Mason Bates will unveil his new commissioned orchestral suite, “The B-sides” this week along with Yuja Wang and the San Fransico Symphony. Excitement for the performance has been raging as once again Bates’ showed off his adroit ability to blend the classical and the hip last month as the YouTube Symphony Orchestra played part of the “The B-sides” during its debut. Check it out. Can’t wait to see what he will put together for the Ringling International Arts Festival.
Posts Tagged ‘Music’
“The B-Sides” by Mason Bates
Monday, May 18th, 2009What Is The Ringling International Arts Festival?
Friday, February 20th, 2009
RINGLING: Yes, as in the Ringling Bros of circus fame. In this case: John Ringling and his wife, Mable who – after amassing a considerable fortune from not only the circus, but also from ventures in oil, railroads, real estate, and much more – built a palatial Venetian-style mansion on a lush tropical estate in Sarasota, Florida, then added a grand Italianate Museum of Art filled with a collection of Old Master paintings. Upon John’s death in 1936, he left it all to the state of Florida, and it is on this 66-acre, water-front paradise – now replete with 300,000 square feet of Museum exhibition space and three fully-equipped theaters – that Festival-goers will experience the new RIAF.
INTERNATIONAL: Geographically, we’re talking about performing artists from nearly a dozen countries and four continents. More importantly, however, is the rich diversity of ideas, forms, and genres that will come together on the gulf shores of Sarasota Bay. Here, the sonnets Shakespeare will converse with the choreography of Shemy, the abstract expressions of Louise Fishman will be considered in the light of Veronese, and an Australian chanteuse named Meow Meow will vie with the fiery Spanish flamenco of Compania María Pagès. Add to that world premieres in theater, music, and dance, and you have veritable Babel of international artistic expression.
ARTS: Always a tough one to define. Personally, any deeply considered and beautifully realized articulation of the human experience that prompts from the soul an imaginative response qualifies as art. At RIAF it is our hope that music, theater, dance, art, will prompt a collective response from Festival-goers to expand the circle we call “us” by embracing new concepts of expression we may have once considered too foreign to appreciate or understand.
FESTIVAL: Comes from the same root as “feast” – which means you better come hungry for a multi-course celebration of sounds, sights, ideas, passions, and curiosities. Perhaps your main dish will be theater, with an appetizer of dance and a dessert of fine art. Maybe you’ll indulge in a diet of nothing but music. But to fully experience a feast, you must dip into every dish, savor every morsel, chew it all over with friends, and then leave the table not sated – but always hungry for more.
Opening Night Concert
Friday, February 20th, 2009
Robert Spano
Florida State University Symphony Orchestra
Robert Spano, conductor
Pedja Muzijevic, piano
Wednesday, October 7 – 8:30 p.m.
Mertz Theater / FSU Center for the Performing Arts
Program:
F. Liszt, Orpheus
L. Beethoven, Concerto for Piano and Orchestra no. 4, op. 58
F. Liszt, Les Preludes
Robert Spano leads the Florida State University Symphony Orchestra and pianist Pedja Muzijevic in the inaugural concert for the Ringling International Arts Festival. Recognized as one of the most imaginative conductors of his generation, the Grammy Award-winning Spano is in his eighth season as Music Director of the Atlanta Symphony. He has conducted the greatest orchestras of the world including those in Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, Los Angeles, New York, as well as the Royal Concertgebouw (Amsterdam), Filarmonica della Scala (Milan) and BBC Symphony Orchestra. Pianist Pedja Muzijevic has performed to acclaim with the Milwaukee Symphony, Dresden Philharmonic, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra and Residentie Orkest in The Hague.
“Robert Spano has that great skill in a conductor of making every performance radiate joy. You would think, each time, that he has been waiting all his life to make this music happen, and that he is darned well going to make it happen to the utmost.” – The New York Times
“Pedja Muzijevic is a virtuoso with formidable fingers and a musician with fiercely original ideas about the music he plays.” – Financial Times, London
Compañia María Pagés
Friday, February 20th, 2009
COMPAÑIA MARÍA PAGÉS
Compañia María Pagés
Flamenco y Poesía
Thursday, Oct 8: 2:00 p.m.
Friday, Oct 9: 5:30 p.m.
Saturday, Oct 10: 8:00 p.m.
Sunday, Oct 11: 2:00 p.m.
Mertz Theater
Tickets: $30, $25, $20, $10
María Pagés is one of Spain’s leading flamenco virtuosos and the recipient of her country’s highest honor, the National Dance Award. In her latest work, Flamenco y Poesía, she translates the cadences of poetry into dance, revealing a shared language between the words of José Saramago and Federico Garcia de Lorca and the rhythms of the human body. Performed by her company of nine extraordinary dancers and musicians, Flamenco y Poesía continues Pagés innovative journey into the depths of flamenco and beyond.
“An artist of passionate force” - El Periódico de Catalunya
“María Pagés’s flamenco pulls tradition forward into her own ample creative territory using large doses of sensuality…She danced wrapped and tangled with her own body, broken into angles or filling up the vertical space that goes up to the sky; pulling us along with her and scorching us.” – El Mundo
“One of the most exceptional voices of flamenco dance…” – ABC
Meow Meow
Friday, February 20th, 2009
Meow Meow
Meow Meow
Beyond Glamour: The Absinthe Tour
Thursday, Oct 8: 5:30 p.m.
Friday, Oct 9: 10:30 p.m.
Saturday, Oct 10: 2:00 & 10:30 p.m.
Sunday, Oct 11: 5:30 p.m.
Mertz Theater
Tickets: $30, $25, $20, $10
International singing sensation and post post-modern showgirl Meow Meow descends on The Ringling International Arts Festival in a wild journey of obsessive love songs, tired old tricks, and gorgeous cabaret ditties. Touring globally with the Spiegeltent and a guest at venues from the Sydney Opera House to New York’s Lincoln Center, Meow Meow navigates the uncharted territory between Weimar era wit, 1930’s Shanghai show tunes, 60’s French pop, and post-punk hilarity, creating a parody of glitz that defies categorization.
“Meow Meow drags cabaret kicking and screaming into the 21st century.” – Time Out New York
“Meow Meow is a sequinned sex bomb waiting to detonate…” – Sydney Central
Chamber Music
Friday, February 20th, 2009
Mason Bates
Anne-Marie McDermott, piano
Jennifer Frautschi, violin
Edward Arron, cello
Eric Ruske, horn
Program A
C. Debussy, Sonata for Violin and Piano
Mason Bates, Horn Trio (world premiere);
F. Mendelssohn, Piano Trio in D Minor, op. 49
Thursday, Oct 8: 8:00 p.m.
Friday, Oct 9: 5:30 p.m.
Historic Asolo Theater
Tickets: $30, $25, $20, $10
Program B
Mason Bates, Horn Trio
A. Dvořák, Piano Trio in F Minor, op. 65
Saturday, Oct 10: 5:30 p.m.
Sunday, Oct 11: 11:00 a.m.
Historic Asolo Theater
Tickets: $30, $25, $20, $10
These hour-long programs of masterworks of chamber music include a new addition to the horn trio repertoire by the acclaimed composer Mason Bates. These works are performed by an exceptional ensemble of internationally renowned musicians – pianist Anne-Marie McDermott, violinist Jennifer Frautschi, cellist Edward Arron, and French horn player Eric Ruske. Mason Bates music has been performed by The National Symphony Orchestra (both at the Kennedy Center and Carnegie Hall), San Francisco Symphony, and the Atlanta and Phoenix Symphonies.
“At a time when symphony orchestras nationwide are trolling for audience magnets – the type of new material that can lure members of generations X and Y along with older subscribers – Bates just might have that bait.” – The Los Angeles Times
Mason Bates’ new work is commissioned by the Ringling International Arts Festival.
Elevator Repair Service Theater
Friday, February 20th, 2009
Elevator Repair Service
Elevator Repair Service Theater
World Premiere
Thursday, Oct 8: 8:00 p.m.
Friday, Oct 9: 5:30 p.m.
Saturday, Oct 10: 2:00 & 8:00 p.m.
Sunday, Oct 11: 2:00 p.m.
Cook Theatre
Tickets: $25, $20, $10
Internationally acclaimed theater company Elevator Repair Service (ERS) continues their compelling experiments in literary adaptation. Founded in 1991 by John Collins, a veteran of The Wooster Group, ERS is known for its intoxicatingly original work, tapping sources from film to novels to television, and combining slapstick comedy, hi-tech and lo-tech design, and its own style of choreography. Taking a collaborative approach to theater making, this radical ensemble delves into a new, multilayered narrative piece for its Festival premiere.
“…famously venturesome…” – The New York Times
“Elevator Repair Service works with intelligence and imagination…” – Variety
Elevator Repair Service Theater’s new work is commissioned by the Ringling International Arts Festival.
Ella Hickson
Friday, February 20th, 2009
Ella Hickson
Ella Hickson
Eight
Thursday, Oct 8: 5:30 p.m.
Friday, Oct 9: 10:30 p.m.
Saturday, Oct 10: 10:30 p.m.
Sunday, Oct 11: 2:00 p.m.
Historic Asolo Theater
Tickets: $30, 25, $20, $10
Ella Hickson’s debut play Eight swept the major awards at the 2008 Edinburgh Fringe Festival, including a Fringe First and the Carol Tambor Best of Edinburgh Award. Eight delivers a rich portrait of modern Britain through a collection of incisive monologues from characters ranging from a single working mother to a young Iraq war veteran. Exquisitely tuned to the inner voices of her characters, Hickson balances biting humor with emotional honesty as she assesses what it means to be part of the current generation. Eight’s cast will include young actors from the UK and students from the FSU/Asolo Conservatory for Actor Training.
“One of the most self-assured, startlingly well-written and moving pieces of theatre around.” – The Herald, Scotland
“[Ella Hickson] writes with a heightened sense of the rhythms and quirks of everyday speech and uses vivid, sensory details to create believable emotional states.” – The New York Times
Deganit Shemy & Company
Friday, February 20th, 2009
Deganit Shemy
Deganit Shemy & Company
Arena
Thursday, Oct 8: 2:00 p.m.
Friday, Oct 9: 2:00 & 8:00 p.m.
Saturday, Oct 10: 5:30 p.m.
Cook Theater
Tickets: $25, $20, $10
One of the most intriguing choreographers to emerge in the last several years, Deganit Shemy has captured attention in her native Israel–where she was named “Young Choreographer of the Year” by the Israeli Ministry of Education (2004)–and also in New York, where she founded Deganit Shemy & Company in 2005. In Arena, Shemy constructs an emotionally-charged world that blurs the lines between the real and the imagined. Performed within a tight square of light and set to the insistent ticking of a metronome, five women enact an unsettling and intensely physical game governed by strict, but mysterious rules.
“One of Israel’s most promising young choreographers…” – Dance Magazine
“A choreographer just beginning to unfurl her formidable talents.” – The New York Times
