2012-13 Special Performances
Each year, the staff of the UAlbany Performing Arts Center selects several professional touring artists to perform at our facility to augment and complement the offerings presented by the Departments of Music and Theatre. Often these companies are on campus for several days offering performances and other activities which share their artistic work and vision. We are proud of the multicultural and multi-discipline artists who will be with us this season and graciously thank our partners who have enabled us to make their presence here a possibility.
Flamenco Vivo II - SOLD OUT
Thursday, October 4 at 7:30pm
$15 general public/$12 faculty-staff & seniors/$10 students
Whirls of colorful dresses.
Explosions of clicking castanets.
Strumming guitar and stamping feet.
Vivacious and passionate dancers, singers
and
musicians sharing the flamenco tradition.
In celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month, this five-member ensemble of artists, under the direction of Artistic Director Carlota Santana, presents an evening of flamenco music, song and dance. Intense speed, sensual partnering and stiletto movement are trademarks of Santana’s artists who are currently celebrating their 30th anniversary season and tour nationally to build bridges between cultures using the universal spirit of flamenco. more info
Artist website
Office of Multicultural Success, University Auxiliary Services and Holiday Inn Express.
Mycale Sings John Zorn's
Book of Angels
Thursday, October 11 at 7:30pm
$15 general public/$12 faculty-staff & seniors/$10 students
Rich musical tapestry.
Hauntingly beautiful vocals.
Music from the Book of Angels.
Highly individualistic and creative singers
with diverse voices and stylistic inflections.
Consisting of four dynamic singer-songwriters and recording artists -- Basya Schechter (Brooklyn), Ayelet Rose Gottlieb (Israel), Malika Zarra (Morocco) and Sophia Rei (Argentina) -- this female a cappella quartet performs a repertoire of Jewish art and liturgical songs. Singing lyrics in Hebrew, Yiddish, Ladino, French, Spanish, Portuguese and Arabic drawn from Rumi, Fernando Pessoa, Heraclitus, The Hebrew Bible and more, these expressive and passionate artists first came together in 2011 with a recording produced by John Zorn. more info
Presented by the Performing Arts Center in conjunction with the Center for Jewish Studies. Support provided by the Office of International Education, Office of Multicultural Success, UAlbany Foundation and Holiday Inn Express.
Joshua Kane in
Gothic at Midnight: An Evening of Hilarity & Horror
Wednesday, October 24 at 7:30pm
$15 general public/$12 faculty-staff & seniors/$10 students
Spine-tingling thrills.
Tales of terror.
Riveting recitations of the fantastic.
An award-winning tribute to the Masters of the Macabre.
Drawing from the works of Edgar Allan Poe, Charles Dickens, Ambrose Bierce, W. B. Yeats, Bram Stoker, Mary Shelley and other classic creepsters, this classically trained actor blends the power and dramatic sweep of solo theatre with the ancient art of storytelling and the suspense of old fashioned gothic horror. Inspired by the old-time radio dramas of Orson Welles and Vincent Price, Kane populates the stage with unforgettable characters to cheer away an evening filled with tales of revenge, madness and despair. more info
Artist website
Presented by the Performing Arts Center with funding support provided by University Auxiliary Services and Holiday Inn Express.
American Place Theatre in
The Things They Carried
Wednesday, November 7 at 7:30pm
(pre-show discussion begins at 7pm)
$15 general public/$12 faculty-staff & seniors/$10 students
Lush mosaic of vignettes.
Raw honesty and thoughtful reflection.
A compassionate tale of the American soldier.
Tim O’Brien’s masterwork of contemporary literature about the Vietnam War is taken from book to stage by this award-winning New York City based company in a verbatim adaptation that includes four of the short stories from the book including “The Rainy River” and “The Man I Killed.” With original cello music as underscoring, the audience lays witness to the complex issues of war and the universal struggle of the soldier. more info
Artist website
Presented by the Performing Arts Center in conjunction with the NYS Writers Institute. This performance is part of a Big Read project (see list of all events) led by the City School District of Albany, through the Albany Fund for Education, and the Albany Public Library. The Big Read is a program of the National Endowment for the Arts in Partnership with Arts Midwest. This performance is also part of the New York State Presenters Network Presenter-Artist Partnership Project with support from the New York State Council on the Arts, a state agency. Support also provided by University Auxiliary Services and Holiday Inn Express.
Photos this page: Flamenco Vivo II by Carlton S. Chotalal Jr., Joshua Kane by Max Hermans, Billy Lyons in The Things They Carried by Jennifer Barnette
Core Ensemble in
Of Ebony Embers: Vignettes of the Harlem Renaissance
Thursday, January 31 at 7:30pm
$15 general public/$12 faculty-staff & seniors/$10 students
Masterful concert music.
Powerful theatre.
Celebrated poetry.
Jazz from the greats.
A unique marriage of theatrical narrative to chamber music performance.
Presented by the Performing Arts Center with support provided by the Alumni Association, Office of Multicultural Student Success and Holiday Inn Express.
Gesel Mason Performance Projects in
Women, Sex and Desire
Thursday, February 21 at 7:30pm and
JUST ADDED! - Late night show at 10pm
$15 general public/$12 faculty-staff & seniors/$10 students
Free for first 100 UAlbany students with ID!
Risky and risqué.
Provocative, sensual, amusing and raw.
Part dance, part theatre, part talk show.
With dance, true-life stories and video imagery at its core, this multi-media investigation on how women navigate sex, desire, choice and perception challenges stereotypes, assumptions and conventional wisdom along with reflecting the struggle, humor and pleasure we encounter as sexual beings. By combining real stories, actual people, pop culture and a diverse movement vocabulary ranging from post-modern to hip hop to pole dancing, this recently premiered work is at once entertaining, insightful and honest.
Please note: This performance contains mature subject matter and nudity. more info
Artist website
Presented by the Performing Arts Center in conjunction with UAlbany’s Sexuality Month and with support from the New York State DanceForce with funding from the New York State Council on the Arts Dance Program. Support also provided by the Office of Multicultural Student Success, Middle Earth Peer Assistance Program, University Auxiliary Services and Holiday Inn Express.
Williams Chamber Players
Wednesday, April 10 at 7:30pm
$15 general public/$12 faculty-staff & seniors/$10 students
Disciplined virtuosity.
Acute sensitivity and musicianship.
Internationally applauded artists.
Acclaimed musicians who occupy a special niche in the musical ecology of the Berkshires.
Pianist Doris Stevenson and violinist Joanna Kurkowicz perform works by Beethoven and Bartok with a compelling synergy of charisma, musical command and virtuosity. The duo have been collaborating for ten years presenting, premiering and recording rich violin and piano repertoire in New York City and throughout New England including works by living composers, most recently the Violin Sonata and Piano Trio by Williams faculty composer David Kechley. more info
Artist website
Presented by the Performing Arts Center through an artist-in-residence exchange program with Williams College. Support provided by the UAlbany Foundation and Holiday Inn Express.
Talavya
Thursday, April 25 at 7:30pm
$15 general public/$12 faculty-staff & seniors/$10 students
Rousing peaks.
Smooth meditative passages.
Complex rhythms with
split-second perfection.
Vibrant and gifted artists with spiritual depth and technical excellence.
This globe-trotting percussion ensemble brings the Indian hand-drum to center stage, distilling its age-old spirit and practice into a high-energy, highly accessible evening. Rushi Vakil, Kaumil Shah, Sahil Patel and Rahul Shrimali perform works composed by Indian music maestro Pandit Divyang Vakil that are contemporary in feel while full of the richness of classical tabla and are played with the passion and power to express the various emotions of the traditional instrument. more info
Artist website
Presented by the Performing Arts Center with support from the Office of International Education, Office of Multicultural Student Success, University Auxiliary Services and Holiday Inn Express.
American Place Theatre in
The Giver
Wednesday, May 1 at 7:30pm
(pre-show discussion begins at 7pm)
$15 general public/$12 faculty-staff & seniors/$10 students
The “perfect” society. Buried truths.
A questioning of values and beliefs.
A boy who experiences the incredible and undertakes the impossible.
Winner of the 1994 Newbery Medal, Lois Lowry’s richly, provocative novel was published 20 years ago and is still widely read today. In a dystopian world where all is the same, twelve-year-old Jonas is selected to receive the memories of a far different life. Breathing life into literature, this stunning stage adaptation deftly portrays the first book of Lowry's quartet which was completed this past fall with the publishing of "Son." more info
Artist website
Presented by the Performing Arts Center in conjunction with the NYS Writers Institute. This performance is part of the New York State Presenters Network Presenter-Artist Partnership Project with support from the New York State Council on the Arts, a state agency. Support also provided by the UAlbany Foundation, University Auxiliary Services and Holiday Inn Express.
Photos this page: Gesel Mason Performance Projects by Colin Danville, Williams Chamber Players: Joanna Kurkowicz by Cary Wolinsky & Doris Stevenson by Peter Schaaf, Talavya by Joseph Hammond, Mara Stephens in The Giver by Jennifer Barnette
