Wisconsin Union Theater Brochure, 2011-2012

Madeleine Peyroux

Seun Kuti

Caroline Goulding

Pilobolus

Wisconsin Union

Th eater 2011- 2012

Following the 2011-2012 Season, the Wisconsin Union Theater will close for a historic renovation. The 2012-2013 and 2013-2014 Seasons will occur in other venues.

D e a r Pat r on, The Wisconsin Union Theater has provided superb performances by outstanding artists for the past 73 years. It is a great history and we’re proud of it. Our season this year is no different. Soon performers like Sweet Honey in the Rock, Terence Blanchard, Pilobolus, and Peter Serkin will join names like Louis Armstrong, Martha Graham, and Yo-Yo Ma in our historical archives. In our pursuit of excellence at the Wisconsin Union Theater we not only remember and learn from our history, but look ahead to our bright future as a source of great concerts, education, inspiration, and joy to the UW campus and the Madison community. Our 73rd season is the final full season before we go dark for two years for needed renovations to the theater. A public, end-of-season celebration will take place in May 2012 and we hope you will attend. We continue to explore programming options for the two years during which we will be closed, and hope to maintain our strong relationship with you and the community during that time. When we reopen in Fall of 2014 we look forward to welcoming you to an improved space and celebrating the theater’s 75th anniversary!

The foundation of our success has always been broad community support from those who love the theater and its programs. As we look to the future, your participation makes a difference. Please stay tuned throughout the season for more information about opportunities to contribute to the building project.

Ralph Russo, Theater Director

Season

2011 - 2012

TICKETS

online | by phone | box offices

800 langdon | 821 university

Wisconsin Union

Th eater

2011- 2012 Great History. Bright Future.

93rd Annual Concert Series Academy of St. Martin in the Fields Chamber Ensemble

Dobet Gnahoré

Leahy

Friday, November 11, 2011, 9pm, The Sett, Union South

Friday, May 4, 2012, 8pm

Gaelic Storm

Friday, September 30, 2011, 7:30pm

Friday, February 17, 2012, 8pm

Caroline Goulding, violin Recital:

Sierra Maestra

Thursday, November 3, 2011, 7:30pm Concert with UW Chamber Orchestra:

Saturday, November 5, 2011, 7:30pm

Great Hall Dance Party Friday, March 23, 2012, 8pm Seun Kuti and Egypt 80

Thursday, April 12, 2012, 8pm

David Finckel, Wu Han & Philip Setzer

Special Events

Fan Taylor Memorial Concert, Friday, February 24, 2012, 7:30pm

Sweet Honey in the Rock

Pro Arte Quartet with christopher taylor, piano Free!

Saturday, March 24, 2012, 8pm

Friday, October 7, 2011, 8pm Jay Ungar & Molly Mason

Peter Serkin, piano

Sunday, October 23, 2011, 7:30pm, Morphy Hall

Saturday, May 5, 2012, 7:30pm

Béla Fleck and the Flecktones

World Stage Series Madison World Music Festival. Free!

Thursday-Saturday, September 15-17, 2011 Yamato Drummers of Japan

“Gamushara – The Beat of Courage” Thursday, October 27, 2011, 8pm

Thursday, March 1, 2012, 8pm The 21st Annual Marcia Légère Student Play Festival

Free!

Saturday, March 10, 2012, 7pm Sunday, March 11, 2012, 3pm Neale-Silva Young Artists Competition Winners Recital

Free!

Sunday, April 29, 2012, 12:30pm

Madeleine Peyroux

Marlin Darrah: Pakistan and Afghanistan – A Photographer’s Journey from Kabul to the Khyber Pass & The Tribal Zone

Opening: Nellie McKay Wednesday, October 12, 2011, 8 pm

Monday & Tuesday, October 31 & November 1, 2011, 7:30 pm

Terence Blanchard

Fran and Brooke Reidelberger: Colorful Mexico!

Jazz Series

Friday, October 21, 2011, 8pm Village Vanguard Jazz Orchestra

Saturday, February 4, 2012, 8pm Isthmus Jazz Festival

Free!

Friday-Saturday, June 1 & 2, 2012

Dance Events A Classical Encounter with Savion Glover

Thursday, November 10, 2011, 8pm Pilobolus Dance Theater

Saturday, April 14, 2012, 8pm

53rd Annual Travel Adventure Series Mary Lee and Sid Nolan: Cruising the Eastern Mediterranean

Monday and Tuesday, November 28 & 29, 2011, 7:30 pm Clint and Sue Denn: Egypt’s Treasures and Cruising the Nile

Monday & Tuesday, March 26 & 27, 2012, 7:30 pm Karin Muller: Along the Royal Inca Road Monday & Tuesday, May 7

& 8, 2012, 7:30 pm

Keyboard Conversations © with Jeffrey Siegel A Beethoven Bonanza

Wednesday, November 16, 2011, 7:30pm, Mills Hall A Musical Love Triangle

Wednesday, May 2, 2012, 7:30pm, Mills Hall

Monday & Tuesday, September 26 & 27, 2011, 7:30pm

union theater.wisc.edu «| 608.265.ARTS

Wisconsin Union

Th eater

2011- 2012 Great History. Bright Future.

Madison World Music Festival Free!

Thursday-Saturday, September 15-17, 2011 France’s Sergent Garcia, Comoros Islands’ Sufi singer Nawal, Nepal’s Kutumba—and many more. At the Memorial Union and Willy Street Fair.

Sweet Honey in the Rock Friday, October 7, 2011, 8pm

Academy of St. Martin in the Fields Chamber Ensemble

“This complex melding of distinct female voices, of powerful melodic lines conveying impassioned social justice sentiments, seems…the product of geologic time, the work of eons, resulting in a sound with the solidity of a mountain, a forest, a river, or maybe just people, just us.” RootsWorld

Friday, September 30, 2011, 7:30pm Program: Brahms: Sextet in G-Major, Op 36 Shostakovich: Prelude and Scherzo for String Octet, Op. 11 Mendelssohn: Octet for strings in Eb-Major, Op. 20

Great history.

Paul Robeson , the legendary African-American bass-baritone, opened the Concert Series in 1941 with a chorus of UW-Madison

Madeleine Peyroux Opening: Nellie McKay

Students, singing “The Ballad of

Wednesday, October 12, 2011, 8pm

America.” He returned in 1944 to

“For Ms. Peyroux, [Billie] Holiday’s music is a template from which she has branched out to refine an enigmatic, low-key personal style that is all her own.”

New York Times. Opening is the fabulous Nellie McKay, winner of the Theater World Award.

perform in Shakespeare’s Othello.

The casting of a black Othello with a white Desdemona made theatrical history on Broadway and on tour.

Season

2011 - 2012

TICKETS

online | by phone | box offices

800 langdon | 821 university

Yamato 10.27.11 @ 8pm

Yamato, Drummers of Japan “Gamushara—The Beat of Courage”

Thursday, October 27, 2011, 8pm

Terence Blanchard

A Japanese group of Taiko drummers fusing percussion, choreography and humor. “The show is simply amazing to behold, a tightly-knit combination of music, choreography and special-effects lighting that assaults the eye, ears and –especially with the titanic odaiko drum– the heart.” Pegasusnews.com

Friday, October 21, 2011, 8pm Trumpeter, bandleader, and arranger, Terence Blanchard played with the Lionel Hampton Orchestra, recorded a stunning 22 albums, won five Grammys and received 12 Grammy nominations.

Caroline Goulding, violin Recital: Jay Ungar & Molly Mason Sunday, October 23, 2011, 7:30pm Morphy Hall Garrison Keillor says that “Jay and Molly make music that is simple and overwhelming... joyful and full of feeling... an apotheosis of American traditional music.”

Grammy-winning and Emmy-nominated, their Ashokan Farewell became the musical hallmark of Ken Burns’ “The Civil War” on PBS.

Thursday, November 3, 2011, 7:30pm

Caroline Goulding with UW Chamber Orchestra, Mendelssohn concerto Saturday, November 5, 2011, 7:30pm “A precociously gifted virtuoso. Indeed… she’s already a violinist of impressive technical polish and musical maturity...” Gramophone

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Savion Glover 11.10.11 @ 8pm

A Classical Encounter with Savion Glover Thursday, November 10, 2011, 8pm “He is the most famous tap dancer to have emerged in decades. He has been hailed as the greatest tap dancer who has ever lived by people well qualified to pass such judgment.” New York Times

Great history.

Emanual Ax, one of the best

known concert pianists of the 21st

Dobet GnahorE

century, performed in our hall many

Friday, November 11, 2011, 9pm, The Sett, Union South

times: In 1975, after winning the

Milstein; again in 1977; with Yo-Yo

Hailing from the Ivory Coast, Dobet Gnahoré has won a 2010 Grammy Award for Best Urban/Alternative performance. Says the BBC, “[Gnahore’s] gorgeous voice cuts through to magical effect.” And her dancing is astounding.

Ma in 1982, 1984, and 1990; with the

Keyboard Conversations ® with Jeffrey Siegel

Young Concert Artists International Auditions, with violinist Nathan

Cleveland Quartet in 1986 and in

A Beethoven Bonanza

1995; and with clarinetist Richard

Wednesday, November 16, 2011, 7:30pm, Mills Hall

Stolzman in 2003.

Season

2011 - 2012

The lighthearted, humorous Sonata Opus 31, No. 3, the tragic fiery Sonata Pathetique Opus 13, and the transcendent Sonata Opus 109, written after deafness had engulfed the composer.

TICKETS

online | by phone | box offices

800 langdon | 821 university

Wisconsin Union

Th eater

2011- 2012 Great History. Bright Future.

Great history.

One of the most influential and important jazz musicians of the 20th century,

Miles Davis delighted

local jazz fans here on April 21, 1971. Considered a great innovator, he used to hold nightly jam sessions at two of New York’s nightclubs for

Village Vanguard Jazz Orchestra Opening: UW-Madison Jazz Orchestra

Saturday, February 4, 2012, 8pm Winner of the 2009 Grammy Award for Best Large Jazz Ensemble, with nine Grammy nominations and two awards since 1995. “There probably isn’t a big band in the country that can rival the bullish precision of this one...Not only is the clockwork impeccable, but it takes risks…and has exceptional soloists in every section.”

Gary Giddins, The Village Voice

several years, much like the Village vanguard Jazz Orchestra.

David Finckel, Wu Han & Philip Setzer piano trio Fan Taylor Memorial Concert

Friday, February 24, 2012, 7:30pm “Sparkling, balanced performances…Fresh, refreshing and new,” says Francis Church, former music critic of the Richmond News Leader. The directors of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center in New York join with the Emerson String Quartet’s violinist for a memorable concert.

Gaelic Storm Friday, February 17, 2012, 8pm Gaelic Storm rocked the theater in 2011, playing to an enthusiastic sell-out crowd. We welcome them back for another night of great Celtic music. “All five wield their traditional instruments with masterful play, but they’re even better at being playful with each other and their audience.” Iowa City Gazette

Bela Fleck and the Flecktones Thursday, March 1, 2012, 8pm Groundbreaking banjoist/composer/bandleader Béla Fleck has reconvened the original Béla Fleck & The Flecktones, the extraordinary initial line-up which includes pianist/harmonica player Howard Levy, bassist Victor Wooten, and percussionist/drumitarist Roy “Futureman” Wooten.

union theater.wisc.edu «| 608.265.ARTS

Wisconsin Union

Th eater

2011- 2012 Great History. Bright Future.

The 21st Annual Marcia Legere Student Play Festival Free!

Saturday, March 10, 2012, 7pm Sunday, March 11, 2012, 3pm Play Circle Plays written, directed and acted by tomorrow’s stars!

Sierra Maestra Great Hall Dance Party!

Friday, March 23, 2012, 8pm Boasting several members of the Buena Vista Social Club, Sierra Maestra has been leading the Cuban music scene ever since the late 1970s. Known as the Guardians of Son Music, their hugely infectious dance music never fails to get crowds up on their feet and dancing.

Pro Arte Quartet 100th Anniversary Celebration with Christopher Taylor, piano Free!

Seun Kuti and Egypt 80 Thursday, April 12, 2012, 8pm Seun Kuti, youngest son of legendary Nigerian afrobeat musician Fela Kuti, leads his father’s former band, Egypt 80. “He’s a force to be reckoned with” says Jon Lusk of the BBC. Adds the L.A. Times, “[Kuti is] a musical voice able to deftly levitate a heavy-duty mess of funk, soul, African high life and defiance that would have buckled the knees of lesser artists.”

Saturday March 24, 2012, 8pm Listen to the commissioned Piano Quintet No. 2

by William Bolcom and celebrate the quartet’s 100th anniversary.

Great history.

Trinidad-born

Pearl Primus

graced the stage in her performance of “Dark Rhythms” in February of 1948. A review in Wisconsin High Times described her as “a dancer of uncommon gifts, combining a powerful, wellcontrolled body with a finely developed emotional range.”

Season

2011 - 2012

Pilobolus Dance Theater Saturday, April 14, 2012, 8pm Pilobolus, says the New York Times, is “beyond category…The troupe…is known for its antic visual wit; unbridled, even slapstick athleticism; and periodic lack of clothing… The Pilobolus style…employs the human body as pure sculptural matter, with dancers linking and unlinking, twisting and tumbling to create an everchanging series of forms, many evocative of the natural world.”

TICKETS

online | by phone | box offices

800 langdon | 821 university

Sierra Maestra 3.23.12 @ 8pm

Great history.

Miriam Makeba , AKA Mama Africa, sang at the Theater twice in the 1960s – October 1, 1960, and

Keyboard Conversations ® with Jeffrey Siegel

A Musical Love Triangle

Wednesday, May 2, 2012, 7:30pm, Mills Hall Music of Clara Wieck inspired by Robert Schumann and Johannes Brahms, music of Brahms and Schumann inspired by Clara!

again on October 29, 1962. She was the first African artist to popularize African music in the U.S. AND around the world

Neale-Silva Young Artists Competition Winners Recital Free!

Sunday, April 29, 2012, 12:30pm Presented in collaboration with Wisconsin Public Radio, this free concert showcases the best young musicians in Wisconsin.

Leahy Friday, May 4, 2012, 8pm A Canadian powerhouse of eight musical brothers and sisters who have been playing together their entire lives. Winners of the Juno Award-the Canadian Grammy- they list the music of Cape Breton Island as a strong influence, as well as Scottish, Irish, Canadian step-dancing, German and French influences.

union theater.wisc.edu «| 608.265.ARTS

Wisconsin Union

Th eater

2011- 2012 Great History. Bright Future.

The Theater Season is generously supported by: American Family Insurance, Anonymous Fund, Associated Students of Madison, Dane County Cultural Affairs Commission, ETC, Evjue Foundation, Greyhound Bus, Madison College, National Endowment for the Arts, UW Credit Union, Wisconsin Arts Board.

Peter Serkin, Piano Saturday, May 5, 2012, 7:30pm With three Grammy nominations, Serkin is recognized as an artist of passion and integrity, one of the most thoughtful and individualistic musicians performing today. “[He has a] gift for devising adventurous fare,” says the New York Times. “That the playing of this esteemed pianist was probing, brilliant and full of imagination goes without saying.”

Barbara and Frank Manley Cultural Arts Fund, Fan Taylor Fund for the Performing Arts, H. Douglas and Elizabeth Weaver Fund for the Performing Arts, Jean Hodgin Fund, Lowell and Grace Clark Frautschi Fund for the Union Theater, Porter and Lou Butts Theater Fund, Wisconsin Union Theater Endowment Fund.

Isthmus, Onion, Capital City Hues, Jamz 93.1, Madison Times, Wisconsin Public Radio, WORT 89.9 FM, WSUM 91.7 FM.

Isthmus Jazz Festival Free!

Friday-Saturday, June 1 & 2, 2012 Enjoy some of the best local and regional jazz performers on the Terrace in this free festival.

Great history.

Funded in part by the Associated Students of Madison. ASM does not necessarily endorse the beliefs or actions of this organization.

Bohemian-born child prodigy

Rudolf Serkin performed at the Wisconsin Union Theater many times during his career as a pianist – in 1946, 1963, 1966, 1972, and 1977. He passed on this tradition to his son, Peter, also

We thank for its support of

the jazz series

a world class pianist.

Season

2011 - 2012

TICKETS

online | by phone | box offices

800 langdon | 821 university

Following this Season,

the Wisconsin Union Theater 53 rd Annual Travel Adventure Series Mary Lee and Sid Nolan: Cruising the Eastern Mediterranean

Fran and Brooke Reidelberger: Colorful Mexico!

Monday & Tuesday, September 26 & 27, 2011, 7:30pm

Monday and Tuesday, Nov. 28 & 29, 2011, 7:30pm

Marlin Darrah: Pakistan and Afghanistan – A Photographer’s Journey from Kabul to the Khyber Pass & The Tribal Zone

Clint and Sue Denn: Egypt’s Treasures and Cruising the Nile

Monday & Tuesday, October 31 & November 1, 2011, 7:30pm

Monday & Tuesday, March 26 & 27, 2012, 7:30pm Karin Muller: Along the Royal Inca Road

will close for a

historic renovation.

But don’t worry.

It’s still YOUR theater…

Just better!

Better seating, better acoustic isolation and more...

Follow renovations updates at: http://newunion.wisc.edu/faq.html

Monday & Tuesday, May 7 & 8, 2012, 7:30pm

We Celebrate Pro Arte Quartet's 100th Anniversary!

All concerts are free and open to the public

Walter Mays String Quartet No. 2

Saturday, October 22, 2011, Mills Hall, 8pm Paul Schoenfield Piano Quintet

Saturday, November 19, 2011, Mills Hall, 8pm Christopher Taylor: William Bolcom Piano Quintet No. 2

Saturday, March 24, 2012, Wisconsin Union Theater, 8pm John Harbison String Quartet No. 5

Saturday, April 21, 2012, Mills Hall, 8pm

Many of our events have discounts for families!

For these events youth tickets are $14 with purchase of an adult ticket (limit 2 youth tickets per adult ticket).

We also offer discounts for all UW Madison Faculty/ Staff and Union Members.

UW Madison student tickets are always $10 or less!

union theater.wisc.edu «| 608.265.ARTS

MADISON, WI PERMIT NO. 84

Great History. Bright Future.

PAID

hearsal Room

2012 Th eater 2011-

NON-PROFIT ORG. U.S. POSTAGE

Wisconsin Union

R e n d e r i n g o f t h e T h e at e r ’ s n e w r e h e a r sa l r o o m

F o l l o w i n g t h i s s e as o n , the theater will close for a h i s t o r i c r e n o vat i o n .

Enjoy

our

next

two

seasons in venues around town. When we reopen in 2014, we will celebrate our

75 Season

A W i sc o n s i n U n i o n D i r e c t o r at e E x p e r i e n c e .

Madison WI 53706-1495

In our continuing effort to be green, w e h av e n o t i n c l u d e d a n o r d e r f o r m .

Download it from our website.

800 Langdon Street

union theater.wisc.edu

Wisconsin Union

in a beautifully renovated theateR!

University of Wisconsin – Madison

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