December 6, 2024 | 7:30 PM
Camp Concert Hall
Thank You
CECILE MCLORIN SALVANT
Louis S. Booth Arts Fund
THANKS TO OUR 2024-25 MODLIN ARTS PRESENTS
SEASON SPONSORS & COMMUNITY PARTNERS
H. G. Quigg Fund
Dewitt Fund for the Arts
E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Foundation
A. Dale Mayo Fund
Virginia B. Modlin Endowment
Tucker-Boatwright Festival
Norman and Eleanor Leahy
William and Pamela O'Connor
IS MADE POSSIBLE IN PART BY THE GENEROUS SUPPORT OF Specific projects are supported in part by the
Welcome
At Modlin Center for the Arts, we are committed to providing the University of Richmond campus and our broader community with the best in diverse, thoughtprovoking, and captivating performances. Each season is cultivated with our attention to showcasing artists who provide insight into our shared humanity. At the University of Richmond, we pledge to you—our patrons and partners, on campus and in our region—that the arts will provide broad access to rich voices, creative passion, and unforgettable experiences.
Paul Brohan, Executive Director
PHOTO: KAROLIS KAMINSKAS
Fall 2024
P Ticketed: Paid
F Free: Tickets Required
F Free: No Tickets Required
Modlin Arts Presents
Department of Theatre and Dance
Department of Music
World Premier
Modlin Commission
September
David Esleck Trio Thu 5 Sep 7:30pm
Family Weekend Concert Fri 13 Sep 7:30pm
What Belongs to You, an opera for tenor and chamber orchestra Thu 26 Sep 7:30pm Sat 28 Sep 7:30pm
What Belongs to You : Panel Discussion with Creative Team Fri 27 Sep 7pm
October
Stop Kiss
Thu-Sat 3-5 Oct 7:30pm
Sun 6 Oct 2pm F
Circa, Duck Pond
Thu 10 Oct 7:30pm P
Las Cafeteras
Fri 18 Oct 7:30pm P
Family Arts Day: Latin Ballet of Virginia, Fiesta del Sol
Sun 20 Oct
Art Activities 1pm Show 3pm F
Keith Phares, baritone
Thu Oct 24 7:30pm F
Master Class:
Keith Phares, baritone
Fri Oct 25 TBD F
Wagner & Kong Duo: Christoph Wagner, cello, Joanne Kong, piano
Fri 25 Oct 7:30pm F
14th Annual Celebration of Dance
Fri 25 Oct 7:30pm F
Step Afrika! Migration: Reflections on Jacob Lawrence
Sat 26 Oct 7:30pm P
Fall Choral Concert
Sun 27 Oct 3pm F
The Soul Rebels
Thu 31 Oct 7:30pm P
November
Tessa Lark (violin), Joshua Roman (cello), and Edgar Meyer (double bass)
Fri 8 Nov 7:30pm
Jazz & Contemporary Combos Wed 13 Nov 7:30pm
Third Practice Festival
Fri 15 Nov 7:30pm Sat 16 Nov 2pm, 7:30pm
Popular Music Ensemble Tue 19 Nov 7:30pm
Jazz Ensemble with guest saxophonist Dr. Dan Puccio Wed 20 Nov 7:30pm
Miguel Zenón & Luis Perdomo, El Arte del Bolero Thu 21 Nov 7:30pm
The House That Will Not Stand
Thu-Sat 21-23 Nov 7:30pm Sun 24 Nov 2pm
Global Sounds Sun 24 Nov 3pm
Wind Ensemble Mon 25 Nov 7:30pm
December
Chamber Ensembles
Mon 2 Dec 7:30pm
University Symphony Orchestra Wed 4 Dec 7:30pm
Cécile McLorin Salvant Fri 6 Dec 7:30pm
51st Annual Festival of Lessons and Carols Sun 8 Dec 5pm, 8pm
Spring 2025
P Ticketed: Paid
F Free: Tickets Required
F Free: No Tickets Required
Modlin Arts Presents
Department of Theatre and Dance
Department of Music
World Premier
Modlin Commission
January
BODYTRAFFIC
Fri 24 Jan 7:30pm
February
Manual Cinema, Frankenstein Sat 1 Feb 7:30pm
Ronald Crutcher, cello Sun 2 Feb 3pm
Richard Becker, piano Wed 5 Feb 7:30pm
Lab Project: The Woman in Black Thu-Sat 6-8 Feb 7:30pm Sun 9 Feb 2pm
Billy Childs Quartet with Sean Jones, The Winds of Change Fri 7 Feb 7:30pm
Leyla McCalla Thu 13 Feb 7:30pm
Documentary Film Screening: The Sound of Santiago by Dr. Mike Davison and Ed Tillett Wed 19 Feb 7:30pm
Third Coast Percussion with Zakir Hussain Fri 21 Feb 7:30pm
University Dancers
40th Anniversary Concert Fri-Sat 28 Feb-1 Mar 7:30pm Sun 2 Mar 2pm
March
Kardeş Türküler
Sat 1 Mar 7:30pm
Doris Wylee-Becker, piano
Sun 2 Mar 3pm
Anzû Quartet
Wed 5 Mar 7:30pm
Kronos Quartet with Peni Candra Rini
Fri 21 Mar 7:30pm
Tanya Tagaq
Thu 27 Mar 7:30pm
Neumann Lecture on Music: Robert Fink
Mon 31 Mar 7:30pm
April
Twyla Tharp Dance with Third Coast Percussion
Sat 5 Apr 7:30pm
Global Sounds
Sun 6 Apr 3pm
Jazz & Contemporary Combos
Wed 9 Apr 7:30pm
Simone Dinnerstein, piano Fri 11 Apr 7:30pm
Spring Choral Concert
Sun 13 Apr 3pm
Wind Ensemble
Mon 14 Apr 7:30pm
Popular Music Ensemble Tue 15 Apr 7:30pm
Urinetown
Thu-Sat 17-19 Apr 7:30pm Sun 20 Apr 2pm
Chamber Ensembles
Mon 21 Apr 7:30pm
University Symphony Orchestra
Wed 23 Apr 7:30pm
Cuban Spectacular: From Mambo to Motown Thu 24 Apr 7:30pm
MODLIN CENTER FOR THE ARTS PRESENTS
CECILE MCLORIN SALVANT
Tonight’s performance will last about 70 minutes, without intermission.
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
CECILE MCLORIN SALVANT
Cécile McLorin Salvant is a composer, singer, and visual artist. The late Jessye Norman described Salvant as “a unique voice supported by an intelligence and fullfledged musicality, which light up every note she sings”.
Salvant has developed a passion for storytelling and finding the connections between vaudeville, blues, theater, jazz, baroque and folkloric music. Salvant is an eclectic curator, unearthing rarely recorded, forgotten songs with strong narratives, interesting power dynamics, unexpected twists, and humor.
Salvant won the Thelonious Monk competition in 2010. She has received three consecutive Grammy Awards for Best Jazz Vocal Album for The Window, Dreams and Daggers, and For One To Love, and was nominated for the award in 2014 for her album WomanChild
In 2020, Salvant received the MacArthur fellowship and the Doris Duke Artist Award. Nonesuch Records released 2x Grammy Nominated Ghost Song in
PHOTO: LAURA TENENBAUM
March 2022, and in 2023 the highly anticipated, 2x Grammy Nominated follow up - Mélusine, an album mostly sung in French, along with Occitan, English, and Haitian Kreyòl.
Born and raised in Miami, Florida, of a French mother and Haitian father, she started classical piano studies at 5, sang in a children’s choir at 8, and started classical voice lessons as a teenager.
Salvant received a bachelor’s in French law from the Université Pierre-Mendes France in Grenoble while also studying baroque music and jazz at the Darius Milhaud Music Conservatory in Aix-en-Provence, France.
Salvant’s latest work, Ogresse, is a musical fable in the form of a cantata that blends genres (folk, baroque, jazz, country). Salvant wrote the story, lyrics, and music. It is arranged by Darcy James Argue for a thirteen-piece orchestra of multi-instrumentalists. Ogresse, both a biomythography and an homage to the Erzulie (as painted by Gerard Fortune) and Sara Baartman, explores fetishism, hunger, diaspora, cycles of appropriation, lies, othering, and ecology. It is in development to become an animated feature-length film, which Salvant will direct.
Salvant makes large-scale textile drawings. Her visual art can now be found at Picture Room in Brooklyn, NY.
SULLIVAN FORTNER, piano
Sullivan Fortner stretches deep-rooted talents as a pianist, composer, band leader and uncompromising individualist. The GRAMMY Award-winning artist and educator out of New Orleans has received international praise as both leader and vital collaborator. He has issued Aria (2015), Moments Preserved (2018) and Solo Game (2024) to critical acclaim, the lattermost receiving a 2025 Grammy nomination, 4-star reviews in DownBeat and France’s Telerama Magazine. Slated for release in 2025, his forthcoming trio recording Southern Nights features Peter Washington and Marcus Gilmore. Winner of the 2024 DownBeat Critics Poll for Rising Star Jazz Group: Sullivan Fortner Trio, the prolific artist has worked with Wynton Marsalis, Cécile McLorin Salvant, Paul Simon, Diane Reeves, Etienne Charles and John Scofield; frequent collaborators have included Ambrose Akinmusire, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Stefon Harris, Kassa Overall, Tivon Pennicott, Peter Bernstein, Nicholas Payton, Billy Hart, Gary Bartz, Chief Adjuah and the late Roy Hargrove. He earned his Bachelor of Music from Oberlin Conservatory and Master of Music in Jazz Performance from Manhattan School of Music (MSM) and has taught at MSM, New Orleans Center for Creative Arts (NOCCA), Purdue University, Lafayette Summer Music Workshop, Belmont University and Oberlin Conservatory. Fortner has performed at Snug Harbor, New Orleans Center for
the Creative Arts, Sweet Lorraine’s and The Jazz Playhouse in New Orleans, and The Village Vanguard, Jazz at Lincoln Center, Jazz Standard and Smalls Jazz Club in New York City. He’s appeared at Newport, Monterey, Discover, Tri-C and Gillmore Keyboard jazz festivals. Both his works and his insights have been featured in culture drivers from The New York Times to The Root. Further accolades include the Cole Porter Fellowship awarded by the American Pianists Association, Leonore Annenberg Arts Fellowship, the Lincoln Center Award for Emerging Artists, the Shifting Foundation Grant and the Western Jazz Presenters Grant.
YASUSHI NAKAMURA, bass
Yasushi Nakamura is praised for imaginative, quicksilver bass lines that deepen the groove. His blend of guitar-like precision and gut-level blues has sparked collaborations with artists such as Wynton Marsalis, Wycliffe Gordon, Toshiko Akiyoshi, Hank Jones, Dave Douglas, Steve Miller, etc. With his charismatic stage presence and artful, hard swinging melodic touch, Nakamura is a first-call performer capturing new audiences and fans around the world.
Born in Tokyo, Nakamura moved to the United States at age 9, and considers both places home. He began with clarinet and tenor saxophone, but his older brother’s study of guitar and drums drove him to pick up the bass. His love of rock and funk aside, the music of Charlie Parker, Ray Brown, Miles Davis were a potent influence on him. Nakamura received a BA in Jazz Performance from Berklee School of Music in 2000, and was awarded a full scholarship to The Juilliard School for his Artist Diploma in 2006. He credits Myron Walden as an early champion, and keeps close ties to Juilliard mentors Victor Goines, Wycliffe Gordon, and Carl Allen, Ben Wolfe all of whom maintain him in their bands.
Nakamura’s career is flourishing, with consistent engagements at premier jazz festivals including Tokyo, North Sea, Monterey, Ravinia, and venues such as Birdland, Village Vanguard, the Blue Note, the Kennedy Center, Jazz at Lincoln Center, and Carnegie Hall. In 2014, he was honored to play the “NEA Jazz Masters Concert: Celebrating Jamey Abersold, Anthony Braxton, Richard Davis, and Keith Jarrett,” sharing the stage with Joe Lovano and Dave Liebman. A wide array of projects permits him to explore musical styles and collaborations. In 2016, he recorded with one of his long-time inspirations, Toshiko Akiyoshi, for her recent release, Porgy and Bess. His performance with Akiyoshi’s Jazz Orchestra was also broadcast as a documentary film. Recent works include “For the Love of Duke” with New York City Ballet choreographed by Susan Stroman, and “Ellington at Christmas: Nutcracker Suite” with Savion Glover, Lizz Wright, the Abyssinian Baptist Choir, and David Berger conducting. In 2010, he toured the Middle East with Jazz at Lincoln Center’s “Kings of the Crescent City” project, and he toured Asia in 2008 with the Juilliard All-Stars. As an educator,
Nakamura has led master classes and summer intensive courses at the The Juilliard School, New School, Koyo Conservatory, Osaka Geidai, and Savannah Swing Central.
In 2016, Nakamura release his first album A Lifetime Treasure and in 2017 he also released 2nd album Hometown from Atelier Sawano featuring Lawrence Fields, Bigyuki, and Clarence Penn which received album of the year 2017 in JazzLife magazine.
SAVANNAH HARRIS, drums
Savannah Harris is a New York City-based drummer, composer, and producer. Raised in Oakland, California by musician parents, she gravitated towards the drums at age two. Steeped in a jazz tradition, Savannah’s more recent work reflects her versatility. She’s recorded with indie and experimental artists Helado Negro, Kate Davis, Justin Allen, and Standing on the Corner. Her jazz recordings include releases from Peter Evans, María Grand, and Or Bareket. She’s performed with Jason Moran, Ambrose Akinmusire, Kenny Barron, Terence Blanchard, Billy Childs, Christian Scott, José James, and Georgia Anne Muldrow. Currently, she’s been working extensively with Nick Hakim and Roy Nathanson, Aaron Parks, Melanie Charles, Or Bareket, Peter Evans, and Joel Ross. In 2019, Savannah was awarded the Harlem Stage Emerging Artist Award, and she received her master’s in jazz performance from Manhattan School of Music. She was featured twice in the January 2021 issue of Modern Drummer as both a featured artist and a contributing writer. In October of 2021, she debuted her solo piece “With Inner Sound, Truth” commissioned by Issue Project Room as a tribute to composer Ruth Anderson. Savannah was also featured in Sixteen Journal’s “JAZZ” edition, with portraits shot by photographer James Brodribb.
PHOTO: LAURA TENENBAUM
Modlin Arts Presents
BODYTRAFFIC
Fri 24 Jan 2025
Alice Jepson Theatre
THIS FORWARD-THINKING LOS ANGELES DANCE COMPANY BRINGS THEIR INNOVATIVE AND CONTEMPORARY CHOREOGRAPHY TO THE MODLIN CENTER STAGE.
MANUAL CINEMA, FRANKENSTEIN
Sat 1 Feb 2025
Alice Jepson Theatre
LOVE, LOSS, AND CREATION MERGE IN UNEXPECTED WAYS AS MANUAL CINEMA PRESENTS ITS THRILLING VERSION OF THE CLASSIC GOTHIC TALE FRANKENSTEIN
BILLY CHILDS QUARTET WITH SEAN JONES, THE WINDS OF CHANGE
Fri 7 Feb 2025
Camp Concert Hall
RENOWNED JAZZ COMPOSER AND PIANIST
BILLY CHILDS IS JOINED BY HIS QUARTET, FEATURING TRUMPETER SEAN JONES, TO CELEBRATE HIS RECENT ALBUM THE WINDS OF CHANGE.
TICKET INFORMATION
MODLIN BOX OFFICE Regular hours for window service and phone orders Monday - Friday 1pm - 5pm and 60 minutes prior to all ticketed events. Contact us at 804-289-8980 or modlinarts@richmond.edu.
TICKET POLICY All sales are final. No refunds are available, except in the event of a cancellation.
TICKET DELIVERY For all ticketed events, Modlin Center offers ticket delivery as Hold at Box Office or Mobile Tickets. When purchasing tickets that require an ID to be shown, tickets will only be available for in-person pickup at the Box Office.
TICKET DONATIONS Tickets that cannot be used, or transferred to friends of family, may be returned to the Box Office to be donated for resale. No credit will be issued.
TICKETS ARE REQUIRED All ticketed performances require every patron to have a ticket. This includes children, regardless of age. Children are welcome and must always be accompanied by an adult. Parental discretion is advised as some performances may not be suitable for young children.
PROGRAMS ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE Events can change, sometimes without notice. In the event of a cancellation or date change, we will announce as early as possible, and attempts will be made to contact all ticket holders in advance of the performance. Help us keep you informed by ensuring your contact information is up to date.
