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Arts & Dialogue

Art does not invite us merely to sit in a chair. It challenges us to think, to talk, and to share.

Honors Carolina students receive free tickets to extraordinary events in the Carolina Performing Arts series on a first-come, first-served basis. Each performance is followed by a roundtable discussion of the evening’s event, often attended by the artists themselves.

Spring 2013 Schedule
Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company and SITI Company

Friday, January 25, 2013 – 8:00 PM

A Meditation on The Rite of Spring (working title), a full-length collaborative work commissioned by Carolina Performing Arts, combines choreography from the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company with the ensemble-based theater work of SITI Company and Anne Bogart.

This world premiere presents a deconstruction of the original score of The Rite of Spring, giving voice to author Jonah Lehrer’s claim that a central tenet of Stravinsky’s work is the realization that “the engine of music is conflict, not consonance.”

The development of this work took place, in part, at UNC-Chapel Hill through a series of collaborative residencies hosted by Carolina Performing Arts.

 

Vijay Iyer, Prashant Bhargava & International Contemporary Ensemble

 Tuesday, March 26, 2013 – 7:30 PM

The program for The Rite of Spring at 100 features the world premiere of a new work by Vijay Iyer, one of the most exciting jazz pianists of our time, in collaboration with celebrated filmmaker Prashant Bhargava.

Iyer returns to Memorial Hall for the third time this spring in a Carolina Performing Arts commissioned piece inspired by the Holi festival, which is the Hindu “rite of spring” celebration. It will be performed by the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE) and feature a video by Bhargava featuring footage of the Holi festival in Mathura, a town in Uttar Pradesh, India.

Additionally, the program will include works by recent ICE collaborators Tyshawn Sorey and Steve Lehman. ICE is a collective of musicians committed to redefining concert music and bringing together new music and new audiences through collaborations with emerging composers and sound artists.

 

Basil Twist, puppeteer, with Orchestra of St. Luke’s

Friday, April 12, 2013 – 8:00 PM

A third-generation puppeteer, Basil Twist is the only American to graduate from France’s École Supérieure Nationale des Arts de la Marionnette.

One of the most creative performers in contemporary theater, Twist’s work engages every conceivable element, including water and wind.

Accompanied by NYC-based Orchestra of St. Luke’s in Memorial Hall, Twist will stage a world-premiere work, The Rite of Spring, that transforms traditional puppetry into kinetic fabric sculptures and what he calls “a ballet without dancers.”

Twist will also stage his new versions of Stravinsky’s Pulcinella and Fireworks, reflecting his ability to interpret a wide range of forms and presentations, from Italian commedia dell’arte to the formalism of a Modernist symphony.