June 3, 2003
Contact: Susan Gwynne
(805) 893-2098
e-mail: gwynne-s@sa.ucsb.edu
UCSB Arts & Lectures
2003-2004 Season of Performing Arts—
an unparalleled array of live dance, theater and music
Summary Facts:
- UCSB Arts & Lectures 2003-2004 Season of Performing Arts
- 30 exciting Classical Music, Theater, Spoken Word, Dance, World Music, and Jazz events
- One special fundraiser—a solo recital by cellist Yo-Yo Ma
- Subscriptions being accepted now; tickets to individual events on sale on Saturday, September 6
- Four thematic Discount Package Series: ArtAbounds, Chamber Music, Word of Mouth, and Jazz
- Create-Your-Own Series: Buy tickets to any five or more events
- All series allow patrons to get the best seats, money-saving discounts and free ticket exchange
- More Chamber Music in Historic Sites® concerts
- Exciting “Performances Plus” Evenings with Dances, Dinners and Meet-the-Artist Receptions
- Charge by phone, (805) 893-3535, or by fax, (805) 893-8637
- For tickets and information, phone UCSB Arts & Lectures at (805) 893-3535
Director Celesta Billeci proudly announces UCSB Arts & Lectures 2003-2004 Season of Performing Arts—the 45th year A&L has brought the highest caliber professional performing artists on tour from around the world and across the spectrum of artistic disciplines to the Central Coast. The highlight of the season will be a special anniversary fundraiser, a solo recital by cellist Yo-Yo Ma on Saturday, March 6. This rare and intimate recital by Mr. Ma is his first appearance in Santa Barbara in twenty years and his only solo recital in the U.S. this coming season.
“We are very grateful to be able to celebrate our anniversary with such a preeminent and gifted artist,” Arts & Lectures’ Director Celesta Billeci says. “It’s hard to imagine a better gift to the community than the chance to hear Yo-Yo Ma play a selection of the Bach Unaccompanied Cello Suites in the intimate setting of Campbell Hall.”
Other season highlights include: a six-day run by The Market Theatre Johannesburg, South Africa’s premier theater company, which is also our first co-presentation with Westmont College and the Lit Moon Theater Festival; the first Santa Barbara performance by the unsurpassed Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater; and two performances by the beloved a cappella group Anonymous 4 on its farewell tour.
DISCOUNT PACKAGE SERIES
Patrons will have the option to purchase Discount Package Series— ArtAbounds, Word of Mouth, Chamber Music, Jazz—that not only lend thematic unity to diverse performances but also provide up to a 15% discount. The ArtAbounds Series, co-presented with The Lobero, features four pacesetting performances of dance and music. This series kicks off with the inspired collaboration of musical adventurers Kronos Quartet and stellar soprano Dawn Upshaw on Sunday, October 12. On Monday, November 3 at the Arlington Theatre, the Buena Vista Social Club presents its only female member, the glamorous Cuban singer Omara Portuondo. On Sunday, November 16 at the Lobero Theatre the series presents tap-dancer extraordinaire Savion Glover, star and choreographer of the Broadway sensation Bring in ’da Noise, Bring in ’da Funk. The ArtAbounds series concludes with the opportunity to see the national treasure Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater at the Arlington Theatre on Tuesday, March 2.
The Word of Mouth Series presents four unique thinkers with engaging abilities to express themselves. On Monday, September 15, U.S. Poet Laureate Billy Collins will read from his best-selling work. Unrepentant populist provocateur, filmmaker and author Michael Moore (Bowling for Columbine, Stupid White Men) will discuss the state of the union on Sunday, October 26 at the Arlington Theatre. Legendary scientist and author Jane Goodall, celebrated worldwide for her pioneering studies of chimpanzees, will lecture about her life work on Wednesday, April 7 at the Arlington Theatre. On Saturday, April 24, social commentator and writer Sarah Vowell, best known for her witty and perceptive pieces on public radio’s This American Life, will read from her work.
The Chamber Music Series presents three events of matchless music. The October 12 concert by Kronos Quartet and Dawn Upshaw mentioned above begins this series. The Romeros, hailed as “the royal family of the guitar,” will play with their customary classical brilliance and Latin fire on Thursday, January 29 at Rockwood (Santa Barbara Women’s Club). The series concludes on Friday, April 2 with a recital by the intense and remarkable Emerson String Quartet, one of the world’s hottest chamber ensembles.
The Jazz Series opens with an exciting double bill of Cuban-born pianist Gonzalo Rubalcaba and the ever-inventive Marcus Roberts Trio on Sunday, January 25. On Wednesday, February 25 sultry and bluesy jazz diva Cassandra Wilson will sing with her band. On Thursday, March 11 we present the joyous return of one of the world’s great big bands, Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis. On Tuesday, March 30 we present the Santa Barbara debut of the exciting new supergroup the SF Modern JAZZ Collective with Joshua Redman, artistic director.
CHAMBER MUSIC IN HISTORIC SITES®
In addition to the recitals already mentioned above, Arts & Lectures is pleased to continue the Chamber Music in Historic Sites® performances, presented in association with the Pearl Chase Society. These concerts help us unite town and gown by traveling to unique architectural environments to celebrate the experience of music.
On Tuesday, November 18 at Our Lady of Sorrows Church the massively powerful and ethereally beautiful St. Petersburg State Academic Capella [sic] Choir, the pride and joy of Russian chorale music since 1479, will perform a stirring masterpiece of sacred music, Rachmaninoff’s Vespers.
On Thursday, January 29 the above-mentioned stunning guitar quartet The Romeros will grace the Spanish revival style Rockwood (home of the Santa Barbara Women’s Club).
The series concludes with performances by the heavenly Anonymous 4, on their farewell tour, in two different settings. The women of Anonymous 4 will bring their a cappella brilliance to the music of Hildegard von Bingen on Friday, April 30 at the First United Methodist Church and on Saturday, May 1 at La Casa de Maria Chapel.
THEATER
Arts & Lectures joins with Westmont College and the Lit Moon World Theater Festival to present the acclaimed Market Theatre Johannesburg in the acme of South African social theater, the wildly entertaining Woza Albert!, on Tuesday-Sunday, October 7-12 at the Center Stage Theater. Sarah Jones, the spectacularly talented hip-hop poet, actor and playwright, returns for another amazing evening of theater, performing her moving and humorous one-woman show Surface Transit on Wednesday, October 5.
On Wednesday & Thursday, January 21 & 22 Santa Barbara favorites Culture Clash return with the perceptive, poignant laugh-riot Culture Clash in AmeriCCa.
In an acclaimed performance, Royal Shakespeare Company alum Gareth Armstrong performs his play Shylock, illuminating the tragic, funny and complicated life of Shakespeare’s controversial Jew on Thursday, February 12.
DANCE
In addition to the two major dance events that are part of the ArtAbounds Series—Savion Glover and Band on November 16 at the Lobero and Alivn Ailey American Dance Theater at the Arlington on March 2— Arts & Lectures will present four other diverse dance concerts.
Modern dance legend Twyla Tharp, creator of the multiple Tony nominated, Billy Joel-scored Broadway musical Movin’ Out, choreographs utterly original work. Twyla Tharp Dance, a company noted for boundless stamina, endless invention and aching beauty, will perform on Friday, October 10.
Acclaimed for his uncompromising, sensual choreography, Kenneth Kvarnström presents the Santa Barbara debut of his stunning Swedish dance troupe K. Kvarnström & Co. They will dance the hypnotic evening-length work Fragile on Wednesday, November 12.
On Wednesday & Thursday, February 18 & 19 Paco Peña Flamenco Dance Company, a heart-stopping troupe of Spanish musicians and dancers led by the master flamenco guitarist, will tantalize audiences with their exuberance and sophistication.
Audacious as ever, Stephen Petronio Dance Company will perform City of Twist, their riveting new work inspired by life in New York City, on Tuesday, February 24. Twist features a new score by Laurie Anderson; the other half of the program, The Island of Misfit Toys, is danced to music by Lou Reed and features design by Cindy Sherman.
The exceptional and vivacious Julio Bocca & Ballet Argentino, lead by the incandescent American Ballet Theatre star, infuses virtuosic classical ballet with Latin drama for an exciting evening of dance on Tuesday, April 6 at the Arlington Theatre.
WORLD MUSIC
Arts & Lectures keeps world music fans fulfilled with an expanding horizon of international music. For over 30 years Ladysmith Black Mambazo, the 10-man Zulu a cappella group that gained worldwide acclaim on Paul Simon’s Graceland, has thrilled and moved audiences with the music and spirit of South Africa. They will perform on Wednesday, October 15.
On Tuesday, October 21, Yamato, The Drummers of Japan will present a feel-good blend of gorgeous spectacle and rigorous technique. Yamato features Japan’s new generation of Taiko drummers—sexy, energetic and contemplative.
As mentioned above in the ArtAbounds Series, the sensational Cuban singer Omara Portuondo will play the Arlington Theatre on Monday, November 3.
On Tuesday, February 3 two world music superstars share the bill: magnificent Malian guitarist/singer Habib Koité and mesmerizing Moroccan sintir (lute) player/vocalist Hassan Hakmoun perform with their bands.
The Philadelphia Inquirer claims, “Solas makes mind-blowing Irish folk music, maybe the world’s best.” Led by multi-instrumentalist wizard Seamus Eagan, Solas is grounded in the fast-fingered jigs and reels of Irish tradition. They will rock Campbell on Sunday, April 18.
One of Cuba’s tightest and most charismatic big bands, ¡Cubanismo! plays an infectious mix of Latin rhythms, New Orleans jazz and Jamaican reggae. Bandleader Jesús Alemañy, who has been called Cuba’s answer to Wynton Marsalis, brings his dynamic band to town on Thursday, May 13.
PERFORMANCES PLUS
Arts & Lectures invites patrons to extend their evenings with a dance, a meet-the-artist reception and dinners. After Omara Portuondo performs at the Arlington Theatre on November 3, concertgoers can dance the night away at a private salsa party with live band at SoHo Nightclub. Those who attend the electric performance by Savion Glover and Band on November 16 have two options to extend their evening. They can attend both a lavish pre-concert meal at the Four Seasons Biltmore Hotel and a post-show reception with the artists backstage at the Lobero, or opt to attend only the reception. Members of Arts & Lectures Producers Circle not only can buy VIP seating for Yo-Yo Ma’s recital on March 6, but they also can have the rare opportunity of joining him for an intimate post-concert dinner. To get in the mood for Julio Bocca & Ballet Argentino on April 6, patrons can attend a delectable pre-performance dinner right across State Street at Café Buenos Aires.
Arts & Lectures has arranged with The Faculty Club to offer international buffets before six performances. Patrons may arrive on campus early and enjoy a gourmet dinner featuring the cuisine from the country or region whose artists they will see that evening, then proceed to Campbell Hall for a great performance. On October 15 before the Ladysmith Black Mambazo concert, the Club will serve a savory South African feast. On November 12 prior to the K. Kvarnström & Co. dance performance, patrons may enjoy a robust Swedish buffet. On February 18 before the Paco Peña Flamenco Dance Company, the meal will be a mouth-watering Spanish buffet. On March 11 the delicious food of New Orleans will be served prior to Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis. On April 18 before Solas, the Club will serve a delicious Irish buffet. On May 13 prior to ¡Cubanismo!, the Club will serve the scrumptious cuisine of Cuba. Each buffet costs $18, which includes tax. For reservations or information, call The Faculty Club, (805) 893-3096.
TICKETS AND INFORMATION
All performances are in UCSB Campbell Hall unless otherwise noted. Arts & Lectures is currently selling season subscriptions—Discount Package Series (ArtAbounds, Chamber Music, Word of Mouth, Jazz) and Create-Your-Own Series. Discount Package Series ticket buyers save up to 15%. Create-Your-Own Series subscribers, who purchase tickets to any five or more events, save 10% off the price of each ticket. Subscribers get the best seats in the house, free ticket exchanges and lost ticket insurance. Subscribers and donors also get the opportunity to purchase Yo-Yo Ma tickets now. Arts & Lectures also welcomes orders for single tickets and will fill those orders in early September after subscriptions are filled. A compact subscriber’s guide is now available. Our full color season brochure will be mailed in the middle of July. Tickets to individual events go on sale Saturday, September 6 at 10 am.
For tickets or more information,
call UCSB Arts & Lectures at (805) 893-3535.
Editor: For photos, please call
Susan Gwynne at (805) 893-2098.