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This season, we celebrate the 90th anniversary of the Performing Arts Series. In the nine decades that Middlebury College has supported arts and cultural performances, hundreds of world-class performers have graced College Hill, including such luminaries as Yo-Yo Ma, Murray Perahia, Emanuel Ax, Paul Robeson, Oscar Peterson, Duke Ellington, Alvin Ailey Dance Theater, |
the New York Philharmonic, Pablo Casals, Andres Segovia, Urban Bushwomen, the Acting Company, the National Theatre of the Deaf, Ravi Shankar, Pilobolus, Louis Armstrong, B. B. King, Arlo Guthrie, Mary Pickford, Paul Taylor Dance Company, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, the Harlem Spiritual Ensemble, the Emerson String Quartet, John Cage, Merce Cunningham, and Wynton Marsalis and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra. Once called the “Entertainment Program,” the offerings evolved into the Middlebury College Concert Series; then in 2001, the program was again renamed the Performing Arts Series to reflect its rich, multidisciplinary character.
Browse the Series Archives 1919-present
We also celebrate another milestone in 2009–10. This season marks Paul Nelson’s 25th year as director of the Performing Arts Series. Nelson
is G. Nye and A. Walker Boardman Professor of Mental and Moral Science at Middlebury. His expert ear and dedicated leadership are proof that the arts and sciences live in harmony at Middlebury. |
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For a full calendar of events, including departmental events and offerings from other areas, click here.
September 18, Friday
Aaron Diehl Trio
8:00 p.m., Mahaney Center for the Arts, Concert Hall
Hailed by the Chicago Tribune as “the most promising discovery that Wynton Marsalis has made since Eric Reed,” Juilliard grad Aaron Diehl’s distinctive piano interpretations of the music of Art Tatum, Duke Ellington, and other jazz masters pay homage to the tradition while establishing his own original voice. Sponsored by the Middlebury College Performing Arts Series.
Reserved Seating. Tickets: $24/18/6
Additional information here.
Press release available. |
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September 22–23,
Tuesday–Wednesday
Classical Theatre of Harlem:Waiting for Godot
7:30 p.m.,
Wright Memorial Theatre
The Classical Theatre of Harlem reinvents Samuel Beckett’s seminal work with an imaginative production set in a post-Hurricane-Katrina landscape. After a highly acclaimed 2006 run in New York City, the production travelled to New Orleans’ Ninth Ward for a series of free outdoor performances that spurred nationwide dialogue on race, class, and the agony of waiting. Directed by Christopher McElroen. Sponsored by the Middlebury College Performing Arts Series, the Department |
of Theatre and Dance, and the Office for Institutional Planning and Diversity. Tickets: $24/18/6
Additional information here.
Press release available.
Additional events in conjunction with this residency:
September 22, Tuesday
“Portraits of Home” by Dane Verret ’12
Opening Reception
4:30 P.M., McCullough, Center Gallery
In this series of nine black and white photographs, Middlebury College sophomore Dane Verret explores his home city of New Orleans in a photo-documentary style. Through photographs as varied as an intimate family scene in a kitchen, streetscapes of the city’s iconic Bourbon Street, and images of grave sites taken one year after Katrina, Verret frames his own view of New Orleans’ beauty, and expresses what home means to him. The photos are accompanied by original poetry. Sponsored by the Office of the Dean of the College. Refreshments will be served. Free
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Waiting for Godot ... After Katrina: A Conversation about Art and Activism with The Classical Theatre of Harlem
1:30 P.M., Wright Memorial Theatre
Members of the Classical Theatre of Harlem will lead a discussion about site-specific and political theatre, and share images from their post--Hurricane Katrina run of Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot, performed outdoors in the devastated Lower 9th Ward of New Orleans. Free
October 2, Friday
Emerson String Quartet
8:00 p.m., Mead Memorial Chapel
The Campus’s February 1981 review of the Emerson’s Middlebury premiere was titled “Emerson Quartet leaves crowd spellbound.” The Quartet—named after New England’s Ralph Waldo Emerson—plays its 31st Middlebury program, beginning with New Englander Charles Ives’s first quartet and followed with quartets by Beethoven (The Harp) and Mendelssohn. This free Performing Arts Series concert is made possible with generous support from the Institute for Clinical Science and Art, established by the late Dr. F. William Sunderman of Philadelphia. Free; no tickets required.
Additional information here.
Press release available.
October 16–17, Friday–Saturday
INSPIRIT
8:00 p.m., Mahaney Center for the Arts, Dance Theatre
Founder and artistic director Christal Brown presents and performs with INSPIRIT, a dance company that creates contemporary works imbued with spiritual exuberance, ancestral strength, and startling insight. The rich movement vocabulary draws from the ensemble’s wide-ranging experiences, from postmodern forms to traditional West African dance, from ballet to yoga. “Evoking the strength of the ancestors and the sassiness of today’s feminists/womanists”—Eva Yaa Asantewaa. Post-performance discussion Friday. Sponsored by the Middlebury College Performing Arts Series and the Dance Program. Tickets: $24/18/6
Additional information here.
Additional events in conjunction with this residency:
October 15, Thursday
Dance Residency Activities with INSPIRIT
See times listed below; MCFA, Dance Theatre
Join founder and artistic director Christal Brown and other company members of INSPIRIT for residency activities that precede their public performance Friday and Saturday nights. Pre-registration required, contact dance@middlebury.edu. - 9:30-10:45 A.M. Master class, Advanced Beginning level
- 12:30-1:15 P.M. DanceTalk with the choreographer and company members (see below)
- 3:00-4:15 P.M. Master class, Beginning level
October 15, Thursday
DanceTalk: Christal Brown and INSPIRIT, a dance company
12:30-1:15 P.M., Mahaney CFA, Dance Theatre
Christal Brown and members of INSPIRIT will show excerpts from their upcoming concert and discuss their mission and creative process. Free
November 6, Friday
Pavel Haas Quartet
8:00 p.m., Mahaney Center for the Arts, Concert Hall
Immediately after their passionate, insightful, and well-received 2008 Middlebury recital, we re-engaged the young Pavel Haas Quartet to return this fall to perform Britten’s Divertimenti, the Ravel Quartet, and Dvořák’s op. 106 in G Major. A pre-concert lecture on the 90-year history of the Middlebury College Performing Arts Series begins at 7:15 p.m. Sponsored by the Middlebury College Performing Arts Series. Reserved Seating. Tickets: $24/18/6
Additional information here. |
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November 12, Thursday
Alina Ibragimova, violin
7:30 p.m., Mahaney Center for the Arts, Concert Hall
Many renowned violinists (Mark Kaplan, Hillary Hahn, Gidon Kremer, Julia Fischer, Arabella Steinbacher) have played unaccompanied Bach at Middlebury, always including the monumental Chaconne from the second partita. Highly acclaimed rising star Alina Ibragimova plays the second partita—including the Chaconne—as well as the third partita and Bach’s first two sonatas. Sponsored by the Middlebury College Performing Arts Series. Reserved Seating. Tickets: $24/18/6
Additional Information here.
Press release available. |
January 15, Friday
Rustem Hayroudinoff, piano
8:00 p.m., Mahaney Center for the Arts, Concert Hall
Young Russian pianist Rustem Hayroudinoff was nominated for BBC Music Magazine’s 2008 Best Instrumental CD of the Year for a “forthright, beautifully weighted” recording of Rachmaninoff works. At Middlebury, he plays Rachmaninoff’s 13 Preludes, op. 32; selections from compatriot Shostakovich’s 24 Preludes and Fugues; and works by Chopin and Franck. Sponsored by the Middlebury College Performing Arts Series. Reserved Seating. Tickets: $24/18/6 |
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February 13, Saturday
Sophie Shao & Friends
8:00 p.m., Mahaney Center for the Arts, Concert Hall
Middlebury audiences can attest to cellist Sophie Shao’s ability to assemble impromptu chamber ensembles of tremendous young talent—equal to her own—if last year’s rave reviews and standing ovations are an indication. This season’s concert features the much-loved piano quartet by Robert Schumann, as well as piano quartets by Mendelssohn and Fauré. Sponsored by the Middlebury College Performing Arts Series. Reserved Seating. Tickets: $24/18/6 |
February 27, Saturday
Voices
Philip Hamilton ’82
8:00 p.m., McCullough Social Space
Inspired by the power of the voice, Philip Hamilton ’82 creates an original a cappella performance that fuses global rhythms and influences. Voices combines unique, international vocal tones and techniques—such as Tuvan throat singing, Balinese monkey-chanting, and hip-hop’s beat-boxing—with the rich sounds of diverse a cappella singing styles, including doo-wop, Bulgarian choirs, barbershop quartets, South African miners’ songs, and Gregorian chants. An international cast of singers delivers this keynote event for the 2010 Vermont A Cappella Summit. Sponsored by the Middlebury College Performing Arts Series and the Vermont A Cappella Summit. Funded in part by the Expeditions program of the New England Foundation for the Arts, made possible with funding from the National Endowment for the Arts, with additional support from the six New England state arts agencies, and the Argosy Foundation Contemporary Music Fund. Details on residency activities forthcoming. Tickets: $24/18/6
March 5, Friday
Jean-Guihen Queyras, cello
Alexandre Tharaud, piano
8:00 p.m., Mahaney Center for the Arts, Concert Hall
The Philadelphia Inquirer called Queyras and Tharaud’s new CD of Debussy “crackling, spontaneous” and proclaimed them to be “one of Europe’s best chamber music duos.” They play sonatas by Debussy and Schubert (Arpeggionne), Tharaud performs some of Schubert’s Moments Musicaux, and Queyras plays the towering solo sonata by Kodály. Sponsored by the Middlebury College Performing Arts Series. Reserved Seating. Tickets: $24/18/6 |
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March 11, Thursday
Strange Democracy: An Evening with Guillermo Gómez-Peña
7:30 p.m., McCullough Social Space
MacArthur Fellow, post-Mexican writer, and border artist Guillermo Gómez-Peña uses acid Chicano humor, hybrid literary genres, multilingualism, and activist theory as subversive strategies. Described by renowned theatre director Peter Sellars as “one of the handful of great performance artists in America today,” Gómez-Peña creates spoken-word works that defy description. Critics have called it “Chicano cyber-punk performance,” “ethno-techno art,” and “magnificent, melodramatic, robustly hilarious, and precisely, exquisitely witty.” Sponsored by the Middlebury College Performing Arts Series, Dance Program, the Office of Institutional Planning and Diversity, the Center for Campus Activities and Leadership, and the Committee on the Arts. Visit www.middlebury.edu/arts for details on residency activities. Tickets: $24/18/6
March 12, Friday
Hugo Wolf Quartett
8:00 p.m., Mahaney Center for the Arts, Concert Hall
Within just a few short years, the Hugo Wolf Quartett has developed from a chamber-music-lover’s insider tip to one of the most sought after string quartets of its generation. At Middlebury, the quartet performs works with deep Viennese connections by Mozart, Webern, and Schubert (Death and the Maiden). A pre-concert lecture by professors Greg Vitercik and Jay West begins at 7:15 p.m. Sponsored by the Middlebury College Performing Arts Series. Reserved Seating. Tickets: $24/18/6
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April 4, Sunday
Richard Goode, piano
4:00 p.m., Mahaney Center for the Arts, Concert Hall
Pianist Richard Goode has been hailed for making music with tremendous emotional power, depth, and expressiveness, and has been acknowledged worldwide as one of today’s leading interpreters of classical and Romantic music. He returns to Middlebury, on Easter Sunday, with a program that includes works by Haydn and Schumann. Sponsored by the Middlebury College Performing Arts Series. Reserved Seating. Tickets: $24/18/6 |
April 14, Wednesday
Takács Quartet
7:30 p.m., Mahaney Center for the Arts, Concert Hall
Since their first Middlebury performance in 1994, the Takács have become a beloved and highly acclaimed quartet around the globe, and especially here in Middlebury. On this 23rd local recital, they perform Haydn’s op. 71, no. 2; a new work by Psathas titled A Cool Wind, and Beethoven’s op. 130. A question-and-answer session with the quartet immediately follows the performance. Sponsored by the Middlebury College Performing Arts Series. Reserved Seating. Tickets: $24/18/6
April 23, Friday
Paul Lewis, piano
8:00 p.m., Mahaney Center for the Arts, Concert Hall
In his 12th Middlebury recital, pianist Paul Lewis, Gramophone’s Instrumentalist of the Year 2008, plays works by Mozart, Liszt, and Beethoven (Waldstein)—composers whom he has treated us to before. He also performs the great Fantasie by Robert Schumann. Sponsored by the Middlebury College Performing Arts Series. Reserved Seating. Tickets: $24/18/6 |
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