Opening Nights Performing Arts - Winter 2017 Program

PERFORMING ARTS

2016-2017 SEASON

Smokey Robinson

WINTER 2017 | VOL. V | ISSUE II

16/17

SPONSORS PLATINUM LEVEL

WCTV tv

*

*

*

*

GOLD LEVEL KEN K A T O & NA N N A G Y

FSU License Plate M IC HA EL S HE RI DAN & J U DY W IL S O N S HERI DAN

David Montrois, John Clark, Bobby Dick, Mark Webb, & Kim Dixon

SILVER LEVEL

*

CHARLES & AMY NEWEL L

R OD & VI R G I N I A VA UG H N A N D CH A R LE S & A BBI E BEN ED I C T

BERN ADET T E & RO G ER LU C A

BRONZE LEVEL C H A R L ES S . & SU SAN A . S T R A T T ON

ARCHITECTURE INTERIOR DESIGN PLANNING

GILCHRIST ROSS CROWE

H ER B & M A R Y J ER VI S

J I M & BET T Y A N N R OD G ER S

ARCHITECTS

LAMPLHERBERT LAMPLHERBERT Strategies and Solutions for Natural Resources

L ARRY & JO DE EB

L EE HINKLE

GRANT SUPPORT

* MEDIA SPONSOR

M I K EY BES T EBR EUR T J E & WI L S ON BA K ER

Your POWERBALL ticket helped Richard hit the college jackpot. ®

E V E RY

P L AY

I S

F O R

Since 1997, the Florida Lottery has been creating a brighter future for Florida through the Bright Futures Scholarship Program. Through this scholarship, more than 725,000 students have earned the opportunity to attend a Florida college. The education they have received is allowing them to give back to the community and boost Florida’s economy, while helping to fund the next generation of Florida’s students. So remember, the more you play, the more Florida wins.

flalottery.com

Must be 18 or older to play.

Play responsibly. © 2016 FloridaPerforming Lottery 4 Opening Nights Arts

E D U C A T I O N.

16/17

CONTENTS

BRANFORD MARSALIS QUARTET

MARC MARON

NORA JANE STRUTHERS & THE PARTY LINE

TWYLA THARP DANCE

MANDOLIN ORANGE

LANG LANG

JEANNE ROBERTSON

TOM SEGURA

AMY HELM & THE HANDSOME STRANGERS

SHAKE ‘EM ON DOWN

PRISM

LILY TOMLIN

RICHARD THOMPSON & THE BLIND BOYS OF ALABAMA

CAMPUS PARTNERSHIPS

VOCALOSITY

SMOKEY ROBINSON

CHRIS BOTTI

PABLO SÁINZ VILLEGAS

2017 Winter Program 5

Stay connected to the Capital City’s activities and attractions. Read Tallahassee Magazine in print and online, plus like and follow on social media for the latest events and happenings.

@tallahasseemag | tallahasseemagazine.com

Florida State University John Thrasher, President Opening Nights Performing Arts Staff Christopher Heacox Director

Bethany Atwell Artistic & Administrative Coordinator Kelly-Ann Fasano Development Officer

Calla MacNamara Education and Engagement Manager

Lori Elliott Marketing and Communications Manager Amanda Hartsfield Multimedia Design Specialist

Rodney Johnson Senior Web & New Media Design Specialist Opening Nights Performing Arts Advisory Board Mike Pate, Chair Gus Corbella, Chair-Elect Ruth Akers, Ph.D. Teresa Atkins Carmen Butler Kimberly Criser Nan Nagy Michael Obrecht Eva Nielsen-Parks John Schultz Susan Stratton Ed West Alan Williams Florida State University Office of the President College of Arts and Sciences College of Fine Arts College of Motion Picture Arts College of Music Askew Student Life Cinema Donald L. Tucker Civic Center Fine Arts Ticket Office Florida State University Foundation University Communications

Please enjoy the 2017 Winter Season of Opening Nights Performing Arts at Florida State University.

We are incredibly honored to present this world-class lineup of artists, performers, and living legends to Tallahassee this year. With Lily Tomlin (2/10) taking us down memory lane with an evening of classic “Lily” moments, she’s sure to have us giggling for days. And to second our emotion, we have TWO nights with the greatest living poet, Smokey Robinson (2/11–12) gracing us with more than 40 years of songwriting hits. Richard Thompson (2/13), one of the most talented guitarists of all time and The Blind Boys of Alabama, are bringing a double-dose of critically acclaimed entertainment. Trumpeter extraordinaire Chris Botti (2/14), will mesmerize Tallahassee with a romantic Valentine’s Day performance: a sure way to enjoy an unforgettable night with the one you love. Finally, inspiring millions from all over the world, world-renowned pianist Lang Lang (2/15) will share his passion for classical music with his dynamic solo piano recital.

Opening Nights Performing Arts will be triggering laughs for days with our first ever comedy series. Humorist Jeanne Robertson (1/22) previously scheduled for last season is fully recovered and funnier than ever. In partnership with Union Productions, we have stand-up comedian and huge FSU football fan, Tom Segura (1/23). Lastly, we have Marc Maron (1/24) comedic master of self-deprecation and host of the famous podcast WTF with Marc Maron.

We are delighted to create once in a lifetime experiences for our Florida State students with a start-studded line up of ONPA Master Classes. The Branford Marsalis Quartet and Kurt Elling (1/17) are hosting a master class with our jazz studies students. Our School of Dance majors will be in multiple workshops with Twyla Tharp Dance (2/8). Finally, Pablo Sáinz Villegas (2/23) will be working with the College of Music guitar studio members in master class.

Joining forces with of our local and campus communities again this year, Tallahassee Community College will be hosting two nights of Americana music with Amy Helm & the Handsome Strangers (2/3) and Nora Jane Struthers & the Party Line with Kelsey Waldon (2/4). One Tallahassee’s favorite traditions, PRISM (2/5) returns to delight Seminoles of all ages. We are gleeful to announce Leon High School’s a cappella group, the Mane Event, will perform as the opening act for Vocalosity (2/6), an a cappella pop group created by the Deke Sharon - producer of the film, Pitch Perfect. Finally, in partnership with the College of Theatre, we hope you can be our guest for the Disney classic Beauty and the Beast (2/16-26).

Please be sure to thumb through the Winter 2017 program for more community, performance, and educational events on and off campus.

Thank you so much for your ongoing support of Opening Nights Performing Arts.

We know you will enjoy this fantastic Winter 2017 line-up, and we look forward to seeing you the rest of the year and beyond!

All the best,

Christopher J. Heacox Director, Opening Nights Performing Arts 2017 Winter Program 7

2016-2017 MEMBERS A S O F 1 2 / 5 / 2 0 1 6 Producer’s Circle

Partner Level

Mr. Cliffton Kuna & Dr. Natalie Radford

Mr. & Mrs. Bart A. Aitken

Jean Ainsworth

Sherrill & Jimmy Ragans

Steve Carter & Phyllis Thompson

Law Office of Linda A. Bailey

Bass Sox Mercer, PA

Ronald Shaeffer

Kathryn Karrh Cashin

Joe & Diane Bodiford

Bob & Mary Bedford

Linda J. Smith

Phillip & Betty Brown

Jann & Ray Bellamy

Josh & Wendy Somerset

Gus & Tanya Corbella

Mr. & Mrs. Linzie & Yolanda Bogan

Alan & Mary Jo Spector

Mr. & Mrs. Marshall Criser III

Grossman Furlow & Bayo, LLC

Sean & Susan Stafford

Cabinet Source LLC

Peter & Bonnie Chamlis Jodi & Charlie Chase David & Mary Coburn Jonathan Klepper & Jimmy Cole

L Thomas & Lynn W. Cox

Paul Weimer & Betsy Voorhies

Talbot D’Alemberte & Patsy Palmer

Kip & Bev Wells

Eleanor & Andre Connan

Lisa & Keith Foran Louis B Fowler Jr MD

Eliot Wigginton

Rob Contreras & Ellen Berler

William & Caryl Donnellan Drs. Jana & Michael Forsthoefel

John D Woods MD

Bob & Mary Z Cox

TD & Kathi Giddings

Robert & Jan Estevez Drs. Ruth & Rick Feiock

Dr. Stephen & Elma Haley Ken & Debbie Hodges Del & Diane Hughes Deborah Kearney & Robin Hassler Thompson Lawton & Beth Langford Nancy Linnan & Jim York Jennifer Fitzwater & Geof Mansfield

Tara Wah & Paige Harbaugh Chris & Claire Heacox Sandy Higdon Mart P. Hill Mike & Debbie Huey Bret & Leigh Ingerman Ty & Robyn Jackson Robert & Malinda U. Jones

Friend Level Affordable Housing Consulting Drs. Charles & Sharon Aronovitch

Virginia Craig Capt. James L. & Sandra J. Dafoe Kathleen Daly & Reinhart Lerch Rick Damron MD

Karen Asher-Cohen & Bob Cohen

William & Mary Davis

Ingolf Askevold & Erik Askevold

Cheryl L. Derstine

Davis & Zimmerman

Diverse Computing, Inc.

Bill & Laura Kirchhoff

Mr. Scott Atwell & Dr. Michelle Bachtel

Mike & Judy Pate

The Lockwood Law Firm

Efren & Emerlinda Baltazar

Pamala J. Doffek

Regional Therapy Services, Inc.

John & Jane Marks

Pam & Marc Bauer - elevateXP

Patrick & Kathy Dunnigan

Dr. Jayne M. Standley

Miller Glass

Greg & Sharon Beaumont

Bill Montford - Florida Association of District School Superintendents

Carolyn Egan & Alex Ghio

Joe & Patti Beckham

Jeffrey Ereckson

Don Beeckler

Catherine C. Moon

Brian & Carol Berkowitz

The Hon. Stephen Everett & Meghan Everett

Christy Noe, Kim Cavanah, Dr. Melanie Donofro, Lisa Springer

Nancy Bivins

Grayal Earl Farr

Boebinger Family

Keith & Vangie Fields

Pamela & Malte von Matthiessen

Novey Law

Eileen & Don Bourassa

Stan & Carole Fiore

Piekarewicz Family

Robert & Nicole Brown

Susan & Jack Fiorito

Teresa Beazley Widmer

PSBI

Steve & Yvonne Brown

Patricia J. Flowers

Stan & Ramona Wilcox

Jan & Mark Pudlow

Dr. Steven C. Bryan

Barbara Foorman

Paula Moyer Jones & Greg Jones

Janet R. Thornton Marjorie R. Turnbull Mark, Susan, Maxwell, & Sujin VanHoeij Carol Gregg Hart & Kathy Villacorta

8

Opening Nights Performing Arts

Josh & Georgia Jordan

Sandra & William Dixon

Louise & Marc Freeman

Jim & Sharon Lowe

Alicia Smith

Ron & Genny Blazek

Laura Gaffney & Elizabeth Alsobrook

Stephen R. MacNamara & Dr. Liberty Taylor

William & Meredith Snowden

Samantha Boge & Charles Dodson

The Girvin Group

Marge Masterman

Elfie Stamm

Joanna & Mark Bonfanti

Elenita Gomez & Jack Brennan

Emoryette McDonald

Mabel Wells & Tony Starace

Yvonne E. McIntosh, Ph.D.

Joyce & Lee Stillwell

Marianne Bono & Bob Gorman

James H. Melton

Del Suggs & Denice Jones

Pete & Emily Millett

Warren W. & Paula E. Sutton

Tasha Buford

Mark Mustian & Greta Sliger

Elizabeth Swiman & Mark Bertolami

Richard & Karen Burns Elizabeth Carlton

Michael & Julie Obrecht

Dr. Bill & Ida Thompson/ Tallahassee Orthopedic Clinic

Brenda Buchan & Tracy Hatch

Oglesby Plants International, Inc.

Phillip Tomberlin Jr. & Martin Kavka

Myron & Judy Hayden

OliverSperry Renovation

Susan & Stephen Turner

Melissa Georgieff Champany & Mike J Jaacks

Calynne & Lou Hill

Jo & Steve Ostrov

Dr. Ernesto & Lisa Umana

Goldie Chaves

Elizabeth Eggert Hirst, Tom & Martha Brushwood

Ermine M Owenby

Donna Blanton & John Van Gieson

Joan Robinson & Sy Clark

Todd & Jeri Hunter

Jay & Stephanie Pichard

Bill & Bunnie Hunter

Lamar & Leslie Polston

Keith Ihlanfeldt & Evelyn Pender

David & Jo Ann Prescott & Lori Jones

Michael & Edna Imbler

Kristin & Sheldon Gusky Stan & Helen Haines Kathleen & David Hale Barbara Hamby & David Kirby Linda Harkey Drs. Michael & Cynthia Harris & Rodner & Clarise Wright

Chris & Randi New Patty & Allen Durham

Jason & Katie Pernell

Ken & Linda Walker

Scott & Jennifer Boyles Kathie & Steve Brown

Dominic & Debbie Calabro Susan Cason, Judy Griffin, & Lora Vitali Marshall & Susan Cassedy

Teri Cleeland & Larry Lesko Robert & Linda Clickner

Wendy Walker

Lynn Cochran

John & Arnette Scott-Ward

Coastwise Realty, Inc.

Stan & Paula Warmath

Art Cunkle

Mary Anne Price

Andrew H Welch

Power On Generators

Doug & Melissa Ingram

J. Eric & Candace Pridgeon

Mike & Jeri Damasiewicz

Michael R. & Diane R. James Mark & Lisa Jones

Jack Quine & Bettye Anne Case

Loreto E. Espinoza & Judith Westbrook John & Carmen Whiddon

Adams St. Advocates

Barbara Judd

Drs. Russell & Cheri Rainey

Mayda Williams

Barry & Linda Davis

John & Linda Kilgore

Joanne & David Rasmussen

Jim & Jo Wolf

Bob & Trudy Deyle

Lewis & Patsy Killian

Amy & John Recht

David & Mary Jean Yon

Drs. Nancy & Michael Diamonti

Jon & Jean Kline

Randy Rhea

Greg & Angela Knecht

Fred & Anna Roberson

Sai & Amulya Konda

Dottie Roberts & Doug Bruce

Associate Level

Mr. & Mrs. Ronald Labasky

Jo Anna & Michael Rosciam

Barbara & Gary Alford

William & Stacey Lampkin

Eleanore Rosenberg

Mr. & Mrs. Lance Langston

Debbie Shapiro

Carolyn Aziz & Suheyl Muskara

Raoul Lavin & Greg Burke

Berneice Cox & Gary Yordon

Elizabeth T. Dameron

MarthaRose Dickman Frank Douglas Thomas Duggar J. Byron Greene & Pamela Davis Duncan MaryE Dyal

Ludmila De Faria

Jon, Dusty, & Oliver Edwards

Frank & Carleen Shepp

Drs. Marci & Glenn Beck, PA

Linda Enfinger

Bill & Dottie Lee

Signature Art Gallery

Kathy Bible & Peter Mullen

Ken & Marilynn Evert

Shanshan Liang

Charles R. & Donnajo Smith

Cindy & Bill Bielecky

Richard & Joyce Fausone 2017 Winter Program 9

2016-2017 MEMBERS

James Mathes

Claudia & John Scholz

Robert E. & Marcia S. Meale

Richard Schulterbrandt Gragg III

Frank & Francesca Melichar

Lisa Scott & Ned Campbell

Tim & Barbara Foley

Frank & Midge Mercer

Genevieve C. Scott

Barbara Ann Frederich

Rhonda & Raymond Merritt

Richard Senesac, Ph.D.

Barbara J. Gill

Betty Serow

John & Pat Goldinger

Dr. Marion Merzer & Martin Merzer

David Sessions

Chris & Pat Gosen

Michael Mesler & Susan Potts

Robbie Sharp

Dave & Margaret Groves

Archie Gardner & Michael Moore

Dr. Cedric & Nadine Shepheard

Jason & Vivian Moore

Sherman Clinic

Nancy Elgin & James Moorer

Pamela & Charles Shields

Ken & Rhonda Morris

Debajyoti Sinha & Sebanti Sarkar

CONTINUED

Gwen Henderson B. Hodge Lori Holcomb & Bob Fingar Thomas Duggar Dr. Myles Hollander Four Points Tallahassee Downtown The Horvat Family Sam & Marleena Huckaba Duane E. Jacobs & Hector M. Quinones, Ph.D. Liz Jameson Gwen Johnson

Susan & Jim Mau

Jeremiah Murphy Drs. Robert & Janet Newburgh

Gary & Patricia Smith Dee Ann & Crit Smith

Kelly & Paul O’Rourke

Lane & Fraser Smith

Dr. Debbie Justice-Obley & Ross Obley

Nancy Smith Fichter & Robert W. Fichter

Niraj Pandit

Kathleen Laufenberg & Kent Spriggs

John Dozier & Martha Paradeis

Nancy Wright

Debut Level Todd & Jill Adams Dana & Tom Ando Josephine & James Ang Jim & Marsha Antista Dr. John & Mrs. Bonnie Bailey Tiffany Baker & Johnathan Grandage Tom & Mary Ellen Bateman Mai & Paul Beaumont William & Aggie Bell Ellen Berkowitz & Jerry Altman Libby & Sid Bigham Conrad & Heather Bishop Bloch Piano Tuning/ Restoration/Sales Tom & Laura Block Blow Law Firm

John & Margaret Stewart

Scott Bole Sarah Howard Bozeman & Miles Bozeman

Amy M. Jones

Sharon Strickland & Richard Pearlman

Nancy & Larry Stokely

Lynn & Roland Jones

Tom & Dianne Phillips

Matthew Keelean

Dan Taylor & Tony Archer

Audrey E. Post

Sally Lines Thomas

Ann & Bill Brattain

Eva-Lynn Powell

James & Shelley Tinney

Ken & Amrita Brummel-Smith

Mark & Anne Priddy

Michael & Ressa Tomkiewicz

Walter & Deborah Bunnell

Allyson Puckett

Jon & Angela Turner

Ann & Douglass Rauscher

Robert & Jeannette Ward

Dr. Brewster & Katherine Caldwell

Steve Ray

Ben & Joy Watkins

Charlotte Orth & Kenneth Reckford

Mike & Kathi Watters

Kent Strauss Management & Realty R. Keween Kelly & Rip Kirby Surekha & Srinivasa Kishore Robert & Gail Knight Anthony & Mallen Komlyn Richard A. LaCondre Jennifer & Jay LaVia

REJUVENATION LLC

Val Kibler & Val Sullivan

Bernie & Lisa Waxman Aaron Wayt & Flor Diaz

Ken & Lisa LeGette

Dr. & Mrs. Shane & Angie Rignanese

Lemberg-Bangura Family

D.K. Roberts

Barbara Mason White

Helen N. Livingston

Mark & Wendy Rodin

Gary & Wendy Williams

Leslie Lundberg

Carol & Hank Rosen

Henry Neal Williams

Dr. & Mrs. Edward Lyon

Kelly Russell

Fred & Charlene Williams

Edward Gray & Stacey Rutledge

Marilynn Wills

Douglas & Joyce Mann Margaret Pendleton & 10

Opening Nights Performing Arts

J. Michael & Barbara A. White

Andrew & Ann Wong

Nolia & Bill Brandt

Anthony Cammarata Monticello Campbell Katherine Carmona John & Leah Chapin Heidi Chavers Chaowen (Jason) Chen Betty Lou & Marian Christ Richard & Lauren Clary Jim & Louise Cobbe Christine Coble, Sara Staskiews, & Charlene Estes

Denise Hill & Vicki Combs

Eleanor Hawkins

Mark & Halley Miller

Donald & Mary Gail Compton

Stewart M. Hinson

Michael Moline

Nancy Cordill

Ken Hovey

Nathan & Karen Moon

Kerri R. Corn

Linda & Rick Hyson

David & Kacelle Moore

Ellen & Bob Crabtree

Pam Issitt

Colonel Michael & Lennard Cramer

Laurie Jones

DeVoe & Shirley McEwan Moore

Gail Crisp Doug & Dianne Croley

Chet Kaufman Steve & Beth Kelly

Dr. Michael & Judi Moss David & Clara Mullins John Newton

Diana L. Cureton

Deborah Kennedy & Alexis Seganish

Barbara & Joe D’Annunzio

O. Dean Kindley

Bill & Dianna Norwood

George & Laurie Ann Dalton

Tom Kirwin

Joe O’Shea & Jenna Scott

Dr. Kevin Jones & Dr. Michele Dames

Janet Kistner & George Weaver

Mr. & Mrs. Edward Oaksford

Ronald & Jennifer Day

Davia & Ira Kramer

John & Jane Ohlin

Juli & Robert DelMonego

Barbara L. Aguirre

Buck Oven

Carol & John DeLoach

Patterson Lamb

Ann Parker

Greg & Carla DeLoach

Jean-Marie La Mendola

Leslie Paugh & Ken Metzger

Craig & Janet Dennis

Nancy LaNasa

M. L. Pearson

Jeannie Head Dixon

Rob & Elizabeth Lane

Tom & Vivian Pelham

June Dollar & Grady Enlow

Charles & Dian LaTour

Dr. Christine Peterson

Richard & Nora Doran

Linda & Steve Leach

Sunny Carol Phillips

Jane & Mike Dunn

Thomas & Carol Lehman

Karen Phillips

Christopher & Elizabeth Emmanuel

Terence Leland

Michael & Susan Poplin

Jane C. Lo

Marie Primas-Bradshaw

Jan Taylor & Tom Long

Steve Fox & Nikki Pritchett

Donald & Juliacarol Love

Elizabeth Pulliam & Stephen Hodges

Kathie Emrich Mark Fontaine Gary & Ellen Fournier Ted & Haley Frazee Beverly Bonner Frick John & Mary Geringer Leesa Gibson Terry & Durene Gilbert Marie Beverly Go Harvey & Judy Goldman Steven & Dale Grigas Carolyn E Grimes Frank Kapplow Arnold & Sheila Hantman Lynda Hatnig & Tom Nicholson Karen Hawkins

Doug & Ellie Loveless

Jerilyn & Greg Nikiel

Calvin & Lou Ogburn

Drs. David & Winnie Schmeling Drs. Fred & Rosezetta Seamon Seminole Sitters Noreen Reilly & Leah Reilly Sherman Paula M. Sicard Mirella & Theo Siegrist Charles & Gale Slavin Carey Smith Bernie & Melissa Smith Patricia & Chesterfield Smith Tod & Jan Smith Kathleen & David Smith Kenneth & Nell Stager Lawrence Stevenson Nancy Brand & Lon Sweat Lamar & Lana Taylor Beth & Fred Tedio Jaye Ann Terry & Kevin McGeever Train. Fight. Win. Tallahassee Marianna Tutwiler Jim & Judy Underhill Vince Verges Bill Pike & B.J. Vickers Alice Vickers & John Davis

David & Dr. Pamela Radcliffe

Dan & Denise Vollmer

Mary E. Rallis

Don & Gretchen Waldo

Eric & Kimberley Ramcharran

David & Jane Watson

Peg Ramsey

Bob & Suzi Wattendorf

Doug & Ann Rauscher

John Webb

Bill & Connie Reinhardt

Bill & Renee West

Dr. Cecile Reynaud

Zach & Stacy Wheeler

Carla King Richardson

Arthur Wiedinger

Allene Roberts

Palmer & Leslie Williams

Andrea & Steven Medvid

Stephen A. Rollin & Mary Apple

Alan & Dorothy Williams

Lee Kendall Metcalf

Dan & Lisa Salveter

Macy Miller

Jawole Willa Jo Zollar

Jill Sandler

Henry & Tammy Miller

Jeff Saulich & Lucy Torres

Coleman Zuber & Deborah Taggart

Lunachics Susan T. Lunin Carol Ann Mathews Susan McConnell Tom & Leisa McCullion Grover & Judy McKee John & Kathi McMillan Neal & Jane Meadows Lisa A. Medley

Ken Winker

2017 Winter Program 11

Photo by Palma Kolansky

Branford Marsalis Quartet with special guest Kurt Elling TUESDAY 1/17 | OPPERMAN MUSIC HALL | 7:30 P.M. B R A N F O R D M A R S A L I S saxophones

J O E Y C A L D E R A Z Z O piano

J U S T I N F A U L K N E R drums

E R I C R E V I S bass

K U R T E L L I N G voice

The Branford Marsalis Quartet will be joined by guest-vocalist Kurt Elling in a singular collaboration of musical forces. The tight-knit working band featuring Marsalis on saxophones, Joey Calderazzo on piano, Eric Revis on bass, and Justin Faulkner on drums rarely invites other musicians into the folds of their nearly telepathically cohesive unit, and Elling’s deep jazz vocabulary, technical versatility, and outstanding intonation will enable the band to perform a variety of material in new ways. Energized by the artistic promise of this collaboration, the band members have all contributed new arrangements to perform with this special line-up and will be looking beyond the Great American Songbook. Although following the format of a standard jazz quartet with vocals, the collaboration between jazz’s most intense band and one of jazz’s foremost singers should prove to be anything but standard.

Continued on pg. 48

2017 Winter Program 13

THE MOST EXPERIENCED

WEATHER TEAM IN OUR AREA

ROB NUCATOLA

MIKE McCALL

BRITTANY BEDI

WCTV tv Coverage You Can Count On!

Jeanne Robertson SUNDAY 1/22 RICHARD G. FALLON THEATRE 7:30 P.M.

“Contagiously funny!

Jeanne is hysterical and a magnificent speaker” - The Huffington Post At 73 years young, Jeanne Robertson continues to charm audiences with her humorous observations about life around her. This former Miss North Carolina, standing tall at six-foot-two, has an infectious personality, heart and sense of humor. With eight nationally released DVDs, three books, hundreds of hours on SiriusXM satellite radio and over 30 million YouTube hits, the demand for Robertson’s family-friendly and engaging brand of comedy has grown exponentially. Some of her most popular anecdotes include “Don’t Go to Vegas Without A Baptist,” “Don’t Bungee Jump Naked”, and “Don’t Send a Man to the Grocery Store.” Robertson’s witty depiction of everyday situations never fails to have audiences of all ages rolling with laughter.

Sponsored by

WCTV tv

2017 Winter Program 15

Proud Supporter of Opening Nights Performing Arts AND SPONSOR OF TOM SEGURA

* Fall under our spell*

Tallahassee symphony orchesTra s 2016-17 concerT season all concerTs Take place in ruby DiamonD concerT hall

Season Opener: Roberts and Romeo Saturday, September 17, 2016 s 8:00p.m. s Marcus Roberts, piano

ROBERTS Untitled Concerto for Jazz Trio and Orchestra s BERNSTEIN Symphonic Dances from West Side Story TCHAIKOVSKY Romeo and Juliet Overture—Fantasia s GERSHWIN Rhapsody in Blue

Bohemian Rhapsody Saturday, October 22, 2016 s 8:00p.m. s Corinne Stillwell, violin

TSINTSADZE Five Georgian Miniatures s TCHAIKOVSKY Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 35 s DVORAK Symphony No. 8 in G major, Op. 88

HolidayMagic!

Saturday, December 17, 2016 s 8:00p.m. | Sunday, December 18, 2016 s 2:30p.m.

Mozart in theJungle Saturday, January 21, 2017 s 8:00p.m.

MOZART Symphony No. 25, K. 183 s MOZART set of arias, TBD s MOZART Symphony No. 41, K. 551, the “Jupiter”

Earth, Wind, and Fire Saturday, May 6, 2017 s 8:00p.m. s R. Carlos Nakai, Native American Flute

MARQUEZ Danzón No. 2 s NAKAI Selections for Native American Flute and Orchestra s STRAVINSKY The Rite of Spring

W W W .T A L L A H A S S E E S Y M P H O N Y. O R G

Tom Segura

No Teeth No Entry Tour MONDAY 1/23 | RUBY DIAMOND CONCERT HALL | 7:30 P.M. Tom Segura is a comedian originally from Cincinnati, Ohio. His specials Mostly Stories (2016) and Completely Normal (2014) are currently streaming on Netflix. His television credits include Conan, Not Safe with Nikki Glaser, Happy Endings, The Late Late Show, Comedy Central Presents: Tom Segura, Mash Up and How To Be A Grown Up. Additionally, his noted podcast, Your Mom’s House, which he co-hosts with his wife, comedian Christina Pazsitzky, was a finalist for Best Comedy Podcast at the Stitcher Awards and profiled by VICE. Continued on pg. 49

PLEASE BE ADVISED THAT THIS PERFORMANCE MAY CONTAIN ADULT CONTENT

Sponsored by

2017 Winter Program 17

Carlton Fields is pleased to sponsor the 2016-2017 season of Opening Nights Performing Arts Series and Festival.

We celebrate the arts as an essential cornerstone of creativity and innovation.

www.carltonfields.com Atlanta • Hartford • Los Angeles • Miami • New York • Orlando Tallahassee • Tampa • Washington, D.C. • West Palm Beach Carlton Fields practices law in California through Carlton Fields Jorden Burt, LLP.

Sponsors of The North Florida Educational Tour featuring Mipso

We support arts and education for students of all ages WALMART.COM

Marc Maron Too Real Tour

TUESDAY 1/24 | RUBY DIAMOND CONCERT HALL | 7:30 P.M.

“One of the best comedians in the country.”

- LaughSpin.com For over twenty years, Marc Maron has been writing and performing raw, honest and thought-­provoking comedy for print, stage, radio, online and television. A legend in the stand-­up community, Maron has appeared on many television talk shows, including David Letterman, Craig Ferguson, Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel, Seth Meyers, Charlie Rose and Bill Maher. He has appeared on Conan O’Brien more than any other comedian.

Continued on pg. 49 PLEASE BE ADVISED THAT THIS PERFORMANCE MAY CONTAIN ADULT CONTENT

Sponsored by

2017 Winter Program 19

The official FSU Alumni Association app.

Now available on the App Store and Google Play

South Arts Southern Circuit Film Tour

Shake ‘Em On Down WEDNESDAY 2/1 | ASKEW STUDENT LIFE CINEMA | 7:30 P.M. PRESENTED BY OPENING NIGHTS PERFORMING ARTS AND THE ASKEW STUDENT LIFE CINEMA

Filmmakers: Joe York Shake ‘Em On Down is the story of Fred McDowell, the godfather of the North Mississippi style of blues and major influence on the music of the Rolling Stones, Bonnie Raitt, R.L. Burnside, Taj Mahal, and the North Mississippi Allstars.

Continued on pg. 50

2017 Winter Program 21

The Arts

at Tallahassee Community College

W

THEATRE TCC! PRESENTS:

TCC FINE ART GALLERY EXHIBITS:

Kelly Boehmer January 12 - February 9 Public Reception: January 12, 5:30 - 8 p.m.

Music and Lyrics by Stephen Schwartz Book by Roger O. Hirson

April 6-8 & 13-15

8:00 p.m.

TCC Fine and Performing Arts Center

Eluster Richardson February 16 - March 23 Public Reception: February 15, 5:30 - 8 p.m.

Art Exhibit: Annual Juried Student Art Exhibit April 6 - April 20 Public Reception: April 5, 5:30 - 8 p.m.

Tallahassee Senior Center Artists Exhibit May 18 - July 13, 2017 Public Reception: May 17, 5:30 - 8:30 p.m.

Amy Helm & The Handsome Strangers FRIDAY 2/3 | FRED TURNER AUDITORIUM | 7:30 P.M. Amy Helm began connecting with audiences early in life, playing her first gig in her early teens in a Manhattan bar and drifting informally through a series of combos before her father recruited her to join his live band. Amy’s vocal and songwriting talents then found a home in the New York-based Ollabelle, whose three acclaimed albums and countless live gigs saw her evolve into a confident, charismatic performer, and she continues to develop a momentous career today.

Continued on pg. 50

Sponsored by

2017 Winter Program 23

Photo by Todd Roeth

Nora Jane Struthers & The Party Line with Kelsey Waldon SATURDAY 2/4 | FRED TURNER AUDITORIUM | 7:30 P.M. Nora Jane Struthers began playing as a pre-teen, attending festivals and fiddler conventions around the south with her banjoplaying father. After moving to Nashville, Struthers worked with bluegrass stars like Tim O’Brien, Stuart Duncan, and Bryan Sutton and released two critically acclaimed albums. In 2012, Struthers formed The Party Line, a model-supporting band à la the Heartbreakers or the Cardinals. Joe Overton, Josh Vana, Brian Duncan Miller, and Drew Lawhorn all get their moments to shine, but their tasteful parts are first and foremost in service of the song. // Country music singer and songwriter Kelsey Waldon moved to Nashville, TN from a tiny Kentucky town called Monkeys Eyebrow. She released her critically acclaimed debut LP The Goldmine in late 2014, and it was received with hefty praise from Rolling Stone, USA Today, Billboard, and many more. Stephen Trageser of Nashville Scene may have lauded Waldon best: “The Kentucky transplant’s work is full of sterling examples of everything that’s right about Music City’s traditions, with songs about trials and troubles that come across as personal to any audience, sung in a rich, full voice with a twang that she neither plays up nor plays down.”

Continued on pg. 51 Sponsored by

2017 Winter Program 25

Ken Kato and Nan Nagy & Charles and Amy Newell Proud Supporters of Opening Nights Performing Arts AND SPONSORS OF THE JOEY ALEXANDER TRIO

Be a part of the journey...

The Florida State University College of Music will present more than 500 world-class performances by faculty, guest artist, and student musicians during the 2016-2017 season.

To find out more, please visit music.fsu.edu or follow us on social media.

FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY

College of Music

YouTube: Florida State University College of Music

Twitter.com/musicFSU

Facebook.com/musicFSU

Instagram.com/musicFSU

PRISM SUNDAY 2/5 | RUBY DIAMOND CONCERT HALL | 2:00 P.M. A COLLABORATION WITH THE FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF MUSIC Featuring students from Florida State’s top-ranked College of Music, PRISM offers a wide array of entertainment from Chamber Winds, Symphonic Band, jazz ensembles, the Marching Chiefs, and many more exciting groups. The Tallahassee Democrat might put it best: “The PRISM shows are built on a more-is-more philosophy…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.” So come experience this unique event that lauds our students and faculty. It’s fantastic, fresh, and not to be missed!

Sponsored by

2017 Winter Program 27

Mix & Mingle The show goes on at W XYZ® bar Close out Opening Nights in the vibrant social scene at W XYZ® bar. Enjoy specialty cocktails, delicious bites, and live entertainment from local artists. Relax in the Re:mixSM lounge or kick back in our spacious backyard.

Open daily from 5 PM — 12 AM

W XYZ® bar @ Aloft Tallahassee Downtown 200 North Monroe Street Tallahassee, Florida 32301

1 850 513 0313

©2015 Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Preferred Guest, SPG, Aloft and their logos are the trademarks of Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc., or its affiliates.

Photo by Jeremy Daniel

Vocalosity

with opener The Mane Event of Leon High School MONDAY 2/6 | RUBY DIAMOND CONCERT HALL | 7:30 P.M. Vocalosity is the live concert event from the creative mind of artistic producer Deke Sharon (Pitch Perfect, The Sing-Off) that takes a cappella to a whole new level! This fastpaced production features 10 dynamic voices singing some of today’s chart-topping hits in brand new arrangements too incredible to miss. No genre of music is off limits in the world of a cappella, and Vocalosity will explore them all – from tenth-century Gregorian chant and classic choral to barber shop quartet and bouncing doo-wop.

Combine that with movement and choreography from Sean Curran (Stomp original cast member), and you have an exhilarating evening of song unlike anything you’ve ever seen or heard live on stage. It’s the aca-perfect concert experience!

Continued on pg. 57

Sponsored by

2017 Winter Program 29

Preludes and Fugues Photo by Sharen Bradford

DIRECTOR’S CHOICE

Twyla Tharp Dance

Twyla Tharp 50th Anniversary Tour WEDNESDAY 2/8 | RUBY DIAMOND CONCERT HALL | 7:30 P.M.

PROGRAM Preludes and Fugues INTERMISSION Nine Sinatra Songs Program Info on pg. 63

Since graduating from Barnard College in 1963, Twyla Tharp has choreographed more than 160 works: 129 dances, 12 television specials, six Hollywood movies, four full-length ballets, four Broadway shows, and two figure skating routines. She received one Tony Award, two Emmy Awards, 19 honorary doctorates, the Vietnam Veterans of America President’s Award, the 2004 National Medal of the Arts, the 2008 Jerome Robbins Prize, and a 2008 Kennedy Center Honor. In 1965, Tharp founded her dance company, Twyla Tharp Dance. Her dances are known for creativity, wit, and technical precision coupled with a streetwise nonchalance.

By combining different forms of movement – such as jazz, ballet, boxing, and inventions of her own making – Tharp’s work expands the boundaries of ballet and modern dance.

Continued on pg. 63

Sponsored by

2017 Winter Program 31

OUR BANKERS ARE PROUD TO SPONSOR OPENING NIGHTS PERFORMING ARTS AND THIS SEASON’S

Lily Tomlin

An Evening with

402.7500 l www.ccbg.com

Photo by Jenny Risher

An Evening of Classic Lily Tomlin FRIDAY 2/10 | RUBY DIAMOND CONCERT HALL | 7:30 P.M. Lily Tomlin, one of America’s foremost comediennes, continues to venture across an ever-widening range of media, starring in television, theater, motion pictures, animation, video, and social media. Throughout her extraordinary career, Tomlin has received numerous awards, including: seven Emmys; a Tony for her one woman Broadway show, Appearing Nitely; a second Tony for Best Actress, a Drama Desk Award and an Outer Critics’ Circle Award for her one woman performance in Jane Wagner’s The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe; a CableAce Award for Executive Producing the film adaptation of The Search; a Grammy for her comedy album, This is a Recording as well as nominations for her subsequent albums Modern Scream, And That’s the Truth, and On Stage; and two Peabody Awards--the first for the ABC television special, Edith Ann’s Christmas (Just Say Noël), and the second for narrating and executive producing the HBO film, The Celluloid Closet. In 2003, she received the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor and, in December 2014, was the recipient of the prestigious Kennedy Center Honors in Washington DC. Continued on pg. 65 Sponsored by

2017 Winter Program 33

performance that

moves you

3800 West Tennessee Street | Tallahassee, FL 32304 LegacyToyota.com

Smokey Robinson SATURDAY 2/11 & SUNDAY 2/12 | 7:30 P.M. RUBY DIAMOND CONCERT HALL Once pronounced by Bob Dylan as America’s “greatest living poet,” acclaimed singer-songwriter Smokey Robinson’s career spans over four decades of hits. He has received numerous awards, including the Grammy Living Legend Award, NARAS Lifetime Achievement Award, an Honorary Doctorate from Howard University, Kennedy Center Honors (2006), and the National Medal of Arts Award from the President of the United States, and he’s also been inducted into the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame and the Songwriters’ Hall of Fame. During the course of his 50-year career in music, Robinson has accumulated more than 4,000 songs to his credit and continues to thrill soldout audiences around the world with his high tenor voice, impeccable timing, and profound sense of lyric. Never resting on his laurels, Smokey Robinson remains a beloved icon in our musical heritage.

Continued on pg. 67

Sponsored by

2017 Winter Program 35

Music by Alan Menken Lyrics by Howard Ashman & Tim Rice Book by Linda Woolverton

ey ©D isn

Originally Directed by Robert Jess Roth Originally Produced by Disney Theatrical Productions

February 16-26 Richard G. Fallon Theatre

850.644.6500 | tickets.fsu.edu MEDIA SPONSORS

THE ASLC ASKEW STUDENT LIFE CENTER

FREE MOVIES, GAMES, & EVENTS FOR FSU STUDENTS FOR MORE INFORMATION VISIT MOVIES.FSU.EDU

Photo by Alex Loops

Mandolin Orange SUNDAY 2/12 | PEBBLE HILL PLANTATION | 2:00 P.M.

“The North Carolina duo’s music — laced with bluegrass, country, and folk — is often wistful and contemplative without being somber and is always firmly grounded in the South.” - WNYC Soundcheck It’s hard to explain how magic happens when two talented songwriters fit perfectly together.

Mandolin Orange (Andrew Marlin and Emily Frantz) seem to just sit back and ride their intuitive harmonies and languid lyricism through songs about faith and life’s little unpredictable changes. Marlin’s lyrics flow into each other, making the melody feel like something that happens on its own. It all feels so effortless and beautiful, you don’t even realize you’ve been sucked in until the songs reach in and tug hard at your heart. – NPR Music Continued on pg. 67

2017 Winter Program 37

Michael Sheridan & Judy Wilson Sheridan Proud Supporters of Opening Nights Performing Arts AND SPONSORS OF

RICHARD THOMPSON & THE BLIND BOYS OF ALABAMA

Luxury Redefined With Scandinavian Design The 2017 Volvo S90 makes a new statement for luxury with its exquisitely designed interior, featuring premium materials that are complimented by cutting edge technology.

Every aspect of the interior space exudes elegance, from the tablet-sized touch screen interface to the surrounding solid wood accents, smooth leather surfaces, and chrome details.

Plus, get the most out of your driving experience with a driver-oriented chassis that is perfectly blended with premium comforts in the 2017 Volvo S90.

Discover a new era for luxury with the expertise of Scandinavian design at Capital Volvo.

Capital Eurocars 3963 W. Tennessee St. Tallahassee, FL 32304 (850) 574-3777 Capital-Volvo.com Sales: Monday - Friday 9am-7pm, Saturday 9am-6pm Service: Monday - Friday 7:30am-6pm, Saturday 8am-1pm

Richard Thompson & The Blind Boys of Alabama MONDAY 2/13 | RUBY DIAMOND CONCERT HALL | 7:30 P.M.

PROGRAM Richard Thompson (solo) INTERMISSION Blind Boys of Alabama

Named by Rolling Stone as one of the Top 20 Guitarists of All Time, Richard Thompson is also one of the world’s most critically acclaimed and prolific songwriters. He has received Lifetime Achievement Awards for Songwriting on both sides of the Atlantic - from the Americana Music Association in Nashville to Britain’s BBC Awards and the prestigious Ivor Novello. Thompson’s massive body of work includes over 40 albums, many Grammy nominations, and numerous soundtracks, including Werner Hertzog’s Grizzy Man. // The Blind Boys of Alabama have the rare distinction of being recognized around the world as both living legends and modern-day innovators. They are not just gospel singers borrowing from old traditions; the group helped to define those traditions in 20th century and almost single-handedly created a new gospel sound for the 21st. Since the original members first sang together as kids at the Alabama Institute for the Negro Blind in the late 1930s (including Jimmy Carter, who leads the group today), the band has persevered through seven decades to become one of the most recognized and decorated roots music groups in the world.

Continued on pg. 68 Sponsored by

MICHAEL SHERIDAN & JUDY WILSON SHERIDAN 2017 Winter Program 39

M

Y

Y

Y

BRAV

!

What a season! Opening Nights, you’ve got our standing ovation!

Proud Partner In Bringing World-Class Arts To Tallahassee

SachsMedia.com

•

850.222.1996

Bernadette & Roger Luca TALLAHASSEE 1897 Capital Circle NE

TryMyBank.com

1471 Timberlane Road 850-907-2300 CRAWFORDVILLE 2201 Crawfordville Hwy. 850-926-4320

M E M B E R

Chris Botti TUESDAY 2/14 RUBY DIAMOND CONCERT HALL 7:30 P.M.

“A mesmerizing trumpet player, Botti is also a storyteller who thrives on audience interaction.”

- DC Metro Theatre Arts Botti seemed destined to become a musician—and even to become the kind of musician he is today—almost from the very beginning. Born in Portland, Oregon, he was encouraged to pursue music by his mother, a concert pianist.

He also had an early taste of the international world that would become his primary territory as a successful performing artist. His father, who is Italian, taught English and Italian languages, and he took the family to live in Italy for several years, beginning when Botti was in the first grade.

Continued on pg. 69

2017 Winter Program 41

Let your pride take center stage.

Display your pride with the FSU license plate. Proceeds from plate sales support scholarships for Florida State University students. For information on purchasing your FSU license plate, rebates for first-time buyers, and gift certificates go to mytag.fsu.edu or simply visit any tax collector’s office and request an FSU plate today!

Photo by Xun Chi

Lang Lang WEDNESDAY 2/15 | RUBY DIAMOND CONCERT HALL | 7:30 P.M. Ballade . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Claude Debussy (1862–1918) Piano Sonata in B minor S. 178 . . . . . . . . . . . . . Franz Liszt (1811–1886)

I N TE R M I S S I O N Selections from Suite Epañola, Op. 47 . . . . . . . . Isaac Albéniz (1860–1909) I. Granada (Serenada) II. Sevilla (Sevillanas) III. Cataluña (Courante) IV. Cádiz (Saeta) V. Asturias (Leyenda) VIII. Cuba (Notturno) Selections from Goyescas, Op. 11 . . . . . . . .Enrique Granados (1867–1916) III. El Fandango de Candil IV. Quejas, o La Maja y el Ruiseñor Danza Ritual del Fuego . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Manuel De Falla (1876–1946) Continued on pg. 69 Sponsored by FSU License Plate

2017 Winter Program 43

Florida State University Museum of Fine Arts The Annual Art Faculty Exhibition January 13-February 5, 2017 Reception January 13, 6-8pm

A showcase of the artworks by faculty from the College of Fine Arts. The exhibition features works in a range of media, pushing boundaries and expectations.

|Detail of sculptures by Kevin Curry.

Proud Sponsor of Opening Nights FREE Movie Performing ArtsShowings Presented by

I Saw It In The Movies

Conspire: Collaboration, Cooperation, Collection January 13-February 10, 2017 Reception January 13, 6-8pm Coordinated by Denise Bookwalter, this is the membership exhibition of the College Book Art Association.

Broken Ground: New Directions in Land Art February 17-March 26, 2017 Reception February 17, 6-8pm

Holocaust Education Resource Council & Tallahassee Film Society

Curated by Jeff Beekman, this exhibition explores how human and natural forces have shaped one another in historical and contemporary land art.

|Erika Osborne, detail of The View Down Canyon, 2013, oil on canvas, 36 x 60 inches.

Cinema Judaica: The War Years February 17-March 26, 2017 Reception February 17, 6-8pm Sponsored by the Holocaust Education Resource Council. Exhibition by the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion Museum. This is a companion exhibition of movie posters to the film series: I Saw it in the Movies.

The HERC film series, “I Saw It In The Movies” will continue in 2016. All movies are free. During the 2015 series, we became aware that American movie goers during the late 1930’s and early 1940’s saw Oscar winning actors and directors telling the stories of Nazi oppression, the denial of freedom speech and religion in Nazi Germany, and portraying brutal concentration camps. We will continue to explore the question “What did Americans know and understand about Nazism in the years before and during WWII?” by viewing four more films that were based on books widely read during this period. These will touch on the topics of Nazi activity in the U.S. and the impact and effectiveness of Nazi propaganda in German businesses and schools. Edgar G. Robinson, Joan Bennett, and Walter Pidgeon will be among the storytellers. Mark your calendars!

For more information contact Linda Davey at 850-893-3801.

Honest Visions: Artists and Autism February 17-March 26, 2017 Reception February 17, 6-8pm

Where: All Saints Cinema at RRpresented Squareby the FSU An exhibition Autism Institute and Center for Autism 918 1/2 Railroad Avenue and Related Disabilities in partnership with VSA Florida.

|Mikaela Sheldt, detail of Learning What Forever Feels Like.

Showings at 7 p.m.: Jan. 28 - Confessions of a Nazi Spy Museum Hours Monday-Friday 9:00 Man - 4:00 I Married Feb. 25 - The Saturday & Sunday 1:00 - 4:00 March 22 - Manhunt ADMISSION IS ALWAYS FREE April 28 - Hitler's Children mofa.fsu.edu 850-644-6836

16/17

CAMPUS PARTNERSHIPS

Disney’s Beauty and the Beast

A COLLABORATION WITH THE FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF THEATRE

THURSDAY 2/16 – SUNDAY 2/26 RICHARD G. FALLON THEATRE Music by Alan Menken | Lyrics by Howard Ashman & Tim Rice Book by Linda Woolverton | Originally Directed by Robert Jess Roth Originally Produced by Disney Theatrical Productions

Erika Osborne On the Edge of the Sublime 2015

Museum of Fine Arts FRIDAY 2/17 | OPENING RECEPTION 6:00 – 8:00 P.M. | FREE

It’s a “tale as old as time.” Based on the Academy Award-winning animated feature, Beauty and the Beast tells the classic fairy tale of Belle, a young French maiden who doesn’t feel as if she belongs, and the Beast, a prince trapped in the body of a monster by the spell of an enchantress. In order for the Beast to become human again, he must learn what it means to love and be loved before the last petal of the rose falls. Come be a part of this magical experience suitable for the whole family. Be our guest!

Disney’s Beauty and the Beast is presented through special arrangement with Music Theatre International (MTI).

Museum Dates & Hours February 17 – March 26, 2017 Open Monday – Friday, 9:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.

Saturday & Sunday, 1:00 – 4:00 p.m.

Note: Special hours during Spring Break Broken Ground, New Directions in Land Art Jeff Beekman, Guest Curator Curator Jeff Beekman states that Land Art, one of the seminal art movements that began in the late-1960s, was largely born out of a frustration with the growing commercialization of the art world and the limitations the traditional “white cube” gallery. At its core, this movement sought to tie together artwork and landscape to the point that the works were inextricably merged. The most well-known early examples took the form of dramatic interventions into the landscapes of the American Southwest. This movement has grown to encompass issues of ecology and sustainability as well as the exploration of how human and natural forces have shaped one another in historical and contemporary landscapes and the study of past approaches to the mythologies we have about land, particularly as it relates to the concept of manifest destiny and borders.

2017 Winter Program 45

DIRECTOR’S CHOICE

Pablo Sáinz Villegas Americano Tour

THURSDAY 2/23 | OPPERMAN MUSIC HALL | 7:30 P.M. P A B L O S Á I N Z V I L L E G A S guitar

N A C H O A R I M A N Y percussion

P E D R O G I R A U D O bass

The soul of the Spanish guitar runs in Pablo Sáinz Villegas’s blood. Born and raised in La Rioja, Spain, he is distinguished by performances as charismatic as they are intimate. With his singing tone and consummate technique, his interpretations conjure the passion, playfulness, and drama of his homeland’s rich musical heritage. Villegas has collaborated with orchestras in more than 30 countries, including the New York, Los Angeles, and Israel Philharmonics and the Boston, San Francisco, Houston, and Toronto Symphonies. In the 2015-16 season, he made debuts with six orchestras, including the Pacific, Cincinnati, and Santa Barbara Symphonies and Norway’s Bergen Philharmonic. A dedicated champion of new music, it was Villegas who premiered Rounds, the first guitar composition of Academy Award-winner John Williams, and he performed the world and European premieres of Concerto of Rio de Janeiro by Sérgio Assad.

Continued on pg. 71

Sponsored by

2017 Winter Program 47

Branford Marsalis Quartet Continued from pg. 13

BRANFORD MARSALIS Branford Marsalis has stayed the course. From his early acclaim as a saxophonist bringing new energy and new audiences to the jazz art, he has refined and expanded his talents and his horizons as a musician, composer, bandleader and educator – a 21st Century mainstay of artistic excellence.

Growing up in the rich environment of New Orleans as the oldest son of pianist and educator Ellis Marsalis, Branford was drawn to music along with siblings Wynton, Delfeayo and Jason. His first instrument, the clarinet, gave way to the alto and then the tenor and soprano saxophones when the teenage Branford began working in local bands. A growing fascination with jazz as he entered college gave him the basic tools to obtain his first major jobs, with trumpet legend Clark Terry and alongside Wynton in Art Blakey’s legendary Jazz Messengers. When the brothers left to form the Wynton Marsalis Quintet, the world of uncompromising acoustic jazz

Photo by Eric Ryan Anderson 48

Opening Nights Performing Arts

was invigorated. Branford formed his own quartet in 1986 and, with a few minor interruptions in the early years, has sustained the unit as his primary means of expression.

Known for the telepathic communication among its uncommonly consistent personnel, its deep book of original music replete with expressive melodies and provocative forms, and an unrivaled spirit in both live and recorded performances, the Branford Marsalis Quartet has long been recognized as the standard to which other ensembles of its kind must be measured.

The Quartet rarely invites other musicians into the folds of their cohesive unit, but in December 2015, they were joined by guest-vocalist Kurt Elling for a weekend’s engagement at New Orleans’ Snug Harbor.

This culminated with three days in the studios of the Ellis Marsalis Center for Music where, energized by the artistic promise of this collaboration, the musicians all contributed new arrangements to record with this special lineup. The result can be heard on their June 2016 release, Upward Spiral.

Branford has not confined his music to the quartet context. In addition to guest turns with a legion of giants including Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, Herbie Hancock and Sonny

Rollins, he has excelled in duets with several major pianists, including his boyhood friend Harry Connick, Jr. and the longtime pianist in his quartet, Joey Calderazzo. Branford’s first solo concert, at San Francisco’s Grace Cathedral, is documented on his 2014 recording, In My Solitude.

Classical music inhabits a growing portion of Branford’s musical universe. With a repertoire including works by Copland, Debussy, Glazunov, Ibert, Mahler, Milhaud, Rorem, Vaughan Williams, Villa-Lobos and Sally Beamish (who reconceived a work in progress, “Under the Wing of the Rock,” to feature Branford’s saxophone after hearing him perform one of her earlier pieces), Branford is frequently heard with leading symphony orchestras including those in Chicago, Detroit, Dusseldorf and North Carolina as well as the New York Philharmonic. He also served as Creative Director for the Cincinnati Symphony’s Ascent series in 2012-13.

Broadway has also welcomed Branford’s contributions. His initial effort, original music for a revival of August Wilson’s Fences, garnered a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Music in a Play and a Tony nomination for Best Original Score Written for the Theater.

Branford also provided music for The Moun-

taintop, starring Samuel L. Jackson and Angela Bassett, and served as musical curator for the 2014 revival of A Raisin in the Sun. Branford’s screen credits include the original music for Mo’ Better Blues and acting roles in School Daze and Throw Momma from the Train.

Branford formed the Marsalis Music label in 2002, and under his direction it has documented his own music, talented new stars such as Miguel Zenón, and un-heralded older masters including one of Branford’s teachers, the late Alvin Batiste. Branford has also shared his knowledge as an educator, forming extended teaching relationships at Michigan State, San Francisco State and North Carolina Central Universities and conducting workshops at sites throughout the United States and the world.

As for other public stages, Branford spent a period touring with Sting, collaborated with the Grateful Dead and Bruce Hornsby, served as Musical Director of The Tonight Show Starring Jay Leno and hosted National Public Radio’s widely syndicated Jazz Set. The range and quality of these diverse activities established Branford as a familiar presence beyond the worlds of jazz and classical music, while his efforts to help heal and rebuild New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina mark him as an artist with an uncommonly effective social vision. Together with Harry Connick, Jr. and New Orleans Habitat for Humanity, Branford conceived and helped to realize The Musicians’ Village, a community in the Upper Ninth Ward that provides homes to the displaced families of musicians and other local residents. At the heart of The Musicians’ Village stands the Ellis Marsalis Center for Music, a community center dedicated to preserving the rich New Orleans musical legacy containing state-of-the art spaces for performance, instruction and recording.

Some might gauge Branford Marsalis’s success by his numerous awards, including three Grammys and (together with his father and brothers) his citation as a Jazz Master by the National Endowment for the Arts. To Branford, however, these are only way stations along what continues to be one of the most fascinating and rewarding journeys in the world of music.

Photo by Palma Kolansky

KURT ELLING GRAMMY® winner Kurt Elling is among the world’s foremost jazz vocalists. He won the DownBeat Critics Poll for fourteen consecutive years and was named “Male Singer of the Year” by the Jazz Journalists Association eight times in that same span. Every one of Elling’s ten albums has been nominated for a GRAMMY®.

Elling’s rich baritone spans four octaves and features both astonishing technical mastery and emotional depth. His repertoire includes original compositions and modern interpretations of standards, all of which are springboards for inspired improvisation, scatting, spoken word and poetry.

The New York Times declared, “Elling is the standout male vocalist of our time.” The Washington Post added, “Since the mid-1990s, no singer in jazz has been as daring, dynamic or interesting as Kurt Elling. With his soaring vocal flights, his edgy lyrics and sense of being on a musical mission, he has come to embody the creative spirit in jazz.”

Elling was the Artist-in-Residence for the Singapore and Monterey Jazz Festivals. He has also written multi-disciplinary works for The Steppenwolf Theatre and the City of Chicago. The Obama Administration’s first state dinner featured Elling in a command performance.

Elling is a renowned artist of vocalese–the writing and performing of words over re-

corded improvised jazz solos. The natural heir to jazz pioneers Eddie Jefferson, King Pleasure and Jon Hendricks, Elling has set his own lyrics to the improvised solos of Wayne Shorter, Keith Jarrett and Pat Metheny. He often incorporates images and references from writers such as Rilke, Rumi, Neruda and Proust into his work. The late poet and Bollingen Prize winner Robert Creeley wrote, “Kurt Elling takes us into a world of sacred particulars. His words are informed by a powerful poetic spirit.” Said Robert Pinsky, former Poet Laureate of the United States, “In Kurt Elling’s art, the voice of jazz gives a new spiritual presence to the ancient, sweet and powerful bond between poetry and music.”

Kurt Elling has toured vigorously throughout his career, thrilling audiences throughout the world. In that time he has led his own ensemble and has collaborated with many of the world’s finest orchestras.

Tom Segura Continued from pg. 17

When he’s not touring clubs, Tom continues to perform at the top comedy festivals in the world, including Montreal’s Just For Laughs Comedy Festival, The Melbourne International Comedy Festival, The Comedy Festival - Las Vegas, The South Beach Comedy Festival, and The Hong Kong Comedy Festival.

Tom also regularly appears on radio shows 2017 Winter Program 49

like Bennington Show and some of the most downloaded podcasts in the world of comedy such as The Joe Rogan Experience and WTF with Marc Maron among others.

ring roles in the hit series Girls and Louie and can be seen in the feature films Get A Job and Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates.

Continued from pg. 19

Maron’s first book, The Jerusalem Syndrome: My Life as a Reluctant Messiah, was based on his solo show and is available for purchase on Amazon.com. Maron also penned a collection of essays titled Attempting Normal, which was released by Spiegel and Grau in 2013, later making The New York Times’ Best Seller list.

His first three albums, Not Sold Out, Tickets Still Available and Final Engagement are comedy cult classics, and his release, This Has To Be Funny (Comedy Central Records), was named #1 Comedy Album of 2011 by LaughSpin.com. Marc released his stand-­up special, Thinky Pain, on Netflix in 2013 and as an album in 2014. His most recent special, More Later, premiered on Epix in December 2015 and is also available on Hulu and Amazon Prime.

On the small screen, Maron’s critically acclaimed half-­hour scripted series, Maron, launched its fourth season on IFC in May 2016. The show was created, written, and produced by Maron, who also directed episodes in seasons 2 and 3. Seasons 1-­3 of Maron can be found on Netflix to stream and the show was nominated for a WGA Award in 2016. Marc has also performed guest star-

Maron’s podcast, WTF with Marc Maron, premiered in September 2009 and features compelling monologues and interviews with iconic personalities such as Conan O’Brien, Terry Gross, Robin Williams, Keith Richards, Ben Stiller, Lorne Michaels and President Barack Obama. It has become a worldwide phenomenon; averaging 6 million downloads each month, with over 240 million lifetime

Tom recently released his third hour-long stand up album, which sat atop the iTunes and Billboard Comedy charts for consecutive weeks. Tom’s first two albums Thrilled and White Girls with Cornrows also debuted at number 1 and continue to play heavily on satellite radio and streaming music platforms.

When Tom isn’t performing on stage or recording a podcast he’s watching College Football or waiting for College Football to come back.

Marc Maron

downloads. WTF regularly hits #1 on the iTunes charts, and was named the #1 Comedy Podcast by LA Weekly, as well as The AV Club. It has been deemed as a “must-­listen”

by Vanity Fair and The New York Times, and, in 2014, Slate named WTF’s two-­part episode with Louis C.K. the “best podcast episode of all time.”

In 2012, TIME Magazine included Maron in its short list of the 100 Most Influential People and was nominated for two Comedy Central 2012 Comedy Awards: Best Comedy Podcast and Best Comedy App. He also travels the world performing sold-­out, stand-­ up comedy shows and delivering lectures on podcasting, technology, and his journey through comedy. In 2011, Maron was given the honor of delivering the Keynote Address at the Just For Laughs Festival in Montreal and he has more recently spoken at Princeton, USC, and at the 2015 Podcast Movement Festival and AdTech.

Maron currently resides in Los Angeles.

Shake ‘Em On Down Continued from pg. 21

Building on the longevity, success, and devoted audience of Highway 61 Radio, a production of the Southern Documentary Project, York feels that a dedication to visual storytelling about the musical heritage of the South, with a primary focus on the blues, will greatly enhance SouthDocs’ ability to meet its goals of documenting and educating the region. This film is the first documentary produced under the Highway 61 Films banner and will signal a new commitment to documenting the musical culture of the region.

JOE YORK Joe York is an award-winning filmmaker and Senior Producer of documentary projects at the University of Mississippi’s Southern Documentary Project. He has produced over 40 short documentaries in association with the Southern Foodways Alliance, including Whole Hog, Hot Chicken, and Smokes & Ears. His features films include Mississippi Innocence and Pride & Joy. York is from Glencoe, AL and has a BA in Anthropology from 50

Opening Nights Performing Arts

Auburn University and an MA in Southern Studies from the University of Mississippi.

He lives in Water Valley, MS, with his wife, Kathryn, and their daughter, Emma.

The Southern Circuit Tour of Independent Filmmakers is a program of South Arts. This screening is supported in part by a grant from South Arts in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts.

Amy Helm & The Handsome Strangers Continued from pg. 23

“I’m just trying to tell some stories as honestly as I can,” Amy Helm says of ​Didn’t It Rain, ​her first solo album and her eOne Music debut.

Although the personally charged, organically soulful ​Didn’t It Rain ​is her first release under her own name, Amy Helm has been making music for most of her life. She’s already won widespread praise as a singer, songwriter and live performer, first as a member of the celebrated altcountry collective Ollabelle and subsequently for her extensive work with her father, musical icon Levon Helm, who passed away in 2012.

Blessed with a commanding, deeply expressive voice and an uncanny songwriting skill that instinctively draws upon a deep well of American musical traditions, Amy Helm delivers a timelessly powerful statement with Didn’t It Rain.

The spellbinding dozen-song set is rooted in first-person experience, exploring universal themes of life, love and loss on such musically and emotionally resonant originals as the smoldering soul ballad “Rescue Me,” the hushed, lilting “Deep Water,” the meditative “Roll Away” and the stark, haunting “Wild Girl.” Complementing Helm’s originals are her personalized takes on the Sam Cooke classic “Good News” and the traditional title track, which she delivers with the heartfelt gospel urgency that’s always been an element of her vocal persona.

Accompanying Helm on ​Didn’t It Rain​is an impressive roster of players and singers that

I’m just trying to tell some stories as honestly as I can demonstrates the esteem in which the artist is held by her peers. Helm’s former Ollabelle bandmate Byron Isaacs, who produced the album, co-wrote the majority of the songs with Helm, and is featured as one-third of Helm’s current live trio the Handsome Strangers, playing bass alongside guitarist Daniel Littleton and drummer David Berger. Also contributing their talents are Little Feat keyboardist Bill Payne; guitarists Larry Campbell, Chris Masterson and Jim Weider; keyboardists Marco Benevento, John Medeski and Brian Mitchell; and guest backup vocalists Carolyn Leonhart, Elizabeth Mitchell, Allison Moorer, Catherine Russell and Teresa Williams.

“That was kind of a reckless move financial-

Didn›t It Rain ​also marked the final recording sessions of Levon Helm, who acted as the project’s executive producer as well as adding his unmistakable drumming on three tracks; Levon’s distinctive count-off can be heard kicking off Amy’s rousing take on Martha Scanlan’s “Spend Our Last Dime.”

Many of ​Didn’t It Rain​‘s songs are the prod-

Helm had originally planned to release her solo debut a bit sooner, but chose to substantially rework the album that she initially recorded, recutting more than half of the songs with the road-tested Handsome Strangers.

some of those stories as honestly as I could,”

ly, and it’s resulted in the album coming out two years later than I originally thought it

would, but it was the right thing to do,” she

acknowledges. “When I started the record, I’d never done a gig under my own name,

and I was still getting comfortable with the idea of being a solo artist. I thought I’d fin-

ished the record, but then I started going out on the road, and the stuff that we were doing

live was so much stronger than what I had

recorded, and I started feeling more confi-

dence and focus. So we went back in the studio, with no money and no budget, and found a way to do it and get it right.”

uct of an extended period during which the artist endured a series of personal trials and life changes, including the April 2012 passing of her father and chief musical mentor.

“The past few years have been profoundly

transformative for me, so I wanted to tell she asserts. “I thought about the people I had

lost, and things that had fallen apart and things

that were coming together, and that influenced the way I sang these songs.”

2017 Winter Program 51

Bank of America applauds Opening Nights for bringing the arts to all

David Montrois, John Clark, Bobby Dick, Mark Webb, & Kim Dixon

When members of the community support the arts, they help inspire and enrich everyone. Artistic diversity can be a powerful force for unity, creating shared experiences and a desire for excellence.

Bank of America recognizes Opening Nights for its success in bringing the arts to performers and audiences throughout our community.

Visit us at bankofamerica.com/local

215 S. MONROE STREET, #300 TALLAHASSEE, FL 32301 (850) 599-8908

PROUD SPONSORS OF THE HOT SARDINES

Life’s better when we’re connected®

©2016 Bank of America Corporation | SPN-126-AD | AR7NWC3L

Amy Helm began connecting with audiences early in life, playing her first gig in her early teens in a Manhattan bar and drifting informally through a series of combos before her father recruited her to join his live band.

She also absorbed musical and personal inspiration from her mother, noted singer/ songwriter Libby Titus; and her stepfather, Steely Dan co-mastermind Donald Fagen, who offered Amy additional opportunities to find herself as a performer.

“I always did gigs through high school and college,” she explains, “but my fears and insecurities kept me from committing to it.

That’s when my dad became a huge influence; he scooped me up when I was in my mid 20s and put me in this blues band. I was very, very green, but I got my road-dog status with him. It was like walking through fire every time I got on stage, but it forced me to decide if I wanted to do this. And I decided that I absolutely wanted to do it.”

Amy’s vocal and songwriting talents soon found a home in the New York based Ollabelle, whose three acclaimed albums and countless live gigs saw her evolve into a confident, charismatic performer. She also resumed her musical collaboration with her father, singing and playing in his band, playing on and co-producing his Grammy winning 2007 comeback album Dirt Farmer, and helping to organize the now legendary Midnight Ramble concerts at Levon’s home studio in Woodstock, NY.

Nora Jane Struthers & The Party Line with Kelsey Waldon Continued from pg. 25

NORA JANE STRUTHERS I am living in a dream when I wake You are my bright shining star you guide the way...

Wake. The evocative one-word title speaks volumes about what’s happening on Nora Jane Struthers’ latest album. For the thirtyyear-old singer-songwriter, it’s “wake” in several senses of the word. There’s the trail of a life and career behind her, the slipstream of lessons learned. There’s the quiet observance and letting go of who she has been up until now as both an artist and a person. And most of all, there’s the stirring of something new, an opening of a door and wide-eyed rush forward into a place of discovery and dizzying possibilities. And it’s all set to a soundtrack that resonates with the warm uplift of the first day of spring.

In short, Nora Jane Struthers has fallen in love.

“The whole album is about strength through

vulnerability,” she says. “That’s what I’ve come to as an artist, and a human being, and I think it’s the most powerful force in my life.

I feel so much more like my childhood self now than I did over the past five years, than I have in my whole adult life. In my twenties, I had a tendency to compartmentalize pieces of my musical identity. For instance, how could I reconcile my love of both bluegrass and Pearl Jam? I did the same thing in my personal life, where I had this sort of idea of who I wanted to be, and ignored all these other pieces of myself, because I didn’t think they fit into some imagined big picture.

“But this experience of falling in love blew that whole thing apart,” she continues. “Looking back, my previous two albums feel so safe. They had literary merit, contributing to the traditional canon in a way that I was proud of. But it all felt masked by these narratives that were not directly my own. These new songs are autobiographical. I’m looking inward, allowing that to be what my art is. To take away the narrative safety net and then the sonic safety net and just give myself over to my own story and my own feelings, was scary but exhilarating.”

That exhilaration courses through the whole album, with an unmoored feeling that reminds

“He was the best teacher, in so many ways,” Amy says of her father. “He wasn’t interested in over-thinking anything; all he cared about was playing music. He saw himself as a working musician, and it was serious business and it had to be right. Playing side by side with him in the Ramble band for ten years, and building those shows with him, really changed the way I approached things, and his humility influenced and shaped me as a musician, as it did everyone who played with him.”

With ​Didn’t It Rain​reintroducing her to the world as a solo artist, Helm says that her immediate plan is “to just get out and play as many gigs as possible. I think that the job of a musician is to try and shake people out of their own heads for an hour or two, and bring some joy into the world. So I want to get out there and do the job the best I can.”

2017 Winter Program 53

We assist our clients with the complex projects needed in a growing state, including large area planning; coastal resorts; power plants and transmission lines; resource extraction; infrastructure ďŹ nancing and management through special districts; real estate transactions and state and local taxation.

We are proud of our track record. mo www.hgslaw.com.

Find out more:

119 South Monroe Street, Suite 300 : Tallahassee, Florida 32301 877-222-7598 : 850-222-7500

us that the gravitational direction of finding love is as much about rising as it is falling.

Opener “The Same Road” percolates along with percussive banjo and side-stick then lifts into a panoramic chorus, while “Dreamin,’” soaked in classic Bakersfield good vibes, threads its infectious charm through with chugging train rhythms, twangy guitar and pedal steel. “When I Wake” is pure harmony bliss, with Struthers and Joe Overton echoing early ‘70s Gram & Emmylou. “The Wire” shimmers with poetic reflection (“The truth is I didn’t see the wire until I saw the bird”) and the radio-ready “Lovin’ You” pulls off the threeand-a-half minute miracle, with Struthers’ warm, engaging alto finding fresh imagery like, “If I was a crocus lovin’ you would be the spring / If I was an eagle lovin’ you would be my wings . .” Other highlights include the fiery slide-guitar powered “I Ain’t Holdin’ Back,” the call-and-response, southern-fried “Don’t Care” and the hushed, split-rail tenderness of “The South.” The whole record, a 53-minute celebration of that heart-to-heart, flesh-toflesh connection that reminds us we’re alive, also feels like a major artistic arrival.

Struthers’ ascent to this new plateau has been a steady one. Born in Virginia and raised in New Jersey, she began playing as a pre-teen, attending festivals and fiddlers’ conventions around the south with her banjo-playing father. “These were pretty much just a group of musicians camping in a muddy field for a week, playing tunes and singing songs,” she recalls. “But these traditional music communities greatly influenced me and informed my decision later to move to Nashville and try to become a professional musician.” After graduating from NYU with an education degree, she taught high school English in Brooklyn and put her music career on the back burner. But a visit to the Telluride Bluegrass Festival in the early 2000s changed that.

Watching one of her heroes, Tim O’Brien, she stood in front of the stage, glanced back at the crowd and the mountains and thought, “This is what I want to do.” There followed that move to Nashville, much woodshedding as a writer and touring, with Bearfoot, and her first solo-fronted group, the Bootleggers (who won the 2008 Telluride band competition). Along the way, she worked with bluegrass stars like O’Brien, Stuart Duncan and Bryan Sutton, and released two critical-

ly-acclaimed albums. But it was in 2012, when Struthers formed the Party Line, that everything started to come into sharper focus.

She says, “With the Party Line, I found the people I want to be with. And what instruments they play are what my band became.

So I didn’t find a fiddle player. I found a great electric guitar player who I love hanging around with, and who wants to commit to my music. What I love about our instrumentation is the balance between rock ‘n’ roll vibe and old time acoustic feeling. Those two specifically are the balance between my guitarist Josh Vana and Joe Overton. Josh plays with more of a rock feeling. Joe runs what I call the roots utility. He plays open backed banjo, resonator banjo, fiddle and pedal steel guitar. It’s a really interesting balance between roots and rock. I don’t know a lot of other female-fronted bands that are doing quite what we’re doing, so I feel like maybe we have something unique, which is always a good thing.”

Having the right band also led Struthers to realize that she wanted to change her approach to record-making. “My last album Carnival took a step away from certain aspects of the digital, highly-produced approach. There’s no auto-tuning. I made it with the band, not session players. But the songs weren’t road-tested, so we put the arrangements together in the studio. After touring that record and seeing how the songs evolved as a result of playing them for audiences, I just knew that I wanted to make the next record after road-testing the material and allowing it to grow.”

Inspired by what she calls the “grit and vibe” of recent favorite albums by Hayes Carll and Jason Isbell, she and the band hunkered down in the Bomb Shelter studio in Nashville, with Struthers taking on the daunting first-time challenge of self-producing.

“Oh my gosh, it was exhausting, and I’m never doing it again” she says with a laugh.

“I’ve made several albums so I have a basic knowledge of how to work with people in the studio. I really wanted to capture performances. And the biggest challenge as producer was getting everybody, including myself, to step out from their individual parts and listen to the whole. And say, “Maybe you didn’t play that drum fill the way you want-

ed to play it. But listen to the whole song, and isn’t it great?” That’s what we kept coming back to. We could zoom in as much as we want, but when you really zoom out, isn’t this great?’ That being said, it ending up being harder than I imagined to be the artist and producer at the same time. If only because when you’re trying to save your voice for singing, talking to your band members can just be vocally taxing.”

The end result was worth it. And the Party Line comes across as a classic example of the model supporting band, a la the Heartbreakers or the Cardinals. Nobody overplays. The pieces always fit. Overton, Vana and bassist Brian Duncan Miller and drummer Drew Lawhorn all get their moments to shine, but their tasteful parts are first and foremost in service of the song.

Struthers affirms, “When I got the test pressing and listened to it, I just cried and laughed my way through the record. It was the most beautiful experience to see that black vinyl spinning and think, ‘Wow, so much went into the making of this record, and we did it!’ That’s a beautiful place to be living before a record comes out.”

As she looks ahead to a busy 2015 of touring and promoting Wake, Struthers says she’s “ready to go for it.” With a strong team around her, both business and street (she’s been very successful with Kickstarter fan-funding), she pauses to reflect on what she hopes this record might mean to her listeners. “I try to put myself out there and be vulnerable and trust that what people give me back is loving. I hope that people listen to these songs and are given some courage to take a risk, be vulnerable and brave, allow themselves to embrace imperfection. And I hope that that has a positive influence on the way that they are able to lead their lives and interact with people that they love.”

KELSEY WALDON Thinking about country music, Kelsey Waldon muses, “If it’s a part of who you are, it’s a part of who you are.” And country music is very much a part of who she is, a part of who she’s always been. The Kentucky singer/songwriter hails from Monkey’s Eyebrow, in rural Ballard County where her family put down roots several generations ago. Even so, 2017 Winter Program 55

harmony

Experience the of First Commerce Credit Union.

We’re commited to listening to your needs, getting it right the first time, and always being a financial advocate for you.

FirstCommerceCU.org Federally insured by NCUA

SNIFFEN & SPELLMAN, P.A.

Proud Annual Sponsor of Opening Nights Performing Arts Series & Festival SNIFFENLAW.COM | TALLAHASSEE , FL

Mikey Bestebreurtje & Wilson Baker

2 0 0 0 A T T O R N E Y S | 3 8 L O C A T I O N S W O R L D W I D E˚ | G T L A W . C O M

Greenberg Traurig is proud to support Opening Nights in its mission of engaging and educating our community through the performing arts.

AGUSTIN G. CORBELLA 101 EAST COLLEGE AVENUE | TALLAHASSEE, FL 32301 | 850.222.6891

FLORIDA ROOTS, GLOBAL REACH.

Greenberg Traurig is a service mark and trade name of Greenberg Traurig, LLP and Greenberg Traurig, P.A. ©2016 Greenberg Traurig, LLP. Attorneys at Law. All rights reserved. °These numbers are subject to fluctuation. 27827

Waldon’s musical tastes reach well beyond those borders, as evidenced on her new release, I’ve Got a Way. Waldon was 13 when her parents divorced and, inspired by the music surrounding her, she started playing guitar as a means to make it through her teen years. Upon her arrival in Music City a few years later, Waldon toiled away 45+ hours a week in a minimum wage job and played gigs in any bar that would let her in the door and on the stage. Once she had a pocket full of songs, she released her debut album in 2014, The Goldmine. The set was met with open arms from both critics and lovers of the kind of country music that she makes — the kind born in bars and raised in honky-tonks, the kind leaning on pedal steel and driven by Telecaster.

As solid as the effort was, its follow-up isn’t just a next step, it’s a forward leap. After all, when you’re a songwriter, a couple of years can contain a lifetime of lessons. And that wisdom is what seeps through on her sophomore effort which, like The Goldmine, was produced by Michael Rinne. For Waldon, “It’s a transition in letting go and also being absolutely comfortable in your own skin.”

Indeed, the newfound confidence and compassion with which she inhabits her place in the world comes through loud and clear on original cuts like “All by Myself,” “Don’t Hurt the Ones (Who’ve Loved You the Most),”

and “Life Moves Slow,” as well as her arrangements of Vern and Rex Gosdin’s “There Must Be a Someone” and Bill Monroe’s “Traveling Down This Lonesome Road.”

Nate Caldwell

Perhaps because it was one of the first songs Waldon wrote this go-around,“All By Myself,” in particular, stands out as something of a thesis statement for the rest of the album, if not for life, in general. As she explains, “It is not a lecture, or a sermon, or a statement from me. I want it to be a statement for everyone, as a whole: The power is only inside of ourselves.”

Noah Fuentes

Because no country record would be complete without a proper kiss-off cut, Waldon scratched out her own entry in that milieu with “You Can Have It.” That kind of personal empowerment comes up time and again across I’ve Got a Way. In “Let’s Pretend,” that power emerges through the act of focusing on the good and choosing the kind as part of what Waldom describes as “a ‘Storms Never Last’ mentality” to relationships.

Devon L’Hereux

Closing the collection are “Traveling Down This Lonesome Road,” which stands as her hard-edged hat tip to Bill Monroe and the music she grew up on, and “The Heartbreak,” which shows she can deliver a weeper, to boot. But this isn’t the standard woe-is-me fare. Here, too, is a message of empowerment and empathy.

So, how does Waldon turn her messages into the country music that is so much a part of her? “Lay it all out, and sing it from the heart, way down deep,” she says. “If you do it that way, you don’t need gimmicks.”

Vocalosity Continued from pg. 29

MANE EVENT Somebody to Love by Queen Arranged by Chris Diaz Soloists: Erin Hill, Grace Lengacher, and Hannah Prasse

MEMBERS (* Denotes section leader) Chrissy Abate Jordyn Berrian Faith Bruner

Ryan Carlton Ashley Delvalle Kaelin Fabian Ansley Garrison Cannon Haworth* Erin Hill Jon Hoch* Tyler Jones Jackson Knight Julian Lee-Sursin Grace Lengacher John Malley Ali Newport Bond Peuckert Hannah Prasse* Everett Reed Daniela Rodriguez Nic Roe Cooper Smith Jaylin Stewart Hannah Wong

ABOUT THE GROUP

Begun in 2002-2003 school year, Mane Event was one of the first high school pop a cappella groups in all of Florida. In its relatively short history, Mane Event has competed in Southern A Cappella competitions three times—and won three times! In addition, Mane Event has placed second at the national competition twice, toured across Florida, performing for new audiences and sharing the magic of a cappella with fellow students around the state. Mane Event has also performed in interest sessions at the Florida AllState Conference, and at the President’s Concert for Florida ACDA. We are very excited to be performing for you tonight!

TABITHA PECK

Tabitha Peck is the Director of Choral Activities at Leon High School. She is currently in her fifteenth year of teaching, having received the BME and MME in Music Education from the Florida State University College of Music, where she studied voice with Janice Harsanyi (Undergraduate) and Roy Delp (Graduate).

Mrs. Peck is a Tallahassee native. In 2003, she founded the a cappella group “The Mane Event” which has competed nationally, twice 2017 Winter Program 57

Herb & Mary Jervis

Technically, we’re in the construction business.

But really we’re in the do-whatever-it-takes-for-our-clients business.

850-878-8272 WWW.MORETHANBUILDINGS.COM CGC-061939

HHCFD.COM

Photo by Jeremy Daniel winning runner-up at the international finals.

She is an active member of FMEA, FVA, and ACDA, serving as FVA District 3 Treasurer and Florida ACDA State Webmaster and Treasurer, and has been a member of the professional choir: The Festival Singers of Florida. She has presented sessions at the FMEA State Conference on AP Music Theory and on Pop A cappella ensembles, and is an active adjudicator and soloist. She and her husband Tim have two beautiful daughters.

VOCALOSITY Work Light Productions & IMG Artists Present VOCALOSITY: THE ACA-PERFECT CONCERT EXPERIENCE

ARTISTIC PRODUCER, MUSIC DIRECTOR AND ARRANGER Deke Sharon

DIRECTOR & CHOREOGRAPHER Seán Curran

CREATIVE CONSULTANTS Robert Sternin & Prudence Fraser

VOCALISTS James C. Jones, Hannah Juliano, Kelli Koloszar, Cheeyang Ng, Nattalyee Randall, Tracy L.J. Robertson, Bryant Vance, Nicole Weiss, Amy Whitcomb, RJ Woessner

TECHNICAL DIRECTOR,

SOUND DESIGNER, LIVE ENGINEER Tony Huerta

LIGHTING DESIGN Ryan J. O’Gara

COSTUME DESIGN Amy Clark

SCENIC CONSULTANT Mike East

CASTING DIRECTOR Wojcik-Seay Casting

PRODUCTION MANAGEMENT Rhys Williams

MARKETING & PRESS DIRECTOR Andrew Cole

GENERAL MANAGEMENT Work Light Productions

TOUR BOOKING AGENCY IMG Artists

HEAD ELECTRICIAN Conor Mulligan

COMPANY MANAGER Rebecca Eddins

WHO’S WHO JAMES C. JONES (Bass). After James got his B.S. in Psychology at BYU, he worked

various projects featuring several artists including Flava Flav, Miranda Sings and Danny Trejo. Most recently, he toured nationally with Ball in the House, a Boston-based R&B/soul-pop vocal band.

HANNAH JULIANO (Alto, Associate Music Director) is an arranger, vocalist, producer and director. She studied Contemporary Writing and Production at Berklee College of Music and resides in New York, NY. Her work includes Pepsi, Mazda, MTV, and she heads the music division at Borderlight Entertainment. She thanks her family, friends, Deke and her sweetheart for their unconditional love, support, and understanding.

KELLI KOLOSZAR (Soprano) is thrilled to be with Vocalosity for another season!

Based out of New York, Kelli has performed all over: singing on Holland America Line cruise ships, touring as a lead singer with Cirque Productions, and with the Rockettes as Mrs. Claus on the Radio City Christmas Spectacular tour. BFA Musical Theatre from CCPA at Roosevelt University. @kellikolo and kellikoloszar.com CHEEYANG NG (Tenor) is thrilled to be touring with Vocalosity. Born and raised in Singapore, he has performed internationally in Taiwan, China and Singapore. In the U.S., he has performed at Avery Fisher Hall (Lincoln Center), Al Hirschfeld Theatre (Broadway Backwards) and regional theatres across the country. cheeyang.com 2017 Winter Program 59

Lee Hinkle Proud Supporter of Opening Nights Performing Arts

WHEN WHAT

IF BECOMES

WHAT NOW.

None of us can predict what will happen next.

But when you choose RGVI as your insurance provider, the “what now” is as simple as calling your agent.

WE’RE ALL ABOUT YOU! (850) 386-1111 | RGVI.com

While you pursue your dreams, we work to protect them.

Florida’s premier free-market public policy organization.

Creating opportunities for all through promotion of: Economic Freedom | Limited Government Personal Responsibility

Supporter of the Arts at The Florida State University

Trusted Solutions for a Better Florida

The James Madison Institute The Columns 100 North Duval Street Tallahassee, FL 32301 850.386.3131 www.jamesmadison.org

The James Madison Institute

@JmsMadisonInst



Opening Nights



Musical Associates



School of Dance



Allies for Art



621 Gallery

NATTALYEE RANDALL (Alto) currently lives in NYC but is originally from Springfield, IL (Land of Lincoln). Nattalyee has a degree in Music and English Education (Western Illinois University) and has been seen in different national commericals (MTV, Philips). Prov 24:10. Much love to LNT. Instagram/Twitter: @nattalyee or check out nattalyee.com.

AMY WHITCOMB (Soprano) is a beach-going, fitness-crazed, family-loving vocal coach from Longwood, Florida! With a background in piano, a cappella, and pop as well as appearances on The Sing-Off and The Voice, Amy has found a real passion for rock-n-roll, especially as it intersects with a cappella and the theatre! amywhitcomb.com @amylynnwhitcomb

DEKE SHARON (Music Director, Arranger and Artistic Producer). Born in San Francisco, California, Deke Sharon has been performing professionally since the age of 8 and as a child toured North America and shared the stage in operas with the likes of Pavarotti. Heralded as “the father of contemporary a cappella,” he is responsible for the current sound of modern a cappella, having created the dense vocal-instrumental sound in college, subsequently spreading it around the world. Deke produces The Sing-Off worldwide (USA, Netherlands, China, South Africa), which had the highest ratings of any new, unscripted television show in the US in 2009, and was the third highest rated show on NBC in 2010. Deke served as arranger, on-site music director and vocal producer for Universal’s Pitch Perfect and Pitch Perfect 2 starring Anna Kendrick and Rebel Wilson.

As the founder, director and arranger for the House Jacks, the original “Rock Band Without Instruments,” Deke has shared the stage with countless music legends, including Ray Charles and James Brown. He appears on the new a cappella television show Pitch Slapped which debuted on Lifetime in 2016. Deke founded the Contemporary A Cappella Society while in college and is responsible for founding many seminal a cappella programs, including the CARAs (Contemporary A Cappella Recording Awards), ICCAs (International Championship of College A Cappella), and BOCA (Best of College A Cappella Compilation). He is also contemporary a cappella’s most prolific arranger, having arranged over 2,000 songs, with many of them in print worldwide with Hal Leonard/Contemporary A Cappella Publishing. He has written 3 books: Acappella Arranging (2012), A Cappella (2015) and The Heart of Vocal Harmony (2016). Deke is the vocal arranger/ orchestrator for Broadway’s first a cappella musical In Transit, opening December 2016. dekesharon.com @dekesharon

RJ WOESSNER (Tenor) is a Brooklyn-based actor, musician and voiceover artist. Graduate of Berklee College of Music, Contemporary Writing & Production. Performed with Bastille and Jim Carrey. TV: The Sing-Off, Saturday Night Live, Letterman, One Life To Live.

RJ is an active motion capture performer, VO artist, singer and vocal music arranger. rjwoessner.com @rjwoessner

SEÁN CURRAN (Director & Choreographer) began his dance training with traditional Irish step dancing as a young boy in Boston, Massachusetts and went on to make his mark on the dance world as a leading dancer with the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company (1983 – 1993) and as a performer in the original New York City cast of Stomp (1994 – 1998). His own dance troupe, the Seán

TRACY L.J. ROBERSTON (Vocal Percussion). As a singer, director, multi-instrumentalist and vocal percussionist, Tracy enjoys working and performing in a wide variety of musical settings, and is honored to perform with Vocalosity. He also performs with M-pact, Overboard, and continues spreading passion through music as a clinician, arranger, composer and performer.

BRYANT VANCE (Bass) is a vocalist from New York, NY. After a BA in theatre, he made his a cappella debut with Voca People performing Off-Broadway and a world tour of 18 countries over 3 years. He can also be found touring with the internationally acclaimed Rockapella. He is very excited to find a home in Vocalosity and thanks his family for the love and ENDLESS support! For more: bryantcvance.com and @bryantcvance NICOLE WEISS (Mezzo) earned her BFA in Theatre from NYU Tisch, where she was a proud member of the N’Harmonics. She writes and performs with several music projects, including The Shirtwaist Sisters and Roslynn. nicoleweiss.com @upwardsomething

Curran Company, tours internationally and he has created work for companies as diverse as Trinity Irish Dance Company, ABT II and Denmark’s Upper Cut Company. Opera figures heavily into his work, and he has directed notable productions including Salome for Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, San Francisco Opera, and Opera Montreal, Much Ado About Nothing and A Midsummer Night’s Dream for The Shakespeare Theatre, the twentieth anniversary production of Nixon in China, Street Scene, Daughter of the Regiment and The Pirates of Penzance at Opera Theater of St. Louis. He recently directed Ariadne on Naxos and choreographed the world premiere of Salmon Rushdie’s Shalimar the Clown, both for Opera Theatre of St. Louis. Other choreography credits include numerous works for New York City Opera, the Playwrights Horizons’ production of My Life with Albertine, Shakespeare in the Park’s As You Like It and the Metropolitan Opera production of Romeo and Juliette. Curran’s work has also appeared on Broadway in James Joyce’s The Dead for Playwrights Horizons and The Rivals at Lincoln Center Theater. A graduate and faculty member of New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, Curran now serves as Chair of the Department of Dance. He has over 20 years of teaching experience in modern technique, improvisation, body percussion and composition as a visiting artist at the American Dance Festival, Harvard Summer Dance Center, Bates Dance Festival, The Boston Conservatory and over 100 U.S. university dance departments. He is thrilled to bring his diverse palette to the world of a cappella!

ROBERT STERNIN & PRUDENCE FRASER (Creative Consultants & Musical Theater Parody Lyricists) Best known as writer/producers in network television, Rob and Pru’s credits include Who’s the Boss? and The Nanny, which they developed for and executive produced with series star Fran Drescher.

Currently, they are concentrating on the theater, the medium that they find most exciting.

Sternin and Fraser recently collaborated with Brill Building songwriter icon Jeff Barry on the stage musical The Girl Who Would Be King, which premiered at the Granada Theater in Santa Barbara and went on to be seen at the Stamford Center for the Arts and Riverside Theater in Vero Beach, Florida. Excerpts from their stage comedy Under My 2017 Winter Program 61

Hello!

Florida

#HereForYou

Charles & Susan Stratton Proud Supporters of Opening Nights Performing Arts and avid fans of ON staff

a a Blue is ^ Florid nsor of proud spo s ning Night FSU’s Ope ogram. g Arts pr Performin

CALL, CLICK OR VISIT US. floridablue.com/HelloFlorida

877-352-5830

Florida Blue is an Independent Licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association.

87440 0816

David A. Theriaque, Esquire | S. Brent Spain, Esquire Comprehensive Plans • Land Development Codes Planning and Land Use Law • Administrative • Trial • Appellate 433 N. MAGNOLIA DR., TALLAHASSEE, FL | 850.224.7332 12200 W. COLONIAL DR., STE. 300C, WINTER GARDEN, FL | 407.347.5388

THERIAQUELAW.COM

OPENING NIGHTS

Rod & Virgina Vaughn Dr. Charles & Abbie Benedict 62

Opening Nights Performing Arts

PERFORMING ARTS

GOES GREEN! Opening Nights is committed to providing unique experiences for our patrons and artists by supporting environmental best practices during our events with help from Campus Sustainability.

We invite you to participate with us!

Make an evening of it and support a locally owned restaurant before the show.

Carpool with friends to the performance venue.

Recycle your beverage cans and bottles before taking your seat. Recycling bins are located in the lobby of each venue.

Please return programs to the box by each exit after the show so they can be reused.

Skin were performed at the American Airlines Theater as part of The Pink Campaign on Broadway. The play then had its world premiere at the Pasadena Playhouse under the helm of Tony-nominated director Marcia Milgrom Dodge (Ragtime) then moved to the Little Shubert Theatre off-Broadway. Rob and Pru are thrilled to be involved in Vocalosity. If they could sing, they would!

TONY HUERTA (Technical Director, Sound Designer and Live Engineer) is a professional singer, beatboxer, recording studio engineer/producer and live audio engineer.

He is considered to be the world’s best a cappella live sound engineer and has mixed almost every major a cappella act in the United States.

He has been the front of house engineer and production manager for 10-time Grammy Award-winning group Take 6, traveling to 39 countries thus far. He also recently completed a full U.S. tour of The Sing Off as the front of house engineer. What is interesting is that Tony was a performer and finalist on the NBC’s The Sing Off in the group Urban Method, who lost in the finals to Pentatonix.

Sonic Audio, Huerta’s recording studio, was founded in 1999. He has produced, engineered or mastered a cappella CD Projects for The Real Group, Take 6, Harmonia Vocal (Angola Africa), Afro Blue, Cadence, Six Appeal, Nota a Sony Latin, Face (Boulder, CO and the NBC’s The Sing Off) and many more. He also recorded, mixed and produced the world’s first full length a cappella opera and original stage production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream for Opera Memphis. As a freelance engineer, he has mixed concerts for many major acts including Stevie Wonder, Amy Grant, Kirk Whalum, Nnenna Freelon and Brian McKnight, as well as the 2010 Shakira tour as front of house engineer for Nota.

AMY CLARK (Costume Designer) is a NYC-based costume designer whose work has been seen on Broadway, regional theaters, television and arenas across the country. Amy’s costume designs for Broadway include A Night with Janis Joplin and Chaplin (Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle nominations).

Other recent designs include Heathers The Musical (New World Stages); Ringling Bros.

Barnum and Bailey Circus presents Legends; Chaplin (St. Petersburg, Russia); My Life is a Musical (Bay Street Theate); Hello, Dolly! (The

MUNY); Kiss Me, Kate (Barrington Stage Co.); Noises Off (Pittsburgh Public Theatre); Somewhere (Hartford Stage); On Your Toes (City Center Encores!); The Little Mermaid (Paper Mill Playhouse). Amy received the 2012 Theatre Hall of Fame Emerging Artists Fellowship and received an MFA in Costume Design from NYU Tisch School of the Arts.

RYAN J. O’GARA (Lighting Designer).

Selected NYC: Tail Spin, play/date, Useless, Lady Day, Moses of Egypt (New York City Opera), Little Prince, Knuckle Heads Zoo, Black Violin, Pinkolandia, PS Jones, Chix 6, Raw Space, The Ride, various productions for Sonnet Repertory Company, Lincoln Center Festival, Westbeth Theatre Center, Capital Repertory Theatre and Bristol Riverside Theatre. Dance: American Ballet Theatre, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, MOMIX, gloATL, Ballet Hispanico, Cedar Lake Ensemble, Dance Works, Revolution at the Joyce Theatre. Corporate: Celebrity Apprentice, Michael Kors Jet Set Launch, Antonio Banderas Fragrance Launch, Nike Rockstar Workout. On Broadway, he has served as the Associate Lighting Designer for Hamilton, Dr. Zhivago, Honeymoon in Vegas, After Midnight, A Christmas Story, Jesus Christ Superstar, Magic/Bird, How to Succeed..., Lombardi, Million Dollar Quartet, West Side Story, Cry Baby, Gypsy, In the Heights, Xanadu, LoveMusik and Avenue Q. O’Gara graduated from North Carolina School of the Arts. ryanogara.com WORK LIGHT PRODUCTIONS (Producer & General Manager) is a producing, general management and technical supervision company dedicated to creating and producing live entertainment. Productions include the national tours of Mamma Mia!, Avenue Q, Green Day’s American Idiot, In the Heights, Irving Berlin’s White Christmas, The Gershwin’s Nice Work If You Can Get It, and Julie Andrews’ The Gift of Music. In addition to Vocalosity, productions for the 2016-17 season include the international tours of RENT and Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella, Motown the Musical, Something Rotten and White Christmas. worklightproductions.com IMG ARTISTS (Producer & Booking Agency) is a global leader of performing arts management. For more than thirty years, the company has set the standard for excellence in the industry for artist management, touring,

dance, attractions, festivals, events and cultural consulting. IMGA’s specialists in offices across three continents offer unparalleled international reach and depth of experience to the company’s artists, clients and partners.

With the launch of new producing, presenting and technology initiatives designed to support and enhance our core business, IMG Artists remains the vanguard of the industry.

ANDREW COLE (Marketing & Press) is an independent marketing & press director specializing in national tours. Past projects include The Addams Family, Green Day’s American Idiot, A Chorus Line, Dirty Dancing, Dreamgirls, I Love Lucy: Live On Stage, Nice Work If You Can Get It, and The Phantom of the Opera. He’s thrilled to be spending another season with Vocalosity and his colleagues at Work Light Productions and IMG Artists.

WOJCIK | SEAY CASTING (Casting) is Scott Wojcik and Gayle Seay. With Holly Buczek they cast all mediums. Tours: Flashdance, Nice Work..., Jekyll & Hyde (Nat’l & Korean), Joseph….Dreamcoat, Oklahoma!, A Chorus Line. Upcoming: Motown. Current Off-B’way: On The Rails, The Portal, Othello: The Remix. Other Off-B’way: The Two Character Play, Triassic Parq, Handle With Care and more! Regional theatres across the country as well as commercial & TV/film. wscasting.com @WScasting Songs from The Sound of Music are presented by special arrangements with Rodgers & Hammerstein: an Imagen Company, rnh.com.

All Rights Reserved. Music by Richard Rodgers, Lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II. Vocalosity is powered by Roland’s M-5000.

Twyla Tharp Dance Continued from pg. 31

TWYLA THARP 50th Anniversary Tour

Preludes And Fugues was commissioned

by The Joyce Theater, New York with funds from the Estate of John L. Klebanoff, and The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Washington D.C. (lead commissioners); Auditorium Theatre of Roosevelt University & Ravinia Festival Association, Chicago; TITAS Presents in association with AT&T Performing Arts Center, Dallas; and 2017 Winter Program 63

The Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts, Beverly Hills. This work was also 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.

Twyla Tharp Dance Foundation gratefully acknowledges Jay Franke and David Herro, Bill and Catherine Miller, Patsy and Jeff Tarr, Stephen and Cathy Weinroth and Vicente Wolf for their generous support with special thanks to Tam O’Shaughnessy, in memory of Sally Ride, for sponsorship of Preludes And Fugues.

Preludes And Fugues Dedicated to Richard Burke Premiered 2015 in Dallas, TX

CHOREOGRAPHY Twyla Tharp

MUSIC Written by Johann Sebastian Bach Performed by David Korevaar and Angela Hewitt

COSTUMES Santo Loquasto

LIGHTING James F. Ingalls The Company “Well-Tempered Clavier” Volume 1 recorded by MSR Records, Volume 2 recorded by Hyperion Records Ltd. Intermission

Nine Sinatra Songs With appreciation to Sinatra Enterprises and The Frank Sinatra Foundation Premiered 1982 in Vancouver, Canada

CHOREOGRAPHY Twyla Tharp

SONGS SUNG BY Frank Sinatra

ORIGINAL COSTUMES BY Oscar de la Renta

ORIGINAL LIGHTING BY Jennifer Tipton 64

Opening Nights Performing Arts

ORIGINAL SCENICS BY Santo Loquasto

DANCE SECTIONS I. Softly As I Leave You Dancers: Chan, Santia Composed Antonio De Vita Lyrics by Hal Sharper Recorded by Frank Sinatra - 1964 From the Album “Softly, As I Leave You” Released by Reprise Records II. Strangers in the Night Dancers: Gilliland, Selya Composed by Bert Kaempfert Lyrics by Eddie Snyder Recorded by Frank Sinatra - 1966 From the Album “Stranger’s In The Night” Released by Reprise Records III. One For My Baby (and One More For the Road) Dancers: Hansohn, Chursin Written by Harold Arlen and Johnny Mercer - 1943 Recorded by Frank Sinatra - 1949 From The album “Frankly Sentimental” Released by Columbia Records IV. My Way Dancers: Chan, Santia, Gilliland, Selya, Hansohn, Chursin Originally “Comme d’habitude” Composed by Claude François and Jacques Revaux – 1967 Lyrics by Paul Anka Recorded by Frank Sinatra - 1968 From the Album “My Way” - 1969 Released by Reprise Records V. Somethin’ Stupid Dancers: Mann, Tankersley Written by C. Carson Parks Recorded by Nancy & Frank Sinatra - 1967 From the Album “The World We Knew” Released by Reprise Records VI. All the Way Dancers: Gilliland, Selya Composed by Jimmy Van Heusen Lyrics by Sammy Cahn Recorded by Frank Sinatra - 1957 For the Film “The Joker Is Wild” Published by Maraville Music Corporation Released by Capitol Records VII. Forget Domani Dancers: Ruggiero, Dibble Composed by Riz Ortolani

Lyrics by Normal Newell Recorded by Frank Sinatra - 1965 From the Album “Frank Sinatra’s Greatest Hits” Released by Reprise Records - 1968 VIII. That’s Life Dancers: Kelley, Todorowski Written by Dean Kay and Kelley Gordon Recorded by Frank Sinatra -1966 From the Album “That’s Life” Released by Reprise Records IX. My Way Dancers: Company (See No. 4)

CHOREOGRAPHER/ DIRECTOR Twyla Tharp has choreographed more than one hundred sixty works: one hundred twenty-nine dances, twelve television specials, six Hollywood movies, four full-length ballets, four Broadway shows and two figure skating routines. She received one Tony Award, two Emmy Awards, nineteen honorary doctorates, the Vietnam Veterans of America President’s Award, the 2004 National Medal of the Arts, the 2008 Jerome Robbins Prize, and a 2008 Kennedy Center Honor. Her many grants include the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Fellowship. She is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Philosophical Society and an Hon-

orary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

In 1992, Ms. Tharp published her autobiography PUSH COMES TO SHOVE. She went on to write THE CREATIVE HABIT: Learn it and Use it for Life, followed by THE COLLABORATIVE HABIT: Life Lessons for Working Together. She is currently working on a fourth book.

Today, Ms. Tharp continues to create.

THE COMPANY John Selya trained at the School of American Ballet and joined American Ballet Theatre, where he danced and choreographed. Following his departure from A.B.T., Mr. Selya joined Twyla Tharp’s company. He then appeared in the Broadway musical Movin’ Out, where he earned a Tony award nomination. Mr. Selya has performed in other Broadway productions including Guys and Dolls and Twyla Tharp’s The Times They are A-Changin’ and Come Fly Away. Mr. Selya can also be seen in movies such as Woody Allen’s “Everyone Says I Love You”, Julie Taymore’s “Across the Universe” and John Turturro’s “Romance and Cigarettes.” He directed and starred in the national tour of Come Fly Away and in 2013, he staged the work for the Royal Danish Ballet.

Matthew Dibble was born in Halifax, West Yorkshire, England, and began his training at the Royal Ballet School. After five years with the Royal Ballet, having worked with Twyla Tharp in 1996, Dibble became a founding member of K Ballet in Japan, and in 2001 he joined Twyla Tharp Dance. He later danced a Principal role (James) on the Movin’ Out tour and created the role of Chanos in Come Fly Away on Broadway, both choreographed and directed by Twyla Tharp. Dibble has also danced for Scottish Ballet, Matthew Bourne, Roland Petit, Christopher Wheeldon, Francis Patrelle and Benjamin Millepied. Today he dances and sets works for Twyla Tharp all around the world.

Ron Todorowski is originally from Pitts-

burgh, PA and has had a diverse career in concert, musical theater and commercial dance. He has been a member of Complexions Contemporary Ballet, Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet, The Parsons Dance Company, Mia Michaels “RAW” and has guested for many others. He was most recently part of the original cast of Finding Neverland on Broadway.

Other Broadway credits include Twyla Tharp’s Come Fly Away, The Times They Are A Changin’ and Movin’ Out along with Wicked, Guys and Dolls and Footloose. He starred in London’s West End production and first national tour of Movin’ Out where he received a Helen Hayes Award for Best Actor in a musical. Off Broadway and other theater credits include Andrew Lippa’s The Wild Party, Chess for the Actor’s Fund with Josh Groban, Barry Manilow’s Copacabana, Spirit and Cinderella. Some television and film credits include SNL, The Today Show, Good Morning America, The View, the Tony Awards, the VMA’s and the feature film Winter’s Tale. He has choreographed original work for Wayne State University, BC Beat in NYC and worked as Assistant Choreographer for Seven Brides for Seven Brothers at the Lyric Theater in Oklahoma City as well as Celine Dion’s A New Day in Las Vegas. He recently shot a music video for Nate Ruess’s new single, “A-Ha.” Thanks to family, Ryan and Twyla for this incredible opportunity.

Ramona Kelley is originally from California, where she began her training at Berkeley Ballet Theater under the direction of Sally Streets. She is a National Foundation for the Advancement of the Arts (NFAA) scholarship award winner and she holds a BFA in Dance from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. Kelley first worked with Twyla Tharp when she danced the principal role ‘Betsy’ in the North American/Japanese tour of Tharp’s Come Fly Away. Her most recent work with Tharp includes the 50th Anniversary Tour of 2015. She has also worked with Cherylyn Lavagnino Dance, Oakland Ballet Company and The Phantom of the Opera 25th Anniversary Tour, among others.

Amy Ruggiero trained at the Seiskaya Ballet Academy on Long Island and received a B.A. in Dance with Biological Sciences from Goucher College. Ms. Ruggiero danced as an apprentice with Ballet Austin and later with American Repertory Ballet before moving to NYC to perform as an Ensemble Dancer with the Radio City Christmas Spectacular. She began working with Twyla Tharp as the Swing, and later Dance Captain, for the 1st National and Japan Tours of Come Fly Away. She then performed on Tharp’s 50th Anniversary Tour. Other notable credits include Little Dancer at the Kennedy Center, American Dance Machine for the 21st Century and Manon at the Metropolitan Opera. Film/ TV credits include Under Armour’s “Army of One” Commercial, “Flesh and Bone,” and the opening video for Beyonce’s “The Mrs. Carter Show World Tour.” She is grateful for this opportunity to perform more of Tharp’s work alongside such talented artists.

Kaitlyn Gilliland began her dance training at the Minnesota Dance Theatre and continued her studies at the School of American Ballet.

From 2006-2011, Kaitlyn danced with the New York City Ballet, receiving the company’s 2009-2010 Janice Levin Dancer Award. She has since appeared with BalletNext, Ballet Collective, Ballet Tech, Emery LeCrone Dance, Intermezzo Dance Company, JV Squad – Designated Movement, New Chamber Ballet, Pontus Lidberg Dance, and Trainor Dance. She joined Twyla Tharp in 2014 for her 50th Anniversary Tour. In May of 2015, she graduated summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa from Columbia University with a degree in Psychology.

Reed Tankersley is a native of the San Francisco Bay Area where he began his dance training at the age of five.

After graduating from The Juilliard School (2014) in New York, he began working with Twyla Tharp on her 50th Anniversary Tour.

2017 Winter Program 65

Dr. Jim & Mrs. Betty Ann Rodgers EMBRACING LIFE TO ITS FULLEST

STUDENT TICKETS A VA ILA BL E FOR M OS T P ERF ORM A N CE S

Enjoy active and engaging senior living with a variety of affordable apartments and single-family homes, plus the security of additional support like assisted living and nursing care, all on one campus.

For more information call (850) 878-1136.

www.WestminsterOaksFL.org

4449 Meandering Way Tallahassee, FL 32308

Kara Chan, a native of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, is a BFA graduate from The Juilliard School. She began dancing at the age of five and received her formal training at Pro Arte Center, under the direction of Astrid Sherman, Well versed in classical and modern styles, Kara performed masterpiece repertory works by José Limon, Murray Louis, Merce Cunningham, and Jerome Robbins while at Juilliard. In her senior year, Kara made her debut at The Joyce Theatre performing as a guest artist with the Lar Lubovitch Dance Company. She most recently performed in Mark Morris’ The Hard Nut at BAM and as a freelance artist has done projects with the Merge Cunningham Trust, Keigwin + Co, Kathryn Posin Dance Company, Gleich Dances, and MorDance. She has graced the stages at notable venues including Lincoln Center, Brooklyn Academy of Music, Park Avenue Armory, Guggenheim Museum among others. She is an alumna of Springboard Danse Montreal, Jacob’s Pillow Contemporary Program, and Youth America Grand Prix. Known for her unique musicality, Kara’s performance highlights include being singled out by the New York Times as the “spark plug” in Murray Louis’ Four Brubeck Pieces and the «diminutive» dancer who «consistently caught the eye with her exuberance, reach, and abandon» in Lar Lubovitch’s Concerto 622. Kara is thrilled to be joining Twyla Tharp Dance for their Winter February/March 2017 Tour.

Mary Beth Hansohn received her professional training at The Arlington Center for Dance in Arlington, VA, and with Peter Stark, at The Maryland Youth Ballet. She also studied ballet in the highest level at The American Ballet Theater summer intensive in New York City, where she performed Theme and Variations by George Balanchine. She joined The Ohio Ballet as a full member at the age of 18, and went on to dance in works by Heinz Poll, Donald Byrd, Laura Dean, Ann Marie DeAngelo, Alonzo King, Lynne Taylor-Corbett, Stephen Mills and Septime Webre. Mary Beth has performed with The

Dayton Ballet, Cincinnati Ballet, The Cleveland Opera, Neglia Ballet, The Metropolitan Opera-Live in HD, Dances Patrelle, The National Tap Ensemble, Adam Miller Dance Project and Terra Firma Dance Theatre. Mary Beth performed in The 2011 Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show in New York City, which was televised on CBS. She has also worked with Edouard Lock at La La La Human Steps in Montreal, and with Karole Armitage at Armitage Gone! Dance in New York City.

Some of Mary Beth’s favorite roles performed, include the title role in Giselle, Mina Harker in Dracula, Russian Girl in George Balanchine’s Serenade, and Myrtha in Giselle.

Michaela Rae Mann is originally from Lakewood, New Jersey, where she began her dance training. Ms. Mann continued her studies for several years at the School of American Ballet in their advanced divisions. Within those years she spent summers training at San Francisco Ballet School, Chautauqua Ballet, Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet among others along the east coast. Following graduation from SAB, she trained at Miami City Ballet School where she toured with Miami City Ballet performing Balanchine works. Since, she has found joy performing and teaching pre-professional ballet classes. These passions lead her to continue her studies through completion of her Bachelors of Arts degree in Dance at Georgian Court University in NJ, and her Masters of Fine Arts degree in Dance at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts where she was selected to receive the Shubert Scholarship (The Shubert Foundation).

Peter Chursin is originally from San Francisco, CA and was most recently seen on Broadway in the revival of On The Town. He was a recurring company dancer in the STARZ miniseries Flesh & Bone appearing in all eight episodes. His theater credits include: The Music Man- “Tommy Djilas” (TUTS), West Side Story (Broadway, Original Cast), Nikolai and the Others (Lincoln Center) and Wicked“Chistery” (1st National Tour and Los Angeles Company). He has worked on the

workshop creations of An American in Paris with Christopher Wheeldon and Hello, Dolly! and Something to Dance About with Warren Carlyle. He performed with Complexions Contemporary Ballet, Barak Ballet and has had the opportunity to work as a freelance dancer internationally. He has appeared in numerous television shows and films including America’s Got Talent, State of the Union with Tracey Ullman, Joan of Arcadia and Winter’s Tale starring Collin Farrell.

He is grateful to Twyla for this opportunity and thanks his wife, Brooke, and family for their unending love and support.

Dominic Santia Originally from Michigan, U.S.A., Santia received his B.F.A. from The Julliard School in 2006. After his studies he joined La La La Human Steps (2006-09) under the direction of Edouard Lock for the production Amjad. He then spent some time as a guest with Les Grands Ballets Canadiens de Montreal before joining Nederlands Dans Theater in December of 2009. At NDT he had the opportunity to work with Crystal Pite, Johan Inger, Jiri Kylian, Sol Leon and Paul Lightfoot as well as several other choreographers. Following his time at NDT, he joined Sharon Eyal and Gai Behar, and toured internationally as a member of their company L-E-V, and is now working as a freelance artist.

ARTISTIC COLLABORATORS Oscar de la Renta (Original Costume Design, Nine Sinatra Songs) Santo Loquasto (Costume Design, Preludes and Fugues, Original Scenic Design, Nine Sinatra Songs) is a designer for theatre, film, dance, and opera. He has received 3 Tony Awards and has been nominated 18 times. Loquasto has collaborated with Twyla Tharp since 1974 on numerous occasions including iconic works such as Push Comes to Shove and Movin’ Out. He has collaborated with Woody Allen on 28 films including costume design for Zelig and production design for Radio Days and Bullets Over Broadway for which he received Academy 2017 Winter Program 67

Award nominations. Recent designs on Broadway include A Delicate Balance, Bullets Over Broadway, Fences, Wit, and The Assembled Parties. He received the Merritt Award for Excellence in Design and Collaboration in 2002, was inducted into the Theater Hall of Fame in 2004, received the Pennsylvania Governor’s Award for the Arts in 2006, the Robert L.B. Tobin Award for Lifetime Achievement in 2007, and the Gaudium Award in 2013.

Jennifer Tipton (Lighting Design, Nine Sinatra Songs) is well known for her work in theater, dance and opera.

Her recent work in opera includes Humperdinck’s Hansel And Gretel at the Metropolitan directed by Richard Jones and La Traviata directed by David McVicar at the Scottish National Opera. Her recent work in dance includes Balanchine’s Jewels for the Royal Ballet, London, Trisha Brown’s O Composite for the Paris Opera Ballet and Paul Taylor’s Beloved Renegade at City Center in New York. In theater her recent work includes Beckett Shorts directed by JoAnne Akalaitis at the NY Theater Workshop and Conversations In Tusculum written and directed by Richard Nelson at the Public Theater. Ms. Tipton teaches lighting at the Yale School of Drama. She received the Dorothy and Lillian Gish Prize in 2001, the Jerome Robbins Prize in 2003 and in April 2004 the Mayor’s Award for Arts and Culture in New York City. In 2008 she became a MacArthur Fellow and the USArtist Gracie Fellow.

James F. Ingalls (Lighting Designer, Preludes and Fugues) was the stage manger and lighting supervisor for the Twyla Tharp Dance Foundation from 19781980. Since becoming a lighting designer in 1980, his work has included designs for dance, ballet, opera, theatre and symphony concerts. He has designed Twyla Tharp’s Waiting at the Station for Pacific Northwest Ballet, Seattle. Recent design for ballet and dance includes The Sleeping Beauty, choreographed by Alexi Ratmansky [American Ballet Theatre at Segerstrom Center/Costa Mesa, CA and Metropolitan Opera House/NYC], Celts, choreographed by Lila 68

Opening Nights Performing Arts

York [Boston Ballet], Sea Lark and Death and the Maiden [Paul Taylor Dance Company] and the 25th anniversary production of L’Allegro, il penseroso ed il moderato [Mark Morris Dance Group at the Teatro Real/Madrid and The New York State Theatre]. Recent opera includes Henry Purcell’s The Indian Queen [English National Opera/London, Teatro Real/Madrid and Opera Perm/Russia] and John Adams’ The Gospel According to the Other Mary [English National Opera/London], both directed by Peter Sellars. His recent work in theatre includes The DruidShakespeare, directed by Garry Hynes [Druid Theatre Company/Galway and Lincoln Center Festival/ NYC], The Second Girl [Huntington Theatre Company/Boston], Long Day’s Journey Into Night [Oregon Shakespeare Festival], The Price [Mark Taper Forum/LA] and Carmen De Lavallade’s As I Remember It [Jacob’s Pillow/MA and US tour]. He often collaborates with Melanie Rios Glaser and the Wooden Floor dancers in Santa Ana, California.

Stephen Terry, Lighting Supervisor/Production Stage Manager Sydney de Briel, Wardrobe Supervisor

ADMINISTRATIVE STAFF Jesse Huot, Executive Director Alexander Brady, Company Manager Rika Okamoto, Archivist Special thanks to Shelley Washington, Sean Kelleher, Amy Lehman, Joe Mizrahi, Twanette Tharp, and Norma Stevens.

Nine Sinatra Songs costumes courtesy of Kansas City Ballet.

Tour Management: Opus 3 Artists LLC David V. Foster, President 470 Park Avenue South - 9th Floor North New York, NY 10016

Lily Tomlin Continued from pg. 33

EARLY LIFE Tomlin was born in Detroit, Michigan and grew up in a working-class neighborhood on the outskirts of one of the city’s most af-

fluent areas. Although she claims she wasn’t funny as a child, Tomlin admits she “knew who was and lifted all their material right off the TV screen.” Her favorites included Lucille Ball, Bea Lillie, Imogene Coca, and Jean Carroll, one of the first female stand-ups on The Ed Sullivan Show. After high school, Tomlin enrolled at Wayne State University to study medicine, but her elective courses in theater arts compelled her to leave college to become a performer in local coffee houses. She moved to New York in 1965, where she soon built a strong following with her appearances at landmark clubs such as The Improvisation, Cafe Au Go Go, and the Upstairs at the Downstairs, where she later opened for the legendary Mabel Mercer in the Downstairs Room.

TELEVISION Tomlin made her television debut in 1966 on The Garry Moore Show and then made several memorable appearances on The Merv Griffin Show, which led to a move to California where she appeared as a regular on Music Scene. In December 1969, Tomlin joined the cast of the top-rated Laugh-In and immediately rose to national prominence with her characterizations of Ernestine, the irascible telephone operator, and Edith Ann, the devilish six year old. When Laugh-In left the air, Tomlin went on to co-write, with Jane Wagner, and star in six comedy television specials: The Lily Tomlin Show (1973), Lily (1973), Lily (1975), Lily Tomlin (1975), Lily: Sold Out (1981), and Lily for President?

(1982) for which she won three Emmy Awards and a Writers’ Guild of America Award. Tomlin also starred in the HBO special about the AIDS epidemic, And the Band Played On (1993). She has guest starred on numerous television shows, such as Saturday Night Live, Homicide, X-Files and Will and Grace, and played the boss on the popular CBS series, Murphy Brown. She is also heard as the voice of the science teacher Ms. Frizzle on the popular children’s animated series, The Magic School Bus, for which she was awarded an Emmy.

In 2002, Tomlin joined the cast of the hit NBC series, The West Wing, playing President Bartlett’s assistant, Debbie Fiderer--a role for which she received a 2003 Screen Actors Guild nomination for Best Actress in a Dra-

She next starred opposite Art Carney as a would-be actress living on the fringes of Hollywood in Robert Benton’s The Late Show (1977). She went on to star with John Travolta as a lonely housewife in Jane Wagner’s Moment By Moment (1978), and then teamed with Jane Fonda and Dolly Parton in the late Colin Higgins’ comedy, 9 to 5 (1980). She starred as the happy homemaker who became The Incredible Shrinking Woman (1981), written by Jane Wagner, and the eccentric rich woman whose soul invades Steve Martin’s body in Carl Reiner’s popular All of Me (1984). She then teamed with Bette Midler for Big Business (1988).

Photo by Greg Gorman ma Series. Tomlin continued in the role of Debbie through 2006, the final season of West Wing. In the past few years, Tomlin has made several guest appearances on Desperate Housewives, NCIS, Eastbound and Down, and guest starred in the acclaimed FX series, Damages, in the Emmy-nominated role of matriarch of a wealthy New York family accused of financial fraud. In 2012, Tomlin co-starred with Reba McEntire on the ABC series, Malibu Country, and was seen on the Showtime series, Web Therapy, as Lisa Kudrow’s narcissistic mother. She also produced, with Jane Wagner, and narrated the HBO documentary, An Apology to Elephants, for which Tomlin received an Emmy Award for Narration.. Tomlin is currently co-starring with Jane Fonda in the continuing Netflix series, Grace and Frankie, which premiered in May 2015. In the first two seasons, Tomlin was nominated for an Emmy and in the first season a Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Comedy Series. Tomlin was recently honored with the Career Achievement Award from the Television Critics Association.

STAGE Tomlin made her Broadway debut in the 1977 play, Appearing Nitely, written and directed by Jane Wagner. Appearing Nitely

included such favorites as Ernestine and Judith Beasley, the Calumet City housewife, and also introduced Trudy the bag lady, Crystal the hang-gliding quadriplegic, Rick the singles bar cruiser, Glenna as a child of the sixties, and Sister Boogie Woman, a 77-year-old blues revivalist. Appearing Nitely was later adapted as both an album and an HBO Special. Tomlin next appeared on Broadway in 1985 in a yearlong, SRO run of Jane Wagner’s critically acclaimed play, The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe. The Broadway success was followed by a coast-to-coast, 14-city tour that spanned four and a half years.

Tomlin extended this extraordinary theatrical career with a cross-country, 29-city tour of The Search, a new production of The Search on Broadway, a record-breaking, six-month run of the production in San Francisco, and a six week run as part of the 2004 season at the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles.

MOVIES On film, Tomlin made her debut as Linnea, a gospel singer and mother of two deaf children in Robert Altman’s Nashville (1975); her memorable performance was nominated for an Academy Award, and both the New York Film Critics and National Society of Film Critics voted Tomlin Best Supporting Actress.

In the 90’s, Tomlin starred in the film adaptation of The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life In the Universe (1991); appeared as part of an ensemble cast in Woody Allen’s Shadows and Fog (1992); starred opposite Tom Waits in Robert Altman’s Short Cuts (1993); and portrayed Miss Jane Hathaway in the screen adaptation of the popular television series The Beverly Hillbillies (1993). Tomlin also played a cameo role in The Player (1992) and Blue in the Face (1995), starred in the Miramax film Flirting With Disaster (1996) and joined Jack Lemmon, Dan Akroyd and Bonnie Hunt in Getting Away with Murder (1996). Tomlin starred opposite Richard Dreyfuss and Jenna Elfman in Buena Vista’s Krippendorf’s Tribe (1998) and co-starred with Maggie Smith, Judi Dench, Joan Plowright and Cher in the Franco Zeffirelli film Tea With Mussolini (1999).

Tomlin then starred with Bruce Willis in Disney’s The Kid (2000) and appeared in a quirky cameo role in Orange County (2002).

Tomlin co-starred with Dustin Hoffman in I Heart Huckabee’s, a David O. Russell comedy that explores the emotional idiosyncrasies of life (2004). She was seen in A Prairie Home Companion (2006), written by Garrison Keillor and directed by Robert Altman, in which she and Meryl Streep appear as a sister-singing act. Tomlin appeared in Paul Schrader’s film, The Walker (2007), co-starring with Woody Harrelson, Kristin Scott-Thomas and Lauren Bacall. Tomlin played a sensitivity-training expert assigned to instruct employees on social and political correctness with Steve Martin as Inspector Clousseau in Pink Panther II (2009).

Tomlin starred in a Paul Weitz movie with Tina Fey and Paul Rudd, Admission (2013), 2017 Winter Program 69

and stars in a second movie which Paul Weitz specifically wrote for Tomlin, Grandma (2015).

Grandma, which received substantial critical and audience praise, was released by Sony Classic Films in August 2015, and has brought Tomlin a Golden Globe nomination for best actress in a movie comedy. For her extensive work in film, Tomlin has received the Crystal Award from Women in Film.

LIVE APPEARANCES Tomlin continues to make appearances around the nation and, in 2006, took her classic characters to Australia for shows in Sydney and Melbourne. In November 2009, Tomlin debuted in Las Vegas at The MGM Grand Hotel in her new show entitled Not Playing with a Full Deck. She returned there for two engagements in 2010. In 2011, she returned to Australia for several concert appearances and participated in the Mardi Gras Festival.

She appeared with Jane Fonda at the May 2015 TED Talks in Monterey, California.

PHILANTHROPY Tomlin is well-known for supporting philanthropic organizations, particularly those focused on animal welfare, civil rights, health care, overcoming homelessness and supporting the LGBTQ community in all aspects of life. She has given countless fund-raising performances for organizations across the country, including The Ann Richards School for Young Women Leaders, Rosie’s Place in Boston, Project Home in Philadelphia and many, many other community action groups.

Tomlin has contributed in other ways to improve conditions for all living things, such as co-founding the Los Angeles LGBT Center’s Lily Tomlin/Jane Wagner Cultural Arts Center. Tomlin and Wagner together also founded the Goosebump Garden at the internationally known LGBT Fenway Health Center in Boston and have been involved in its growth for over 25 years.

As part of her concern for animals, Tomlin earned an Emmy for her narration of the documentary An Apology to Elephants. She has worked with elephant activists all over the country to take elephants out of zoos, is on the boards of Actors and Others for Animals and the Shambala Sanctuary. She also works with Paws Elephant Sanctuary in California. She has received the Petco Founda70

Opening Nights Performing Arts

tion’s Hope Award for being a leader in animal welfare, and she established the Voice for the Animals Foundation’s Lily Award, to highlight just a few of her interests. Tomlin’s humanitarian efforts earned her the Honickman Foundation’s Golden Heart Award for her impact in breaking the cycle of homelessness and poverty.

In addition to her work as an actress, Tomlin devotes much of her attention and effort to a variety of causes, including protection of elephants, women’s issues, AIDS-related organizations, and environmental concerns.

Tomlin can be found on Facebook, Twitter, and the popular website for women, WOWOWOW.com, an online community which is owned and run by women for women of all ages and origins. On New Year’s Eve 2013, Tomlin and Wagner were married in a private ceremony with friends.

Tomlin’s entire career in art, text, photos and videos can be found at lilytomlin.com.

When you Wish Upon a Star, Words by Ned Washington, Music by Leigh Harline, Copyright 1940 by Bourne Company; Copyright Renewed, All Rights Reserved; International Copyright Secured, ASCAP

Smokey Robinson Continued from pg. 35

Once pronounced by Bob Dylan as America’s “greatest living poet,” acclaimed singer-songwriter Smokey Robinson’s career spans over 4 decades of hits. He has received numerous awards including the Grammy Living Legend Award, NARAS Lifetime Achievement Award, Honorary Doctorate (Howard University), Kennedy Center Honors and the National Medal of Arts Award from the President of the United States. He has also been inducted into the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame and the Songwriters’ Hall of Fame.

Born and raised in Detroit, Michigan, Robinson founded The Miracles while still in high school. The group was Berry Gordy’s first vocal group, and it was at Robinson’s suggestion that Gordy started the Motown Record dynasty. Their single of Robinson’s “Shop Around” became Motown’s first #1 hit on the R&B singles chart. In the years following, Robinson continued to pen hits for the group

including “You’ve Really Got a Hold on Me,” “Ooo Baby Baby,” “The Tracks of My Tears,” “Going to a Go-Go,” “More Love,” “Tears of a Clown” (co-written with Stevie Wonder), and “I Second That Emotion.”

The Miracles dominated the R&B scene throughout the 1960’s and early 70’s and Robinson became Vice President of Motown Records serving as in-house producer, talent scout and songwriter.

In addition to writing hits for the Miracles, Robinson wrote and produced hits for other Motown greats including The Temptations, Mary Wells, Brenda Holloway, Marvin Gaye and others. “The Way You Do the Things You Do,” “My Girl,” “Get Ready,” “You Beat Me to the Punch,” “Don’t Mess with Bill,” “Ain’t That Peculiar,” and “My Guy” are just a few of his songwriting triumphs during those years.

John Lennon of The Beatles made countless remarks regarding Robinson’s influence on his music. The Beatles had recorded Robinson and The Miracles’ “You’ve Really Got A Hold On Me” in 1963 and in 1982 another popular British group, The Rolling Stones covered the Robinson and the Miracles’ hit “Going To A Go-Go.” He later turned to a solo career where he continued his tradition of hitmaking with “Just to See Her,” “Quiet Storm,” “Cruisin’,” and “Being with You,” among others.

He remained Vice President of Motown records until the sale of the company, shaping the label’s success with friend and mentor Berry Gordy. Following his tenure at Motown, he continued his impressive touring career and released several successful solo albums.

During the course of his 50-year career in music, Robinson has accumulated more than 4,000 songs to his credit and continues to thrill sold-out audiences around the world with his high tenor voice, impeccable timing, and profound sense of lyric. Never resting on his laurels, Smokey Robinson remains a beloved icon in our musical heritage.

Mandolin Orange Continued from pg. 37

“It’s hard to explain how magic happens when two talented songwriters fit perfectly together. Mandolin Orange (Andrew Marlin and Emily Frantz) seem to just sit back and ride their intuitive harmonies and languid lyricism through songs about faith and life’s little unpredictable changes. Marlin’s lyrics flow into each other, making the melody feel like something that happens on its own. It all feels so effortless and beautiful, you don’t even realize you’ve been sucked in until the songs reach in and tug hard at your heart.” – NPR Music Lean in to Mandolin Orange’s new album, Blindfaller, and it’s bound to happen. You’ll suddenly pick up on the power and devastation lurking in its quietude, the doom hiding beneath its unvarnished beauty. You’ll hear the way it magnifies the intimacy at the heart of the North Carolina duo’s music, as if they created their own musical language as they recorded it.

“We talked about the feel of each song and pointed out loosely who was going to be taking solos, but it was mostly a lot of fresh takes, a lot of eye contact, and a lot of nods and weird winks,” says Andrew Marlin, who anchors the band with fellow multi-instrumentalist and singer Emily Frantz.

Released in September on Yep Roc Records, Blindfaller builds on the acclaim of Mandolin Orange’s breakthrough debut on the label, 2013’s This Side of Jordan, and its follow-up, 2015’s Such Jubilee. Since then they’ve steadily picked up speed and fans they’ve earned from long stretches on the road, including appearances at Newport Folk Festival, Austin City Limits Fest, and Telluride Bluegrass. It’s been an auspicious journey for a pair who casually met at a bluegrass jam session in 2009.

It’s hard to explain how magic happens when two talented songwriters fit perfectly together.

– NPR Music “When we finished Such Jubilee, I started writing these songs with a different goal in mind. I thought about how I would write songs for somebody else to record,” Marlin explains. “I ended up with a bunch of songs like that, but we chose ones that I still felt personally connected to.”

Holed up at the Rubber Room studio in Chapel Hill, N.C., with a full band this time around, they laid down the tracks in a week between touring. They’ve always been keen on the notion that drawn-out recording sessions don’t necessarily yield better results. A good song, and just one good take, will always shine through any studio sorcery.

The passage of time, and the regret that often accompanies it, courses through these songs.

“When did all the good times turn to hard lines on my face/ And lead me so far from my place right by your side?” Marlin ruminates on “My Blinded Heart.” In fact, there’s heartache by the numbers on Blindfaller. If you didn’t know better, you’d swear “Picking Up Pieces” is a tearjerker George Jones or Willie Nelson sang back in the early 1970s. It’s a Mandolin Orange original, of course, and also a poignant reminder of the economy and grace with which Marlin imbues his songs— say what’s important and scrap the rest.

inspired by a Tom Waits lyric he misheard).

But there’s also room for detours. Straight out of a honky tonk, “Hard Travelin’” lets the band shift into overdrive. A freewheeling ode to life on the road, it had been kicking around for a while but never fit on previous releases.

As for the album title, it’s meant to evoke a sense of wonder, of contemplation. A “faller” is someone who fells trees, and in this case that person is blind to his/her own actions and those of the world. The spectral cover photo, by Scott McCormick, is open to interpretation, too: Either those trees are engulfed in flames or sunlight is pouring through them. It’s up to you.

“We wanted different vibes and different intuitions on these tracks,” Marlin says, “and I feel like we really captured that.”

Richard Thompson & The Blind Boys of Alabama Continued from pg. 39

RICHARD THOMPSON Having co-founded the groundbreaking group Fairport Convention as a teenager in the 60’s, Richard Thompson and his mates virtually invented British Folk Rock. By the

A country dirge with soulful washes of pedal steel and mandolin, “Wildfire” details the lingering, present-day devastation of slavery and the Civil War, with Marlin’s voice locking into close harmonies with Frantz on the chorus. “Take This Heart of Gold” opens with perhaps the best classic-country line you’ll hear all year: “Take this heart of gold and melt it down.” (Marlin admits it was 2017 Winter Program 71

Proudly Supporting Opening Nights

Proud supporters and sponsors of Opening Nights Performing Arts

Local Commitment, Global Results.

We know Commercial Real Estate!

850-224-2300 | www.NAITALCOR.com

SATURDAY MATINÉE OF THE ARTS TALLAHAS S E E MU S EU M

F EB R U A R Y 1 1 , 2017

Larry & Jo Deeb Opening Nights...

A great reason to be in Tallahassee!

72

Opening Nights Performing Arts

Join us for Saturday Matinée of the Arts, Tallahassee Museum’s FREE annual event featuring 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 museum’s grounds.

For more information visit: tallahasseemuseum.org

age of 21 he left the band to pursue his own career, followed by a decade long musical partnership with his then-wife Linda, to over 30 years as a highly successful solo artist.

A wide range of musicians have recorded Thompson’s music including Robert Plant, Elvis Costello, REM, Del McCoury, Bonnie Raitt, Los Lobos, David Byrne, Don Henley and many others.

His most recent CD, Electric, was produced by the great Nashville musician Buddy Miller (Band of Joy, Patty Griffin.). Electric continues to receive positive praise with Rolling Stone declaring, “…the excellence is undeniable.”

THE BLIND BOYS OF ALABAMA Touring throughout the South during the Jim Crow era of the 1940s and 1950s, the Blind Boys flourished thanks to their unique sound, which blended the close harmonies of early jubilee gospel with the more fervent improvisations of hard gospel. In the early 1960s, the band sang at benefits for Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and were a part of the soundtrack to the Civil Rights movement.

But as the years passed, gospel fans started to drift away and follow the many singers who had originated in the church but were now recording secular popular music. And the Blind Boys, who refused many offers to ‘cross over’ to secular music, also saw their audi-

ences dwindle. However, the Blind Boys persevered and their time came again, starting in the 1980s with their starring role in the Obie Award-winning musical “The Gospel at Colonus,” which began a new chapter in their incredible history. It’s almost unbelievable that a group of blind, African-American singers, who started out touring during a time of whites-only bathrooms, restaurants and hotels, went on to win five Grammy Awards, a Lifetime Achievement Grammy, be inducted into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame, and to perform at the White House for three different presidents.

Few would have expected them to still be going strong—stronger than ever, even—so many years after they first joined voices, but they’ve proved as productive and as musically ambitious in recent years as they did in the beginning. In 2001, they released Spirit of the Century on Peter Gabriel’s Real World label, mixing traditional church tunes with songs

by Tom Waits and the Rolling Stones, and won the first of their Grammy Awards. The next year they backed Gabriel on his album Up and joined him on a world tour, although a bigger break may have come when David Simon chose their cover of Waits’ ‘Way Down in the Hole’ as the theme song for the first season of HBO’s acclaimed series The Wire. Subsequent Grammy-winning albums have found them working with the likes of Ben Harper, Aaron Neville, Mavis Staples,

The Preservation Hall Jazz Band, and Willie Nelson.

In 2013 the band worked with Justin Vernon (of Bon Iver) to release I’ll Find A Way, a powerful collection of gospel and spiritual songs new and old, featuring some of the Blind Boys’ most fervent vocals as well as contributions by a new generation of Blind Boys fans, including Merrill Garbus of tUnEyArDs, Patty Griffin, and Justin Vernon himself.

Their most recent album, Talkin’ Christmas!, a collaboration with Taj Mahal, continues the band’s streak of creating original and interesting work. It includes new versions of Christmas standards, covers of hidden gospel gems, and seven brand-new holiday songs— six of which are the first Christmas songs ever penned by the Blind Boys themselves. The new original songs include the title track ‘Talkin’ Christmas!,’ a funky tribute to the power of Christmas featuring Money Mark on keyboards, and the compassionate ‘What Can I Do?,’ which features Taj Mahal on vocals and is one of two songwriting collaborations with Stax Records soul legend William Bell. The album also features a hand-clapping rearrangement of the usually-slower classic ‘Do You Hear What I Hear?’ and a refreshingly intimate, acoustic version of ‘Silent Night.’

The Blind Boys’ live shows are roof-raising 2017 Winter Program 73

musical events that appeal to audiences of all cultures, as evidenced by an international itinerary that has taken them to virtually every continent. The Blind Boys of Alabama have attained the highest levels of achievement in a career that spans over 75 years and shows no signs of diminishing. “We appreciate the accolades and we thank God for them,” says Jimmy Carter, a founding member and the Blind Boys’ current leader. “But we’re not interested in money or anything other than singing gospel. We had no idea when we started that we would make it this far. The secret to our longevity is, we love what we do.

And when you love what you do, that keeps you motivated. That keeps you alive.”

Chris Botti Continued from pg. 41

“I was speaking fluent Italian before we came back,” he recalls. “But, sadly, I’ve forgotten most of it.” That he still feels a firm connection with his Italian roots, however, was fully manifest in the title song he composed, with David Foster, for the album, Italia.

A different, but equally significant connection took place when Botti was twelve, and he heard Miles Davis play “My Funny Valen-

tine.” The impact it had not only persuaded him to make a lifetime commitment to the trumpet, it also launched the affection for melody, space and balance that have been intrinsic aspects of Botti’s musical vision.

After attending Indiana University, and studying with the highly regarded jazz educator David Baker, the great trumpet teacher Bill Adam, jazz trumpeter Woody Shaw and jazz saxophonist George Coleman, he moved to New York in the mid-‘80s.

His early career was spent crafting his skills in settings reaching from the Buddy Rich Big Band and Frank Sinatra to Natalie Cole and Joni Mitchell. Throughout the ‘90s and into the new century, Botti played extensively with Paul Simon, and had an especially creative association with Sting.

Those gigs–and those relationships–were, he says, powerful learning experiences. “Watching artists like Sting and Paul and Joni Mitchell,” explains Botti, “how they get in and out of songs, how they introduce people, whether they would do this or that sort of thing, what they would say about one of their players. All that was a huge asset for me. I wouldn’t be the performer I am today without that background.”

Now a major artist in his own right, performing worldwide, selling more than three million albums, he has found a form of creative expression that begins in jazz and expands beyond the limits of any single genre.

With Impressions and the albums that preceded it, Chris Botti has thoroughly established himself as one of the important, innovative figures of the contemporary music world.

Lang Lang Continued from pg. 43

If one word applies to Lang Lang, to the musician, to the man, to his worldview, to those who come into contact with him, it is “inspiration”. It resounds like a musical motif through his life and career. He inspires millions with his open-hearted, emotive playing, whether it be in intimate recitals or on the grandest of stages – such as the 2014 74

Opening Nights Performing Arts

World Cup concert in Rio, with Placido Domingo, to celebrate the final game; the 56th and 57th GRAMMY Award two years in a row, where he performed with Metallica and Pharrell Williams; the Opening Ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Olympics, where more than four billion people around the world viewed his performance; the Last Night of the Proms at London’s Royal Albert Hall, or the Liszt 200th birthday concert with the Philadelphia Orchestra and Charles Dutoit which was broadcast live in more than 300 movie theaters around the United States and 200 cinemas across Europe (the first classical music cinema cast to be headlined by a solo artist). He forms enduring musical partnerships with the world’s greatest artists, from conductors such as Daniel Barenboim, Gustavo Dudamel and Sir Simon Rattle, to artists from outside of classical music—among them dubstep dancer Marquese “nonstop” Scott, king of the crooners Julio Inglesias and jazz titan Herbie Hancock. He even builds relationships with corporations who will help him get classical music to ever-more people— And he builds cultural bridges between East and West, frequently introducing Chinese music to Western audiences, and vice versa.

Yet he never forgets what first inspired, and continues to inspire him. Great artists, above all the great composers – Liszt, Chopin and the others – whose music he now delights in bringing to others. Even that famous old Tom and Jerry cartoon “The Cat Concerto” which introduced him, as a child, to the music of Liszt – and that childlike excitement at the discovery of music now surely stays with him and propels him to what he calls “his second career”, bringing music into the lives of children around the world, both through his work for the United Nations as a Messenger of Peace focusing on global education and through his own Lang Lang International Music Foundation. As he inspires, he is inspired.

Time Magazine named Lang Lang in the “Time 100”, citing him as a symbol of the youth of China, and its future. Lang Lang is cultural ambassador for Shenzhen and Shenyang. And if the Chinese passion for piano isn’t solely due to him, he has played no small part as a role model – a phenomenon coined

by The Today Show as “the Lang Lang effect.”

Steinway Pianos for the first time named a

model after a single artist when they intro-

duced “The Lang Lang Piano” to China, specially designed for education.

Hollande. Of many landmark events, he was honored to perform for President Obama and former President Hu Jin-Tao of China at the

And the child Lang Lang was and who, per-

White House State Dinner, the Diamond

approved of the way he gives back to youth.

abeth II at Buckingham Palace, the 70th An-

students at a time in concert, and dedicated

and the 500th Anniversary of the founding of

tion to cultivating tomorrow’s top pianists,

Honors include being added as one of the

haps, is always with him, would surely have

Jubilee celebratory concert for Queen Eliz-

He mentors prodigies, convenes 100 piano

niversary celebration of the United Nations,

his Lang Lang International Music Founda-

the City of Havana in Cuba.

music education at the forefront of technology, and building a young audience.

Lang Lang is managed by: Columbia Artists Music LLC 1790 Broadway, New York, NY 10019 camimusic.com, Jean-Jacques Cesbron Lang Lang is an Exclusive Recording Artist of Sony Music langlang.com | langlangfoundation.org facebook.com/langlangpiano twitter.com/lang_lang

World Economic Forum’s 250 Young Global Leaders, Honorary Doctorates from the

Lang Lang has been featured on every major

Royal College of Music, Manhattan School

He has performed for international dignitar-

est prize awarded by China’s Ministry of

U.N. Ban Ki-moon, four US presidents,

France’s Medal of the Order of Arts and Let-

President Sarkozy and President Francois

Château de Versailles in Paris.

TV network and in magazines worldwide.

of Music and New York University, the high-

ies including the Secretary-General of the

Culture, Germany’s Order of Merit and

President Koehler of Germany, former French

ters, and the first ever Ambassador of the

Pablo Sáinz Villegas Continued from pg. 47

PABLO SÁINZ VILLEGAS Known for a sound so rich and full that it does not need amplification, Villegas’s concerto collaborations regularly inspire immediate reengagements. Since his international breakthrough after his triumphs at the 2003 Tárrega Competition and 2006 Parkening Competition, he has appeared with orchestras in more than 30 countries, including the New York, Los Angeles, and Israel Philharmonics, and the Boston, San Francisco, Houston, and Toronto Symphonies. He made a series of important debuts under the baton of Frühbeck de Burgos, and has enjoyed fruitful collaborations with conductors including Giancarlo Guerrero, Miguel Harth-Bedoya, Carlos Kalmar, Jean-Jacques Kantorow, Helmut Lachenmann, Juanjo Mena, Alondra de la Parra, and composer George Crumb.

Last season, Villegas enjoyed an increased American presence, making debuts with seven U.S. orchestras. For his first appearances with ensembles including the Pittsburgh, Fort Worth, San Antonio, and Oregon Symphonies, he played Rodrigo’s soul-stirring Concierto de Aranjuez, a signature work that also served as the vehicle for his collaboration with Spain’s National Radio & Television Orchestra (RTVE). In recital, he appeared at Carnegie Hall, the New York City Classical Guitar Society, the Guitar Foundation of America Convention, the Grand Teton M usic Festival, Puerto Rico’s Festival Casals, and Italy’s Merano Festival, as well as in duet with violinist Augustin Hadelich at Ohio’s Linton Music Series and Germany’s Rheingau Music Festival.

2017 Winter Program 75

to de Aranjuez with the ensemble. His previous releases include Histoire du Tango, a collection of violin-guitar works with Augustin Hadelich for the AVIE label, and Manuel Ponce’s Concierto del sur, a platinum title that he recorded with Alondra de la Parra for Sony Classical. Besides inspiring rapturous reviews on both sides of the Atlantic, Villegas has been featured on Spain’s national television and radio, and in such leading Spanish outlets as El Mundo. His U.S. coverage includes interviews on Fox 5, WQXR, and other local stations, and a cover story in Classical Guitar magazine.

In 2007, Villegas founded the Music Without Borders Legacy (MWBL), a non-profit organization that seeks to bridge cultural, social, and political boundaries through classical music. Since its inception, the foundation has reached more than 15,000 at-risk children and youth around the world, through music programs in the U.S.A., Mexico, and Spain, and is now supported by La Caixa Bank.

Villegas also serves as cultural ambassador for La Rioja’s Vivanco Foundation and its Museum of Wine Culture, considered the most prestigious wine museum in the world.

The subtlety, passion, technical command, and dramatic flair that Villegas displayed made an evening to be remembered. - San Francisco Classical Voice Dedicated to expanding the guitar’s repertory and audience, Villegas is an ardent champion of new music. Besides John Williams, whose Rounds he premiered at the 2012 Parkening Competition in Malibu, he has worked closely with contemporary composers including Sérgio Assad, of whose Concerto of Rio de Janeiro, written for and dedicated to Villegas, he gave the world and European premieres at the Guitar Foundation of America Convention and Cordoba Guitar Festival.

76

Opening Nights Performing Arts

He has also given first performances of works

by Maria Dolores, and looks forward to premiering a new concerto by Lorenzo Palomo in the 2016-17 season.

As an active recording artist and in addition to making his Harmonia Mundi debut with Americano, Villegas recently recorded a trio of Rodrigo concertos with the National Orchestra of Spain, thereby becoming the first in more than 20 years to capture the Concier-

Born in 1977 in La Rioja in Northern Spain, Villegas was inspired to take guitar lessons after seeing Segovia on television. He gave his first public performance at just seven years old, and went on to graduate at the top of his class at the Royal Conservatoire in Madrid.

After several years in Germany, in 2001 he relocated to New York City, where he studied for his Masters and Doctorate with David Starobin at the Manhattan School of Music, and where he lives to this day.

NACHO ARIMANY Nacho Arimany is a master ethnic percussionist, multi-instrumentalist and composer. His music career began at age six as a classical piano student and singer with the Spanish National Choir and Orchestra, and he now works as a producer, performer, musician, educator and musician for the brain.

Beyond his early classical training, Arimany has studies traditional rhythms from around the world, specializing in North African and Flamenco rhythms. He has a degree in Pedagogy and Philosophy from Universidad Complutense de Madrid. He has taught class-

PATRON SERVICES FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

BUY TICKETS ONLINE

WHERE DO I PARK?

openingnights.fsu.edu

Parking options vary from venue to venue, but general parking is available for the majority of performances in the garages on the corner of Pensacola and Copeland Streets (St. Augustine Garage) and Call and Macomb Streets (Call Street Garage).

$3.00 Ticket Office processing fee per ticket

To learn more about parking specific to each venue, please visit our website at openingnights.fsu.edu.

BY PHONE

WHEN DO DOORS OPEN?

850.644.6500

Venue doors open 30 minutes prior to a performance. Guests are encouraged to arrive at least 15 minutes before a performance begins.

$3.00 Ticket Office processing fee per ticket

WHAT HAPPENS IF I ARRIVE LATE TO A PERFORMANCE? Latecomers to events will be seated at the discretion of the house manager or ushers and in accordance with artist preferences at a suitable break in the performance.

WHAT IF I’VE LOST MY TICKETS? Lost or misplaced tickets may be reprinted. Contact the FSU Fine Arts Ticket Office at tickets@fsu.edu or 850.644.6500 for details.

CAN I REFUND MY TICKETS? Opening Nights does not issue refunds for tickets.

IN PERSON Florida State University Fine Arts Ticket Office No processing fee per ticket 530 W. Call Street Tuesday–Saturday, 11:00 am–4:00 pm

MAY I BRING FOOD OR DRINKS INTO THE VENUE? Most Opening Nights venues prohibit food and drinks unless otherwise noted. Please visit our website to find out if food and/or beverages are permitted at your event of interest.

CAN I BRING MY CHILDREN? We offer many events enjoyable to audiences of all ages. Children must have tickets regardless of age and must be able to sit quietly throughout a performance. Children (and adults) who cause any disturbances will be politely asked to leave.

ARE EVENTS ACCESSIBLE TO PATRONS WITH SPECIAL NEEDS? We are committed to ensuring our performances are accessible and enjoyable to all patrons.

Disabled parking spots are available at all venues on a first-come first-serve basis.

Accessible seats are available in all price ranges in all venues. Please contact the Fine Arts Ticket Office at 850.644.6500 to purchase tickets.

STUDENT TICKETS AV AILABLE F OR MOST P E RFORM ANC ES

KEEP IN TOUCH Connect with us online and get up-to-the-minute announcements & features:

openingnights.fsu.edu

Seats for visually impaired patrons are reserved for each performance. Please contact the Fine Arts Ticket Office at 850.644.6500 to purchase tickets.

Assistive listening devices (ALDs) are available at many venues, including Ruby Diamond Concert Hall, the Nancy Smith Fichter Dance Theatre, and the Richard G. Fallon Theatre. Please ask a house manager at the performance about acquiring an ALD.

HOW CAN I VOLUNTEER MY TIME TO HELP OPENING NIGHTS? Please visit our website to fill out a registration form.

COVER PHOTO COURTESY

WME Entertainment 2017 Winter Program 77

es at many conservatories and universities around the world, and is a faculty member at New York Open Center’s Sound and Music Institute where he teaches principles of Sound Healing. Arimany has also developed drumming programs for women and juveniles in jail and detention, rhythm and tempo-based groups for children with sensory processing disorder and autism, as well as adapting live percussive sound for clinical use in Pediatric Therapeutics. His innovative technique of Elemental Sounds and Rhythms is based on natural patterns of growth that promote brain function and body alignment. He is the creator of the “Arimany Method”, a sound and movement meditation that helps the true voice of the individual to be released through creating new architecture in the brain.

Arimany’s critically acclaimed first album Silence-Light (2007, Fresh Sound Records), with the Nacho Arimany World-Flamenco Sextet was considered one of the Top 10 Jazz albums of the Year by All About Jazz. Arimany has performed and recorded with Lionel Loueke, Lizz Wright, Angelique Kidjo, and Farah Siraj among others. In 2014 Arimany debuted at Rockefeller University In Time, a 9-CD rhythm-based music-listening therapeutic method to improve brain function.

It was composed, performed, and produced

by Arimany, in collaboration with Sheila Allen and Advanced Brain Technologies.

Around the world, he has been critically acclaimed as a flamenco percussionist and innovator with the most important Flamenco 78

Opening Nights Performing Arts

dancers and legends like Joaquin Cortés, Rocío Molina, Rafaela Carrasco, and Manuel Liñan among others. He has performed in venues such as the Rubin Museum in New York City, Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall in the fall of 2015 as a vocal soloist ad percussionist with the Macedonian Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra and pianist/composer Duke Bodav. nachoarimany.com

PEDRO GIRAUDO Originally from Córdoba Argentina, Pedro Giraudo moved to New York City in 1996.

A highly versatile bassist, composer, conductor and arranger, he has become an in-demand

artist performing in a wide variety of musical projects, both with his own award winning ensembles and as a member of several prominent ensembles ranging from tango to jazz.

Pedro Giraudo has collaborated with Pablo Ziegler, Paquito D’Rivera, and Latin American icon Ruben Blades with whom he won 2 GRAMMYS, as well as jazz living legends Branford Marsalis, Kenny Garret, and violin virtuoso Philippe Quint among many others.

He has participated in numerous jazz and music festivals throughout the Americas, Europe, and Asia, and performed in venues such as The Blue Note (Japan & USA), Birdland (Austria & USA), London’s Queen Elizabeth Hall, Jazz Festival Royale in Thailand, Kennedy Center (Washington DC), Jazz Standard, Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall (NYC). Pedro Giraudo has also conducted the world renowned WDR Big Band and Cologne Contemporary Jazz Orchestra. He has played bass on dozens of recordings for the world’s leading labels including Sony, Warner, Nonesuch, Naxos and Harmonia Mundi, and on movies including Oliver Stone’s ‘Wall Street II’. He is also the principal bassist of the Música de Cámara String Orchestra. Pedro Giraudo is endorsed by the gold standard in string makers: D’Addario and the outstanding Keeley Electronics. His award winning discography includes Cuentos (Zoho 2014), Córdoba (Zoho Music 2011), El Viaje (2009) , Desconsuelo (2005), Mr Vivo (2002) and Destiny of Flowers (2000).

UPCOMING PERFORMANCES SPRING 2017

MARCH 7

Rosi Golan

MARCH 23

Manual Cinema: ADA/AVA

MARCH 25

A Movie You Haven’t Seen

MARCH 29

Some Beasts

APRIL 13

Wayne Shorter Quartet with FSU’s Chamber Winds

APRIL 4 Anne-Sophie Mutter

Works by Saint-Saëns, Mozart & Respighi

Stay tuned for the 2017–2018 Season Announcement!

APRIL 19

Hunky Dory

850.644.6500 openingnights.fsu.edu