The Broad Stage has announced its 2020/21 season. The announcement comes at a delicate time as the arts are reeling from the pandemic. The Broad Stage responds to these conditions with a condensed season running from mid-January through July 2021, with the hopeful exception of one outdoor, physically distanced event in the Fall and a robust selection of new digital offerings beginning in July 2020.
The official launch of The Broad Stage's 2020/21 season will occur this Fall, with the World Premiere of Birds in the Moon, a mobile, theatrical chamber opera by Mark Grey and Júlia Canosa i Serra, and directed by Elkhanah Pulitzer. The opera, in collaboration with Meyer Sound, is transported in a shipping container which transforms into a state-of-the-art, self-powered stage, will be performed outdoors in a variety of to-be-determined locations around Santa Monica. Physical distancing protocols will be in place with multiple performances so that as many people as possible can enjoy. With live music, soundscapes, video projections and actors, Birds in the Moon is about the search for a better world. Now, even more timely than when originally conceived, the work considers the choices made by necessity in an environment where water is scarce, and migration is a desperate flight in search of a better life.
In New York-based Heartbeat Opera's Fidelio (Los Angeles Premiere February 13-14), real prisoners sing the parts of prisoners - an imaginative staging with live performers and 100 singers on video from incarcerated choirs across America. Fidelio is directed by Ethan Heard, Founding Co-Artistic Director of Heartbeat Opera; the music director is Daniel Schlosberg.
Among the companies and artists becoming part of The Broad Stage's community for the first time this season are four movement trailblazers: Mark Morris Dance Group & Music Ensemble (June 10-13) performing Mozart Dances (The New York Times said, "Most artfully musical choreographer alive"); Ephrat Asherie Dance Company performing Odeon (March 5-6) (Berkshire Times said, "Just when you thought you knew something about dance, along comes Asherie to blow that all to smithereens."); and Acrobuffos performing Air Play (Los Angeles Premiere January 23) - a stage-filling, unique wordless visual poem that brings to life the very air that we breathe, complete with stunning images and gales of laughter. Part sculpture, circus and theatre, Air Play transforms ordinary objects into uncommon beauty.
Compagnie Marie Chouinard (Los Angeles Premiere April 16-17) presents Hieronymus Bosch, The Garden of Earthly Delights from internationally-renowned and eye-openingly original choreographer Marie Chouinard. The performance is a living canvas of one of the world's most famous paintings: a surreal dance vision that squarely confronts the before, during and after of original sin with visual wit, wonderment and chaos. Tanzchrift (Vienna) said, "Chouinard successfully pulls off the feat of actually bringing the Bosch triptych to life ... magnificent, delightful, startlingly well performed ... a new vision of Bosch." The 7 Fingers, a Broad Stage favorite, brings Passengers (Los Angeles Premiere February 19-21), a scintillating mix of evocative dance, physical expression, thrilling acrobatics and mesmerizing projections. Passengers reflects on our nostalgic fascination with trains, transporting audiences to dreams of another era and land, while celebrating the beauty of interpersonal relationships.Duets with three legends: the pre-eminent jazz vocalist Dianne Reeves, Chucho Valdés - the most influential figure in modern Afro-Cuban jazz and saxophonist Joe Lovano, winner of DownBeat Magazine's Critics and Readers Polls countless times as Tenor Saxophonist, Musician of the Year, Jazz Album of the Year and Triple Crowns. (Broad Stage Debuts, February 4-5)
A signature performance from Simone Dinnerstein, considered one of the foremost interpreters of Bach of her generation, of the Goldberg Variations (Broad Stage Debut February 6). The Stanley Clarke Band (January 16) makes The Broad Stage their area home. Clarke, one of the most celebrated bass players in the world, attained "living legend" status during his 40-plus year career -- the first bassist in history to double on acoustic and electric bass with equal ferocity. Takács Quartet (Broad Stage Debut January 15) in a program of Haydn, Britten and Debussy. "Arguably the greatest string quartet in the world," said The Guardian. Former Broad Stage resident artist Richard Yongjae O'Neill recently joined the group. Recital from Elīna Garanča (May 9) who made her United States recital debut at The Broad Stage in 2012. Opera News said, "Elīna Garanča has already secured her place in opera history, and she may just be getting started." Keb' Mo' (March 26) The five-time GRAMMY winner has a reputation as a modern master of American roots music, performing an evening of old-fashioned blues mixed seamlessly with contemporary soul and folksy storytelling. Miloš (March 12-13), the young virtuoso who revitalized the role of the guitar in classical music, has a repertoire spanning Bach to The Beatles.Nat Geo Live celebrates its 10th year at The Broad Stage. In Improbable Ascent (March 18-19), Maureen Beck relates her inspiring story as a one-handed rock climber. In Invisible Wonders (April 1-2) photographer Anand Varma uses a camera not just a tool to capture what he sees, but as a way to illuminate layers of beauty and complexity that are otherwise hidden from the naked eye. In How to Clone a Mammoth (May 20-21), Beth Shapiro asks the question could extinct species, like mammoths and passenger pigeons, be brought back to life?
Beethoven, Bagels & Banter (Sundays, 11:00am Jan 31, Feb 28, Apr 11; The Edye)
The popular series returns with a season-long celebration of Beethoven's 250th birthday. Curated by Robert Davidovici and featuring a mélange of world-class guest musicians, each program will include at least one work by the great composer himself. "Robert Davidovici is a terrific violinist. His technique is of the 'wow' variety, his tone as huge as he cares to make it." said The Boston Globe. Spend your Sunday mornings with great music, lively conversation and freshly made bagels.
Videos