for Love,” and he has recorded and/or performed with George Clinton, Randy Brecker, Lisa Fischer, John McEuen, Raul Midon, Nona Hendryx, Vernon Reid, Omar Faruk Tekbilek, Mino Cinelu, Snehasish Mozumder and Keith Secola, among many others. Whitby was mentored by Walter “Junie” Morrison of Parliament Funkadelic and Ohio Players.
JAN 26 | Martha Redbone—Bone Hill: The Concert
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Bone Hill is Redbone and Whitby’s first foray into musical theatre and was sparked by a New York Voices commission from Joe’s Pub/The Public Theater and the NEA. Since then, the team has also been commissioned by the New York Theatre Workshop: “Plurality of Privacy” project in partnership with the Goethe Institute, and they are contributing composers for Primer for a Failed Superpower, a new work directed by Rachel Chavkin of Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812 and Hadestown. Whitby recently released Cousin from Another Planet, a jazz and funk exploration of his more esoteric musical vocabulary, featuring Charlie Burnham, Keith Loftis, Fred Cash, Jerome Harris, Gary Fritz and Rodney Holmes. Luca Benedetti (guitar) Italian-born guitarist, composer and producer Luca Benedetti has been performing in a wide variety of roots, jazz, country and Americana projects since moving to New York in 1996. His most recent collaborations include performances and recordings with Jim Campilongo, Speeding West, Honeyfingers, Tubby, The Brooklyn Boogaloo Blowout, Zephaniah & The 18 Wheelers, The Dang-it Bobbys, Jason Loughlin & The String Gliders, Kelli Scarr & North of Amarillo, The National Reserve and Margo Valiante. In 2010, he recorded and released his debut record, Ta Da..., with his own jazz and roots inspired group, Luca Benedetti’s Thermionics, which Relix Magazine called “...a knock-out collection of instrumentals that will warrant repeated listens.” Benedetti holds a bachelor’s degree from The Berklee College of Music and a master’s degree from The City College of New York. While attending the latter, he studied with jazz legend Ron Carter, who quickly became a mentor and friend. On several occasions, Carter invited Benedetti to perform, including a memorable trio performance for the ASCAP Hall of Fame ceremony honoring Milt Hinton and Artie Shaw. Charlie Burnham (Tibby/storyteller/violin/harmonica) Brooklyn born-and-raised Charlie Burnham is a versatile, virtuosic American violinist and composer, whose highly imaginative improvisational style crosses bluegrass, delta punk, free jazz, blues, classical and chamber jazz. Worldly and other-worldly sounds can be heard from Burnham’s soulful voice. He has graced the recordings of many: Cassandra Wilson, James Blood Ulmer, Steven Bernstein, Susie Ibarra, Peter Apfelbaum, Henry Threadgill, String Trio of New York, Ted Daniel, Medeski, Martin & Wood, Living Colour, Queen Esther, John Zorn, Steve Swell, Rufus Wainwright, Krishna Das, Kenny Wollesen, Norah Jones, Billie Joe Armstrong, Jason Kao Hwang, The Woes, Hem, Elysian Fields and many, many others. Burnham also performs on harmonica and mandolin and is a highly regarded singer. Alan Burroughs (storyteller/guitar/dobro/banjo) A jazz and blues recording artist in his own right, Alan Burroughs has recorded and toured with Martha Redbone since 2000. Burroughs hails from Chicago with an esteemed musical heritage—his great uncle was the legendary bandleader
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JAN 26 | Martha Redbone—Bone Hill: The Concert
Fletcher Henderson, who is known as one of the founders of jazz and was in the band that launched the great Louis Armstrong. Burroughs is one of the most in-demand guitar players worldwide, known for his versatility of styles—from blues, jazz, rock, reggae, soul and funk, Burroughs plays and sings it all effortlessly. He has recorded for film and TV and worked with such artists as Miles Davis; Art Porter; Philip Bailey of Earth, Wind and Fire; The Dells; Captain Sky Band and many more. Fred Cash Jr. (storyteller/bass) Chicago native Fred Cash Jr. has recorded and toured with Martha Redbone since 2000. Cash attended the American Conservatory of Music in Chicago. His father is Fred Cash Sr. of the legendary vocal group The Impressions, and Fred Cash Jr. is one of the most in-demand bass players around. He has recorded for film and TV and he has worked with many acclaimed artists, including Alicia Keys, Nona Hendryx, George Clinton, Henry Butler, Jean-Paul Bourelly, India Arie, Jerry Butler, Toshi Reagon, Michelle Dorrance, Sweet Honey in the Rock, Barbara Streisand and Marika Hughes, to name a few. Tony Mason (drums) Hailing from Southern Pines, North Carolina, Tony Mason began playing at age seven—and it’s been drums and music ever since. After studying at East Carolina for one year, he came to NYC in 1986 to finish his education at The Manhattan School of Music, where he received a performance degree in classical percussion and was very active in the jazz program. Mason has toured and recorded with Joan Osborne, Martha Wainwright, Norah Jones, Bernie Worrell, Doug Wimbish, Leo Nocentelli, George Porter Jr., Bo Diddley, SoupDragons, Neil Sedaka, Connie Francis, Natalie Cole, Paula Cole, Charlie Hunter, David Foster, Baba Olatunji, Willie Weeks, Ivan Neville, Melvin Sparks, Jim Campilongo, Clark Gayton and Bill Sims Jr., among others. He has also worked with producers such as Nile Rodgers and the legendary Russ Titleman. Mason has played drums on commercials for Nike, Vila, Coca-Cola, the NBA and the WNBA. Soni Moreno (Liza/storyteller/vocals) Yaqui/Apache actress, singer, composer, poet and trapeze artist Soni Moreno is known for her incredible vocal range. Moreno is one of the founding members of the multi-award-winning trio Ulali, a traditional Native American vocal group. As a student at the American Conservatory Theatre in San Francisco, she played the role of Chrissie in the original productions of Hair; danced with the Copasettics; performed at LaMama Theatre and ETC in New York and Europe in Aladdin’s Lamp; and appeared on Broadway in The Leaf People by Tom O’Hargan. She also sings with many country and blues groups and does studio work for TV and radio commercials. Moreno is a member of the Board of Directors of the American Indian Community House in NYC and also worked with the Smithsonian Institution on the opening of the National Museum.
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Thursday
FEB 6 7:30 pm
KU Percussion Group with special guest
Eriko Daimo, marimba Directed by Michael Compitello
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FEB 6 | KUPG w/ Eriko Daimo, marimba
PROGRAM “Sakura” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Japanese Traditional Folk Song/arr. Pius Cheung (b. 1982) “Rain Tree” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Tōru Takemitsu (1930–1996) Marimba: Ryan Pearson, Michael Compitello Vibraphone: Eriko Daimo “Cross Hatch” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Tōru Takemitsu (1930–1996) Marimba: Lauren Molloy Vibraphone: Nicholas Wright “Matra” for solo Marimba, solo Timpani and five Percussionists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Akira Nishimura (b. 1953) Marimba: Eriko Daimo Percussion: Graham Deckard, Jackson Graham, Ethan Martin, Lauren Molloy, Grayson Rushing Timpani: Michael Compitello
20-Minute Intermission “repetition/recollection” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Dai Fujikura (b. 1977) Marimba: Eriko Daimo “Uto” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Dai Fujikura (b. 1977) Percussion: Jackson Graham, Nicholas Wright, Thomas Fabing, Rachel Mrosko, Connor Henrie, Merritt Parsons, Jakob Moberly, Collin Smith “Marimba Spiritual” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Minoru Miki (1930–2011) Marimba: Eriko Daimo Percussion: Graham Deckard, Luke Helker, Collin Smith Please see your pre- and post-performance emails for program notes. Program subject to change.
FEB 6 | KUPG w/ Eriko Daimo, marimba
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Eriko Daimo Praised for her “mesmerizing combination of sound and sight” (The Irish Times), the award-winning marimbist Eriko Daimo is one of the leading artists of her field. She has recently performed with such elite orchestras as the RTE Ireland National Symphony Orchestra, Tampere Philharmonic in Finland, Sofia Philharmonic Orchestra, Nagoya Philharmonic Orchestra, Osaka Symphony Orchestra, Magdeburg Philharmonic Orchestra in Germany, Vietnam National Symphony Orchestra, Tokyo Kosei Wind Orchestra and Orchestra Nipponika, among others; as well as recital tours in more than 20 countries in Asia, Europe and the Americas. Daimo is performing across the globe during the 2019–20 season in the U.S., Canada, France, Bulgaria, the Netherlands, Austria, Hong Kong, China and Japan. As an educator, she has given concerts and masterclasses at music institutions, including the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna, Paris Conservatory, Conservatory of Amsterdam, Sibelius Academy, Royal Irish Academy of Music, Royal Danish Academy of Music in Copenhagen, San Francisco Conservatory and Colburn Conservatory. She served as a judge for the New York International Percussion Competition, Universal Marimba Competition in Belgium, Percussive Arts Society International Percussion Solo Competition, Majaoja Percussion Competition (Finland), Italy PAS Percussion Competition, Latin America Marimba Competition in Mexico, International Percussion Competition in China and Bamberg International Marimba Competition (Germany). As a student, she won top prizes in numerous competitions, including first prizes at the 2004 International Marimba Competition in Belgium, Japan International League of Artists Competition, 2004 Japan PAS 20th Annual Percussion Solo Competition, Japan Soloist Music Competition and more. Born in Kagoshima, Japan, Daimo began her musical studies at age five on the piano. She started studying the marimba when she entered high school in 1997, and went on to study at the Aichi Prefectural University of Fine Arts and Music and the Boston Conservatory. Daimo is currently on the faculty of New York University Steinhardt and The Juilliard School pre-college division. Michael Compitello Michael Compitello is a percussionist dedicated to honoring his instruments’ most important repertoire, while creating dynamic new art through collaborations with composers, performers, actors and artists in all mediums. He has performed with Ensemble Modern, Ensemble Signal, Ensemble ACJW and has worked with composers Helmut Lachenmann, Nicolaus A. Huber, David Lang, John Luther Adams, Alejandro Viñao, Marc Applebaum and Martin Bresnick on premieres and performances of new chamber works.
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FEB 6 | KUPG w/ Eriko Daimo, marimba
With cellist Hannah Collins as New Morse Code, Compitello has created a singular and personal repertoire through long-term collaboration with some of America’s most esteemed young composers. Their debut album, Simplicity Itself, described as “a flag of genuineness raised” (WQXR), was released in 2017 on New Focus Recordings. Currently, his Unsnared Drum project seeks to reinvent the much-maligned instrument through collaboration with four of America’s most revered women composers. Compitello is assistant professor of percussion at the University of Kansas, and is assistant director of Avaloch Farm Music Institute. He earned a DMA and MM from the Yale School of Music and a BM from the Peabody Conservatory. KU Percussion Group The KU Percussion Group (KUPG) is a nationally renowned chamber percussion ensemble dedicated to invigorating performances of new and classic percussion repertoire. KUPG takes advantage of the stylistic and sonic breadth that percussion allows, reinventing the classic repertoire and collaborating with composers on new works for percussion. Made up of undergraduate and graduate students in the KU School of Music, KUPG regularly performs on campus and around the Lawrence area. KUPG’s mission is to work closely with composers on new works for percussion ensemble, and it is proud to count as its collaborators some of America’s most talented composers, including Andy Akiho, Amy Beth Kirsten, Tonia Ko, Caroline Shaw, Thomas Kotcheff and Andrea Mazzariello. In 2019, KUPG worked closely with composer and steel pan virtuoso Andy Akiho on a program of his works at the Lied Center, and in 2017, the group hosted composer Robert Honstein for a portrait concert of his percussion works. In addition to regular performances, the group actively seeks out innovative performance experiences. In November 2019, the group premiered Ben Justis’ multimedia work Voyager in the Spencer Museum of Art, and in 2017–18, staged two performances of Pulitzer Prize-winner John Luther Adams’ Inuksuit in Wichita and Lawrence. Graham Deckard Thomas Fabing Jackson Graham Luke Helker
Connor Henrie Ethan Martin Jakob Moberly Lauren Molloy
Rachel Mrosko Merritt Parsons Ryan Pearson Grayson Rushing
Collin Smith Nicholas Wright
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Sunday
FEB 16 2:00 pm
Russian National Ballet: Don Quixote
Sponsored by
This event is made possible through the generous support of Richard L. and Jeanette Sias.
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FEB 16 | Russian National Ballet: Don Quixote
PROGRAM Full-length ballet in three acts Music: Leon Minkus Libretto: Marius Petipa Choreography: Sergey Radchenko after Marius Petipa Sets: Lev Solodovnikov Costumes: Lev Solodovnikov Lighting: Marina Borodina
Prologue Don Quixote’s Study Act I The Square in Barcelona Act II A Gypsy Encampment Act III, Scene 1 A Forest Act III, Scene 2 Night in a Village
20-Minute Intermission Act III, Scene 3 A Tavern Act III, Scene 4 The Palace
FEB 16 | Russian National Ballet: Don Quixote
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Kitri ����������������������������������������������������Maria Klyueva Aleaksandra Krukova Maria Sokolnikova Basilio ����������������������������������������������Alexander Daev Dmitriy Sitkevich Don Quixote ����������������������������������Victor Zabelin Sancho Panza ��������������������������������Pavel Bochkovskiy Lorenzo ��������������������������������������������Evgeniy Rudakov Wife of Lorenzo ����������������������������Elena Khorosheva Camacho ����������������������������������������Nurlan Kinerbaev Torreodor ����������������������������������������Evgeniy Ermakov Street Dancer ��������������������������������Milena Stashina Flower Girls ������������������������������������Daria Lednikova, Elena Halushka Dryad Queen ��������������������������������Maria Klueva Cupid ������������������������������������������������Hanna Zimovchenko Mercedes ����������������������������������������Natalia Ivanova Variation #1 in Act III ��������������������Elena Galushka Variation #2 in Act III ��������������������Milena Stashina Plus the corps de ballet
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FEB 16 | Russian National Ballet: Don Quixote
Direct from Moscow, Russia
Russian National Ballet Theatre Company of 50 Artistic Director: Elena Radchenko
The Russian National Ballet Theatre was founded in Moscow during the transitional period of Perestroika in the late 1980s, when many of the great dancers and choreographers of the Soviet Union’s ballet institutions were exercising their new-found creative freedom by starting new, vibrant companies dedicated not only to the timeless tradition of classical Russian ballet, but to invigorate this tradition as the Russians began to accept new developments in the dance from around the world. The company, then titled the Soviet National Ballet, was founded by and incorporated graduates from the great Russian choreographic schools of Moscow, St. Petersburg and Perm. The principal dancers of the company came from the upper ranks of the great ballet companies and academies of Russia, and the companies of Riga, Kiev and even Warsaw. Today, the Russian National Ballet Theatre is its own institution, with over 50 dancers of singular instruction and vast experience, many of whom have been with the company since its inception. In addition to their extensive tour history, the company embarked upon a four-month coast-to-coast tour of the United States in 2017. In 1994, the legendary Bolshoi principal dancer Elena Radchenko was selected by Presidential decree to assume the first permanent artistic directorship of the company. Ms. Radchenko is the founder of the Russian National Ballet Theatre, and she has focused the company on upholding the grand national tradition of the major Russian ballet works and developing new talents throughout Russia, with a repertory of virtually all of the great full works of Petipa: Don Quixote, La Bayadere, The Sleeping Beauty, Swan Lake, Raymonda, Paquita, Coppelia and La Sylphide, as well as productions of The Nutcracker, Sylvia and La Fille Mal Gardee, among others.
FEB 16 | Russian National Ballet: Don Quixote
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PROGRAM NOTES Prologue Don Quixote’s Study In his library, the old nobleman Don Quixote de la Mancha sits over his books, which tell him of distant times of knighthood. Soon, he believes himself called to knightly deeds, and he appoints his servant, Sancho Panza, as his squire and sails forth into the world to seek adventures in the service of the beautiful Dulcinea, whom he has glimpsed in a vision. Act I The Square in Barcelona In a marketplace, Don Quixote and Sancho Panza mingle in the colorful bustle of the people. Kitri, daughter of the innkeeper Lorenzo, and her sweetheart, the barber Basilio, are among them. Their lovers’ tryst is suddenly disturbed by the entry of Kitri’s father. He puts forward the old, rich Camacho as the bridegroom he has chosen for his daughter. In vain, Kitri and Basilio swear their love. Lorenzo is adamant. Don Quixote, who believes he recognizes in Kitri his Dulcinea, intervenes and helps the lovers to flee. Act II A Gypsy Encampment Kitri (who has disguised herself as a young man) and Basilio have found refuge with a band of gypsies. Don Quixote and Sancho Panza also appear on the scene, and in their honor, the gypsies put on a puppet show. Don Quixote, however, takes the play in bitter earnest and believes himself suddenly menaced on all sides by evil powers, against whom he must protect Kitri/Dulcinea—he destroys the marionette theatre and then charges against some windmills on the distant horizon, which he takes for giants. Don Quixote falls to the ground, where he remains unconscious. Act III Scene 1: A Forest In a dream, Dulcinea appears to her noble “knight” as queen of the wood nymphs and praises him for his courage and his deeds and crowns him with laurel. Act III Scene 2: Night in a Village Camacho wakes Don Quixote from his dream, and they both go to the tavern.
20-Minute Intermission
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FEB 16 | Russian National Ballet: Don Quixote
Act III Scene 3: A Tavern Meanwhile, Lorenzo and Camacho have succeeded in catching the fugitive Kitri again. She is now to be dragged to the altar by force and married to the old man. Basilio is in such despair over this, that he is about to do away with himself. However, in the nick of time, Don Quixote and Sancho Panza appear, and everything turns out well—Kitri can marry her Basilio. Act III Scene 4: The Palace It is fiesta time. Don Quixote watches the dancing. The scene changes to the Palace. Kitri and Basilio, with Don Quixote and the rest, celebrate their wedding in a Grand Pas de Deux. Don Quixote realizes that he has not yet found his Dulcinea and, with Sancho, sets off for more adventures.
The resounding success of Don Quixote may substantially have contributed, after Cesare Pugni’s death in January 1870, to Minkus being appointed his successor as first Imperial ballet composer of the Marinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg. After a new version of Don Quixote premiered on November 9, 1871, he composed the ballet music to the opera Mlada in 1872 as one of his first new tasks, which the theatre director Stephan Gedeonov had commissioned as a joint composition from Alexander Borodin, Cesar Cui, Modest Mussorgsky and Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. The project was, however, never completed, so Minkus revised his material in 1879 for an independent story ballet. Otherwise, in the following seasons, one ballet after another by Minkus was performed in the Marinsky Theatre, all with Petipa’s choreography: 1872 Camargo, 1875 Les Brigands (in various sources erroneously labeled as a collaboration with Delibes), 1876 Son v letnyinyi noch (“A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” using Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy’s incidental music), 1877 Bayaderka (“La Bayadere”), 1878 Roksana, 1879 Frizak and Snegurochka (“The Snow Maiden,” after the play of that name by Alexander Ostrovsky, for the first performance of which in 1873 Tchaikovsky had composed the incidental music, and which Rimsky-Korsakov took as the basis for an opera in 1881), 1881 Paquita (as a new version of the ballet of the same name by Edouard Delevez and Joseph Mazilier), along with Soraya, ili Mavritanka v Ispanii (“The Moorish Girl in Spain”), 1882 Noch i dyei (“Night and Day”), and 1886 L’Offrande a l’amour. And even after Minkus had retired from his official posts in 1891 and returned to Vienna, he remained one of the most popular and most played ballet composers of St. Petersburg. Thus, in July 1897, on occasion of the state visit of Kaiser Wilhelm II to Tsar Nikolai, Petipa mounted in Peterhof a pasticcio, Les Noces de Thetis et Pelee, which he had arranged from an earlier ballet by Minkus and some musical numbers by Delibes.
FEB 16 | Russian National Ballet: Don Quixote
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Minkus’ Don Quixote was, for Petipa and later choreographers, also a kind of musical “quarry” from which they could help themselves as required, in which they arbitrarily did as they pleased. Thus the score, forming the basis for the present recording, cannot be judged by criteria of autonomy and aesthetics as Leon Minkus’s composition—far more does it represent a practical performing state of the work as it has become stylized after more than 120 years (if it is borne in mind that between 1926 and 1978 alone in the Soviet Union—Moscow and Leningrad/St. Petersburg not included—Don Quixote was staged 44 times, it can be estimated how much the score must have been changed since its first performance). After the revision by Petipa himself for the Marinsky Theatre in 1871, which must have been made in close collaboration with Minkus, Alexei Bogdanov presented the first new production of Don Quixote in Moscow in 1887 without consultation with the composer. Crucial changes to his score, customary to the present day, were made by the choreographer Alex Gorsky in 1900, again for the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow. For example, in Act I, he inserted a scene of eight bullfighters and the dance of a street dancer, for which he utilized music from Minkus’s 1882 ballet Soraya. Forty years later, Rostislav Zakharoff produced Don Quixote anew for Moscow, and in doing so, interpolated musical numbers by Vassily Solovyev-Sedoy. Leon Minkus allowed these, and all the other alterations to which Don Quixote and his other ballet scenes were subjected, if unjustly, without demur. He himself was so very practical a craftsman that he would never have claimed works to be sacrosanct—they were the raw material from which the choreographers created their productions, while the composer remained modestly in the background. And yet, the ballets of Saint-Leon or Petipa would scarcely have been accorded such brilliant and lasting successes if they had not been able to light the firework of their ideas to this model music.
Sunday • FEB 9 • 7:00 pm A true community event benefiting the Lawrence Schools Foundation. The Lawrence Schools Foundation and Lied Center of Kansas are proud to host the fourth annual, district-wide talent show for middle and high school students on Sunday, February 9, 7:00 pm. Past events have included dancers, contortionists, trapeze artists, instrumentalists, singers and more. Students participating in Ovation! were selected through an audition process, and they will share their amazing talents on the main stage of the Lied Center with full production. Ovation! proceeds will benefit the Lawrence Schools Foundation. The foundation provides students and teachers with enrichment experiences, scholarships, teacher recognition and classroom support, innovative teaching grants, and partnerships with community organizations and businesses through its LEAP programs.
Learn more and get tickets at lied.ku.edu/ovation.
DON’T MISS THESE EXCITING EVENTS! lied.ku.edu • 785-864-2787
The Peking Acrobats Tuesday, February 18, 7:00 pm $20–$30 Adult • $11–$16 Youth
Siberian State Symphony Orchestra with Vladimir Lande, Music Director and Chief Conductor Tuesday, March 3, 7:30 pm $35–$50 Adult • $19–$26 Student
Samuel Ramey: An Intimate Evening of Music & Storytelling
World-renowned operatic bass-baritone Friday, April 3, 7:30 pm $30–$45 Adult • $16–$24 Student
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These individuals have become Friends since the original list was published. Benefactor ($1,000+) Cathy Reinhardt & Norman St. Laurent Jake Stoetzner & Dr. Kelli Henderson Sponsor ($250) Mary Ann Brenner John T. Bullock Ernie J. Chaney, MD Laura Klish Chris Sundstrom Doug Wendel & Lisa Wolf-Wendel
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