PUSH + Ying Qt. Collaborate To Celebrate Landmark Society's 80th Anniversary

Rochester's award-winning PUSH Physical Theatre will take part in an unprecedented concert celebrating the 80th anniversary of the Landmark Society of Western New York on Friday February 23 at 7 p.m. in the historic Hochstein Performance Hall (50 Plymouth Ave. N.)

The event will be the first time that PUSH and the Ying Quartet will appear on the same stage, which they will both share with this year's recipient of the Eastman School of Music's William Warfield Scholarship: tenor Jonathan Rhodes. In what will surely be the highlight of the evening, these performers will come together in a collaborative finale that explores the relationship between historic preservation, the arts, and the community.

"We're honored to be collaborating with Jonathan and the Ying Quartet," says PUSH Co-founder Darren Stevenson. "We all work in artforms that exist in the moment and thereafter only in the hearts and minds of audience members. This contrasts with the work of the Landmark Society, whose efforts create spaces that bring the past to life and will go on to serve future generations. It's an exciting combination!"

In addition, ticketholders can attend a 6:30 p.m. pre-show talk, "Setting the Stage," by Cynthia Howk, Landmark Society Architectural Research Coordinator, about the history of Hochstein. Event tickets are $35 and can be purchased at www.landmarksociety.org. Proceeds will benefit the programs of the Landmark Society.

"We are very excited to bring together this amazing group of performers and hope you will join us at Hochstein on February 23rd to continue the celebration of 80 years of preserving and serving western New York," adds Wayne Goodman, Executive Director of the Landmark Society.

PUSH Physical Theatre was founded in Rochester, NY in 2000 by husband-and-wife team, Darren and Heather Stevenson, with a mission to push the boundaries of conventional theatre. For 18 years, these masters of motion theatre have been inspiring awe and igniting emotion with physical illusions and gravity-defying, dance-infused, acrobatic high jinks. The current company also features veteran PUSHer Jonathan Lowery, former Cirque du Soleil performer Avi Pryntz-Nadworny, and Fulbright scholar and dancer Katherine Marino. In addition to a busy touring schedule that continues to take them all over the U.S. and the world, PUSH were finalists on truTV's Fake Off in 2014 (Season One), during which judge/Glee star Harry Shum, Jr. said: "You guys are superhuman!" They're also very involved in arts-in-education programs and run their own PUSH Pins Summer Camp, Teen Training, and Summer Intensive for adult students from all over the world. Full-length works include PUSH's Jekyll & Hyde, Dracula, Arc of Ages, as well as 2013's choreography for composer Ricardo Zohn-Muldoon's Pulitzer Prize-nominated opera, Comala. In 2016, Zohn-Muldoon, fellow Eastman School of Music faculty and composer Carlos Sanchez-Gutierrez, PUSH, and many other Mexican and U.S. artists collaborated on a multi-media opera called Don't Blame Anyone (No Se Culpe), for which they received the Lillian Fairchild Memorial Award from the University of Rochester. Many shorter works include "Red Ball," a study of interplay between the real and virtual worlds using iPad technology created in collaboration with RIT's National Technical Institute for the Deaf. Darren and Heather are recipients of both the Anton Germano Dance Award and the Performing Artist of the Year Award from the Arts & Cultural Council for Greater Rochester, and have spoken about their unique artistic process at TEDx Rochester.

Ying Quartet first came to professional prominence in the early 1990s during their years as resident quartet of Jesup, Iowa, a farm town of 2,000 people. Playing before audiences of six to six hundred in homes, schools, churches and banks, the Quartet had its first opportunities to enable music and creative endeavor to become an integral part of community life. The Quartet considers its time in Jesup the foundation of its present musical life and goals. Today, the Ying Quartet occupies a position of unique prominence in the classical music world, combining brilliantly communicative performances with a fearlessly imaginative view of chamber music in today's world.

Jonathan Rhodes is a second-year vocalist attending the Eastman School of Music, studying under Professor Anthony Dean Griffey. Originally from Orlando, FL, Jonathan made his performance debut in the premier work of "Memory Boy" through the Minnesota opera's youth program as one of the principal roles (Kurz). Among his ensemble work, Jonathan has performed with the Eastman Chorale, Bach Festival Society, as well as taken a temporary choir member position in Hanz Zimmer's live tour (2017). Jonathan is the recipient of the Eastman School's Freshman Vocal Jury award and is also the recipient of the 2017-2018 William Warfield Scholarship. This year, Jonathan will be playing the role of Liberto in The Eastman Opera Theatre's production of Monteverdi's L'Incoronazione di Poppea. Outside of music, Jonathan is pursuing a second degree in Political Science through the University of Rochester.

The Landmark Society of Western New York, Inc. is one of the oldest and most active preservation organizations in America, serving nine Western New York counties. Formed in 1937, the Landmark Society continues to protect the unique architectural heritage of our region and promote preservation and planning principles that foster healthy and sustainable communities. The Landmark Society is supported in part by New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.

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