All Entries Tagged With: "Touhill Performing Arts Center"
Vanguard Orchestra to headline StL Jazz Festival
The Grammy-winning Vanguard Jazz Orchestra from New York City will be featured at the St. Louis Jazz Festival - April 15 & 16 at the Touhill.
Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Dizzy Gillespie, Thelonius Monk. If you can name a famous jazz musician, there’s a very good chance he played the Village Vanguard.
Opened in 1935, this tiny basement club in New York’s Greenwich Village has been a hotbed of American jazz for decades. And every Monday night since 1966, a 16-piece ensemble known as the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra has held court here as the club’s legendary house band.
The Wall Street Journal called the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra “the center of the known jazz universe,” and in 2009 the group received a Grammy Award for Best Large Jazz Ensemble. Now, lucky us, the VJO is coming to NoCo…
On April 15 & 16, the Greater St. Louis Jazz Festival returns to the Touhill, offering classes and mentoring opportunities for local musicians during the daytime and public concerts in the evening. The Friday night show features the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra. The Saturday night show features legendary jazz bassist Ron Carter along with pianist Mulgrew Miller and guitarist Russell Malone.
Tickets are $20 or $35 for a single performance, or attend both shows and pay just $25 or $50, depending on your seating choice. For more info, visit the festival website. Or to reserve your tickets, head on over to the Touhill or call (314) 516-4949.
The 2011 Greater St. Louis Jazz Festival will take place April 15 &16, 8pm, at the Touhill Performing Arts Center, One University Boulevard, 63121.
The (condensed) Marriage of Figaro comes to UMSL
FROM THE NEWS WIRE…
Does your heart burn for a Mozart opera without all the trimmings? Do you find all the recitatives just a bit too much to digest?
Then join the University of Missouri–St. Louis Opera Theatre as they dish up a deliciously slenderized evening of one of opera’s tastiest morsels, “The Marriage of Figaro.” The comic opera classic is about a count, a countess, their two soon-to-be married servants and the count’s efforts to delay the wedding in his lust for the bride-to-be.
UMSL’s rendition, “The Marriage of Figaro – Sliced & Diced,” begins at 7:30pm on March 11 and 12 and 3pm on March 13 in the E. Desmond and Mary Ann Lee Theater in the Blanche M. Touhill Performing Arts Center. A preshow talk will be given at 2pm on March 13. The performances are free and open to the public.
“The Marriage of Figaro – Sliced & Diced” is directed by Stella Markou, director of vocal studies at UMSL. She has sung throughout the world and locally with the Ambassadors of Harmony and Arianna String Quartet. She has performed roles from “Die Zauberflote,” “The Turn of the Screw” and “The Mikado.”
The Touhill is on the North Campus at UMSL, 1 University Blvd., 63121. Visit touhill.org or call 314-516-4949 for more information.
P.S. Remember the beautiful song played over the loudspeaker in The Shawshank Redemption? That is from “The Marriage of Figaro.”
UMSL stages provocative “Stop Kiss” at the Touhill
UMSL students Ashley Bauman and Vanika Spencer star in the upcoming production of "Stop Kiss" at the Touhill.
As the great American melting pot continues to stir and change, being able to view the world from different perspectives, with compassion, is becoming a vital skill. That’s why I was thrilled to learn that UMSL’s Department of Theatre, Dance and Media Studies is bravely staging a compelling play that’s sure to push some buttons and make you think.
Set in New York City, “Stop Kiss,” written by Diana Son, is what you might call a dark romantic comedy. It’s the story of Callie, a radio traffic reporter, and Sara, a teacher from St. Louis, who become fast friends and discover, quite surprisingly, that they’re attracted to one another. The women share their first kiss on a park bench, only to be savagely attacked in a hate crime, and Sara winds up in a coma.
What follows is a clever and deeply thoughtful look at love, relationships and the challenge of living life to the fullest. And before you go thinking, wow, this sounds like a big downer and/or political diatribe, you should know that the comedic tone of “Stop Kiss” has been compared to early episodes of The Mary Tyler Moore Show. It’s fun and fresh and often very moving. It just happens to deal with a subtle undercurrent of larger issues that affect us all.
Debuting in 1998, “Stop Kiss” has won numerous awards and was named a Top 10 play by the New York Times, Newsday and New York Magazine. This performance at the Touhill will be its St. Louis academic premiere.
February 3-5 and February 10-12 @ 7:30 pm, and February 6 @ 3pm (with a post-show discussion). Tickets: $3-10. For more info, call (314) 516-4949 or visit the Touhill’s website.
The Touhill presents the Nutcracker Dec 17-23
Watching ballet is not for everyone. But even if you’re not a big dancing fan, it’s hard to deny the sheer wonder and beauty of The Nutcracker, especially during the holidays.
This classic two-act ballet was first performed in 1892 and tells the story of Clara, a young German girl who receives a wooden nutcracker for Christmas. After falling asleep, Clara dreams that the nutcracker comes to life, turns into a prince and leads her on an enchanted journey to two magical lands. In the Land of Snow, she encounters dancing snowflakes. In the Land of Sweets, she meets the beautiful Sugar Plum Fairy.
The music for Clara’s adventure is provided, of course, by Peter Tchaikovsky, the great Russian composer. No doubt you will recognize his most famous piece in The Nutcracker, “Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy” featuring the ethereal sound of a celesta.
Starting next Friday, St. Louis Ballet will stage nine performances of this delightful score and story, all at the magnificent Touhill. Prior to the matinee shows on December 18 & 19, you can even participate in a special tea party luncheon with the Sugar Plum Fairy herself!
Tickets for the tea party start at $38 for adults and $28 for kids. For The Nutcracker, which runs December 17, 18, 19, 22 and 23, they’re $25, $37 and $47. To purchase tickets and see a complete list of show times, visit the Touhill’s website.
In the mean time, here’s a peek at last year’s performance…
Are you getting ready for the big day? NOCO is a proud sponsor of the 3rd annual Live Well Ferguson 5K