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Performing Arts Series

Performing Arts Series PERFORMING ARTS SERIES

dancers in motion capture suits

The Wilds : Laurel Jenkins (dance), Jesse Fleming (visuals), Lewis Pesacov (music)

Sponsored by:
Performing Arts Series and Dance
Assistant Professor of Dance Laurel Jenkins and her co-creators Jesse Fleming and Lewis Pesacov present a new mixed-reality performance experience where movement instantly becomes music, and emerging technology allows dancers to create an immersive journey of sound, light, and visual media in real time. Live dancers with motion capture technology and simultaneous animation create The Wilds before your eyes. Part mythology, part utopian vision, The Wilds echoes patterns of nature from the subatomic to the cosmological to reveal the interconnectedness of all beings. 
$25/20/10/5
Open to the Public
4 people standing against a white background

Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center

Sponsored by:
Performing Arts Series
Audiences so loved our virtual presentations of the Chamber Music Society (CMS) of Lincoln Center that we jumped at the chance to bring them live to Robison Hall. This “Magical Schubert”program celebrates Franz Schubert’s genius with three of his most significant chamber works—the lighthearted fantasy for Violin and Piano in C Major; his splendid Piano Trio in B-flat Major, No. 1; and his greatest piano duet, the Fantasie in F Minor—all performed by an all-star line-up including violinist Benjamin Beilman, cellist David Requiro, and pianists Alessio Bax and Gloria Chien.

Mahaney Arts Center, Olin C. Robison Concert Hall

$25/20/10/5; streaming tickets $15/5
Open to the Public
4 people standing next to each other dressed in blue

Heart of Afghanistan

Sponsored by:
Performing Arts Series
The Heart of Afghanistan project features four brilliant Afghan musicians—famed singer/Afghan TV star Ahmad Fanoos on vocals & harmonium, his sons Elham on piano and Fanoos on violin, and Ahmad Sohail Karimi on tabla—who are currently unable to perform inside Afghanistan, where the Taliban has banned all music. The group carries the flame of Afghanistan’s rich and complex musical heritage from its pre-Islamic Buddhist period to the modern era.

Mahaney Arts Center, Olin C. Robison Concert Hall

$25/20/10/5; streaming tickets $15/5
Open to the Public
house on a snowy night with shadow figures in the foreground

Manual Cinema: A Christmas Carol

Sponsored by:
Performing Arts Series
Following up on their smash 2019 presentation at Middlebury, the interdisciplinary performance collective Manual Cinema takes on Charles Dickens’s holiday classic A Christmas Carol with a visually inventive adaptation made for the screen. In this version, avowed holiday skeptic Aunt Trudy has been recruited to channel her late husband Joe’s famous Christmas cheer. From the isolation of her studio apartment, she reconstructs his annual Christmas Carol puppet show—over a Zoom call while the family celebrates Christmas Eve under lockdown.

Virtual Middlebury

Free
Open to the Public
The Castalian Quartet sitting outside with their instruments

Castalian Quartet

Sponsored by:
Performing Arts Series
Named the inaugural Hans Keller String Quartet in Residence at the University of Oxford and Royal Philharmonic Society’s Young Artist of the Year, the Castalian Quartetfirst visited Middlebury on their US debut tour in 2019.  They return to treat us to a free concert of exceptional works: Janácek’s Quartet No. 1, “Kreutzer Sonata”; Sibelius’ Quartet in D Minor, “Voces intimae”; and Beethoven’s Op. 130 Quartet, with the epic Grosse Fuge finale.

Mahaney Arts Center, Olin C. Robison Concert Hall

Free
Open to the Public
a picture of each quartet, one above the other

Jupiter String Quartet and Jasper String Quartet

Sponsored by:
Performing Arts Series
It’s a family affair when our friends the Jupiter Quartet joins the Jasper String Quartet—between these two acclaimed ensembles, there are three siblings, two married couples, and several former college roommates! Their collaborative concert concludes our “year of the cello” celebration with performances of Schubert’s cello quintet, Reena Esmail’s Ragamala, and the beautiful Mendelssohn Octet. Bask in the full sound of a string octet in the impeccable acoustics of Robison Hall. 

Mahaney Arts Center, Olin C. Robison Concert Hall

$25/20/15/10/5
Open to the Public
Person in pink shirt standing in front of a wall

Clayton Stephenson, Piano

Sponsored by:
Performing Arts Series
Fresh from the Van Cliburn Competition finals, pianist Clayton Stephenson makes his Vermont debut with an opulent program including Beethoven’s “Appassionata” sonata.

Mahaney Arts Center, Olin C. Robison Concert Hall

$25/20/15/10/5
Open to the Public
choir dressed in white on a stage

Choral Chameleon: Healing Choral Sound Bath

Sponsored by:
Performing Arts Series
Choral Chameleon Chorus makes its Vermont debut with a sound bath: a unique, healing choral experience. Collaborating with certified sound healers, the audience will be surrounded by the singers of the chorus and “bathed” in the layered sounds of voices, Tibetan singing bowls, chimes, gongs, and more. This intensive sound experience is designed to wash over the body for healing, peace, and restorative contemplation. Because of the unique audience seating configuration designed for this concert experience, capacity will be limited.

Mahaney Arts Center, Olin C. Robison Concert Hall

$25/20/10/5
Open to the Public

Discovering a Musical Heartland: Wu Man Returns to China

Sponsored by:
Performing Arts Series
Attend a screening of leading Chinese musician Wu Man’s documentary film, in conjunction with her concert the following evening. A question-and-answer session with the artist will follow the screening. Sponsored by the Performing Arts Series, with support from the Department of Chinese and the Committee on the Arts. Wu Man’s visit is 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. Free

Mahaney Arts Center 125

Open to the Public

An Evening in New and Ancient China

Sponsored by:
Performing Arts Series
Wu Man and Shanghai Quartet World-renowned pipa player Wu Man and the impeccable Shanghai Quartet meld the sounds of China with Western string quartet and pipa in an unforgettable evening of grand music. The program a suite of traditional Chinese folk songs, solo pipa works, Beethoven’s Op. 95 “Quartetto Serioso,” and a new, multimedia work by eminent Chinese composer Zhao Jiping and his son Zhao Lin, including some of Jiping’s most famous cinematic scores, including Raise the Red Lantern, To Live, and Farewell My Concubine.

Mahaney Arts Center, Olin C. Robison Concert Hall

Open to the Public