Opening Nights Performing Arts 2014-2015 Season Brochure

2014-2015 SEASON

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SPONSORS PLATINUM

FSU License Plate

GOLD KEN KATO & NAN NAGY

MICHAEL SHERIDAN & JUDY WILSON SHERIDAN

SILVER

Bobby Dick, Mark Webb, & Michael Robinson

CHARLES & AMY NEWELL

BRONZE

ARCHITECTURE INTERIOR DESIGN PLANNING

DR. CYNTHIA TIE & JOHN TAYLOR

GILCHRIST ROSS CROWE ARCHITECTS

LAMPLHERBERT LAMPLHERBERT Strategies and Solutions for Natural Resources

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L

P

Vezina, Lawrence & Piscitelli, P.A. Construction & Public Contracts Attorneys

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2014-2015 Opening Nights Performing Arts

DR. EMILY ASHMORE

Welcome to Opening Nights!

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n February 1999, Seven Days of Opening Nights was conceived and established as a week-long community festival of performances, events, and exhibits spotlighting Florida State’s outstanding arts colleges, schools, and departments. Sixteen years later, we have evolved and grown to Opening Nights Performing Arts: an annual series and festival presenting over eighty live performances and educational experiences across multiple community venues in Northwest Florida and Southern Georgia. Opening Nights’ success and growth is attributed to the enthusiasm, passion, and dedication of you, our audience.

With the 2014-2015 season, we are pleased to invite world-renowned artists back to present new Opening Nights in our community. Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra and Wynton Marsalis will be performing their Holiday Big Band program with vocalist Cécile McLorin Salvant, the only Florida stop on their tour. The Knights Orchestra with Béla Fleck present the Florida debut of Béla’s banjo concerto The Imposter: Concerto for Banjo and Symphony Orchestra. We are thrilled to bring violinist Joshua Bell back after thirteen years to perform masterworks by Bruch and Ravel with the Florida State University Symphony Orchestra conducted by Alexander Jiménez.

We are also enthusiastic to introduce new artists to the community like mandolin phenom Sierra Hull, ukulele virtuoso Jake Shimabukuro, GRAMMY® Award-winning vocalist Gregory Porter, organist Cameron Carpenter, and Nashville’s The Time Jumpers featuring Dawn

Sears, Vince Gill, Kenny Sears, and Ranger Doug Green.

These artists are just a few of the new faces, sounds, and experiences you as audience members will share during this season of Opening Nights.

In addition to the outstanding performances, education and community engagement are vital to our mission as arts presenters in the community. New programs this season include Creative Conversations and Partners in Education. Creative Conversations brings community members, educators, and artists together to discuss topics broadening the impact and perspective of performances to audience members. Partners in Education, a collaboration with Leon County Schools, is a national program through The Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. providing arts integration workshops to teachers in our area. We are honored to implement this prestigious and important program for our teachers and students in Leon County.

As you explore all that encompasses the season ahead, discover a new artist, expand your mind with a Creative Conversation, and engage with our local community and beyond through Opening Nights Performing Arts.

All the best,

Christopher J. Heacox Director, Opening Nights Performing Arts openingnights.fsu.edu 3

SEPTEMBER 2014

9/23 POPULAR MUSIC IN AMERICA CREATIVE CONVERSATIONS

FEBRUARY 2015

11/19 THE HOT SARDINES

2/4 ALIVE & KICKING! FORBIDDEN BROADWAY

11/25 OCTOBER 2014

DAVID SEDARIS

GREGORY PORTER WITH SPECIAL GUEST AVERY*SUNSHINE

10/21 BEYOND TRADITION CREATIVE CONVERSATIONS

10/27 JULIAN LAGE & CHRIS ELDRIDGE

2/5

DECEMBER 2014

12/3 - 12/4

2/6

SONG OF THE JASMINE RAGAMALA DANCE WITH RUDRESH MAHANTHAPPA

VIJAY IYER TRIO

2/7 NOVEMBER 2014

11/1 THE BEST OF CHRISTOPHER GUEST FILM FESTIVAL

11/6 SIERRA HULL

12/13 BIG BAND HOLIDAYS JAZZ AT LINCOLN CENTER ORCHESTRA WITH WYNTON MARSALIS & SPECIAL GUEST CÉCILE McLORIN SALVANT

JANUARY 2015

1/26 - 1/30

11/10 1/27 HUMOR IN PERFORMANCE CREATIVE CONVERSATIONS

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2/8 THE KNIGHTS WITH BÉLA FLECK

BILLY JONAS

JAKE SHIMABUKURO

LES BALLETS TROCKADERO DE MONTE CARLO

2/9 THE TIME JUMPERS FEATURING DAWN SEARS, VINCE GILL, KENNY SEARS & RANGER DOUG GREEN

2/10

2/28

PIPER KERMAN

JOSHUA BELL WITH THE FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

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2/11 CAMERON CARPENTER

THE KENNEDY CENTER PARTNERS IN EDUCATION

MARCH 2015

PAGE 54

3/2 2/12

DANÚ

K-12 SCHOOL TOUR

THE KING’S SINGERS

PAGE 55

STUDENT RUSH TICKETS

3/16 2/13

CREATIVE CONVERSATIONS

PAGE 59

MILOS KARADAGLIC

BHANGRA ‘N’ BRASS DIRTY DOZEN BRASS BAND & RED BARAAT

3/19 2/13 - 3/29

ITZHAK PERLMAN WITH ROHAN DE SILVA

PAGE 56

MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS

3/26 2/13 - 3/1 RAGTIME

2/14 SATURDAY MATINEE OF THE ARTS

RAISIN’ CANE: A HARLEM RENAISSANCE ODYSSEY STARRING JASMINE GUY & THE AVERY SHARPE TRIO

APRIL 2015

4/6 2/14

8/12 - 9/15 OPENING NIGHTS MEMBER TICKETS ON SALE

STEEP CANYON RANGERS & DELLA MAE

9/16 GENERAL PUBLIC TICKETS ON SALE PAGE 59

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“...stressing beauty of sound above all else, [here’s] a richly lyrical music that’s as surprising as it is inevitable.” – The Chicago Tribune (on Lage) “The most talked-about guitarist in the bluegrass world.”

– Acoustic Guitar (on Eldridge)

$25 | FREE for FSU Students openingnights.fsu.edu 850.644.6500

Monday 10/27 | Club Downunder | 9:00 p.m.

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he guitar duo of Julian Lage and Chris Eldridge is a collaboration founded in the roots of acoustic music, exploring improvisation and spontaneous composition performed on their 1939 Martin guitars.

As a member of Punch Brothers, Chris Eldridge has been at the vanguard of acoustic music for much of the past decade. Although initially drawn to the electric guitar, Eldridge developed a love for acoustic music thanks in part to his father, a banjo player and member of the bluegrass group The Seldom Scene. He gained exposure to a variety of musical styles while studying at Oberlin Conservatory, where he earned a degree in music performance in 2004. Eldridge has worked with a diverse cast of musical luminaries, 6

2014-2015 Opening Nights Performing Arts

including Fiona Apple, Paul Simon, Marcus Mumford, Justin Timberlake, T-Bone Burnett, and Elvis Costello.

Hailed by All About Jazz as “a giant in the making,” Lage grew up in California and was the subject of an Academy Award-nominated documentary, Jules at Eight. A protégé of legendary vibraphonist Gary Burton, he recorded and toured with Burton on two projects: Generations (2004) and Next Generation (2005). Other high-profile appearances include Lucky To Be Me and Let It Come To You by pianist Taylor Eigsti. Lage reunited with Gary Burton for live engagements in 2010 and can be heard as a member of the “New Gary Burton Quartet” on the forthcoming CD Common Ground (featuring Scott Colley and Antonio Sanchez).

Saturday 11/1 | Challenger IMAX Theatre 2:00 p.m. A Mighty Wind 4:00 p.m. Best In Show 7:30 p.m. Waiting For Guffman**

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ake a dynamic duo writing team, add in a stellar acting ensemble, and tie it all together with one of the great comedy directors of our time and you’ve got a recipe for success! Known lovingly by fans for pioneering the “mockumentary,” Christopher Guest’s films have won audiences the world over. Don’t miss this chance to see three of his best on the big screen!

There’s A Mighty Wind a-blowin’, along with gales of laughter, as we follow a latter-day reunion of fictional ‘60s-era folk singers. A beloved folk promoter has passed away and a concert is staged in his honor where three bands reunite for the first time in decades. The groups (who have sunk to various levels of musical irrelevance since their heydays) agree to the performance, which goes off with more than a few hitches.

Best in Show follows a clutch of dog owners as they prepare and preen their dogs to win a national competition. The tension is palpable, the excitement is mounting, and the heady scent of competition is in the air as hundreds of eager contestants from across America prepare to take part in what is undoubtedly one of the greatest events of their lives – the Mayflower Dog Show.

$30* | $15** | $10 openingnights.fsu.edu 850.644.6500

In Waiting for Guffman*, a small town prepares for celebrations of its 150th anniversary. Corky St.Clair, an off-off-off-off-off-Broadway director puts together an amateur production about the town’s history. The film follows various townsfolk wishing for stardom: a Dairy Queen clerk, two stage-struck travel agents, the town’s bad boy/mechanic, and a dentist who dreams of glory on the stage. *All Access Pass ($30) includes admission to all three films, as well as free popcorn refills (offer only valid 11/1/14). **Waiting for Guffman ($15) includes a discussion panel featuring local film experts and a surprise Skype Q&A with one of the film’s stars. openingnights.fsu.edu 7

Jake Stargel Guitar Justin Moses Fiddle Jacob Eller Bass Cory Walker Banjo Sierra Hull Mandolin

“I can’t say enough about Sierra Hull... Sierra is truly a beautiful and talented gift to this world, so special and unique.” – Dolly Parton

$35 openingnights.fsu.edu 850.644.6500

Thursday 11/6 | The Carriage House at Goodwood Museum | 7:30 p.m.

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oundaries - age, genre, or otherwise - don’t hamper an artist like Sierra Hull. As one of bluegrass’s few full-fledged virtuosic instrumentalist/singer/songwriters, twenty-two year old Sierra Hull wins audiences over with her reverence to artists like Bill Monroe and the bluegrass tradition while looking forward creating original country, western swing, and popular music compositions. At the age of eleven she was mentored and befriended by Alison Krauss, and at eighteen became the first bluegrass musician to be awarded a Presidential Scholarship at the prestigious Berklee College of Music. Sierra has performed at the White House, the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Carnegie Hall, and numerous festivals and concert halls across the country. Join Sierra Hall and her band at the Carriage House for an evening of heartfelt and fleet-fingered American music.

Sponsored by

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CAPITAL CITY BANK

“Jake is taking the instrument to a place that I can’t see anybody else catching up with.”

– Eddie Vedder

$45 openingnights.fsu.edu 850.644.6500

Monday 11/10 | Opperman Music Hall | 7:30 p.m.

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n his young career, ukulele wizard Jake Shimabukuro has already redefined a heretofore under-the-radar instrument. He was declared a musical “hero” by Rolling Stone magazine and won accolades from the disparate likes of Eddie Vedder, blogger Perez Hilton, and CNN’s Dr. Sanjay Gupta. Shimabukuro came into the public eye in 2006 by means of a YouTube video performance covering George Harrison’s While My Guitar Gently Weeps entitled Ukulele Weeps, which has amassed over 13,000,000 views and counting. He continues to mesmerize audiences on stage with his performances of Michael Jackson’s Thriller, Chick Corea’s Spain, Adele’s Rolling in the Deep, and Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody, to name a few. Shimabukuro’s television appearances include The Today Show, Jimmy Kimmel Live, Conan, and his own PBS special Jake Shimabukuro: Live on Four Strings.

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Evan “Bibs” Palazzo Bandleader, Piano “Miz Elizabeth” Bougerol Lead Vocals, Washboard “Fast Eddy” Francisco Tap, Foot Percussion Jason Prover Trumpet, Cornet, Teakettle Nick Myers Saxophones, Clarinet Joe McDonough Trombone Evan “Sugar” Crane Bass Alex Raderman Drums Bob Parins & Sam Raderman Guitar, Banjo Pete Lanctot Violin, Phonofiddle

“...[the Sardines] make classics so current that when you’re listening to them, as we have at New York’s Joe’s Pub and at Top of the Standard, you can’t not want to get out of your seat and go back in time with them.” – Milie

$40 | $15 openingnights.fsu.edu 850.644.6500

Wednesday 11/19 | Opperman Music Hall | 7:30 p.m.

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ake a blustery brass lineup, layer it over a rhythm section led by a stride-piano virtuoso, add a tap dancer, and tie the whole thing together with a one-of-the-boys front-woman with a voice from another era and you have The Hot Sardines. The Sardine sound of wartime Paris via New Orleans, or the other way around, is steeped in hot jazz and salty stride piano. Their straight-up, foot-stomping music is the kind Louis Armstrong, Django Reinhardt, and Fats Waller used to make. While their roots run deep into jazz and songs of the 20’s, 30’s and 40’s, The Hot Sardines intertwine French influences via their Parisian front woman, “Miz Elizabeth” Bougerol. With sold-out concerts in hot spots such as Joe’s Pub in New York, the Hot Sardines are not to be missed!

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$60 | $45 | $30 | $15 openingnights.fsu.edu 850.644.6500

David Sedaris Tuesday 11/25 Ruby Diamond Concert Hall 7:30 p.m.

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ith sardonic wit and incisive social critiques, David Sedaris has become one of America’s preeminent humor writers.

The great skill with which he slices through cultural euphemisms and political correctness proves that Sedaris is a master of satire and one of the most observant writers addressing the human condition today. David Sedaris is the author of Barrel Fever and Holidays on Ice, as well as collections of personal essays, Naked, Me Talk Pretty One Day, Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim, When You Are Engulfed in Flames, and his most recent book, Let’s Explore Diabetes With Owls, each of which became an immediate bestseller.

“Sedaris belongs on any list of people writing in English at the moment who are revising our ideas about what’s funny.”

– San Francisco Chronicle

Sponsored by

The audio version of Let’s Explore Diabetes With Owls is GRAMMY® Award Nominee for Best Spoken Word Album. He is the author of the New York Times bestselling collection of fables entitled Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk: A Modest Bestiary and also the editor of Children Playing Before a Statue of Hercules: An Anthology of Outstanding Stories. Sedaris’s pieces appear regularly in The New Yorker and have twice been included in “The Best American Essays.” There are a total of seven million copies of his books in print and they have been translated into 25 languages.

TALLAHASSEE DEMOCRAT & TALLAHASSEE.COM openingnights.fsu.edu 11

“Aparna Ramaswamy infuses the formal rigor of Bharatanatyam with fluid spontaneity and rock star allure.”

– Dance Magazine

Aparna Ramaswamy

This presentation of Song of the Jasmine was made possible by the New England Foundation for the Arts’ National Dance Project, with lead funding from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, with additional support from the National Endowment for the Arts.

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2014-2015 Opening Nights Performing Arts

$35 | $15 openingnights.fsu.edu 850.644.6500

Song of the Jasmine: Ragamala Dance and Rudresh Mahanthappa Wednesday 12/3 & Thursday 12/4 Nancy Smith Fichter Dance Theatre | 8:00 p.m.

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ooted in their shared bi-cultural identities, Aparna Ramaswamy, Ranee Ramaswamy, and award-winning saxophonist and composer Rudresh Mahanthappa add to the greater conversation of American identity with Song of the Jasmine, a work in which innovation has deep roots in an understanding of tradition.

In India, the jasmine flower traverses the world of man and the world of the gods. Song of the Jasmine delves into the concept of longing through the lens of recollection, appeal, and total surrender. The jasmine conjures these emotions, embodying the spiritual and the sensual that are the lifeblood of the Indian psyche. Guided by the rich poems of the Tamil Bhakti poet Andal, the work moves freely between the past and the present.

Acclaimed as one of the Indian Diaspora’s leading dance ensembles, Ragamala Dance seamlessly carries the South Indian classical dance form of Bharatanatyam into the 21st century. Ranee and Aparna Ramaswamy, mother and daughter, are protégés of the legendary dancer and choreographer Alarmel Valli, known as one of India’s greatest living masters.

Rudresh Mahanthappa

Sponsored by

WCTV

Heralded for his “roving intellect and a bladelike articulation (New York Times),” Rudresh Mahanthappa leads a bold new Carnatic orchestra for Song of the Jasmine featuring Rez Abbasi on guitar, V. K. Raman on South Indian flute, Rajna Swaminathan on mridangam (percussion), and Anjna Swaminathan on violin.

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Big Band Holidays: Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis and Special Guest Cecile McLorin Salvant Saturday 12/13 | Lee Hall | 8:00 p.m.

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2014-2015 Opening Nights Performing Arts

$65 | $15 openingnights.fsu.edu 850.644.6500

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he spirit of the winter holiday season has always been best captured by the music that this joyous time inspires. The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis and special guest vocalist Cécile McLorin Salvant celebrate “the most wonderful time of the year” with Big Band Holidays, a jazzy celebration now in its fourth year. This concert will explore the canon of holiday standards with signature arrangements of Yuletide favorites, with Sherman Irby’s clear sense of swing, Victor Goines’ New Orleans-flavored nuances, Chris Crenshaw’s deeply soulful and complex church-rooted grooves, and many more. Augmenting this special event is 2010 Thelonious Monk International Jazz Vocal Competition winner and Mack Avenue recording artist Cécile McLorin Salvant, who is one of the most commanding new voices in jazz. Big Band Holidays kicks off the holiday season with messages of peace and good cheer.

The world-renowned Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra is known for its stylistic authenticity and its stellar performances of choice instrumental arrangements from the books of such key swing era units as Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Benny Goodman and Tommy Dorsey. The remarkably versatile orchestra, comprised of 15 of today’s finest jazz soloists and ensemble players, was formed as Lincoln Center’s resident orchestra in 1988. Featured in all aspects of Jazz at Lincoln Center’s programming, the orchestra performs and leads educational events in New York, across the U.S. and around the world; in concert halls; dance venues; jazz clubs; public parks; and with symphony orchestras, ballet troupes and local students.

“One rarely hears this music played with such technical brilliance, stylistic authenticity and tonal sheen… Here were the throaty reeds, percussive trumpet blasts and visceral sense of swing that have made the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra the greatest large jazz ensemble working today.”

– Howard Reich, The Chicago Tribune Under the direction of Pulitzer Prize-winning composer/trumpeter Wynton Marsalis, the orchestra spends over a third of the year on tour, and can be heard through its weekly national radio programs, global television broadcasts and numerous recordings.

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"Gleeful, Malicious and Hilarious… murderous good fun!”

– The Associated Press

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$45 | $30 | $15 openingnights.fsu.edu 850.644.6500

Forbidden Broadway: Alive & Kicking!

Wednesday 2/4 | Turner Auditorium | 8:00 p.m.

Written by

Directed by

Gerald Alessandrini

Gerald Alessandrini & Philip George

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orbidden Broadway, the award-winning hit satirical revue, has run Off-Broadway for more than twenty-five years. Opening on January 15, 1982, at Palsson’s Supper Club on New York’s Upper West Side, Forbidden Broadway was created and written by Gerard Alessandrini and directed by Alessandrini with longtime collaborator Phillip George. The show brilliantly spoofs the show tunes, characters and plots of contemporary Broadway musicals, as well as the leading ladies and gentlemen of the Great White Way. It also satirizes famous Broadway composers, directors, choreographers, authors and producers. The four-person show, featuring two male and two female vocalists, has released eleven albums to critical acclaim. A veritable who’s who of theatrical performers has paraded through the fabulous costumes of the Forbidden Broadway productions through the years.

Alessandrini has created numerous versions, parodies and editions of the show that have run almost continuously for 25 years with productions in New York City and around the world. In 2006, Mr. Alessandrini and the show were awarded Tony Honors for Excellence in Theatre. The 25th Anniversary production, Forbidden Broadway: Rude Awakening, won the 2008 Drama Desk Award for outstanding revue. Its latest Off-Broadway incarnation, Forbidden Broadway Comes Out Swinging plays to packed houses at the Davenport Theatre.

Alive and Kicking features “the best of the best,” including old favorites such as “Can You Feel the Pain Tonight (“Can You Feel the Love Tonight” from The Lion King),” and new hits, such as “Nascar Shows (“We Built This City” from Rock of Ages).” Called “gut-bustingly funny” by The New York Post, this is a not-to-miss evening of Broadway hilarity!

Sponsored by

TALLAHASSE COMMUNITY COLLEGE

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Gregory Porter Vocals Chip Crawford Piano Emanuel Harrold Drums Aaron James Bass Yohsuke Satoh Saxophone Avery*Sunshine Vocals, Keyboard Dana Johnson Guitar

Thursday 2/5 | Ruby Diamond Concert Hall | 7:30 p.m.

Sponsored by

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WTXL

“Gregory Porter’s Liquid Spirit is shot through with gospel, blues and R&B influences… the title track pairs soulful horns with a deep, enveloping bassline that frames the California native’s supple tenor.” – The Wall Street Journal

$55 | $40 | $25 | $15 openingnights.fsu.edu 850.644.6500

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regory Porter wields one of the most captivating baritone voices in music today. Fusing jazz, R&B, and pop he emits enormous soul that conveys both the emotions and intellect of any given song without relying on vocal histrionics. In The New York Times, Nate Chinen wrote: “Gregory Porter has most of what you want in a male jazz singer, and maybe a thing or two you didn’t know you wanted.” Singer Dee Dee Bridgewater praised Porter in the pages of JazzTimes by saying, “We haven’t had a male singer like him in a long time. He’s such a wonderful writer (and) tells these great stories.” Indeed Porter has an amazing gift for writing poignant songs based upon personal experiences with a relatable and emotional immediacy. Even more, “his hooky melodies” grab you instantly.

With her thunderous, gospel-bred pipes and heart-to-heart content, singer-songwriter Avery*Sunshine can’t help spilling the truth in her music. She knows the best route sometimes is the direct one. No detours. So listeners won’t have to “get on her level” - she’s already on theirs. Avery has always been frank - the girlfriend and single mother of two who’ll offer not just real, but relevant talk. That breakup? She’s been there. Stressful days (See: today)? Give her self-titled debut a spin and you’ll see. It’s organic. Soulful. Therapeutic.

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Vijay Iver Piano Marcus Gilmore Drums Stephan Crump Bass

“The Vijay Iyer Trio has the potential to alter the scope, ambition and language of jazz piano forever.” – Jazzwise (UK) 20

2014-2015 Opening Nights Performing Arts

$45 | $15 openingnights.fsu.edu 850.644.6500

Vijay Iyer Trio Friday 2/6 | Opperman Music Hall | 7:30 p.m.

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RAMMY®-nominated composer-pianist Vijay Iyer is a living, working artist who is interested in asking broad, interdisciplinary questions — about what music is, how we make it, and how we listen — in order to reimagine what music can do in the world, and then to put those ideas into practice. A polymath whose career has spanned the sciences, the humanities and the arts, Iyer received a degree in mathematics and physics from Yale, and an interdisciplinary doctorate in music cognition from Berkeley.

Alexander Rehding, the Fanny Peabody Professor of Music and chair of the Department of Music at Harvard, describes Iyer, “To call him a jazz musician would almost be too limiting. He is a musician, scientist, thinker, and a teacher whose work crosses intellectual and artistic boundaries in ever-new ways.”

Iyer’s previous release, Holding It Down: The Veterans’ Dreams Project (2013), was his third collaboration with poet Mike Ladd, based on the dreams of veterans of color from America’s wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. It was hailed as #1 Jazz Album of the Year by The Los Angeles Times and described in JazzTimes as “impassioned, haunting, [and] affecting.”

Mutations, Iyer’s eighteenth album, is a recording for piano, string quartet and electronics - the first album to document his works for chamber ensembles. Iyer shares, “When you look at the history of jazz, everybody who made significant contributions to the music never really saw it as a kind of music. Anybody who can shed that preconception of what jazz is or is not or should be or shouldn’t be and can approach it as just a human endeavor… will find something to resonate with here.”

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“Highbrow hilarity from New York’s marvelous all-male ballerinas.” – The Sunday Telegraph

Saturday 2/7 | Ruby Diamond Concert Hall | 7:30 p.m.

Sponsored by

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2014-2015 Opening Nights Performing Arts

ROWLAND PUBLISHING

$55 | $40 | $25 | $15 openingnights.fsu.edu 850.644.6500

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he Trocks, as they are affectionately known, deliver a unique brand of ballet, dancing a fine line between high art and high camp. Parodying the conventions and clichĂŠs of romantic and classical ballet, the dancers deliver a blend of a loving knowledge of dance, impeccable comic approach, and the astounding fact that men can, indeed, dance en pointe without falling flat on their faces.

The comedy is achieved by incorporating and exaggerating the foibles, accidents, and underlying incongruities of serious dance.

The fact that men dance all the parts - heavy bodies delicately

balancing on toes as swans, sylphs, water sprites, romantic princesses, or angst-ridden Victorian ladies - enhances, rather than mocks, the spirit of dance as an art form, delighting and amusing the most knowledgeable, as well as novices, in the audiences.

The company has participated in dance festivals in Turkey, Holland, San Luis Potosi, Madrid, Montreal, New York, Paris, Spoleto, Turin, and Vienna. After recent appearances on ABC News and for the Prince of Wales on the Royal Variety Show, the dancers of Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo have established themselves as a major dance phenomenon throughout the world.

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Program Subject to Change Overture to The Barber of Seville | Rossini Big Country | The Flecktones Chamber Symphony | Adams The Impostor: Concerto for Banjo & Orchestra | Fleck Se il mio nome saper voi bramate from The Barber of Seville | Rossini (arr. E. Jacobsen) 24 2014-2015 Opening Nights Performing Arts ...the ground beneath our feet | The Knights

$65 | $50 | $35 | $15

The Knights with Bela Fleck

openingnights.fsu.edu 850.644.6500

Sunday 2/8 | Ruby Diamond Concert Hall | 7:30 p.m.

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ust in case you aren’t familiar with Béla Fleck, there are some who say he’s the premiere banjo player in the world. Others claim that Béla has virtually reinvented the image and the sound of the banjo through a remarkable performing and recording career that has taken him all over the musical map and on a range of solo projects and collaborations. If you are familiar with Béla, you know that he just loves to play the banjo, and put it into unique settings. Already a powerfully creative force in bluegrass, jazz, pop, rock and world beat, Béla at last made the classical connection with Perpetual Motion, his critically acclaimed 2001 Sony Classical recording that went on to win a pair of GRAMMYS®, including “Best Classical Crossover Album.”

The Knights are an orchestral collective, flexible in size and repertory, dedicated to transforming the concert experience. Driven by an open-minded spirit of camaraderie and exploration, they engage listeners and defy boundaries with programs that encompass their roots in the classical tradition and passion for musical discovery. For their outstanding virtuosity, innovative programs, and bold mission, The Knights are at the forefront of “the future of classical music in America (The Los Angeles Times).”

“Mr. Fleck can lay claim to the tide of the most popular living banjoist, having done much to push the instrument beyond bluegrass terra firma into jazz, classical and beyond.” – The New York Times Béla Fleck and The Knights are planning a thrilling cross-genre program that is the essence of a new contemporary approach to music-making, featuring The Impostor, Fleck’s groundbreaking concerto for banjo and orchestra originally commissioned by the Nashville Symphony. The Birmingham News says, “This is no lightweight score. It probes the instrument’s depth and diversity with complex textures, frequent meter changes and demanding technique. Hints of blues and bluegrass are never far away, a palpable tie-in with genres that elevated Fleck to his exalted position in the banjo world. But Fleck is also a skilled composer and orchestrator, whose arsenal includes a wide array of colors, clear formal architecture and solos for instruments as diverse as bass clarinet, contrabassoon and tuba.“

Sponsored by

FSU LICENSE PLATE openingnights.fsu.edu 25

“...everyone is amazing on their own, but together, everyone is listening to each other. Nobody’s trying to be the star. So you do like a boxer — you pick your moments to stick and move. This is a band of listeners. When it needs something, you add it.” – Larry Franklin, fiddle

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$65 | $50 | $35 | $15 openingnights.fsu.edu 850.644.6500

The Time Jumpers featuring Dawn Sears, Vince Gill, Kenny Sears, and Ranger Doug Green Monday 2/9 Ruby Diamond Concert Hall | 7:30 p.m.

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ap any member of The Time Jumpers on the shoulder and the face that turns to greet you will be that of one who’s made major contributions to the richness and vigor of country music. The Time Jumpers was established in Nashville in 1998 by an assemblage of high-dollar studio musicians who wanted to spend some spare time drinking beer and jamming with their sonically gifted buddies. The notion of building a rabidly devoted following was the last thing on their minds. But that’s what happened.

Learning that Monday evenings were the slowest in the week for the Station Inn bluegrass club, the superpickers settled into that fabled venue at the start of each week and set up shop. Pretty soon Monday nights were sounding a lot like Saturday nights—and drawing commensurately lively crowds.

As word spread along Music Row that something special was happening at Station Inn, big stars began dropping by, some to sit in with the band, others just to enjoy the vast array of country, swing, jazz and pop standards The Time Jumpers rejoiced in playing. Among those drop-bys were Bonnie Raitt, Reba McEntire, Norah Jones, Robert Plant, The White Stripes, Kings Of Leon, Jimmy Buffet and Kelly Clarkson.

None asked for their money back.

Sponsored by

ALOFT TALLAHASSEE

The current edition of The Time Jumpers includes 11 members, each a master of his (and, in one case, her) instrument. Alphabetically—which is the only diplomatic way to present such a phalanx of evenly matched talent—they are Brad Albin (upright bass), Larry Franklin (fiddle), Paul Franklin (steel guitar), Vince Gill (vocals, electric and acoustic guitars), “Ranger Doug” Green (vocals, acoustic rhythm guitar), Andy Reiss (electric guitar), Dawn Sears (vocals), Kenny Sears (vocals, fiddle), Joe Spivey (fiddle, vocals), Jeff Taylor (accordion, piano), and Billy Thomas (drums, vocals).

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“I loved this book. It’s a story rich with humor, pathos, and redemption... I will never forget it.”

– Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat, Pray, Love

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2014-2015 Opening Nights Performing Arts

$35 | $15 openingnights.fsu.edu 850.644.6500

Piper Kerman Tuesday 2/10 Ruby Diamond Concert Hall | 7:30 p.m.

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n her memoir Orange is the New Black: My Year in a Woman’s Prison, Piper Kerman recounts the 15 months that she spent in the Danbury Correctional Facility for a crime she had committed ten years prior as a very brief, very careless dalliance in the world of drug trafficking. Compelling, moving, and often hilarious, the stories of the women she met while in prison raise issues of friendship and family, mental illness, the odd cliques and codes of behavior, the role of religion, the uneasy relationship between prisoner and jailor, and the almost complete lack of guidance for life after prison.

The memoir was adapted into an original Netflix series of the same name by Jenji Kohan, creator of Showtime’s Weeds, and recently won a Peabody Award. It has been called “the best TV show about prison ever made” by The Washington Post and was lauded by Time’s TV critic James Poniewozik for “the stunningly matter-of-fact way it uses the prison to create one of TV’s most racially and sexually diverse and as important, complex–dramas [and] contrasts the power and class dynamics inside the prison with those outside the prison.”

Kerman has delivered lectures to campuses across the country, including the University of Tulsa, Roanoke College, Fairfield University, Salem State College, Rutgers University, New York Law School, and many others. She has also spoken to groups that include the American Correctional Association’s Disproportionate Minority Confinement Task Force, federal probation officers, public defenders, justice reform advocates and volunteers, and formerly and currently incarcerated people. She serves on the board of the Women’s Prison Association.

Sponsored by

TALLAHASSEE DEMOCRAT & TALLAHASSEE.COM openingnights.fsu.edu 29

“Cameron Carpenter is one of the rare musicians who changes the game of his instrument... He is a smasher of cultural and classical music taboos. He is technically the most accomplished organist I have ever witnissed...And most important of all, the most musical.”

– The Los Angeles Times

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2014-2015 Opening Nights Performing Arts

$45 | $35 | $25 | $15 openingnights.fsu.edu 850.644.6500

Cameron Carpenter Wednesday 2/11 Ruby Diamond Concert Hall | 7:30 p.m.

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virtuoso composer-performer unique among keyboardists, Cameron Carpenter’s approach to the organ is smashing the stereotypes of organists and organ music while generating a level of acclaim, exposure, and controversy unprecedented for an organist. His repertoire – from the complete works of J. S. Bach and Cesar Franck, to his hundreds of transcriptions of non-organ works, his original compositions, and his collaborations with jazz and pop artists – is perhaps the largest and most diverse of any organist. He is the first organist ever nominated for a GRAMMY® Award for a solo album.

In the spring of 2014, Carpenter debuted his much anticipated international touring organ. Built by digital organ pioneers Marshall & Ogletree LLC of Needham, MA, the touring organ allows Cameron’s repertoire to expand in ever more compelling directions. “My vision is to keep the best of the classical organ - its emotional magnitude, its sonic range, its coloristic drama - but to liberate these from the pipe organ’s immobility, its moving parts, its cost, its institutionality. I want the ‘American Classic’ cathedral organ to combine with its counterpart, the cinema organ, in a single instrument. It has to have the cathedral organ’s expansiveness, and the Wurlitzer’s rapidity and audacity. It will be ethereal and rhythmless at times - and at other times more rhythmically intense than any pipe organ in the world.” The Ruby Diamond Concert Hall performance will mark the touring organ’s Florida debut – a performance not to be missed.

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David Hurley Countertenor Timothy Wayne-Wright Countertenor Ben Hymas Tenor Christopher Bruerton Barritone Christopher Gabbitas Barritone Jonathan Howard Bass

Thursday 2/12 | Ruby Diamond Concert Hall | 7:30 p.m.

Sponsored by

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WCTV

“They make splendid use of vocal arrangements to tap into current cultural idiom. Fusing forms, timbres and styles, they turn education and entertainment into art and back again.”

– The New York Times

$50 | $40 | $25 | $15 openingnights.fsu.edu 850.644.6500

O

ne of the world’s most celebrated vocal ensembles, The King’s Singers have a packed schedule of concerts, recordings, media and education work that spans the globe. Instantly recognizable for their spot-on intonation, impeccable vocal blend, flawless articulation of the text and incisive timing, they are also consummate entertainers: a class act with a delightfully British wit.

With a discography of over 150 recordings, the group’s contribution to classical recording was recognized when they were selected to join the Gramophone Hall of Fame in June 2013, marking their influence and inspiration across the years. A new collaborative project sees the group work with oboist Albrecht Mayer for a disc of

works on the theme of winter, released on Deutsche Grammophon.

Deeply committed to new choral music, they have commissioned over 200 works from prominent contemporary composers and choral luminaries, including Whitacre, Richard Rodney Bennett, Maxwell Davies, Ligeti, Rutter, Takemitsu, and Tavener. The group is committed to maintaining and developing the international choral canon by commissioning new works from both young and established composers. There are over two million pieces of sheet music published by The King’s Singers in circulation. Their arrangements are sung the world over by school and college choirs, and by ensembles both amateur and professional. The King’s Singers are double GRAMMY® Award-winning artists.

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“...the Dirty Dozen Brass Band continues to be a national treasure; steeped in both the past and present, impossible to categorize, and mighty funky.” – The New York Times

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2014-2015 Opening Nights Performing Arts

$50 | $40 | $25 | $15 openingnights.fsu.edu 850.644.6500

Bhangra ‘n’ Brass: Dirty Dozen Brass Band & Red Baraat “Brooklyn’s Red Baraat stormed the stage with a sound that fused hip-hop, jazz, and Indian folk music for something that was greater than the sum of its parts and simply impossible not to move to.” – The Boston Globe

Friday 2/13 Ruby Diamond Concert Hall | 7:30 p.m.

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he Dirty Dozen Brass Band is a world famous music machine, whose name is synonymous with genre-bending romps and high-octane performances. They have revitalized the brass band in New Orleans and around the world, progressing from local parties, clubs, baseball games, and festivals in their early years to touring nearly constantly in the U.S. and in over 30 other countries on five continents. The Dirty Dozen have been featured guests on albums by artists including David Bowie, Elvis Costello, Dr. John, Buckwheat Zydeco, Dave Matthews Band, Modest Mouse, Widespread Panic, and the Black Crowes.

Red Baraat is a pioneering eight-piece band from Brooklyn, New York.

Conceived by Sunny Jain, the group has drawn worldwide praise for its singular sound -- a merging of hard driving North Indian Bhangra rhythms with elements of jazz, go-go, brass funk, and hip-hop. Created with no less a purposeful agenda than manifesting joy and unity in all people, Red Baraat’s spirit is worn brightly on its sweaty and hardworked sleeve and is being returned to them in cities all over the world, as word spreads of the band’s incredibly powerful live performances.

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FREE

Opening Reception

exhibitions, events, and receptions

Friday, Feb. 13 6 - 8 p.m.

Exhibition Dates & Hours Feb. 13 - Mar. 29 9 a.m. - 4 p.m. (M-F) 1 - 4 p.m. (Sat-Sun) Special Hours for Spring Break Mar. 9 - 13 (M-F) 10 a.m. - 3 p.m.

Closed weekends Mar. 7 - 8 & 14 - 15

Museum of Fine Arts at Florida State University WWII Institute Exhibition: “The Human Experience” & Writers’ Weekend, Dr. Kurt Piehler, Curator

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he exhibition from the Institute will focus on the individual with photographs from the series “Witness to War.” Images from the Austin Collection of the Imperial Family in post-WWII Japan share the Museum with artwork created by professional and amateur artists to document the war. Additionally, there are servicemen/women’s letters home containing casual and elaborate drawings, stories, and letters sent from the home front to soldiers in the various theatres of operation. Other artifacts include the paratrooper escape-route silk scarves that were maps of enemy-held territories, military gear, a very rare pair of Japanese standing binoculars, scale models of naval and air force transport, and ephemera like the famous Betty Grable pin-up.

On the first weekend of the exhibition, please join Dr. Piehler for The World War II Writer’s Weekend: a free public event that features talks and book signings by authors of a range of works on World War II. Speakers include Robert Gellately (Stalin’s Curse), Michael 36

2014-2015 Opening Nights Performing Arts

Neiberg (The Blood of Free Men: The Liberation of Paris), Whitney Bendeck (“A” Force: The Origins of British Deception During the Second World War), and Peter Dunbar (Before They Were Black Sheep).

In celebration of Valentine’s Day weekend, FSU student veterans will read some of the unpublished love letters of the World War II generation that are part of the collections of Florida State University’s Institute on World War II and the Human Experience.

Bill Mauldin Editorial Cartoons & WWII Propaganda Posters & Flags from the Collection of Dr. Patrick M. Rowe For a number of years, Dr. Patrick Rowe has researched the satirical work of Bill Mauldin, the GI’s most sympathetic friend, compiling a collection of paintings, drawings and prints by the Pulitzer Prize-winning artist. The Rowe Collection also includes historical flags, each one with a story, unusual memorabilia, and powerfully designed posters from the era. Rowe’s printed broadsides document the history of America’s war effort at home. Such images include Norman Rockwell’s “Four Freedoms” and other posters intended to sell war bonds or to prevent “loose lips” from sinking ships.

Ragtime

$20 | $18 | $10 openingnights.fsu.edu 850.644.6500

Friday 2/13 – Sunday 3/1 | Richard G. Fallon Theatre Book by

Music by

Lyrics by

Based on the novel “Ragtime” by

Terrence McNally

Stephen Flaherty

Lynn Ahrens

E. L. Doctorow

Directed by

Music Direction by

Choreography by

Fred Chappell

Tom Ossowski

Kate Gelabert

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s a new century dawns, the world is changing….and anything is possible. Set in the volatile melting pot of New York City, follow the struggle of three American families whose intersecting lives are influenced by the social upheaval of the era. The musical tapestry intertwines an African-American family, a Jewish immigrant family, and a wealthy, suburban family who are united through love, loss, courage, and unrelenting hope for the future. Winner of 4 Tony Awards, Ragtime will take you on an emotional and lavish musical journey that will captivate audiences from the first note.

Ragtime is presented through special arrangement with Music Theatre International (MTI). All authorized performance materials are also supplied by MTI. 421 West 54th Street, New York, NY, 10019 | Phone: (212) 541-4684 | Fax: 212-397-4684 | MTIShows.com openingnights.fsu.edu 37

FREE tallahasseemuseum.org

Saturday 2/14 | Tallahassee Museum | 10:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.

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oin us on Valentine’s Day for Saturday Matinee of the Arts; a rich lineup of visual and performing arts, including live music on the outdoor stage and in the museum’s historic buildings. The day’s dance performances typically range from ballet to flamenco, while artists and artisans from fine painters and potters to jewelry makers display their work in picturesque settings throughout the

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museum’s grounds. This year’s Valentine’s Day themed event may include love-themed crafts, historic information about the holiday, and even some sweet treats!

Children will have the opportunity to play and partake in activities just for them, and there will be plenty for adults to enjoy as well.

The museum opens its doors free of charge for the matinee.

$35 | $15 Sponsored by

CenturyLink

openingnights.fsu.edu 850.644.6500

Saturday 2/14 | Ruby Diamond Concert Hall | 7:30 p.m.

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fter returning from their performance in California for the 2013 BCS National Championships, PRISM returns for yet another magnificently conceived and beautifully played performance. Featuring music students from Florida State’s top-ranked College of Music, PRISM covers the spectrum of band activities at Florida State.

Chamber Winds, Symphonic Band, Jazz Ensembles, and the Marching Chiefs, are just a few of the ensembles performing in the annual event.

might pop up in the balcony, followed by ten tuba players on the stage and then a marching band might come stomping down the aisles. It’s a sonic collage of barely controlled madness. PRISM’s contrast between traditional fare and more experimental groups may be one of the reasons behind the program’s success. Its multifaceted nature makes PRISM a gem among music lovers. Because of its design, [the performance] offers a unique show depending on where an audience member sits - those in the balcony will be nearer to certain ensembles than those in other sections, and vice versa.”

The Tallahassee Democrat shares, “The PRISM shows are built on a more-is-more philosophy. A saxophone ensemble

If you’ve never attended a PRISM concert before, you need to... just ask someone who’s been there! openingnights.fsu.edu 39

$35 | $15 openingnights.fsu.edu 850.644.6500

A Movie You Haven’t Seen

Sunday 2/15 | Ruby Diamond Concert Hall | 7:30 p.m.

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ince its inception in 1999, Opening Nights has presented an annual film. Silent films, local creations, Oscar® nominees, and international film circuit delights – each has added to the collective cinema experience in Tallahassee. This year’s selected film will be appropriate for all audiences and will be followed by a panel discussion with industry professionals. Presented collaboratively with the FSU College of Motion Picture Arts Torchlight Program, this experience is sure to inspire, entertain, and educate.

Films pictured from left to right: 500 Days of Summer (2009), Being Flynn (2012), The General (2010), Gettysburg (2002), Win Win (2011), The Red Violin (2000), The Visitor (2008), War Witch (2013).

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$100 Pebble Hill $35 Goodwood Museum openingnights.fsu.edu 850.644.6500

Nellie McKay Sunday 2/15 Pebble Hill Plantation | 2:00 p.m.

Monday 2/16 | The Carriage House at Goodwood Museum | 7:30 p.m.

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ellie McKay is not easy to categorize. Her music is as tuneful and clever as the best of the Great American Songbook - part cabaret, part sparkly pop. But beneath the charming melodic surface is a wit that cuts, and a sharply tuned social conscience.

The Washington Post wrote, “McKay’s music evokes the lost elegance of pre-Elvis pop because she recognizes that such stylishness and wit are worth pursuing. But these goals inevitably collide with the realities of money, sex and politics, and she documents those collisions in her tongue-in-cheek lyrics, emphatic beats and bubbly melodies.”

“…musical composer Nellie McKay steals the spotlight (and most of the laughs) with her sharply tongue-in-cheek tunes...an endearing, multi-faceted performance artist...combined charm and biting wit.”

– Jan Rosenberg, Show Business Weekly

McKay has appeared on numerous TV shows, and her music has been heard on Weeds, Grey’s Anatomy, NCIS, Privileged, Nurse Jackie, and Mad Men. She has won a Theatre World Award for her Polly in the Broadway production of The Threepenny Opera. She acted and sang in the film PS I Love You and wrote and performed the song score for the Rob Reiner film Rumor Has It. Her writing has appeared in The Onion, Interview, and The New York Times Book Review.

Sponsored by

CAPITAL CITY BANK openingnights.fsu.edu 41

“…the sound just flows from that fiddle, as close to perfection as anything on Earth. Bell’s tone is a thing of rare beauty, and he plays with such warmth and refinement that you wish the phrases would last longer.” – The Seattle Times

Program Subject to Change Scottish Fantasy for Violin in E Flat, Op. 46 | Bruch Tzigane | Ravel 42 2014-2015 Opening Nights Performing Arts La Mer | Debussy

$85 | $70 | $55 | $15 openingnights.fsu.edu 850.644.6500

Joshua Bell, violin with the University Symphony Orchestra Alexander Jimenez, Music Director & Conductor Saturday 2/28 | Ruby Diamond Concert Hall | 7:30 p.m.

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ften referred to as the “poet of the violin,” Joshua Bell’s stunning virtuosity, beautiful tone and charismatic stage presence have brought him universal acclaim. An Avery Fisher Prize recipient, Bell recently received the New York Recording Academy Honors. As the first person appointed Music Director of the Academy of St Martin in the Fields (ASMF) since Sir Neville Marriner formed the orchestra in 1958, their first CD under Bell’s leadership of Beethoven’s 4th and 7th symphonies debuted at #1 on the Billboard Classical chart. A holiday-themed CD, Musical Gifts From Joshua Bell and Friends featuring collaborations with Chris Botti, Kristin Chenoweth, Chick Corea, Alison Krauss, Placido Domingo, Gloria Estefan, Renée Fleming and others was released in November 2013.

Born in Bloomington, Indiana, Bell received his first violin at age 4 and at 12 began studying with Josef Gingold, at Indiana University. Two years later, Bell came to national attention with Riccardo Muti and the Philadelphia Orchestra. At age 17, he made his Carnegie Hall debut.

Bell’s 2007 incognito subway station performance resulted in a provocative Washington Post Pulitzer Prize-winning story examining art and context. The conversation continues with the new Annick Press illustrated children’s book, The Man With the Violin. Bell plays the 1713 Huberman Stradivarius.

Sponsored by

LEGACY TOYOTA

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“A vibrant mix of virtuosity, energy and empathy.”

– The Washington Post

$45 | $15 openingnights.fsu.edu

Danu

850.644.6500

Monday 3/2 | Opperman Music Hall | 7:30 p.m.

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ailing from historic County Waterford, Danú is one of the leading traditional Irish ensembles of today. Recognized worldwide for their standing room only appearances, their concerts feature high-energy performances and a glorious mix of ancient Irish music and new repertoire. The 20142015 season marks this extraordinary ensemble’s 20th anniversary and the March 2015 American tour will include two heralded former members of the ensemble. With the addition of these two guests, the band grows to eight players – and the dramatic sound and vibrancy of the performance increases exponentially.

Sponsored by

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For two decades, Danú’s virtuosi players on flute, tin whistle, fiddle, button accordion, bouzouki, and vocals (Irish and English), have performed around the globe and recorded nine critically acclaimed albums. Their live DVD, One Night Stand, was filmed at Vicar St. Dublin. Winners of numerous awards from the BBC and Irish Music Magazine, Danú has toured throughout the United Kingdom, Europe, the Middle East, and North America with stops at venues such as The Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, Cal Performances, Stanford, the Krannert Center, Notre Dame, and Symphony Space in New York City. Danú’s popular recordings are available on the Shanachie label and live performances are frequently broadcast on NPR, the CBC, and the BBC.

MICHAEL SHERIDAN & JUDY WILSON SHERIDAN

2014-2015 Opening Nights Performing Arts

Milos Karadaglic Monday 3/16 The Carriage House at Goodwood Museum | 7:30 p.m.

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orn in Montenegro in 1983, Miloš has already established himself as one of today’s most gifted classical guitar virtuosos. He began playing the guitar at the age of 8, and quickly won national recognition for his performances. At sixteen, he was awarded a scholarship to study at the Royal Academy of Music.

As an exclusive Deutsche Grammophon recording artist, Miloš Karadaglić released his second album Latino (Pasión) in 2012. Reviewing the album Gramophone commented “Karadaglić is a guitarist of superior musical and technical gifts who allows his personality to sing through the music with taste and intelligence” and The Daily Telegraph added “this new Latin American programme is outstanding in its finesse, warm sensuality and sheer beauty.”

“[Miloš] Karadaglić is a guitarist of superior musical and technical gifts who allows his personality to sing through the music with taste and intelligence.” – The Daily Telegraph Photo by Lars Borges, Mercury Classics

$35

Sponsored by

openingnights.fsu.edu

CAPITAL CITY BANK

850.644.6500

“Part of the reason Karadaglić has such a large following ”commented The Western Australian “is his ability to straddle both hardcore classical and pop classical camps.” This was echoed by the London press following his celebrated Royal Albert Hall debut of which The Guardian commented “More extraordinary by far, however, was the way a single guitarist, playing an intimate and understated set, and equipped with a single microphone and some clever lighting, could shrink the Hall’s cavernous space into something so close.”

Miloš’ passion for the guitar is matched with an intuitive sense of how to bring the instrument across to his public – whether it be for an audience of 3000 in the Royal Albert Hall or an intimate chamber music performance for 100 people. He enjoys performing in major concert halls as much as in non-traditional venues such as New York’s Le Poisson Rouge, London’s Camden Roundhouse (iTunes Festival), and Deutsche Grammophon’s Yellow Lounge Club Nights in London, Berlin, Amsterdam, Madrid, New York and Seoul.

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$95 | $85 | $70 openingnights.fsu.edu 850.644.6500

Itzhak Perlman, violin Rohan De Silva, piano Thursday 3/19 | Ruby Diamond Concert Hall | 7:30 p.m.

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ndeniably the reigning virtuoso of the violin, Itzhak Perlman enjoys superstar status rarely afforded a classical musician. Beloved for his charm and humanity as well as his talent, Mr. Perlman is treasured by audiences throughout the world who respond to his remarkable artistry and irrepressible joy of making music.

Born in Israel in 1945, Itzhak Perlman completed his initial training at the Academy of Music in Tel Aviv. He came to New York and was propelled into the international arena with an appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show (1958). Following his studies at the Juilliard School, Mr. Perlman won the prestigious Leventritt Competition (1964) and has since appeared with every major orchestra and in recitals and festivals around the world.

Mr. Perlman’s awards and honors include four Emmy® Awards, fifteen GRAMMY® Awards, a GRAMMY® Lifetime Achievement Award (2008), Kennedy Center Honoree (2003), Medal of Liberty (Reagan, 1986), National Medal of Arts (Clinton, 2000), and numerous honorary degrees.

Over the past decade Mr. Perlman has become more actively involved in educational activities. He teaches at the Perlman Music Program and currently holds the Dorothy Richard Starling Foundation Chair at the Juilliard School.

Sponsored by

LEGACY TOYOTA

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Avery Sharpe Trio Avery Sharpe Bass John Blake Violin Kevin Sharpe Percussion

Inspired by the classic 1923 Jean Toomer novel “Cane� and works by the musicians, composers, poets, and actors of the Harlem Renaissance.

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$50 | $15 openingnights.fsu.edu 850.644.6500

Raisin’ Cane:

A Harlem Renaissance Odyssey

starring Jasmine Guy & The Avery Sharpe Trio

Thursday 3/26 | Richard G. Fallon Theatre | 8:00 p.m.

Written & Conceived by

Original Score by

Music Performed by

Production Design by

Harry Clark

Avery Sharpe

Avery Sharpe Trio

Gregg Bellou

Theatrical Projection Design by

Daniel Foster

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t was an exceptional time. It was our time. It was time. Time: 1920s. Place: Harlem, New York, USA. In the American Black community, during the years leading up to the Harlem Renaissance, there was a sense of building artistic expression. Outlets and avenues for its poets, musicians, novelists, artists, and actors were few. But in 1918, as the first great World War concluded and thousands of African-American soldiers returned home victorious, this mountain of artistic expression was now ready to explode.

The words and thoughts of Langston Hughes, Countee Cullen, Zora Neale Hurston, W.E.B. Du Bois and many others, became the voice of a new generation of African-Americans - looking forward but still struggling with the past and present. These thoughts, songs, and images are woven into a panoramic experience that spans this extraordinary outpouring of artistic endeavor. Raisin’ Cane is a window on this critical point in our history.

Starring the award winning actress, singer, and dancer Jasmine Guy, a modern day Griot, and the acclaimed Avery Sharpe Trio, Raisin’ Cane celebrates and honors the legendary voices of the Harlem Renaissance through text, song, music, movement, and imagery.

Sponsored by

WTXL openingnights.fsu.edu 49

Mike Guggino Mandolin Nicky Sanders Violin Graham Sharp Banjo Charles Humphrey III Bass Woody Platt Guitar

Celia Woodsmith Guitar Jenni Lyna Gardner Mandolin Kimber Ludiker Fiddle Courtney Hartman Guitar Shelby Means Bass

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2014-2015 Opening Nights Performing Arts

“True bluegrass, when done well, is a thing of art and the Steep Canyon Rangers are the genre’s current Rembrandt.”

– Examiner.com

$50 | $35 | $25 | $15 openingnights.fsu.edu 850.644.6500

Steep Canyon Rangers & Della Mae Monday 4/6 | Ruby Diamond Concert Hall | 7:30 p.m.

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raham Sharp (banjo, harmony vocals) met future bandmates Woody Platt (guitar, lead vocals) and Charles R. Humphrey III (bass, harmony vocals) in 1999, while all three were attending the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. Drawn together by their love of acoustic music, they began playing impromptu jam sessions.

The main impetus to “go bluegrass” was the input of mandolin player Mike Guggino, an old friend of Platt’s. He owned a cabin in the mountains near the school, and the quartet used that as its rehearsal space. What has emerged is a real collaboration of musicians—creating music that they are passionate about, and blending it with humor to form a sophisticated show. Recent appearances include Austin City Limits, the Late Show with David Letterman, and the Today Show, and performances at Carnegie Hall, the Grand Ole Opry, as well as their own Mountain Song festival.

This World Oft Can Be, Della Mae’s Rounder debut, shows that the band is respectful of American musical tradition, but not restricted by it, combining centuries’ worth of musical influences with an emotionally tough, undeniably modern songwriting sensibility. In a relatively short period of time, they have become a sensation in the music world, commanding a powerful collective chemistry with vocal, instrumental, and songwriting talent to spare. This World Oft Can Be, recorded at Johnny Cash’s cabin in Hendersonville, TN and mixed by Paul Q. Kolderie (Radiohead, The Pixies, Uncle Tupelo), mines time-honored elements to create music that’s unmistakably fresh and contemporary.

The Steep Canyon Rangers are proof that traditional bluegrass music can adapt to its times without losing its history. Della Mae is a young all-female bluegrass band whose melting pot of musical talent, feisty tracks and spirited execution make them a force to be reckoned with. Sparks will fly when these two bluegrass powerhouses come together.

Sponsored by

CARLTON FIELDS JORDEN BURT

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Opening Nights is committed to engaging the university, local, and global communities in creative experiences. This commitment has led to several new programs for the 2014-2015 season, including a Pop-Up Series, Creative Conversations, and Master Classes. We hope these programs will encourage connections that reach beyond the stage.

Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to discover when and where these Pop-Up events will take place!

To learn more about the Pop-Up series, Creative Conversations, and Master Classes, visit OpeningNights.fsu.edu

Art in the Correctional System

Brooklyn Rider

Lecture and Exhibit | Tuesday 2/10

Tuesday 4/7 - Wednesday 4/8

Piper Kerman’s memoir, Orange is the New Black, offers a rare look into the lives of women in the federal correctional system.

Opening Nights’ Pop-Up Lecture and Exhibit will explore the world of art therapy and the use of art in the correctional system.

As a participant in Tallahassee Music Week, Opening Nights will host Pop-Up concerts throughout Tallahassee featuring string quartet Brooklyn Rider.

Dr. Dave Gussak’s Pop-Up lecture will focus on art and art therapy in correctional settings as well as the theories and techniques used in working with prison populations. He draws upon historical perspectives, various theoretical constructs, and his own experiences to explore the benefits of using art and art therapy in corrections.

The ingenuity that prison inmates demonstrate to complete the art they are compelled to create - often from minimal supplies and found objects – is startling. To showcase such talent, the Pop-Up Exhibit will offer a gallery of selected drawings, paintings, and sculptures created by prison inmates.

Dr. Gussak (PhD, ART-BC) is professor and chairperson for the FSU Department of Art Education and is clinical coordinator for its art therapy program. Along with Art on Trial: Art Therapy in Capital Murder Cases, Dr. Gussak has recently completed co-editing the 84 chapter Wiley-Blackwell Handbook of Art Therapy and is author of the blog “Art on Trial: Confessions of a Serial Art Therapist” for Psychology Today.

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Hailed as “the future of chamber music (Strings),” the game-changing Brooklyn Rider offers eclectic repertoire in gripping performances that continue to attract legions of fans and draw rave reviews from critics. A public radio favorite, Brooklyn Rider has been featured on NPR’s Tiny Desk Concerts, On Point, Deceptive Cadence, and All Things Considered. The ensemble’s recordings are played across North America on stations ranging in focus from classical to world, jazz, pop, and new music.

The quartet’s name is inspired in part by the cross disciplinary vision of Der Blaue Reiter (“The Blue Rider”), the pre-WWI artistic collective whose members included Kandinsky, Marc, Schoenberg, and Scriabin. The group also draws inspiration from the exploding array of cultures and artistic energy found in Brooklyn NY, a place it calls home.

Equally at home in clubs and concert halls, the quartet has played venues as varied as Carnegie’s Zankel Hall, the San Francisco Jazz Festival, Le Poisson Rouge, Japan’s Todai-ji, and the South by Southwest Festival. Through visionary programming and global collaborations, Brooklyn Rider’s “down-to-earth demeanor… demystifies contemporary classical music and invites everyone into the tent (Time Out New York).”

Johnny Gandelsman Violin Colin Jacobsen Violin Nicholas Cords Viola Eric Jacobsen Cello

Brooklyn Rider

Opening Nights’ new series, Creative Conversations, pulls back the stage curtain and explores topics in the arts. Come face to face with musicians, actors, technicians, dancers, choreographers, authors, and educators. From moderated Q&A sessions to panel discussions, we will dive into topics relevant in the 2014-2015 Season. All events are free and open to the public – so join us in exploring Creative Conversations.

SEPTEMBER 23, 2014 | 6:30 P.M. Panel Discussion: Popular Music in America FSU Alumni Center Ballroom | light hors d’ oeuvres, cash bar

FEBRUARY 4, 2015 | Time TBA Conversation with the Cast & Crew of Forbidden Broadway TCC Performing Arts Center, Room 104

OCTOBER 21, 2014 | 6:30 P.M. Panel Discussion: Beyond Tradition FSU Alumni Center Ballroom | light hors d’ oeuvres, cash bar

FEBRUARY 10, 2015 | Time TBA Conversation with Piper Kerman FSU William Johnston Building

DECEMBER 3-4, 2014 | Following Each Performance Conversation with Ragamala Dance FSU Nancy Smith Fichter Dance Theatre

FEBRUARY 11, 2015 | Time TBA Conversation with Cameron Carpenter FSU Westcott Building, Room 060

JANUARY 27, 2015 | 6:30 P.M. Panel Discussion: Humor in Performance FSU Alumni Center Ballroom | light hors d’ oeuvres, cash bar

FEBRUARY 12, 2015 | Time TBA Conversation with The King’s Singers FSU Westcott Building, Room 060

Arts education is at the core of Opening Nights, providing meaningful experiences to students of all ages on and off Florida State University’s campus. Master Classes provide students an opportunity to work one-on-one with artists to grow their craft and gain experience.

Reservations are required to participate in a Master Class (850.644.7670); no reservations are required to observe a Master Class.

DECEMBER 4, 2014 Rudresh Mahanthappa

FEBRUARY 6, 2015 Vijay Iyer

MARCH 2, 2015 Danú

MARCH 26, 2015 Jasmine Guy

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K-12 EDUCATION Since the formalization of the K-12 education series in 2011, Opening Nights has provided free arts experiences to over 2,000 K-12 students annually in Leon County. We expand on these experiences in the 2014-2015 season with the Kennedy Center Partners in Education Program, the Billy Jonas school tour, and The Hot Sardines school performance.

The John F. Kennedy Center Partners In Education Opening Nights and Leon County Schools have been selected to participate in the Partners in Education program of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. The partnership will provide professional development opportunities in arts integration that will help teachers meet the needs of diverse learners, increase arts education in schools, and ensure student success.

Teaching Artists which will explore strategies for integrating drama, music, visual art, creative writing, and dance into teaching all subjects. These workshops were developed in association with the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and will be held at Apalachee Tapestry Magnet School of the Arts.

Throughout the 2014-2015 School Year, we will present six professional development workshops led for teachers by Kennedy Center

For all K-12 education information, including Partners In Education registration, Billy Jonas School Tour bookings, and The Hot Sardines reservations, contact openingnights@fsu.edu or call 850.644.7670

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2014-2015 Opening Nights Performing Arts

Billy Jonas

Apalachee Tapestry Magnet School of the Arts

The Hot Sardines Field Trip Performance 11/19 | Opperman Music Hall The Sardine sound – wartime Paris via New Orleans, or the other way around – is steeped in 1920s jazz, salty stride piano, and the kind of music Louis Armstrong, Django Reinhardt, and Fats Waller used to make: straight-up, foot-stomping jazz (literally – the band includes a rap dancer whose feet count as two members of the rhythm section!)

Teachers who attend this performance will receive Learning Guides based in teaching standards (Social Studies, Music, English Language Arts, Dance, and Math) four weeks before attending the performance. This performance is recommended for students in grades 9-12.

Billy Jonas School Tour 1/26 - 1/30 | North Florida Schools “I have never seen our students so engaged and enthusiastic about music AND science at the same time! It would be next to impossible for our whole student body to attend a concert outside of school, so we are very honored and privileged to host you at our school. Thank you again!” – Laura Walsh, General Music Teacher, Windsor Forest Elementary, Savannah, Georgia Kids that rarely smile were not only smiling but singing along and having a wonderful time… Later that day a bus load of students broke out singing ‘Tongo!’ One student was calling and the rest were responding. The bus seats and their bodies were the percussion. It was wonderful! Thank you so much for putting on one of the best shows our school has seen in years.” - Zach Eastman, Four Oaks Elementary School, Four Oaks, North Carolina Billy Jonas is one of those rare performers who can engage and delight both young and adult audiences. For more than two decades, his creative and interactive performances have enchanted and inspired folks from all walks of life — touching hearts, souls, and minds world-wide. As a founding member of the acclaimed duo “The Billys,” Billy Jonas has made innovative use of “found objects.” He helps audiences discover the music within common items...and within themselves.

Billy’s recordings and live concerts across the US and Canada have generated an enthusiastic following. His CD What Kind of Cat Are You? received multiple awards including a First Place/ Gold from the American Federation of Independent Musicians, and a Parent’s Choice Gold. Jonas’ videos have garnered critical acclaim, including Parents Choice Awards and a New York Times “Best” listing. Billy will be performing for one week at schools throughout Leon County and the surrounding areas.

The Hot Sardines

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MEMBERSHIP Join the many Opening Nights members who provide support to fulfill our mission to engage the university, local, and global communities in creative experiences. Members support the world-class performances and educational experiences we offer the community, bringing audiences together and enriching the quality of life in Tallahassee.

HIGHLIGHTS OF NEW BENEFITS INCLUDE

OTHER BENEFITS (BASED ON MEMBERSHIP LEVEL)

Sponsor/Member wait lists for sold out events

Personalized concierge ticketing service

VIP line access at lobby meet-and-greets and album signings

Invitation to pregame tailgate party at the Florida State University President’s House

Complimentary drink tickets at all member levels

Invitations to exclusive member receptions and events (5-10 scheduled for the 2014-2015 season)

2014-2015 Membership

Benefits

Producer’s Circle $1,500

Partner $1,000

Friend $500

Associate $250

Debut $100

8/12 - 8/18

8/19 - 8/25

8/26 - 9/1

9/2 - 9/8

9/9 - 9/15

16

12

8

4

2

VIP Lot A (2 Passes)

VIP Lot A (1 Pass)

Private lunch and conversation for two with the Director Invitation to VIP athletic events (subject to availability) VIP concierge ticketing service (including waived ticket and handling fees) Invitation to one pregame tailgate party at the Florida State University President’s House Invitation to exclusive member receptions and events Invitation for two to Season Preview Party announcing upcoming Series and Festival Name listed in Programs (distributed at all events) Placement on Sponsor/Member wait list for sold-out events VIP line access at lobby Meet-and-Greet events Priority ticket ordering (tickets go on sale to the public September 16, 2014) Complimentary drink tickets Parking pass for events at Ruby Diamond Concert Hall 56

2014-2015 Opening Nights Performing Arts

Preferred Lot B Preferred Lot B (1 Pass) (1 Pass)

Prime Lot C (1 Pass)

BECOME A MEMBER

Beverly Frick, Claire Heacox, Christopher Heacox & Stacy Aubrey

Members will be contacted via email regarding advance ticket purchases.

ONLINE (PREFERRED)

OPENINGNIGHTS.FSU.EDU

PHONE 850.644.7670

“I can hardly wait to see who shows up for a performance. Each artist attracts their own unique audience. It makes me happy to spend an evening in good company with friends who support the arts in Tallahassee.” – Beverly Frick

MAIL 850.644.7670 Call to request a paper form be mailed to you. Please note: to preserve the security of personal information, forms submitted via mail should not contain credit card information. Checks can be made out to FSU Foundation.

Richard Thompson & Del Suggs

FSU EMPLOYEES OPENINGNIGHTS.FSU.EDU FSU Employees can pay for Membership monthly through FSU Payroll Deduction.

Print and fill out the Payroll Deduction Authorization Form and return to Opening Nights (Mail Code: 1350).

EMPLOYER MATCHING MATCHINGGIFT.COM/FSU "I don't believe we'd be able to hear world-class performers in a world-class venue like Ruby Diamond Concert Hall without the Opening Nights Series.

The schedule continues to thrill each year, and the caliber of the visiting artists is truly remarkable." - Del Suggs

Your company may be one of thousands that match employee contributions. If you or your spouse is employed by a matching gift company, the impact of your contribution could be significantly increased by their match. Find out if your employer participates in gift matching. openingnights.fsu.edu 57

VENUES RUBY DIAMOND CONCERT HALL

FRED TURNER AUDITORIUM

Florida State University Westcott Building 222 S. Copeland Street Tallahassee, FL 32306

Tallahassee Community College Fine and Performing Arts Center 444 Appleyard Drive Tallahassee, FL 32304

OPPERMAN MUSIC HALL

LEE HALL AUDITORIUM

Florida State University Kuersteiner Music Building 114 N. Copeland Street Tallahassee, FL 32306

Florida A&M University 1601 S. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard Tallahassee, Florida 32307

NANCY SMITH FICHTER DANCE THEATRE

CHALLENGER LEARNING CENTER

Florida State University Montgomery Hall 130 Collegiate Loop Tallahassee, FL 32306

Klemen Plaza 200 S. Duval Street Tallahassee, FL 32301

RICHARD G. FALLON THEATRE

GOODWOOD MUSEUM AND GARDENS

Florida State University Fine Arts Building 540 W. Call Street Tallahassee, FL 32306

1600 Miccosukee Road Tallahassee, FL 32308

FSU ALUMNI CENTER BALLROOM

PEBBLE HILL PLANTATION

Florida State University Alumni Center 1030 W. Tennessee Street Tallahassee, FL 32306

1251 U.S. Highway 319 South Thomasville, GA 31792

MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS

TALLAHASSEE MUSEUM

Florida State University Fine Arts Building 530 W. Call Street Tallahassee, FL 32306

3945 Museum Drive Tallahassee, FL 32310

CLUB DOWNUNDER Florida State University 75 N. Woodward Avenue Tallahassee, FL 32306

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2014-2015 Opening Nights Performing Arts

For additional information on venues, parking, and maps, visit OpeningNights.fsu.edu

INFORMATION Tickets go on sale to the General Public on September 16, 2014 at 11:00 a.m.

For priority ticket ordering, see page 56 about Opening Nights Membership.

PURCHASE TICKETS

Student Tickets – new! $10 student RUSH tickets will be available 24 hours before each event in all sections, pending availability. Once available, student RUSH tickets may be purchased online, over the phone, at the Fine Arts Ticket Office, or at the event venue (event venue ticket office opens 1 hour before the event). Limit 2 RUSH tickets per student ID.

Group Tickets Discounted tickets for groups of 10 or more are available for many performances. Call 850.644.7670 to learn more about Group Tickets.

ONLINE OPENINGNIGHTS.FSU.EDU $2.00 PROCESSING FEE PER TICKET

BY PHONE 850.644.6500

Email Address Opening Nights sends parking and event information via email 1-2 days before an event. Please contact the Fine Arts Ticket Office if your email address changes.

$2.00 PROCESSING FEE PER TICKET

IN PERSON

Refunds & Exchanges

FLORIDA STATE FINE ARTS TICKET OFFICE

All ticket sales are final. There are no refunds unless an event is cancelled and not rescheduled. Tickets may not be exchanged for a different event but may be exchanged for alternate seating location (pending availability) for a $2.00 exchange fee.

NO PROCESSING FEE PER TICKET

Accessibility Opening Nights is committed to ensuring its performances are accessible to all patrons. Disabled parking spots are available at all venues on a first come-first serve basis. Wheelchair accessible seats and seats for visually impaired patrons are available in all venues. Please contact the Fine Arts Ticket Office at 850.644.6500 to purchase tickets. Assistive listening devices (ALDs) and magnifying glasses (for programs) are available at many venues. Please ask a House Manager at the performance about acquiring an ALD or a magnifying glass.

TUESDAY – SATURDAY 11:00 AM – 4:00 PM The Fine Arts Ticket Office is located at 530 West Call Street in the lobby of the FSU Fine Arts Building. Free parking is available on the ground floor of the Call Street Garage, located on the corner of West Call and North Macomb Streets.

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Opening Nights Performing Arts Florida State University 216 Westcott Building P.O. Box 3061350 Tallahassee, FL 32306-1350

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2014-2015 Opening Nights Performing Arts

Nonprofit Org. US Postage PAID Tallahassee, FL Permit #55