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  2012-2013 Season Brochure

  Office of Arts + Cultural Programming and PEAK Performances at Montclair State University

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  Landfall

  Office of Arts + Cultural Programming and PEAK Performances at Montclair State University

  Through genre-defying careers with similar philosophies on the invention of new music, it’s shocking that Laurie Anderson and Kronos Quartet have never collaborated before. All that will change in an electrifying season finale as artist/composer Laurie Anderson and the visionary Kronos Quartet perform a new evening-length piece in their very first collaboration. Composed by Anderson and arranged by Kronos Quartet, the piece will include written text and a dozen new songs that herald a new synthesis of sonic invention.

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  Freedom

  Office of Arts + Cultural Programming and PEAK Performances at Montclair State University

  In such previous mind-benders as Yesterday, Justitia, and 7734, Jasmin Vardimon has gained a well-deserved reputation in Britain for uniquely theatrical choreography that combines physical theater, innovative technologies, text, and dance with acute observations of human behavior. Freedom, a new full-length dance theater piece, explores notions of what keeps our imaginations free. For the company’s first visit to the East Coast (and second to the U.S.), Freedom promises Vardimon’s trademark physicality and brutally visceral characterizations.

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  The Grand Gesture

  Office of Arts + Cultural Programming and PEAK Performances at Montclair State University

  In 1913, the audience at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées erupted in one of the most infamous riots of the 20th century. The cause? A revolution in music, namely the premiere of Igor Stravinsky’s primal Le sacre du printemps, or The Rite of Spring. For the piece’s centennial, virtuosi pianists Sarah Rothenberg and Marilyn Nonken have created The Grand Gesture, a stark deconstruction of Stravinsky’s masterpiece. Add to the mix Olivier Messiaen’s equally uproarious Visions de l’Amen (1946) and you have an evening of experimental classics defying convention.

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  Shanghai Quartet with Ying Huang, Soprano

  Office of Arts + Cultural Programming and PEAK Performances at Montclair State University

  Through two dynamic programs, the Shanghai Quartet celebrates their 30th anniversary by demonstrating the amazing breadth of repertoire that has become the group’s hallmark. In the fall, the group collaborates with cellist Jan Vogler to perform Franz Schubert’s breathtaking String Quartet in C Major. In the spring, internationally renowned soprano Ying Huang joins the Quartet in performing Chinasong, a spectacular mix of traditional and popular Chinese folk music written and arranged by Shanghai Quartet violinist Yi-Wen Jiang. Together, both programs represent the special east-meets-west style that has become the touchstone of the Shanghai Quartet’s illustrious career.

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  Katlehong Cabaret

  Office of Arts + Cultural Programming and PEAK Performances at Montclair State University

  Originally formed through an outreach program for youth during the Apartheid era, Via Katlehong’s high-energy style is an energetic brew of “Pantsula” (street dance) and “Gumboot” (rhythmic physical percussion). Through constantly searching for new performance horizons, they have become a major player on the international stage. For their triumphant return to Peak Performances, this inventive American premiere is cabaret like you’ve never experienced before. By combining the group’s powerhouse style with dynamite vocal performances of traditional folk music, a fresh and inventive look at modern South Africa is born

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  On the Concept of the Face, Regarding the Son of God

  Office of Arts + Cultural Programming and PEAK Performances at Montclair State University

  Don’t miss the American premiere of one of the most controversial theater pieces to emerge from Europe in the past few years. A starkly wonderous invention of stagecraft, On the Concept of the Face, Regarding the Son of God questions the meaning of life through a realistic prism of faith and love. As an adult son copes with caring for his aging father, this ode to compassion implores the audience to experience the sacred nature of dignity gained through suffering. In a work both tender and provocative, Romeo Castellucci pushes the limits of stage expression, drawing parallels between the spritual and the physical worlds.

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  Wayfaring Stranger

  Office of Arts + Cultural Programming and PEAK Performances at Montclair State University

  Lionheart expertly joins classics from the Medieval and Renaissance vocal repertoire with new work by the most innovative composers of contemporary vocal music. In Wayfaring Stranger, the group joins forces with four members of the American Contemporary Music Ensemble (ACME) for the East Coast premiere of composer Ingram Marshall’s Psalmbook. Accompanying Marshall’s meditation on early American psalmody is an eclectic mix of music spanning more than 800 years ranging from sacred chant to Appalachian folk melodies. Works by Phil Kline and Laura Nyro are also highlighted in this ode to restless wanderlust.

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  Zinnias : The Life of Clementine Hunter

  Office of Arts + Cultural Programming and PEAK Performances at Montclair State University

  A new chamber opera based on the life of renowned African-American artist Clementine Hunter, Zinnias is an intimate exploration of one of America’s greatest natural talents. Born on a plantation in Natchitoches, Louisiana, Hunter’s experiences revealed an innate talent for depicting life in the early 20th century through her paintings. Now, using her artwork and stories, Clementine Hunter’s touching and unique journey is brought to the stage through the collaboration of Robert Wilson, Bernice Johnson Reagon, Toshi Reagon and Jacqueline Woodson.

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  A Ceremony of Carols

  Office of Arts + Cultural Programming and PEAK Performances at Montclair State University

  Described as one of Britain’s most musical choreographers, Alston has used works by a diverse range of composers to explore how choreography can animate the spirit of music. Featured in this program will be the American premiere of Alston’s most recent work, A Ceremony of Carols, choreographed to Benjamin Britten’s masterpiece for voice and harp. The music will be performed live by an all-female choir conducted by Montclair State’s Heather J. Buchanan, accompanied by harpist André Tarantiles. Also included will be Alston’s Roughcut and Unfinished Business, set to the music of Steve Reich and Mozart, respectively.

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  L.A. Dance Project

  Office of Arts + Cultural Programming and PEAK Performances at Montclair State University

  Through his work with the New York City Ballet and on the film Black Swan, choreographer Benjamin Millepied is redefining dance for the 21st century. This program will feature a new work by Millepied, with a score by composer Nico Muhly and visual design by noted New York painter Christopher Wool. The company will also revive Merce Cunningham’s controversial 1964 Winterbranch, a movement exploration of falling bodies set to a two-note score by La Monte Young, and William Forsythe’s Quintett, a 1993 study in loss and hope to avant-garde composer Gavin Bryar’s looping composition “Jesus’ Blood Never Failed Me Yet.”

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  Shanghai Quartet with Jan Vogler

  Office of Arts + Cultural Programming and PEAK Performances at Montclair State University

  Through two dynamic programs, the Shanghai Quartet celebrates their 30th anniversary by demonstrating the amazing breadth of repertoire that has become the group’s hallmark. In the fall, the group collaborates with cellist Jan Vogler to perform Franz Schubert’s breathtaking String Quartet in C Major. In the spring, internationally renowned soprano Ying Huang joins the Quartet in performing Chinasong, a spectacular mix of traditional and popular Chinese folk music written and arranged by Shanghai Quartet violinist Yi-Wen Jiang. Together, both programs represent the special east-meets-west style that has become the touchstone of the Shanghai Quartet’s illustrious career.

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  I'll Never See the Stars Again

  Office of Arts + Cultural Programming and PEAK Performances at Montclair State University

  Six singers and five instrumentalists tell the story of a group of Italian refugees in a series of vignettes expressing the comedy of love and the despair of betrayal. The musicians of ARTEK have built a reputation for the vitality of their spirited performances of baroque music. In I’ll Never See the Stars Again, the lush music of Claudio Monteverdi and his contemporaries is re-imagined as a theater piece staged by Martin Platt, founding artistic director of the Alabama Shakespeare Festival.In an extremely entertaining fashion, ARTEK proves the journey is just as important as the destination.

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  Dog Days

  Office of Arts + Cultural Programming and PEAK Performances at Montclair State University

  What does it mean to follow your instincts? Featuring world class vocal talent, Dog Days is a darkly comedic new opera brought to life through David T. Little’s inventive combination of classical and contemporary music elements. Based on the short story by Judy Budnitz, this world premiere investigates what happens when a working-class American family – and the “dog” appearing at their front door – is pitted against an apocalyptic scenario in the not-too-distant future. Featuring musical direction from Alan Pierson (artistic director for Alarm Will Sound and the Brooklyn Philharmonic), Dog Days was created in collaboration with librettist Royce Vavrek, and is directed by master auteur Robert Woodruff.