PUBLICATIONS Inside Illinois Vol. 20, No. 19, May 3, 2001

Krannert Center announces new season

Guarneri String Quartet, Nov. 7

The schedule for Krannert Center for the Performing Arts’ 2001-2001 season presents powerful arts experiences representing a broad range of cultural and artistic expression.

The Marquee Season opens Sept. 9, with Cirque Orchestra – a stunning aerial and acrobatic ballet presented to the accompaniment of classical selections performed by the Champaign-Urbana Symphony.

During September, celebrated jazz artist Joshua Redman, the Winner of the Eleventh Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, and the Los Angeles Guitar Quartet also perform. The Great Hall Series begins with Maestro Wolfgang Sawallisch’s farewell tour as music director of the Philadelphia Orchestra. Krannert Center joins seven other co commissioning partners in the presentation of Marcel Duchamp, James Joyce, Erik Satie: An Alphabet, a work by John Cage that began its life as a radio play in 1982.

Bayanihan Philippine National Dance Company brings a taste of the rich, colorful folklore of a tropical paradise during October. Lavay Smith and her Red Hot Skillet Licker present four cabaret performances. The Grammy Award winning Emerson String Quartet and the Théatre de Complicité present two performances of The Noise of Time, a theatrical, multimedia presentation about the life of composer Dmitri Shostakovich.

Maestro Herbert Blomstedt leads the Gewandhaus Orchestra of Leipzig in an all Brahms program. Krannert Center also welcomes the Alexander String Quartet for a season long exploration of Beethoven.

During November the Guarneri Quartet and the Kronos Quartet perform. Violinist Anne Sophie Mutter makes her Krannert Center debut in a Baroque program with the Trondheim Soloists from Norway. The month begins with a celebration of the 300th anniversary of the founding of the Russian city of St. Petersburg with a delegation of students from the city’s venerable conservatory. And the month ends with two heart warming family performances as the Salzburg Marionette Theatre will present "The Magic Flute" by Mozart and "The Nutcracker" by Tchaikovsky.

The new year begins with ballet as the Grigorovich Ballet Company presents the dramatic "Spartacus" and the beautiful "Raymonda" in January.

Love is the theme of a chamber music performance by the Takács String Quartet and U.S. Poet Laureate Robert Pinsky. The leap from love to family – parenthood specifically – is where storyteller and monologue master Spalding Gray takes audiences. In the cabaret setting of the Studio Theatre, Gray presents his monologues "It’s a Slippery Slope" and "Morning, Noon and Night."

In February the Turtle Island String Quartet that conveys the "art of the groove" performs along with woodwind giant and high-profile composer Paquito d’Rivera. The Alexander Quartet returns for the second week of the complete Beethoven string quartet project, and the Winner of the Naumburg International Cello Competition performs. Krannert Center pays tribute to the great symphonic tradition of England as the BBC Concert Orchestra of London presents two concerts of landmark works that will be broadcast live back to the United Kingdom. Fortepianist Robert Levin, the Academy of Ancient Music, and Christopher Hogwood, conductor, reintroduce us to Mozart through historically informed performances and improvisation in the composer’s style. The St. Olaf Choir also performs and the National Acrobats of Taiwan and Compañía Española de Antonio Márquez treat audiences to their traditional art forms.

A new campus initiative brings Susan Sontag and Jonathan Miller to campus for a CultureTalk, a free event. International-profile cultural figures will come to the UI to discuss the evolving relationships between the arts and contemporary society.

Two stellar young jazz artists – The Stefon Harris Quartet and Regina Carter Quintet – appear at Krannert Center during March. The charismatic flutist James Galway performs and the uncommonly gifted choreographer Bill T. Jones presents a solo evening followed a few nights later by a repertory program with his company.

April brings Alexander Quartet with two final performances of Beethoven’s complete string quartets along with Augusta Read Thomas’ newly composed response to Beethoven’s works. In addition to immersion into the life and music of Beethoven, Sir Roger Norrington and the Orchestra of St. Luke’s take the audience into the world of Tchaikovsky over two evenings. The a cappella supergroups Anonymous 4 and Lionheart bring together "Gods and Mortals" in their newest collaborative program featuring Renaissance music. Germany’s Trio Fontenay (piano, violin, cello) displays its artistry in the final Chamber Music Series performance of the season. The Mark Morris Dance Group will be in town for a week of outreach and performance activity during the second of his three years as a George A. Miller Visiting Artist. The Marquee Season concludes on April 28 with the presentation of the Krannert Center Debut Artist.

Resident Productions
The UI department of dance begins its season with November Playhouse Dance. Three faculty members – Renée Wadleigh, Cynthia Oliver and Sara Hook – will be featured in solo works. The department’s most ambitious concert of the season is its Festival 2002. Students perform Twyla Tharp’s classic "The Fugue" along with varied repertory works by resident faculty artists. Studiodance I will feature the choreography of the department’s graduating MFA candidates; Studiodance II offers a juried selection of student works from both graduate and undergraduate students.

The department of theater has scheduled seven productions, beginning with a tribute to the men who struggled to keep jazz alive. Warren Leight’s "Side Man" will be directed by Sara Lampert Hoover. The department of theater presents its first fully produced Shakespearean history play in over 30 years when it presents "Henry V," directed by Robert Anderson. More contemporary issues are addressed in Diana Son’s "Stop Kiss," which will be directed by Karen Lund. This play explores the consequences of gay bashing and the complex ways in which we identify ourselves and others.

Eric Coble’s "Virtual Devotion" will be directed by Henson Keys. It’s a plea for compassion and personal connection in an over wired, fast paced world. Tom Mitchell directs a Bernard Shaw classic, "Candida." The Kurt Weill/Bertolt Brecht vision of the Victorian London underworld, "The Threepenny Opera," will be directed by James Zager. The final production of the season is a collaborative project for actors, dancers and musicians from the UI College of Fine and Applied Arts. Struan Leslie, one of the most sought after theatrical movement specialists in the United Kingdom and a highly praised theatrical director, will be in residence to help create a dramatization of the Bible’s "Song of Solomon," which will feature faculty artist Lisa Gaye Dixon.

The School of Music presents a series of three opera performances. The season opens with a Mozart classic – "Cosi fan tutte," directed by June Card and conducted by Donald Schleicher. Nicholas Di Virgilio directs Offenbach’s lively opera, "The Tales of Hoffmann." Loosely based on three short stories of E. T. A. Hoffmann, fantastic tales are told about three women Hoffmann has loved. As its workshop production of the season, the School of Music Opera Program turns to Hugo Weisgall’s fascinating musicalization of the Pirandello play Six Characters in Search of an Author. June Card directs this production.