Athens, Ga. – George C. Foreman, director of the University of Georgia Performing Arts Center, has announced the roster of artists for the 2010-2011 season. The upcoming season will offer a rich mixture of music, dance, and theater as the Performing Arts Center embarks on its 15th season of bringing the world’s finest entertainers to Athens.
“The UGA Performing Arts Center has established a stellar reputation over its 14-year history, and I am delighted to be afforded the opportunity to build on that strong foundation,” said Foreman, who took over the helm of the Performing Arts Center in January. “Our 2010-2011 season will offer new series, new venues, and new variety that will mark an exciting new era of extraordinary performances and enriching entertainment.”
In a bold step forward in town-gown relations, the Performing Arts Center is entering into a partnership with the Classic Center for the 2010-2011 season. The collaborative venture will showcase some of the biggest names in popular entertainment in a new series called Celebrity Evenings.
Celebrity Evenings will feature the legendary Tony Bennett and America’s favorite trumpet player, Doc Severinsen. In addition, negotiations are currently under way to add a performance by Lyle Lovett and His Large Band to the Celebrity Evenings schedule.
The Performing Arts Center’s 2010-2011 season will kick off with Diavolo, one of America’s most innovative and creative dance companies. Comprised of dancers, gymnasts, and actors, Diavolo will train several UGA dance students to join the company for the first performances in the beautifully restored Fine Arts Theatre on Sept. 24 and 25.
Diavolo is one of four acts in the Masterworks series, formerly known as Music Series I. Masterworks also will feature the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, baritone Thomas Hampson performing a world premiere piece by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer William Bolcom, and Metropolitan Opera superstar Dawn Upshaw in her Athens debut with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra.
The newly renamed Classics series, formerly Music Series II, will offer performances by the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra with guest pianist Emanuel Ax, the BBC Concert Orchestra under the direction of Boston Pops conductor Keith Lockhart, and the Athens debut of the Opole Philharmonic of Poland. The Classics series culminates with a live taping of From the Top with host Christopher O’Riley. Broadcast on nearly 250 stations nationwide to an audience of more than 700,000 listeners each week, From the Top is one of most popular classical music programs on radio.
The Performing Arts Center will inaugurate a new series that Foreman is calling Pull Some Strings.
“Each season I hope to explore a specific family of instruments, allowing our audiences to learn more about how music is conceived and produced,” he said.
Pull Some Strings will include The 5 Browns, a youthful, all-American quintet of brothers and sisters from Utah, all of whom studied at New York’s famous Juilliard School of Music. The New York Post had this to say about The 5 Browns: “One family, five pianos, and 50 fingers add up to the biggest classical music sensation in years.”
Pull Some Strings also will showcase the Venice Baroque Orchestra with violinist and Georgia native Robert McDuffie. The Performing Arts Center will present the Venice Baroque Orchestra in the world-premiere tour of Philip Glass’s Violin Concerto No 2, a work inspired by Vivaldi’s Four Seasons. The orchestra’s program will open with the complete Four Seasons of Vivaldi and continue after intermission with the new Philip Glass concerto.
Also “pulling some strings” this season will be the Punch Brothers with Chris Thile, a crowd-pleasing ensemble returning to UGA by popular demand; banjo player Béla Fleck who will be joined by percussionist Zakir Hussain and bass player Edgar Meyer; and the Orquestra de Guitar de Barcelona, an orchestra featuring more than 20 of Spain’s most gifted guitarists.
The Performing Arts Center’s popular Traditions series will continue in 2010-2011 with Dailey & Vincent, winners of ten International Bluegrass Music Association Awards, the colorful Bayanihan Philippine National Dance Company, the authentic Irish music of Danú, and the sensuous moves of Tango Buenos Aires.
Off-Broadway is another new series that the Performing Arts Center will introduce for the 2010-2011 season. The series will feature the Second City Company whose alumni include Bill Murray, Tina Fey, Joan Rivers, and Steve Carell; the Reduced Shakespeare Company performing The Complete World of Sports (abridged); and The Water Coolers, a “laugh-out-loud” musical comedy about the things shared around the water coolers of America.
The Ramsey Concert Hall Series will continue to bring classical music’s best and brightest young talent to UGA with violinist Caroline Goulding, flutist Aleksandr Haskin, and pianist Charlie Albright.
Now in its 33rd season, the Franklin College Chamber Music Series will continue its rich tradition of bringing fine chamber music performances to the University of Georgia and the Athens community. Performing on the series in the upcoming season will be violinist Lara St. John, the Talich Quartet, the Millennium Brass Quintet, and the ARCO Chamber Orchestra.
The Performing Arts Center will offer free pre-concert lectures for many of its performances, as well as “A Conversation with” four faculty members of the Hugh Hodgson School of Music prior to selected Pull Some Strings concerts.
In 2010-2011, the UGA Performing Arts Center will begin its 13th year of recording concerts for broadcast on American Public Media’s Performance Today, heard by millions of listeners across the country and around the world. The Performing Arts Center also will continue its educational programs, offering master classes and lecture/demonstrations for UGA students and public school students throughout the state of Georgia.
Subscriptions to the 2010-2011 season are on sale now. For more information or a free brochure, contact the Performing Arts Center box office at 706/542-4400 end_of_the_skype_highlighting or toll free at 888/289-8497or online at www.uga.edu/pac.
Single tickets for the Celebrity Evenings performances will go sale July 24. Single tickets for all other Performing Arts Center events will go on sale Aug. 30.
Following is the 2010-2011 season of the UGA Performing Arts Center by series:
Celebrity Evenings
Tony Bennett (Oct. 6)
Doc Severinsen and El Ritmo de la Vida (May 12)
Masterworks
Diavolo (Sept. 24 and 25)
Academy of St. Martin in the Fields (Oct. 31)
Thomas Hampson, baritone (Feb. 18)
Atlanta Symphony Orchestra with Dawn Upshaw, soprano (March 27)
Classics
Atlanta Symphony Orchestra with Emanuel Ax, piano (Oct. 3)
BBC Concert Orchestra with Keith Lockhart, conductor (Nov. 14)
Opole Philharmonic of Poland (Jan. 23)
From the Top with Christopher O’Riley, host (Feb. 27)
Pull Some Strings
The 5 Browns (Oct. 12)
Venice Baroque Orchestra with Robert McDuffie, leader and violin (Nov. 18)
Punch Brothers featuring Chris Thile (Feb. 19)
Béla Fleck, banjo; Zakir Hussain, percussion; Edgar Meyer, bass (April 1)
Orquestra de Guitar de Barcelona (April 15)
Traditions
Dailey & Vincent (Oct. 7)
Bayanihan Philippine National Dance Company (Oct. 24)
Danú (March 11)
Tango Buenos Aires (March 19)
Off-Broadway
Second City Company (Nov. 1 and 2)
Reduced Shakespeare Company (Jan. 11)
The Water Coolers (Feb. 4 and 5)
Ramsey Concert Hall Series
Caroline Goulding, violin (Nov. 9)
Aleksandr Haskin, flute (Jan. 18)
Charlie Albright, piano (Feb. 24)
Franklin College Chamber Music Series
Lara St. John, violin (Oct. 17)
Talich Quartet (Oct. 28)
Millennium Brass Quintet (April 3)
ARCO Chamber Orchestra (April 17)
