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Performing Arts Series

Performing Arts Series PERFORMING ARTS SERIES

5 people standing on a street holding their instruments

The Westerlies; Theo Bleckmann

Sponsored by:
Performing Arts Series
The Westerlies, a most innovative brass quartet of trumpet and trombone players who skirt the boundaries of jazz, classical, and pop, have paired with Theo Bleckmann, one of today’s most in-demand composers/vocalists. Together these two powerhouses have created a contemporary musical performance called “This Land.” Highlighting the power of music to invigorate protest movements and provide internal solace amidst external turmoil, “This Land” comprises cleverly arranged songs by Bertolt Brecht, Joni Mitchell, Woody Guthrie, Agha Shahid Ali, and many others.

Mahaney Arts Center, Olin C. Robison Concert Hall

$25/20/10/5; streaming tickets $15/5
Open to the Public
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. 

Mahaney Arts Center Dance Theatre

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