The Wallis Announces 2018/2019 Music Lineup
By: Stephi Wild Sep. 18, 2018
Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts, a dynamic hub for the lively arts and vital community resource, presents a dozen classical, jazz and contemporary music programs featuring some of the era's most compelling musical artists during the 2018/2019 season. World premieres, programs with thought-provoking social commentary and timeless iconic works are among the offerings.
"The Wallis' rich musical tapestry celebrates jazz, blues, folk, soul, classical and contemporary music, embracing diverse cultural and artistic perspectives," says The Wallis' Artistic Director Paul Crewes. "Our 2018/2019 Season includes some of the most sublime music ever composed - across a range of genres - as well as exciting premieres and works that addresses important social issues."
Highlights include The Wallis debuts of Los Angeles Master Chorale's a capella staging of Lagrime Di San Pietro/Tears of St. Peter directed by Peter Sellars (October 20-21, 2018), cello virtuoso Alisa Weilerstein performing all six of Bach's solo Cello Suites (November 9, 2018), the incomparable Judy Collins delivering A Love Letter to Stephen Sondheim(March 22, 2019), Tony and triple Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter Dee Dee Bridgewater tapping into her Memphis soul roots with The Memphis Soulphony (March 23, 2019).
The Grammy-nominated Chris Walden Big Band delivers a jazz tribute to the "Rat Pack" (October 27, 2018), Kaleidoscope, Los Angeles's preeminent conductorless chamber orchestra, and special guest pianist Irene Kim perform Prokovief's "Piano Concerto No. 3" and other works (February 23, 2019) and the Tetzlaff Trio presents a program of Schumann and Dvorak (April 26, 2019).
Music @ The Wallis also features two ground-breaking programs with biting social commentary co-presented by The Wallis and Brooklyn's innovative National Sawdust- (M)iyamoto is Black Enough, about the mixed-race winner of Miss Universe Japan 2015, who weathered backlash for not being "Japanese enough" (March 14-15, 2019), and Forward Music Project, which includes stylistically contrasting commissions for solo cello and electronics from seven female composers (May 30-31, 2019).
Three celebrated solo pianists explore the spectrum of keyboard with Mexican native Jorge Federico Osorio performing works by his fellow countrymen (January 16, 2019), Ukrainian-born Inna Faliks (UCLA's Head of Piano) premiering "Eleven Bagatelles for Piano" by UCLA's Professor of Composition, Iranian-American Richard Danielpou (May 12, 2019), and Inon Barnatan, newly appointed music director of La Jolla's acclaimed SummerFest, in a recital of piano suites by Bach, Barber and more (June 22, 2019).
The Wallis, in conjunction with Classical KUSC and The Henry Wine Group, offers a deeper dive into programs with Preludes @ The Wallis, featuring Classical KUSC's Brian Lauritzen and other special guests moderating free pre-concert conversations with the artists, one hour before select classical music performance in the Bram Goldsmith Theater. A complimentary glass of wine is included.
Single tickets for Music @ The Wallis performances range from $35 - $105. Visit TheWallis.org, call 310.746.4000, or stop by in person at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts Ticket Services Office located at 9390 N. Santa Monica Blvd., Beverly Hills, CA 90210.
LOS ANGELES MASTER CHORALE'S
LAGRIME DI SAN PIETRO/TEARS OF ST. PETER
By Orlando di Lasso
Conducted by Jenny Wong
Directed by Peter Sellars
October 20-21, 2018, 7:30 pm - Bram Goldsmith Theater
The Los Angeles Master Chorale (LAMC) gives two performances of Lagrime Di San Pietro/Tears of St. Peterby Orlando di Lasso, directed by Peter Sellars and conducted by LAMC Associate Conductor Jenny Wong, on Saturday, October 20 and Sunday, October 21, 2018, 7:30 pm, in the Bram Goldsmith Theater at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts. The production marks the first a cappella staging and most personal and emotionally-charged work to date from the acclaimed director's creative mind. Twenty-one singers transform the 75-minute Renaissance masterpiece - committed to memory and dramatically staged - into both a biblical parable of St. Peter's disavowal of Jesus Christ and a contemporary allegory for our fractious times. The Los Angeles Times declares it "a major accomplishment for the Master Chorale... and a major accomplishment for music history."
CHRIS WALDEN BIG BAND
October 27, 2018, 7:30 pm- Bram Goldsmith Theater
The Grammy-nominated Chris Walden Big Band, comprised of top L.A. studio musicians, makes its Wallis debut with a program that pays tribute to the "Rat Pack" era with Walden's swinging hand-crafted arrangements on Saturday, October 27, 2018, 7:30 pm, in the Bram Goldsmith Theater. Walden, who is joined by stellar guest artists Patrick Tuzzolino, Jane Monheit, Nita Whitaker and Billy Valentine, has scored more than 40 feature and TV films and written more than 1,500 orchestra and big band arrangements for such artists as Diana Krall, Josh Groban, Michael Blublé, Aretha Franklin, Paul McCartney, Stevie Wonder, Rihanna, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the Boston Pops. Walden's writing is sure to be the "star of the evening" (Los Angeles Times)
Alisa Weilerstein, CELLO
COMPLETE BACH CELLO SUITES
November 9, 2018, 7:30 pm - Bram Goldsmith Theater
Acclaimed cellist Alisa Weilerstein, a 2011 MacArthur "Genius" Fellowship recipient, brings her technical precision and impassioned musicianship to the extraordinary task of performing all six of Bach's solo Cello Suites in one evening on Friday, November 9, 2018, at 7:30 pm, at the Bram Goldsmith Theater at The Wallis. Weilerstein has justly earned international acclaim for emotionally resonant performances of both traditional and contemporary music and is "too big a talent to be pigeonholed" (New York Magazine).
JORGE FEDERICO OSORIO, PIANO
January 16, 2019, 7:30 pm - Bram Goldsmith Theater
Mexican native Jorge Federico Osorio, among the world's leading pianists, presents a program of Bach, Schubert, Liszt, Debussy, Albéniz, Ricardo Castro and Manuel Ponce on Wednesday, January 16, 2019, 7:30 pm, in the Bram Goldsmith Theater at The Wallis. The solo recital includes Bach's "Two Chorale Preludes," "Schubert's Sonata in A Major, D. 959," Liszt's "Vallé d'Obermann" and Debussy's "Three Preludes." Osorio also performs works by three of his countrymen - Isaac Albéniz's "Mallorca (Barcarola), "Ricardo Castro's "Barcarola," and Manuel Ponce's "Rapsodia Cubana Balada Mexicana." Hailed as an "elegant and accomplished pianist" (Los Angeles Times), Osorio is noted for his superb musicianship, powerful technique, vibrant imagination and deep passion and has garnered an array of international awards, including the prestigious Medalla Bellas Artes, the highest honor granted by Mexico's National Institute of Fine Arts.
KALEIDOSCOPE
With Irene Kim, Piano
February 23, 2019, 7:30 pm - Bram Goldsmith Theater
Kaleidoscope, Los Angeles's preeminent conductorless chamber orchestra, makes its Wallis debut with a program featuring pianist Irene Kim on Prokovief's "Piano Concerto No. 3," Beethoven's iconic "Symphony No. 5" and Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Caroline Shaw's "Entr'acte" on Friday, February 22, 2019, 7:30 pm, in the Bram Goldsmith Theater at The Wallis. Kaleidoscope, which "adds layers of intensity to the usual chamber orchestra," (Los Angeles Times) and includes more than40 musicians, stretches the boundaries of what is thought possible without a conductor. Kim, noted for championing cutting-edge works, has been hailed for her "superior technique and delicate sensibility" (Korean Times). Shaw, a composer described as "a breakout star" (The Guardian), has collaborated with Kanye West and appeared as herself in the hit TV series Mozart in the Jungle.
Judy Collins: A LOVE LETTER TO Stephen Sondheim
March 22, 2019, 7:30 pm - Bram Goldsmith Theater
Judy Collins, who has inspired audiences with her sublime vocals, captivating presence and deep commitment to social activism for more than five decades, delivers A Love Letter to Stephen Sondheim,celebrating one of the most gifted composers in American music history, on Friday, March 22, 2019, 7:30 pm, in the Bram Goldsmith Theater at The Wallis. Her stunning arrangements of some of the most moving songs ever written for the stage included Collins' beloved, chart-topping, Grammy Award-winning version of Sondheim's "Send in the Clowns." The New York Times proclaims,"There's something immensely satisfying in Ms. Collins's choice to mine these songs for political and interpersonal relevance."
AND THE MEMPHIS SOULPHONY: MEMPHIS... YES, I'M READY
March 23, 2019, 7:30 pm - Bram Goldsmith Theater
Tony and triple Grammy Award-winning jazz legend Dee Dee Bridgewater makes her Wallis debut with a tribute to the rich R&B tradition of Memphis - the city of her birth - on Saturday, March 23, 2019, 7:30 pm, in the Bram Goldsmith Theater. The NEA Jazz Master and United Nations Goodwill Ambassador, joined by the Memphis Soulphony, returns to her roots to bring the sultry Memphis sound to Los Angeles with Memphis...Yes I'm Ready, based on her acclaimed album of the same title recorded at Memphis' famed Royal Studios in 2016. Bridgewater, who "spills with theatrics and sensuality" (The New York Times), proudly proclaims, "I made this record for me."
TETZLAFF TRIO
April 26, 2019, 7:30 pm - Bram Goldsmith Theater
The Tetzlaff Trio, featuring siblings Christian Tetzlaff, violin, and Tanja Tetzlaff, cello, and Lars Vogt, piano, present Schumann's consummate "Trio No. 1 in D minor, Op. 63" paired with Dvo?ák's remarkable masterpiece "Trio No. 3 in F minor, Op. 65" on Friday, April 26, 2019, 7:30 pm, in the Bram Goldsmith Theater at The Wallis. Touring North America for the first time in three years, these internationally recognized musicians "bring polish and passion" to every performance (TheNew York Times).
INNA FALIKS, PIANO
DANIELPOUR & SCHUMANN
May 12, 2019, 7:30 pm - Bram Goldsmith Theater
Ukrainian-born American pianist Inna Faliks, one of the most "adventurous and passionate" (The New Yorker)artists of her generation, gives the world premiere of "Eleven Bagatelles for Piano" by Iranian-American composer Richard Danielpour in her Wallis debut on Sunday, May 12, 2019, 7:30 pm, at the Bram Goldsmith Theater. The program also features two masterworks by Robert Schumann - "Kinderszenen" and "Symphonic Etudes (With Posthumous Variations)." Faliks, Head of Piano at UCLA, performs on leading stages around the globe, garnering acclaim for her musical "poetry and panoramic vision" (Washington Post) and "riveting passion" (Baltimore Sun). Professor of Composition at UCLA, Danielpour, "an outstanding composer"(New York Daily News), is one of the most recorded composers of his generation with a list of commissions from Yo-Yo Ma, Jessye Norman, Dawn Upshaw, Emanuel Ax, the New York Philharmonic, Vienna Chamber Orchestra and the Guarneri and Emerson string quartets, among many others.
NATIONAL SAWDUST @ THE WALLIS
Lovelace Studio Theater
The Wallis is proud to partner this season on two boundary-breaking programs with Brooklyn's National Sawdust, one of the most innovative venues in the country where emerging and established artists receive unprecedented support and critical resources essential to developing and staging new work. National SawdustCo-Founder/Artistic Director/composer Paola Prestini, heralded for her "interdisciplinary vision," is "helping to shape the future of new music" (Broadway World). The two co-presentations include:
The Wallis and National Sawdust Present
(M)iyamoto is Black Enough
March 14 - 15, 2019, 7:30 pm - Lovelace Studio Theater
The Wallis and Brooklyn's National Sawdust co-present (M)iyamoto is Black Enough, a collaborative musical and spoken word exploration of meaning and conversation based on Ariana Miyamoto, the mixed-race winner of Miss Universe Japan 2015 who weathered backlash for her lack of "pure" parentage - that she was not "Japanese enough" - on Thursday, March 14 and Friday, March 15, 2019, 7:30 pm, at the Lovelace Studio Theater at The Wallis. Composed by Andy Akiho and written by Roger Bonair-Agard, (M)iyamoto is Black Enough creates a brash symphony of hard-driving rhythms and biting social commentary, featuring Sean Dixon on percussion, Jeffrey Zeigler on cello and Akiho on drums with Bonair-Agard's spoken word. This bold narrative about people, justice, struggle, joy and celebration is also a cerebral jaunt through one's own belief systems. Critics proclaim, "This is exactly what we need to hear right now," (Arts & Culture Texas).
The Wallis and National Sawdust Present
Forward Music Project
May 30 - 31, 2019,7:30 pm - Lovelace Studio Theater
Forward Music Project, the second collaboration between The Wallis and Brooklyn's National Sawdust this season, was created by cellist Amanda Gookin to encourage social change and empowerment for women and features a gripping program of stylistically contrasting commissions for solo cello and electronics by seven female composers on Thursday, May 30 and Friday, May 31, 2019, 7:30 pm, at the Lovelace Studio Theater at The Wallis. Gookin performs works by Angélica Negrón, Nathalie Joachim, Leila Adu, Jessica Meyer, Allison Loggins-Hull, Amanda Feery and Morgan Krauss that explore a range of issues facing women today, including LGBTQ+ and reproductive rights, sexual violence and empowerment. She describes the compositions as "extremely visceral, requiring me to sing, chant, breathe, hiss, use a loop pedal, and play percussion with my feet." The program includes voice recordings by the composers and projection design by S. Katy Tucker. Praised for her "delicate and fierce musical approach" (San Francisco Classical Voice) and "expert technical work" (The Strad), Gookin champions the future of music through the creation and bold performance of new works as well as through her dedication to education, culture, and community engagement.
Inon Barnatan, PIANO
VARIATIONS ON A SUITE
June 22, 2019 at 7:30 pm - Bram Goldsmith Theater
Pianist Inon Barnatan, recently named music director of the La Jolla's prestigious SummerFest, makes his Wallis debut with an adventurous program of piano suites by Bach, Handel, Ligeti and others on Saturday, June 22, 2019, 7:30 pm, at the Bram Goldsmith Theater. The solo recital features Handel's "Chaconne in G Major, HWV, 442," Couperin's "L'Atalante," Ravel's "Rigaudon from Le Tombeau de Couperin," Bach's "Allemandefrom Partita in D Major, BWV, 828", and Ades' "Blanca Variations." Barnatanalso performs Ligeti's "Musica Ricercata Nos. 11 & 10," Rameaus's "Courante from Suite in A minor, RCT. 5," Barber's "Fugue from Sonata for Piano, Op. 26," and Brahms' "Variations and Fugue on a Theme by Handel, Op. 24." Celebrated for his poetic sensibility, musical intelligence and consummate artistry, Barnatan has been hailed by the New York Times as "one of the most admired pianists of his generation." He is the recipient of both the 2009 Avery Fisher Career Grant and Lincoln Center's Martin E. Segal Award, which recognizes "young artists of exceptional accomplishment."
For the complete listing of all Music @ The Wallis programs visit TheWallis.org/Music.
Single tickets ranging from $25 - $125 are available for all Music @ The Wallis performances. Visit TheWallis.org, call 310.746.4000, or stop by in person at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts Ticket Services Office located at 9390 N. Santa Monica Blvd., Beverly Hills, CA 90210.
Since opening its doors in October 2013, The Wallis has produced or presented more than 250 dance, theatre, opera, classical music, cinema and family programs to an ever-expanding audience. Located in the heart of Beverly Hills, California, The Wallis brings audiences world-class theater, dance and music, performed by many of the world's most talented and sought-after artists. Featuring eclectic programming that mirrors the diverse landscape of Los Angeles and its notability as the entertainment capital of the world, The Wallis offers original and revered works from across the U.S. and around the globe. The mission of The Wallis is to create, present and celebrate unique performing arts events and educational programs that reflect the rich cultural diversity of our community. Nominated for 46 Ovation Awards, seven L.A. Drama Critic's Circle Awards and the recipient of six architectural awards since opening in 2013. The Wallis is a breathtaking 70,000-square-foot venue that celebrates the classic and the modern and was designed by Zoltan E. Pali, FAIA, of Studio Pali Fekete architects. The building features the restored, original 1933 Beverly Hills Post Office (on the National Register of Historic Places) that serves as the theater's dramatic yet welcoming lobby, and houses the 150-seat Lovelace Studio Theater, GRoW at The Wallis: A Space for Arts Education (a gift of Gregory Annenberg Weingarten and Family and the Annenberg Foundation) and the contemporary 500-seat, state-of-the art Bram Goldsmith Theater. Together, these structures embrace the city's history and its future, creating a performing arts destination for L.A.-area visitors and residents alike. For more information about The Wallis, please visit: TheWallis.org.
For more information about The Wallis, please visit: TheWallis.org.
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