Harris Theater Presents announces 2010-2011 season

Here’s the press release from Harris Theater:

PHILIP GLASS’ AMERICAN FOUR SEASONS, MARK MORRIS’ PROVOCATIVE NEW FULL-LENGTH DANCE OF ROMEO & JULIET, CHICAGO DEBUT OF SANKAI JUKU DIRECT FROM JAPAN, HARRIS DEBUTS BY GRAMMY® AWARD WINNERS BRITISH TENOR IAN BOSTRIDGE AND VIOLINIST GIDON KREMER,

RETURNS OF PERFORMANCE ARTIST LAURIE ANDERSON WITH CHICAGO PREMIERE, NATIONALLY ACCLAIMED SPHINX CHAMBER ORCHESTRA,

BALLET HISPANICO, AND SOLO PERFORMANCES BY ALAN CUMMING AND

JOHN WATERS AMONG HIGHLIGHTS

OF PREMIERE-PACKED HARRIS THEATER PRESENTS 2010-2011 SEASON

HARRIS THEATER FOR MUSIC AND DANCE EXPANDS ITS SEASON OFFERINGS; INNOVATIVE CULTURALLY DIVERSE PROGRAMMING + INTIMATE SETTING

+ AFFORDABLE PRICES = ‘THE HARRIS EXPERIENCE’

HEAR THE MUSIC:

Chicago Premiere of Philip Glass’ Violin Concerto No. 2: The American Four Seasons with

Robert McDuffie; plus Harris debuts by internationally-renowned violinist & Grammy Award-Winner Gidon Kremer and his Kremerata Baltica, and Early Music champions Les Violons de Roy with Tenor Ian Bostridge, plus Chicago Debut of Venezuelan superstar pianist Gabriela Montero

SEE THE DANCE:

Highly-anticipated Chicago Premiere of Mark Morris Dance Group’s

Romeo & Juliet, On Motifs of Shakespeare, produced by an international consortium of

co-commissioners including the Harris Theater; first Chicago engagement by Ballet Hispanico under new Artistic Head Eduardo Vilaro; the return of Harris favorite, Lar Lubovitch Dance Company; and the outrageous inventiveness of Pilobolus Dance Theatre

BOYS OF BROADWAY:

John Waters puts the “X” back in X’Mas with A John Waters Christmas;

Tony® Award-Winner Alan Cumming shares sensational songs and stories in

I Bought a Blue Car Today

COLLABORATIONS & SPECIAL PROJECTS AT THE HARRIS:

Chicago Debut of Sankai Juku, spellbinding Japanese Butoh dance company, co-presented with The Dance Center of Columbia College Chicago and MCA Stage;

Chicago Premiere of Laurie Anderson’s epic new work, Delusion,

commissioned by 2010 Winter Olympics; and return of nationally acclaimed Sphinx Chamber Orchestra

CHICAGO – April 14, 2010 – Michael Tiknis, President and Managing Director of the Harris Theater for Music and Dance, today announced the Harris Theater Presents 2010-2011 season, offering Chicago audiences a collection of innovative, intimate and culturally diverse experiences with some of the world’s greatest musicians, dance companies and artistic visionaries, as well as Harris’ signature collaborations with Chicago’s leading dance and art institutions.

The Harris Theater Presents 2010-2011 season features 13 artists and ensembles in three premiere-packed subscription series.  Hear the Music offers the Chicago Premiere of Philip Glass’ new Violin Concerto No. 2: The American Four Seasons performed by the Venice Baroque Orchestra, with acclaimed violinist Robert McDuffie, October 24; plus the Harris debuts of Gidon Kremer’s exciting young chamber orchestra, Kremerata Baltica, November 6; the Chicago debut of Venezuelan superstar pianist Gabriela Montero, February 4, 2011; and in its Harris debut, the innovative Canadian Early Music ensemble Les Violons de Roy, with English Tenor Ian Bostridge, May 6, 2011. See the Dance includes the return of Harris favorite, the Lar Lubovitch Dance Company, September 22 & 23; the first Chicago performance by New York City’s Ballet Hispanico under the new leadership of beloved Luna Negra Dance Theater Founder, Eduardo Vilaro, November 5; a 40th Anniversary celebration by the Pilobolus Dance Theatre, January 28 & 29, 2011; and the highly-anticipated Chicago Premiere of Mark Morris’ new full-length dance Romeo & Juliet, On Motifs of Shakespeare, featuring an additional 20 minutes of newly-uncovered score by Sergei Prokofiev, performed by the Roosevelt University Chicago College of Performing Arts Symphony Orchestra, February 25-27, 2011.  Following the hugely successful Broadway Luminaries series launched in 2009-2010 with headliners Stephen Sondheim and Christine Ebersole, the Boys of Broadway series continues with the Chicago Premiere of two one-man tours-de-force: cult filmmaker turned Broadway legend John Waters presents A John Waters’ Christmas, December 14, while Tony Award-winner and film and television star Alan Cumming presents his solo cabaret performance, I Bought a Blue Car Today, March 21, 2011.

In addition to these three series, At the Harris heralds a trio of unique collaborations and special one-night-only performances truly representing the Harris mission of collaboration and partnerships, including the return of the inspiring Sphinx Chamber Orchestra, October 18; the Chicago debut of the spellbinding Japanese Butoh ensemble, Sankai Juku, co-presented with The Dance Center of Columbia College Chicago and MCA Stage, October 20; and the Chicago Premiere of performance art visionary Laurie Anderson’s newest multi-media epic, Delusion, January 11, 2011.

“As audience members and critics alike have discovered, only at the Harris can you hear and see the caliber of music, dance and theatrical talent in a venue that’s repeatedly been praised for both its incredible acoustics and its sightlines,” said Tiknis. “Plus the intimate size of the venue offers audiences a unique and personal perspective, what we consider ‘the Harris experience.’”

“The season also showcases the continuing commitment of the Harris Theater to cultural diversity with performances by highly acclaimed artists: Ballet Hispanico, Sankai Juku, Sphinx Chamber Orchestra and Gabriela Montero,” added Tiknis.

“The Harris Theater hosts some of the most relevant and artistically influential ensembles working internationally as well as some of Chicago’s most passionate and prolific performing arts organizations.  Among those returning this season are the Puerto Rican Arts Alliance, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, Chicago Opera Theater, Deeply Rooted Dance Theater, eighth blackbird, Midwest Young Artists, Luna Negra Dance Theater, and Music of the Baroque.  We are honored to be their venue of choice and be given the opportunity to support such an artistically diverse number of ensembles representing Chicago’s rich landscape,” said Joan W. Harris, Chairman, Harris Theater Board of Trustees. “We hope that the Harris Theater’s collaborative spirit and community engagement can continue to serve as a national role model for other arts organizations.”

Harris Theater Presents 2010-2011 Season Overview

HEAR THE MUSIC

Cutting-Edge Programming Continues to Cross Classical Music Boundaries

Tiknis: “The Harris Theater Presents 2010-2011 season continues Harris’ commitment to supporting new work and challenging Chicago audiences with some of the most extraordinary, cutting-edge programming you can’t find anywhere else.   Our Hear the Music lineup is particularly representative of this mission as we present a series of musicians and ensembles – the majority on our stage for the first time – each performing an intelligent, innovative spin on the standard classical music canon.  From the Chicago Premiere of Philip Glass’ Violin Concerto No.2: The American Four Seasons juxtaposed with a performance of its inspiration, the Vivaldi classic, to our continued support of the next generation of classical musicians, this season via the young and energetic Baltic ensemble, Kremerata Baltica, led by the incredible Gidon Kremer. Venezuelan pianist Gabriela Montero offers impeccable talent, a passion for improvisation, and the caché of having performed at President Barack Obama’s inauguration alongside Yo-Yo Ma, Itzhak Perlman and Chicago native Anthony McGill.   Finally, taking advantage of the city’s burgeoning Early Music scene, the spring brings Canadian chamber orchestra, Les Violons du Roy, renowned for meticulously performing 17^th & 18^th century classics, the way they were intended to be performed, albeit on contemporary modern instruments.”

Philip Glass’ The Seasons Project*

Venice Baroque Orchestra

Robert McDuffie, Violin Soloist and Leader

Sunday, October 24, 3 p.m.

*Chicago Premiere

The innovative Philip Glass’ Seasons Project juxtaposes Glass’ magical new work – Violin Concerto No. 2: The American Four Seasons – with its inspiration, the Vivaldi classic The Four Seasons. The Venice Baroque Orchestra, one of Europe’s premiere ensembles devoted to period instrument performance, will perform Vivaldi’s masterpiece on Baroque-style instruments and then utilize modern instruments for Glass’ Concerto.  American violin virtuoso Robert McDuffie, who spearheaded the creation of the new work, will perform double duty, as soloist and leader.  He last amazed Harris audiences with the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra in 2008.

The genesis of Glass’ Violin Concerto No. 2: The American Four Seasons dates back to the 1990s when McDuffie heard a recording of Glass’ first violin concerto performed by international talent Gidon Kremer (who introduces his own Kremerata Baltica to Harris audiences in November). Mesmerized by the work, McDuffie added it to his repertoire and asked Glass to write a piece for him inspired by Vivaldi’s Four Seasons. The resulting concerto, a 40-minute work in four movements which reflects each of the four seasons, received its World Premiere with the Toronto Symphony in December 2009. Philip Glass has had an extraordinary and unprecedented impact upon the musical and intellectual life of his times. His body of work as a composer includes more than twenty operas, including the landmark Einstein on the Beach; eight symphonies; two piano concertos as well as concertos for numerous other instruments, including violin and timpani and saxophone; and film scores including The Hours and Martin Scorsese’s Kundun.

Vivaldi: Le Quattro Staggioni (The Four Seasons)

1. La primavera, RV 269, E Major (Spring)

2. L’estate, RV 315, G minor (Summer)

3. L’autunno, RV 293, F Major (Autumn)

4. L’inverno, RV 297, F minor (Winter)

Glass: Violin Concerto No. 2 for Violin & Orchestra: The American Four Seasons

Kremerata Baltica*

Gidon Kremer, Artistic Leader and Soloist

Saturday, November 6, 7:30 p.m.

*Harris Debut

Renowned violinist Gidon Kremer, born and raised in Soviet-occupied Latvia, and his namesake Kremerata Baltica chamber orchestra, comprised of the top young professional musicians from the Baltic States of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, make their Harris Theater debut with this provocative program. Kremer, whom The New York Times calls “one of the truly interesting musicians among us today,” has been celebrated as one of the most original and compelling artists of his generation. In 1997, he founded Kremerata Baltica with the purpose of promoting and celebrating the music of his homeland. The Grammy Award-winning chamber orchestra is considered one of the most prominent international ensembles in Europe, and it is recognized for its unusual repertoire, in particular its unconventional pairings of composers.

Bartok: Divertimento

Schumann: Cello Concerto (Violin Version)

Selections from Kremerata Baltica’s new album De Profundis (to be released Fall 2010), featuring recent works by Michael Nyman, Arvo Pärt, Lera Auerbach, Raminta Šerkšnyt?, and Georgs Pelecis

The performance of Kremerata Baltica is presented as part of the citywide The Soviet Experience, a 14-month-long collaborative showcase of works by artists who created under (and in response to) the Politburo of the Soviet Union.

Gabriela Montero*

Friday, February 4, 2011, 7:30 p.m.

*Chicago Debut

Acclaimed by critics, Venezuelan pianist Gabriela Montero came to the attention of millions performing with Yo-Yo Ma, Itzhak Perlman and Anthony McGill at President Barack Obama’s inauguration ceremony in January 2009. Montero is best-known for her trademark improvisations, which fellow South American pianist (and friend of the Harris) Martha Argerich encouraged her to make part of her concert presentations. Montero gave her first public appearance at age five; three years later she made her concert debut with the Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra and was granted a scholarship from the Venezuelan government to study in the United States. Past engagements include performances with the New York Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, and UBS Verbier Chamber Orchestra, and recitals at the Ravinia Festival, Edinburgh Festival, Verbier Festival, Istanbul International Festival, Kennedy Center, National Arts Centre Ottawa, and Switzerland’s Progetto Martha Argerich Festival.  Following her first recording, Bach and Beyond, an entire disc of improvisations on themes by Bach, her latest album, Improvisations Baroque, received two Grammy Award nominations for Best Crossover and Best Producer in 2009.

PROGRAM TBD

Les Violons du Roy*

Bernard Labadie, Conductor

Ian Bostridge, Tenor*

Friday, May 6, 2011, 7:30 p.m.

*Harris Debut

Dedicated to new ways of presenting 17^th and18^th century chamber music repertoire, the innovative Canadian chamber orchestra Les Violons du Roy is known and admired for its meticulous performances of early music in the manner in which it was intended. Their engaging, authentic renditions are based on thorough study of the scores to fulfill the stylistic markings of the period in which each piece was composed. Having just celebrated its 25^th anniversary this past season, Les Violons du Roy is led by Founding Music Director Bernard Labadie and is well-known throughout Canada, Europe and the United States. Les Violons du Roy will be joined by acclaimed English tenor Ian Bostridge. An admired, prolific recording artist, Bostridge made his operatic debut in 1994 as Lysander in Benjamin Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream with Opera Australia at the Edinburgh Festival. In 1996 he made his debut at the English National Opera as Tamino, returning to play the role of Jupiter in Handel’s Semele. Bostridge received a 2010 Grammy Award for Best Opera Recording for the London Symphony Orchestra’s recording of Britten’s opera Billy Budd.

Scarlatti: Se non qual vento (from Marco Attilo Regolo)

Vivaldi:  La tiranna e avversa sorte (from Arsilda)

Caldara: Lo so, lo so: con periglio (from Joaz)

Handel: Scorta siate (from Giulio Cesare)

Handel: From celestial seats (from Hercules)

Boyce: Softly rise

Handel: Concerto grosso in D major, Op. 6 No. 5

Geminiani: Concerto grosso in D minor, after Corelli,

Op. 5 No. 12 La Follila

SEE THE DANCE

Classic Romeo & Juliet in contemporary form, choreographed by Mark Morris, commissioned by the Harris

“Since it opened in 2003, the Harris has cultivated relationships with the country’s leading contemporary dance choreographers, dancers and dance institutions, ensuring that our audiences get to experience the most provocative, world class new works first.  This coming season brings the much anticipated Chicago Premiere of Mark Morris’ groundbreaking new rendition of the classic Romeo & Juliet, in an important co-commission by the Harris. This full length dance has been the center of great debate in dance circles since its premiere and perhaps the New York Times said it best, ‘as a pledge of love, it is as outspoken as Mr. Morris can be and wholly triumphant.’ The work will be accompanied here by Harris resident company Roosevelt University’s Chicago College of Performing Arts Symphony Orchestra, contributing to our mission of local partnership and collaboration. Also as part of our See the Dance series, the Harris Theater welcomes back the Lar Lubovitch Dance Company, and also Eduardo Vilaro, the popular former founder/artistic director of Luna Negra Dance Theater as he returns at the helm of the vibrant Ballet Hispanico. And finally, always a treat for Chicago audiences, another return – this time by one of modern dance’s most inventive, crowd-pleasing companies, the Pilobolus Dance Theatre.”

Lar Lubovitch Dance Company

Wednesday & Thursday, September 22 & 23, 7:30 p.m.

The Lar Lubovitch Dance Company, one of the world’s foremost modern dance companies, returns to the Harris stage, having last performed here as part of the Harris Theater’s Fifth Anniversary Season in 2008, and fresh off The Joffrey Ballet’s critically-acclaimed Chicago Premiere of Lubovitch’s Othello. Hailed by The New York Times as “one of the best choreographers in the world,” Lar Lubovitch is one of America’s most versatile and highly acclaimed choreographers. Following training at the Juilliard School (under Antony Tudor, José Limón, Anna Sokolow and Martha Graham), Lubovitch founded the Lar Lubovitch Dance Company in 1968. Since then he has choreographed more than 100 works for the New York-based company, which has performed in virtually every state and in more than 30 foreign countries. Closer to home, in 2007, to supplement the company’s activities, Lubovitch founded the Chicago Dancing Company, a non-profit organization whose mission is to present a wide variety of excellent dance and build dance audiences in his native Chicago. As part of this initiative, the Chicago Dancing Festival was launched in summer 2007 and due to its success, reprised in summers 2008 and 2009 with capacity engagements at the Harris as part of the Festival.

PROGRAM TBD

Ballet Hispanico

Friday, November 5, 7:30 p.m.

Eduardo Vilaro, founder of Harris’ resident company Luna Negra Dance Theater, marks a homecoming at the Harris from the helm of New York City’s acclaimed Ballet Hispanico, renowned for fusing ballet, modern and Latin dance forms into a spirited representation of contemporary Hispanic culture. This performance will mark Vilaro’s first engagement in Chicago with Ballet Hispanico, which he joined as Artistic Director – only the company’s second in 39 years – in August 2009. Ballet Hispanico was founded in 1970 by Venezuelan-born dancer and choreographer Tina Ramirez.  A student of classical, contemporary, and Spanish dance traditions, she set aside a successful performing career to continue the educational legacy of her retiring Spanish dance teacher and mentor, Lola Bravo, in 1963.  Today Ballet Hispanico is the foremost dance representative of Hispanic culture in the United States, with a professional company which tours nationally and internationally; a school of dance unique in its emphasis on ballet, modern and Spanish dance as its core curriculum; and extensive programming for public schools. Vilaro, a former principal dancer with Ballet Hispanico, is building on Ramirez’s founding vision and brings with him a commitment to dance, education, and to fostering a deeper understanding of the rich diversity within Latino cultures.

PROGRAM TBD

Pilobolus Dance Theatre

Friday & Saturday, January 28 & 29, 2011, 7:30 p.m.

Pilobolus Dance Theatre, a pioneering American cultural institution renowned the world over for its imaginative and athletic exploration of creative collaboration, celebrates its 40^th Anniversary season at the Harris.  Pilobolus at 40: Collaborating on the Future will feature classic works from its repertoire along with those new to Chicago audiences. Founded in 1971 as an outsider dance company by students in a Dartmouth College modern dance class, Pilobolus Dance Theatre revolutionized the dance world by incorporating elements of acrobatics, gymnastics, wit and intense physicality to form its own innovative form of modern dance. Today the company is acclaimed for its startling mix of humor, invention and improvisation as it plays with illusion and reality in its radically innovative productions. With a full repertory of more than 100 works, Pilobolus performs across the globe and is acclaimed for the surprising and precarious exaggerations and contortions of the human form its dancer are able to create. Millions were able to experience Pilobolus when it performed for a worldwide audience on the 2007 Academy Awards telecast.

PROGRAM TBD

Romeo & Juliet, On Motifs of Shakespeare*

Mark Morris Dance Group

Roosevelt University Chicago College of Performing Arts Symphony Orchestra

Stefan Asbury, guest conductor

Friday – Sunday, February 25-27, 2011: Friday & Saturday, 7:30 p.m., Sunday, 3 p.m.

*Chicago Premiere

Maverick choreographer Mark Morris and his company will perform the Chicago premiere of Romeo & Juliet, On Motifs of Shakespeare, featuring Sergei Prokofiev’s original score and scenario. This new, fully-staged $1.1 million dance production, a project with no parallel in ballet history, is commissioned by an international consortium including the Harris Theater; Krannert Center for the Performing Arts, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts; Fisher Center for the Performing Arts at Bard College; barbicanbite08, London; Cal Performances, Berkeley; Virginia Arts Festival; and The Shelby and Frederick Gans Fund.

Since its premiere in 2008, the production has been the subject of considerable controversy. Reviewing for The New York Times, Gia Kourlas wrote, “Perhaps the most important point to keep in mind about Mark Morris’ ‘Romeo & Juliet, On Motifs of Shakespeare’ is that it’s a dance, not a ballet. And as such, it is created in Mr. Morris’s modern manner… as a pledge of love, it is as outspoken as Mr. Morris can be and wholly triumphant.”

Prokofiev conceived Romeo and Juliet in 1935, and in a radical gesture that caused a scandal among Soviet ballet circles, he gave the ballet a happy ending. Soviet cultural officials responded by canceling the premiere and forcing Prokofiev to make significant changes to the ballet. This limited engagement restores the beauty of the original score, with six new dance numbers, and more than 20 minutes of new music from documents unearthed in Moscow by Princeton University musicologist Simon Morrison. Roosevelt University’s Chicago College of Performing Arts Orchestra with guest conductor Stefan Asbury will accompany Mark Morris Dance Group.

Romeo & Juliet, On Motifs of Shakespeare

Original Score and Scenario by Sergei Prokofiev

New Choreography by Mark Morris

Mark Morris’ Romeo & Juliet, On Motifs of Shakespeare is also presented as part of the citywide The Soviet Experience.

BOYS OF BROADWAY

Only at the Harris, Experience John Waters and Alan Cumming, Up Close and Definitely Personal

“On the heels of a successful inaugural Broadway series this past season, the coming year takes it up a notch, presenting two provocative, pop culture artists, John Waters and Alan Cumming. Waters’ unique take on Christmas follows the seasonal spirituals engagement with Kathleen Battle in 2009 and reflects Harris’ fresh approach to programming during the holiday season, while Cumming will no doubt enchant audiences with his amazing vocal talent and tantalizing backstage stories. The intimacy of the Harris will only enhance these experiences.”

John Waters

A John Waters Christmas*

Wednesday, December 14, 7:30 p.m.

*Chicago Premiere

The Harris will bring legendary cult filmmaker, actor, writer and originator of the Hairspray dynasty, John Waters to the Windy City for the Chicago Premiere of his critically-acclaimed new one-man show, A John Waters Christmas. First performed in New York City, A John Waters Christmas aims to put the “X” back in X’Mas, promising the same kitschy, campy aesthetic as Waters’ movies. A John Waters Christmas will explore, explode and exploit traditional holiday customs, with Waters sharing his compulsions, desires and stories, including his urge to give and receive inappropriate gifts, a religious fanaticism for Santa Claus, and an unhealthy love of true crime holiday horror stories.

Born and raised in Baltimore, Waters rose to fame in the 1970s with trash films such as Polyester and Female Trouble featuring his regular troupe of actors known as Dreamlanders—among them Divine, Mink Stole, and Mary Vivian Pearce, as well as real-life criminals and infamous people—often committing what could be considered cinematic crimes. His 1988 film Hairspray brought him to the mainstream, and its adaptation as a long-running Broadway musical swept the 2003 Tony Awards, and formally secured his place in film and Broadway history. His other films include Cry Baby starring Johnny Depp, Serial Mom and Cecil B. Demented. A true artistic visionary, Waters is also known for his photo-based artwork and installations, many of which have been internationally exhibited in galleries and museums.

Alan Cumming

I Bought a Blue Car Today*

Monday, March 21, 2011, 7:30 p.m.

*Chicago Premiere

Scottish-born Tony Award-winning Broadway thespian and star of the large and small screen, the immensely talented Alan Cumming presents the Chicago premiere of his hit one-man cabaret show, I Bought a Blue Car Today, cheekily titled after an expression Cumming was asked to recite when applying to become a U.S. citizen in Fall 2008. Currently a series regular on the popular CBS drama, The Good Wife, and named by Entertainment Weekly as one of the 100 Most Creative People in the World, Cumming’s career spans theater, film, television and music. He won the Tony Award for his performance as the Emcee in Cabaret and has performed at the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Royal National Theatre, where he won a Laurence Olivier Award for his performance in Dario Fo’s Accidental Death Of An Anarchist. He is slated to play the Green Goblin in the much anticipated Broadway musical, Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark, directed by Julie Taymor. His film credits include Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion, and the blockbuster hits X2: X-Men United and the Spy Kids trilogy. On the small screen, he is the host of PBS’ Masterpiece Mystery and has appeared in Sex and the City, Frasier, and most recently the Sci-Fi Channel’s record-breaking Tin Man.

I Bought a Blue Car premiered as part of the Lincoln Center Songbook Series in 2009, a performance in which Variety raved he “commands the space with elfin charm and a friendly sly brand of humor.” Accompanied by his musical director Lance Horn and a six-piece band, Cumming belts out celebrated and little-known gems on a musical journey peppered with material by Frank Sinatra, Cole Porter and Cyndi Lauper, as well as selections from Hedwig and the Angry Inch and Cabaret. Whether revealing intimate gossip regarding himself and an onstage musician, relating a bawdy encounter in the back seat of a taxi cab, or sharing his reflections on America as one of its newest citizens, I Bought a Blue Car Today is, as the LA Times put it, ”a droll, naughty and seriously dish-y evening.” A recording of I Bought a Blue Car Today was released in September on Yellow Sound Label. Since its debut, the show has toured on a limited basis to wide acclaim at London’s Vaudeville Theatre, the Sydney Opera House and the Orange County Performing Arts Center in Costa Mesa, CA.

AT THE HARRIS:

Special events and collaborations offer one-night-only opportunities

to experience Butoh dance direct from Japan,

not to mention the vision of Laurie Anderson

“In particular, collaborations with our Chicago colleagues provide us with the opportunity to host internationally renowned artists, and this collection of one-night-only performances represents that. For example, fulfilling its founding mission, the Harris collaborates with esteemed local partners -The Dance Center of Columbia College Chicago and MCA Stage – to present the Chicago debut of the spellbinding Japanese Butoh company, Sankai Juku, plus we welcome back Laurie Anderson – the high priestess of performance art – for one performance only of her newest work, ‘Delusion.’ A fusion of spoken word, music and elaborate multimedia stage performance, the piece was specifically commissioned for the Winter Olympics. Fans of her early works in particular will rejoice at the scale of this piece, presented only at the Harris!  Finally, the Sphinx Chamber Orchestra returns – and all tickets are priced at only $10.  What a great opportunity for audiences of all ages and backgrounds to experience this tremendously talented group of musicians of color.”

Sphinx Chamber Orchestra

Monday, October 18, 7:30 p.m.

The Harris welcomes back the Sphinx Chamber Orchestra in a special one-night-only concert, with all tickets priced at $10!  The Sphinx Chamber Orchestra, comprised of the top Laureates of the national Sphinx Competition for young African American and Latino string players, is admired for its performances of masterpieces by Bach, Vivaldi and Mozart, alongside the more seldom presented works by composers of color, including Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson, George Walker, Michael Abels and Astor Piazzolla. The Sphinx Chamber Orchestra, which made its Chicago debut at the Harris in 2008 as part of the Theater’s Fifth Anniversary Season, will be joined by the Harlem Quartet, comprised of all former First Place Laureates of the Sphinx Competition. The Sphinx Organization is widely recognized and praised for its role in increasing participation of African Americans and Latinos in music schools.

This concert is presented as part of the Harris Theater’s new Access Ticket Program, launched in January 2009, in which the Theater partners with health and human services community organizations and arts education programs to provide complimentary tickets (a minimum of 10% for each performance) to families who might not have the financial capacity or access to experience the powerful and uplifting benefits of the performing arts.

PROGRAM TBD

Harris Theater for Music and Dance, The Dance Center of Columbia College Chicago, and MCA Stage Present: Sankai Juku*                                                                        Hibiki: Resonance from Far Away

Wednesday, October 20, 7:30 p.m.

*Chicago Debut

In collaboration with The Dance Center of Columbia College Chicago and MCA Stage, the Harris Theater presents the Chicago debut of one of the most important Butoh dance companies in the world, Sankai Juku, performing its groundbreaking, full-length work, Hibiki: Resonance from Far Away. This presentation marks the first collaboration between these three leading Chicago dance presenters.  Since receiving its World Premiere at Theatre de la Ville, Paris in 1998, Hibiki has received international acclaim, including the Olivier Award for Best New Dance Production in 2002. The company of six dancers – naked torsos painted in white – blends image, sound and performance to create a hypnotic dance experience. Incorporating everything from liquid, which drips rhythmically from suspended glass urns into 13 concave glass lenses, to sand, to a lyrical and electronic score by Takashi Kako and Yoichiro Yoshikawa, Hibiki has been called “a luminous rite — slow, enigmatic, beautiful!” (The Village Voice).

Founded by choreographer Ushio Amagatsu in Japan over three decades ago, Sankai Juku is known worldwide for its elegance, refinement, technical precision and emotional depth. The company performs contemporary Japanese Butoh, a collective name for a diverse range of dance, performance, or movement inspired by the Ankoku-Butoh (Dance of Darkness) movement following World War II. Butoh typically involves playful and grotesque imagery, extreme or absurd environments, and is traditionally performed in white-body makeup with slow hyper-controlled motion. Sankai Juku has performed this art in more than 700 cities throughout 40 countries since 1975.

Laurie Anderson

Delusion*

Tuesday, January 11, 2011, 7:30 p.m.

*Chicago Premiere

Laurie Anderson, one of America’s most renowned and daring creative pioneers, returns to the Harris with her latest full scale work of performance art, the Chicago Premiere of Delusion. Anderson made her Harris debut in 2008 with a sold-out performance of Homeland, her response to the government reaction to 9/11 and the “war on terror.” In Delusion, Anderson’s unique world view shapes what was conceived as a series of short mystery plays, jump-cutting between the everyday and the mythic, fantasy and fact. The epic piece, which received its World Premiere in Toronto as a commission by the 2010 Winter Olympics, combines the spectacle of violin, electronic puppetry, music and visuals to tell its story in the colorful and poetic language that has become Anderson’s trademark. Inspired by an eclectic mix of artists including Honoré de Balzac, Japanese filmmaker Yasujiro Ozu and 18^th Century English novelist Laurence Sterne,

Anderson employs a series of altered voices and imaginary guests, including golems, nuns and archeologists, to tell a story of longing, memory and identity.

As writer, director, visual artist and vocalist, Anderson has created groundbreaking works that span the worlds of art, theater and experimental theater. Acclaimed by Rolling Stone as “a singer-songwriter of crushing poignancy,” Anderson is considered one of this era’s most prolific artists. Her major performance works include United States I–V (1983), Home of the Brave (1986), Empty Places (1990), The Nerve Bible (1995) and Songs and Stories for Moby Dick (1999), a multimedia stage performance based on the novel by Herman Melville. As a composer, Anderson has contributed music to films by Wim Wenders and Jonathan Demme; dance pieces by Bill T. Jones, Trisha Brown, Molissa Fenley; and a score for Robert LePage’s theatre production, Far Side of the Moon. In 2002 Anderson was appointed the first artist-in-residence of NASA, during which time she developed her solo performance The End of the Moon, which premiered in 2004 and toured internationally through 2006. In 2007 she was awarded the Dorothy and Lillian Gish Prize, one of the most esteemed awards in the arts given annually to “a man or woman who has made an outstanding contribution to the beauty of the world and to mankind’s enjoyment and understanding of life.” The entire Laurie Anderson discography is expected to be released on the Nonesuch Records label this summer.

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Tickets for all presentations on the Harris Theater Presents 2010-2011 season will go on sale via series subscription Saturday, May 1, at the Harris Theater box office located in Millennium Park at 205 E. Randolph Dr., by calling 312-334-7777 or by visiting www.harristheaterchicago.org. Tickets for the two special At The Harris events (Hibiki by Sankai Juku, October 20, and Delusion by Laurie Anderson, January 11) will only be available for sale to series subscribers.

Subscribers to the Harris Theater Presents season save up to 40% off single ticket prices.  Other benefits include priority seating preferences, guaranteed seating at sold-out events, free and easy exchange privileges, invitations to special events, and advance notice of pre-sales.  Single tickets, most priced from $45-$75, will go on sale in August.

The Harris Theater’s 2010-2011 Season has been made possible with support from United Airlines, the Harris Theater’s Official Airline of the 2010-2011 Season. Support for Harris Theater programming is provided by the Irving Harris Foundation Presenting Fund, established in 2006 to bring to Chicago artists or ensembles of the highest caliber which would normally not be seen here in order to complement the works of the Theater’s resident companies and build audiences for the Theater. All performances are on The Elizabeth Morse Genius Stage. The Harris Theater is partially supported by the CityArts Program 4 grant from the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and the Illinois Arts Council, a state agency.

Harris Theater Presents programs will be presented in addition to the Theater’s roster of diverse resident company performances, including Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, Music of the Baroque and Chicago Opera Theater, and the Harris Theater’s popular Harris Family Series and Eat to the Beat performances. Those programs will be announced in full at a later date.

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Opened in 2003, the Harris Theater’s mission is to partner and collaborate with an array of Chicago’s emerging and mid-sized performing arts organizations to help them build the resources and infrastructure necessary to achieve artistic growth and long-term organizational sustainability. The Harris Theater for Music and Dance was the first multi-use performing arts venue to be built in the Chicago downtown area since 1929 and today the Theater continues to host the most diverse offerings of any venue in Chicago, featuring the city’s world-renowned music and dance institutions and the Harris Theater Presents series of acclaimed national and international companies.

For additional information about the Harris Theater for Music and Dance, Chicago’s state-of-the art 1,470 seat performance venue, or its Harris Theater Presents 2010-2011 Season, please visit www.harristheaterchicago.org or call the box office at 312-334-7777.

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All programs, prices and dates are subject to change.

Press Contact

Beth Silverman / Eric Eatherly

The Silverman Group, Inc.

312-932-9950

[email protected]