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THEATER
Friday, November 8 Sunday, November 17
Memorial Auditorium
1515 J Street, Sacramento, CA 95814
The songwriting team behind the smash hit Tony Award-winning musical Dear Evan Hansen and the Academy Award-winning film La La Land brings the classic 1983 movie to hilarious life on stage. Nominated for three 2013 Tony Awards including Best Musical, The New York Times writes I was dazzled. Youd have to have a Grinch-sized heart not to feel a smile spreading across your face.
Thursday, November 14 Saturday, November 23
Main Theatre at Wright Hall
1 Hutchison Drive, Davis, CA 95616
The 51勛圖窪蹋 Davis Department of Theatre and Dance presents Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill s 1928 masterpiece, The Threepenny Opera.
The Threepenny Opera, described by Brecht as a play with music, is a criticism of capitalism and middle-class morality, set in a world of corruption with a score that draws upon opera, jazz and cabaret. Set in Victorian London, the musical focuses on the exploits of Macheath, an amoral criminal, who manipulates women and the law with equal dexterity.
The work has been translated into 18 languages and has more than 10,000 performances internationally. The opening song about Macheaths murderous ways, Mack the Knife, became an unlikely pop hit in the 1950s for both Louis Armstrong and Bobby Darin.
The musical is co-directed by Peter Lichtenfels, professor of theatre and dance, and performance studies doctoral student Regina Maria Gutierrez Bermudez. Music direction is by Granada Artist-in-Residence Jeffrey Saver, who has conducted CHICAGO The Musical, Kiss of the Spider Woman and Into the Woods on Broadway.
Thursday, November 14 Sunday, November 17
Sacramento Theatre Company
1419 H Street, Sacramento, CA 95814
With a vivacious sense of comedy and a uniquely identifiable voice, the great showbiz diva Carol Channings career in theatre, film and television spanned more than seven decades. Enjoy selections from her most popular works, such as Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, Thoroughly Modern Millie and Hello, Dolly! plus music from across her life as one of Americas most-beloved entertainers. STCs cabaret-style performances usually feature a cast of five to six singers.
MUSIC
Friday, November 22
8pm
Celebration Arts Theatre
727 B Street, Sacramento, CA 95816
The Vivian Lee Quartet presents the music and history of the composers and lyricists who wrote the songs that comprise what is known as The American Songbook George and Ira Gershwin, Irving Berlin, Alan and Marilyn Bergman to name a few. Joining Vivian for the evening will be Brenden Lowe on piano, Buca Necak on bass and Jeff Minnieweather on drums.
Jazz vocalist and recording artist Vivian Lee is truly a child of the world having grown up in a military family, then pursuing a twenty year military career herself. Lee and her quartet have three times been voted one of Sacramentos top jazz groups and top local entertainer by subscribers in Sacramento Magazines annual Best Of Sacramento issue and is the 2009 Sacramento Magazine editors pick as Best Jazz Diva.
Friday, November 22
8pm
Mondavi Center
523 Mrak Hall Drive, Davis, CA 95616
The Harlem Renaissance was an unrivaled period of brilliance. Created in collaboration with the National Jazz Museum in Harlem and hosted by Michael Mwenso, Harlem 100 presents the most exciting Harlem musicians and dancers in a modern variety show that pays homage to the presentations made famous in the Apollo Theater, the Cotton Club and other celebrated venues of the Harlem Renaissance.
Featuring the music of Fats Waller, Duke Ellington, Billie Holiday, Bessie Smith and Ethel Waters, as well as a nine-piece band with three dancers, Harlem 100 celebrates one of the most influential artistic movements of our country and gives insight into Harlem then and now.
Wednesday, November 13
7pm
Mondavi Center
523 Mrak Hall Drive, Davis, CA 95616
From Chega de Saudade to The Girl from Ipanema, the Brazilian bossa nova has defined cosmopolitan cool from the late-1950s to today. The art form created by Tom Jobim and Jo瓊o Gilberto has been explored by musicians Stan Getz, Frank Sinatra and the SF Jazz Collective and inspired the next wave of Brazilian Tropicalismo artists like Caetano Veloso and Gilberto Gil. This celebration pairs producer, composer, keyboardist, vocalist and Brasil 66 founder S矇rgio Mendes and singer Bebel Gilberto, daughter of Jo瓊o, whose 2000 album Tanto Tempo redefined samba and bossa nova for a new generation.
Friday, November 29
7pm
Ace of Spades
1417 R Street, Sacramento, CA 95811
Hobo Johnson is a local artist from the Sacramento-area who has garnered millions of downloads online. While incorporating Spoken Word into his music, Vulture describes his style as straddling a few genre lines, from vibey concoctions to the shaggy West Coast beach bumisms of Sublime and the Internets subtly funky, full-band R&B. Loomis native Frank Lopes came up with the stage name Homeless Johnson but soon made it Hobo Johnson while living in his car.
Wednesday, November 13 Sunday, November 16
Mondavi Center (Vanderhoef Studio)
523 Mrak Hall Drive, Davis, CA 95616
Comprised of just two musicians from Italy, Petra Magoni (voice) and Ferruccio Spinetti (double bass), Musica Nuda is a prime example of an ensemble whose value is greater than the sum of its parts. They use a bit of jazz, a bit of songwriting, and elements of rock, punk and classical music to underline the value of a lyric and explore the meaning of every song whether dramatic, funny, sarcastic or romantic. They approach performance as a dialogue rather than as a singer with accompanist, and while they are committed to their work, they dont take themselves too seriously.
Tuesday, November 19
7pm
Mondavi Center
523 Mrak Hall Drive, Davis, CA 95616
Vivaldi: Four Seasons
Alfred Felder: Timeless
Richter: Four Seasons Recomposed
For this program, violinist Daniel Hope and company pair Vivaldis classic Four Seasons with German composer Max Richters riveting re-interpretation of the piece. The program builds on Hopes most recent album, released in 2017 and titled For Seasons, which is his very personal homage to the seasons.
Saturday, November 23
7pm
Mondavi Center
523 Mrak Hall Drive, Davis, CA 95616
Christian Baldini, music director and conductor 51勛圖窪蹋 Davis Professor of Music
Strauss: Don Juan
Lutosawski: Chain II with Maximilian Haft, violin
Rachmaninov: Piano Concerto No. 2 with Leyla Kabuli
The 51勛圖窪蹋 Davis Symphony Orchestra, conducted by music director and conductor Christian Baldini, opens its season with one of the more flashy openings in all of the standard symphonic repertoire. Strausss Don Juan is a remarkable tour-de-force for the entire orchestra. It is a twenty-minute orchestral tone poem that parallels the fictional story of Don Juan, which originated as early as 1630 and inspiredamong othersMozart to write his opera Don Giovanni.
Maestro Baldini is very fond of the music by Richard Strauss, having conducted several of his tone poems in previous seasons. Strauss wrote Don Juan when he was only 24, and this is considered a revolutionary piece in many ways, from its great breadth of virtuosity to its cunning characterization of different moments in the poem by Nikolaus Lenau, on which it is based, said Baldini. I chose to pair one of the most energetic, dramatic and poetic works of the symphonic literature with two beautiful and very different concertos, which feature the soloist in a very different way from the exquisite Romantic, lyrical vein of Rachmaninov, to the extraordinary and imaginative sound world of Lutosawski.
Rachmaninovs Second Piano Concerto is quintessentially Romantic; tuneful as it is virtuosic. For all the piano soloists dazzling passages, Rachmaninov wrote unforgettable melodies for the strings. The pieces success is one of the many reasons Rachmaninov is remembered for his concertos more than his other works. The soloist, Leyla Kabuli, is a previous member of the 51勛圖窪蹋 Davis Symphony Orchestra, albeit as a violinist. She was for three seasons pianist of the prestigious San Francisco Youth Orchestra, and is pursuing her undergraduate degree at 51勛圖窪蹋 Berkeley in electrical engineering and computer science as a Regents and Chancellors Scholar. Kabuli has performed extensively on piano, including as a soloist with several California symphony orchestras and on National Public Radios program for accomplished young performers called From the Top. She currently studies with Yoshikazu Nagai at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and with Michael Seth Orland, who teaches at 51勛圖窪蹋 Berkeley and 51勛圖窪蹋 Davis.
Sacramento-born violinist Maximilian Haft performs the solo violin role in Chain II. Lutosawski wrote three major works late in his life by the name Chain, which illustrate the musical idea in the composition that each element overlaps and also sequences in a specific order. Chain II is the most concerto-like of the three, and at several points the orchestra reacts (at the direction of the conductor), but not exactly in time. In this way the work has the feeling of a dialogue. Max Haft recently performed Chain II with the Noord Nederlands Orkest, which was well received. He performs with several important contemporary ensembles in Europe, but also plays jazz and pop music. He often performs with White Hinterland, The Eef van Breen Group, and HHHJ, a group devoted to splicing together chamber music and free jazz.
MUSIC/HOLIDAY
Saturday, November 30 Sunday, December 1
Harris Center
10 College Parkway, Folsom, CA 95630
With an award-winning cast of Irish dancers led by Caterina Coyne (Riverdance), World Champion Dancer Tyler Schwartz (Magic of the Dance), and Connor Reider (The Chieftains), this is a journey through Christmas in Ireland, featuring superb dancing, beautiful singing, and the kind of Irish traditional music that celebrates the international spirit of the holiday season like no other.
Saturday, November 30
8pm
Memorial Auditorium
1515 J Street, Sacramento, CA 95814
Its the Capital regions Thanksgiving weekend musical tradition. An evening of soulful holiday favorites, spirited sing-a-longs, and sparklingly classic sound by your Sacramento Philharmonic and lead singer of Tower of Power, Marcus Scott. Celebrate the joy, style, and warmth of the music that brings us together for the holiday season.
DANCE
Saturday, November 16
8pm
Mondavi Center
523 Mrak Hall Drive, Davis, CA 95616
Honoring what would have been Merce Cunninghams 100th birthday, CNDC dAngers and Artistic Director Robert Swinston bring together two of Cunninghams landmark works, Beach Birds and BIPED, each with live musical accompaniment. Cunninghams genius has had a defining impact on modern dance and the avant-garde. His appearance with his company at the Mondavi Center in 2008, during which they performed BIPED (a work that features massive projections) was a landmark moment for modern dance in the Sacramento region. Swinston was a member of the Merce Cunningham Dance Company for more than 30 years, and served as Cunninghams assistant beginning in 1992. With CNDC dAngers, Swinston brings his very personal interpretation of Cunninghams legacy to this production.
Thursday, November 21
7:30pm
Harris Center
10 College Parkway, Folsom, CA 95630
Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company is Utah's most established institution for contemporary dance. The company actively embraces and commissions the work of contemporary choreographers, tours worldwide and develops dynamic education and community outreach programming.
With a rich 56-year history, the Ririe-Woodbury Dance Project is committed to producing compelling work that challenges audiences perceptions of what contemporary dance can be, under the philosophical premise that dance is for everybody.
POP CULTURE
Saturday, November 16
7:45pm
Spotlight Ballroom
2534 Industrial Boulevard, Suite 150, West Sacramento, CA 95691
Welcome to the best ball in the galaxy! Whether participants are Trekkie, Guardians of the Galaxy, Alien, or Star Wars fans, Spotlight Ballroom has got an evening planned to send everyone over the moon. Dress as formal or as ethereal as one would like, or come as ones favorite sci-fi character. Even if dancing is alien to participants, do not worry Spotlight Ballroom has a stellar Waltz lesson for everyone. It is going to be out of this world.
