Performing Arts Center 2014-15

PAC’s 2014-15 season is loaded with big names from Patti LuPone, Branford Marsalis and Béla Fleck to Suzanne Vega and Natalie Merchant. Special treats for classical music fans include Jeremy Denk, Midori, the Czech Philharmonic and artists with crossover appeal like Edgar Meyer and Cameron Carpenter. PAC’s theatre, dance and comedy series feature the Paul Taylor Dance Company, a David Mamet play, NPR humorist David Sedaris and Mike Birbiglia – thank God for jokes. There are three family events including an all-new costume party and sing-a-long to the Sound Of Music. Check it out:

September

An Evening With Branford Marsalis: National Endowment of the Arts Jazz Master, Grammy winner and Tony Award nominee, Branford Marsalis kicks off PAC’s 2014-15 season with an evening of saxophone jazz. Marsalis received initial acclaim playing with Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers and brother Wynton’s quintet. He has performed with a “who’s who” of jazz icons including Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, Herbie Hancock, and Sonny Rollins. Sat, 9/27: 8pm. Concert Hall.

Martha Clarke’s Chéri: Martha Clarke’s interdisciplinary work, inspired by Colette’s 1920 novella, fuses dance, theatre and music to tell a story of a May-December romance in Belle Epoque Paris. Featuring American Ballet Theatre principal dancer Herman Cornejo, prima ballerina assoluta Allesandra Ferri, Academy Award nominee and Obie Award winner Amy Irving, pianist Sarah Rothenberg and text by Tony Award Winning playwright Tina Howe (Painting Churches). The New York Times called it “gorgeous” when it premiered at New York’s Signature Theatre last winter. Sun, 9/28: 3pm. Concert Hall.

October

Mike Birbiglia, Thank God for Jokes: A regular contributor on Public Radio International’s, This American Life, and guest on Letterman, Kimmel, Conan and Fallon, Mike Birbiglia’s 2007 album, My Secret Public Journal Live, was named Best Comedy Album of the Decade by The Onion AV Club. It was made into a Comedy Central special; a one-man off-Broadway show (presented by Nathan Lane) that was named Time Out’s Show of the Year; and a feature film that premiered at Sundance and won the NEXT Audience Award. In his new show he argues with a stranger about her nut allergy, and hosts an awards show for angry celebrities. Thurs, 10/2: 8pm. PepsiCo Theatre.

David Sedaris by Hugh Hambrick

An Afternoon with David Sedaris: The NPR humorist, New Yorker contributor and bestselling author of Naked, Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim and Let’s Explore Diabetes With Owls, brings his auto-biographical self-deprecating humor to the Concert Hall. Some of Sedaris’ favorite subjects include growing up in Raleigh, N.C., his Greek heritage, drug use, obsessive behaviors, and his life in France and London. Bring your books; he’ll be signing them after the show. Sun, 10/12: 3pm. Concert Hall.

Black Violin: Part of PAC’s “Family Series,” the virtuoso violinists Kev and Will B Marcus are a genre busting hip-hop duo who accompanied Alicia Keyes at the 2004 Billboard Awards, won the Showtime at the Apollo Legend title in 2005, and performed at Barack Obama’s inauguration in 2013. They described their latest album, Classically Trained, as “two parts classical, two parts pop and a splash of hip-hop.” Their repertoire includes an original composition “Brandenburg” that puts a back beat to Bach’s famed concertos, and a cover of Sam Smith’s “Stay With Me.” Sun, 10/19: 3pm. PepsiCo Theatre.

Preservation Hall Jazz Band with Allen Toussaint: Jazz meets R&B when Allen Toussaint joins the famed Preservation Hall Jazz Band for an evening of music from New Orleans’ French Quarter. Some of the artists who have had hits covering Toussaint’s songs include Glen Campbell (“Southern Nights”), Leo Dorsey (“Working in the Coalmine”), Ernie K. Doe (“Mother-in Law”), The Rolling Stones (“Fortune Teller”) and Jerry Garcia (“I’ll Take a Melody”). Fri, 10/24: 8pm. PepsiCo Theatre.

Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center: CMS, Lincoln Center’s resident chamber music repertory company has toured the country for 45 years. Directed by Wu Han and David Finkel, CMS recently announced a three-year residency at Purchase College. With it they will play 3 concerts this year at PAC. CMS regularly appears at Lincoln Center’s Mostly Mozart Festival, the annual Baroque and Winter Music Festivals at Alice Tully Hall and each December they perform Bach’s Complete Brandenburg Concertos at Lincoln Center – an event The New York Times calls “a New York holiday staple.” A real coup for Purchase College and PAC.  Sat, 10/25, 11/22 & 12/6: 5pm. Recital Hall.

November

Suzanne Vega: A leading member of the 1980’s folk music revival, Suzanne Vega’s recent album, Tales from the Realm of the Queen of Pentacles, peaked at no. 5 on Billboard’s Folk Music charts. Vega is best known for her hit songs “Luka” and “Tom’s Diner” from her 1987 album Solitude Standing. “Tom’s Diner” takes place at Tom’s Restaurant on 112^th St. & Broadway – famously remembered as Jerry, Elaine, George and Kramer’s favorite nosh pit on the TV show Seinfeld. The song was remixed by the London band DNA and covered by Michael Stipe, Billy Bragg and Nikki D. Fri, 11/7: 8pm. PepsiCo Theatre.

Czech Philharmonic, Jiří Bělohlávek, Chief Conductor and Music Director, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, (piano): More than a century after Antonín Dvořák conducted their opening night in 1896, the Czech Philharmonic comes to PAC to perform his Symphony No. 9 in E Minor, op. 95, (from The New World) along with Janáček Taras Bulba, andLiszt Piano Concerto No. 2 in A Major. Sat, 11/15: 8pm. Concert Hall.

Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Mozart & Currier: The program for CMS’s second PAC performance includes: Mozart’s Quintet in A Major for Clarinet, Two Violins, Viola, and Cello, K. 581 (1789); Quartet in A Major for Flute, Violin, Viola, and Cello, K. 298 (1786-87); and Duo No. 2 in B-flat Major for Violin and Viola, K. 424 (1783); and a new work for Flute, Two Violins, Viola, and Cello by Sebastian Currier. Sat, 11/22: 5pm. Recital Hall.

Basetrack: This multi-disciplinary work, adapted by Jason Grote from a popular Facebook page and website of photos and videos taken in Afghanistan by embedded journalist Teru Kuwayama, is at the intersection of theater, music, new media, journalism, and technology. It is a gripping performance piece drawing on individual stories of those who have served in America’s longest war. Sat, 11/22: 8pm. PepsiCo Theatre.

Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Jennifer Koh, (violin): International Tchaikovsky Competition (1994) award-winner, Jennifer Koh joins the acclaimed Orpheus Orchestra in their 42^nd season for a program of Grieg: Halberg Suite, Op. 40; Bach: Violin Concerto No. 1 in A minor, BWV 1041; Mozart: Symphony No. 31 in D Major, Paris; and the world premier of Anna Clyne: Rest These Hands. Sun, 11/30: 3pm. Concert Hall.

December

Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, The Four Seasons: CMS’ final PAC performance for the 2014-15 season features Vivaldi’s masterpiece, The Four Seasons, and works by Albinoni, Geminiani, and Telemann. Sat, 12/6: 5pm. Recital Hall.

Suzanne Farrell Ballet: The Suzanne Farrell Ballet has risen in less than ten years from a small educational program at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, to one of the most highly lauded ballet companies in the country. Farrell, a principal dancer for George Balanchine’s New York City Ballet, was one of the world’s greatest lyric ballerinas. She continues to this day as a keeper of the flame for Balanchine’s legendary dances – staging his works all over the world. The company’s program at PAC includes his enchanting one-act classic, Swan Lake. Sun, 12/7: 3pm. Concert Hall.

Edgar Meyer, Double-bass: This gifted crossover artist has carved out a unique niche for the double-bass in musical genres from classical to blue grass, new grass and jazz. He has composed a double-bass concerto, performed Bach’s cello suites unaccompanied on double-bass, and collaborated with Joshua Bell, Bela Flek, Chris Thile, James Taylor and Allison Kraus. His work with Yo Yo Ma and Mark O’Connor on the album Appalachian Journey won the 2000 Grammy Award for Best Classical Crossover Album. He is an Avery Fisher Prize winner and a Macarthur Fellow. You’ll never look at a bass the same way again. Sun, 12/14: 3pm. Recital Hall.

Rob Mathes Holiday Concert: Now entering his third decade as a Performing Arts Center holiday tradition, Rob and his band of New York City All-Star musicians are back for this annual celebration. It’s a heart-warming evening that features original tunes, holiday classics, and Mathes favorites. An Emmy Award-winner and Grammy-nominee, Mathes has worked with virtually every big name in the music industry, arranging, producing, directing, recording, and performing with the likes of Bono, Tony Bennett, Sting, and Bruce Springsteen.  Fri-Sat, 12/19-20: 8pm. PepsiCo Theatre.

Musica Sacra, Handel’s Messiah, Kent Tritle, Music Director: No need to go all the way to Carnegie Hall − this holiday season, PAC will once again reverberate with the sound of the Hallelujah Chorus. Musica Sacra, acclaimed for their performances of the great choral masters, as well as the contemporary vocal repertoire, sets the standard by which all other Messiahs are judged. Their soaring voices will be accompanied by virtuoso artists of the Orchestra of St. Luke’s. Sat, 12/20: 2pm. Concert Hall.

January

Cameron Carpenter by Heiko Laschitzki

Cameron Carpenter: “Not your grandma’s organist,” wrote the Wall Street Journal. Noting his “tight trousers and a shirt covered in Swarovski crystals,” The New York Times all but called him the Elton John of Baroque music. But his flamboyant style is just the subtext to his musical innovations. Because a pipe organ is difficult to tote around he built a digital organ for touring . Equally unconventional are his breathless interpretations of Bach and his adaptations of Chopin piano music to the organ. He has even transcribed Duke Ellington’s “Solitude” for the organ – making him perhaps the world’s first “church organ” jazz crossover artist. Sat, 1/24: 8pm. Concert Hall.

The Knights with Bela Flek: Virtuoso banjo player Béla Fleck has received Grammy Award nominations in more categories than any other artist including bluegrass, country, pop, jazz, Latin, classical crossover and contemporary world music. He has won 15 Grammy awards with his band The Flecktones and in collaborations with Asleep At The Wheel, Joshua Bell, Chick Corea, and a host of West African artists (Oumou Sangare, D’Gary and the Jatta Family) on his album Throw Down Your Heart: Africa Sessions. Here he joins the innovative chamber orchestra, The Knights, whose repertoire fuses influences from baroque, classical, jazz, klezmer, pop and indie rock music. Sat, 1/31: 8pm. Concert Hall.

February

David Mamet’s, A Life In the Theatre: Philadelphia’s Walnut Street Theatre On Tour presents Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright David Mamet’s A Life in the Theatre. The New York Yorker called Mamet’s laugh-filled, behind-the-scenes look at backstage ego trips, feuds, fears, and acting tips, “a love letter to the theatre.” The play was first produced at Chicago’s Goodman Theatre in February 1977 and opened off-Broadway later that year. Memorable productions have starred the likes of Joe Montegna, F. Murray Abrahman and Patrick Stewart. Tues, 2/3: 8pm. Pepsico Theatre.

Midori by Timothy Greenfield Sanders

Midori: At the age of 11 she made her New York debut at the New York Philharmonic’s New Year’s Eve concert, conducted by Zubin Mehta. (What were you doing on New Year’s Eve when you were 11?) The same year, she signed with CBS Masterworks (now Sony Classical), and her career was launched. For over 30 years she has made her mark as a charismatic performer of the violin concerto repertoire on works from Bach to Bartók. She is an Avery Fisher Prize-winner, and in 2007 United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon named her an official U.N. Messenger of Peace. Sat, 2/14: 8pm. Concert Hall.

Decoda: DeCoda, returns to the Performing Arts Center for their third year. First introduced in2012 as The Declassified, Decoda grew out of Ensemble ACJW – The Academy, a New York City Department of Education program with Carnegie Hall, The Juilliard School and The Weill Music Institute. Time Out called them “a new collective of some of the brightest young classical musicians in the world.” They have performed at festivals worldwide including the Mainly Mozart Festival and the Abu Dhabi Music & Arts Festival. Sun, 2/15: 3pm. Recital Hall.

Paul Taylor Dance Company: Another PAC mainstay, the Paul Taylor Dance Company celebrated their 60^th anniversary in 2014. Taylor’s choreography is known for its great wit and penchant for genre studies that re-imagine historical eras like the Middle Ages, the Depression, the 60s, and World War II. Taylor danced with Merce Cunningham, Martha Graham and George Balanchine before launching his own company. He, in turn, has launched the careers of such choreographers as Twyla Tharp, David Parson, Laura Dean and many others. In 2011 PAC was the site of the world premiere of his acclaimed Gossamer Gallants, a colorful and witty exploration of the mating rituals of the housefly. Sat, 2/28: 8pm. Concert Hall.

March

Danú: Traditional Irish music and song from County Waterford on flute, tin whistle, fiddle, button accordion, and bouzouki. Named after the Celtic Goddess, Danú is the only band voted Best Traditional Group twice in the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards. They celebrate their 20th season at PAC. Their 2000 album,Think Before You Think, was voted Best Traditional Act by Dublin’s magazine Irish Music. Sat, 3/7: 8pm. Concert Hall.

Natalie Merchant by Mark Seliger

Natalie Merchant with the Purchase Symphony Orchestra: On her first new album of original material in 13 years, the eponymous, Natalie Merchant, the former 10,000 Maniacs front has moved from the multi-platinum selling new-wavey folk rock sound that made her famous to the world of adult contemporary music. Lush orchestral strings back her magnificent lower register, on songs with nods to R.E.M. and Tom Waits, on topics as far ranging as her personal life and George W. Bush. At PAC, Merchant, a Hudson Valley resident, will be accompanied by the all-student Purchase Symphony Orchestra. Fri, 3/20: 8pm. Concert Hall.

Compagnie Käfig: Artistic Director Mourad Merzouki’s dance troupe from Rio de Janeiro blends hip-hop, bossa nova, samba, and capoeira with electronic music in two new works of family entertainment that showcase the dancers’ virtuosity and offer innovative uses of props. Correria, plunges its dancers into a hectic rat race world where they have to don extra appendages to keep up. In Agwa, a paean to water, complex configurations of water cups are used like Slinkies, stacked like Legos, rearranged, and ultimately smashed by the dancers. Sat, 3/21: 8pm. PepsiCo Theatre.

The Klezmatics: Often called a “Jewish roots band,” this East Village group has been playing Eastern European Jewish music and celebrating Yiddish culture for over 25 years. In that time the Klezmatics have developed a large following and garnered critical acclaim with their collaborations into the world of classical and American folk music. They have appeared with Itzhak Perlman on PBS’ Great Performances and won a Grammy Award for their 2006 album, Wonder Wheel, that melds klezmer music with the lyrics of Woody Guthrie. Sun, 3/22: 3pm. PepsiCo Theatre.

Academy of St. Martin in the Fields: Jeremy Denk, piano: Founded in 1959, Britain’s most famous chamber orchestra, the Academy of St Martin in the Fields is one of the country’s best-known “exports.” Jeremy Denk, winner of both a MacArthur grant and an Avery Fisher Career Grant is one of the most sought after soloists on the classical music scene. His iconic 2013 recording of Bach’s Goldberg Variations, a work he described as “the biggest jazz riff ever written,” has been hailed as a masterwork by music critics. Thur, 3/26: 8pm. Concert Hall.

April

Jack Quartet: This “supremely cool” NY chamber ensemble is dedicated to cutting edge, up to the minute music. Their championship of contemporary music earned them the Chamber Music America/ASCAP Award for Adventurous Programming. For the Jack Quartet, musical time begins with Charles Ives. Their repertoire includes the work of Steve Reich, John Cage, Gyorgy Ligeti, and the Greek avant-garde composer Iannis Xenakis. In 2010 they performed, In the Dark, a George Frederich Hass string quartet that required them to literally play in the dark – in four corners surrounding the audience. Now that’s cool. Sat, 4/12: 3pm. Recital Hall.

Sing-a-long Sound of Music: Singing and costume fun for the family! Put on your warm woolen mittens, up-cycle those old family room drapes as lederhosen for the kids or a ball costume for the Baroness. Or just wrap yourselves in brown paper tied up with string. This screening of the classic movie musical invites you to dress up and sing along! (Sort of like going to a screening of The Rocky Horror Picture Show – if you’re not using drugs.) Saturday night is for adults. The Sunday screening is for the whole family – where there will be a best costume competition. Sat, 4/18: 8pm & Sun, 4/19: 3pm. PepsiCo Theatre.

BBC Concert Orchestra: The BBC Concert Orchestra, the British Broadcasting Company’s “house band,” may be the most-heard classical ensemble in the UK. It prides itself on being a populist ensemble, playing a mix of classical, light classical, and pop music. Conducted by Poughkeepsie’s Keith Lockhart, also the conductor of the Boston Pops, the orchestra is joined by 26-year-old pianist Charlie Albright, recipient of the 2014 Avery Fisher Career Grant. Sat, 4/25: 8pm. Concert Hall.

May

Patti LuPone: The Lady With the Torch: The Broadway and cabaret star, and two-time Tony Award-winner (Evita, Gypsy) Patti LuPone returns in all of her larger-than-life glory for a one-night-only concert of torch songs by such composers and lyricists as Arthur Schwartz, Howard Dietz, Jule Styne, Sammy Cahn, Billy Barnes, Harold Arlen, George and Ira Gershwin, and Cole Porter, sure to delight aficionados of the American songbook. (WTD loves Patti LuPone.) Sat, 5/2: 8pm. Concert Hall.

Rioult Dance NY: Celebrating its 20th year, RIOULT Dance NY has established its place in modern dance, creating and presenting the sensual and articulate works of choreographer and company founder Pascal Rioult. Born into the modern dance tradition, Rioult, acclaimed by Anna Kisselgoff in The New York Times as having “met the challenge of comparison with George Balanchine,” has created his own legacy of contemporary dance that speaks to the mind and heart. Sun, 5/3: 3pm. PepsiCo Theatre.

Conservatory Chamber Players: Music from the Age of Enlightenment: This new ensemble of faculty members from Purchase College’s Conservatory of Music perform a selection of best-loved pieces by Bach, Handel, Purcell, and Vivaldi. Whoever said that “those that can’t do, teach?” Sun, 5/10: 3pm. Recital Hall.

Harlan Jacobson’s Talk Cinema: Don’t wait for the release date – see it here first in this series of exclusive pre-release screenings. Harlan Jacobson’s Talk Cinema offers audiences the chance to see the best independent and foreign films before their US openings. Plus, each screening features a guest speaker; you’ll rub elbows with critics, scholars, and filmmakers during the post-film discussions.

Screenings are Tuesdays at 7pm: 9/16, 10/21, 11/25, 12/16, 1/27, 2/24, 4/14, & 5/12.

Performing Arts Center, Purchase College, 735 Anderson Hill Road, Purchase, 914.251.6200; www.artscenter.org)

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