Each tab represents a month of performances at the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts. Each event page will provide you with suggestions of physical and online materials available via the Music and Performing Arts Library that can help you discover more about many of the featured artists and genres. Whether you are affiliated with the University or a community member interested in music and the performing arts, these resources are available for you to explore and use.
How to Use the Library
All Music and Performing Arts Library materials can be used in the Library. We have equipment to view/listen to all of the various media items in our collection, including CDs, LPs, and DVDs.
If you want to check something out, you will need a current UIUC I-Card or a courtesy card. Look here for more information about our lending policies.
Get more information about searching the library catalog for books, scores, and recordings here.
Performance Etiquette
Attending a live performance is exciting, but can also be daunting to those who do not frequent the concert hall. Below are a few reminders and suggestions of audience best practices.
The dimming of the lights usually signifies that the performance is about to begin. At this time, make sure to turn off all cell phones, pagers, beepers, and electronic devices. Notifications (including sound, vibrations, and lights) can distract fellow audience members, as well as performers.
Try to arrive a few minutes early to the performance, especially if it is an unfamiliar venue, so that you can easily find your seat. If there are assigned seats, you can show the usher your ticket and they will be happy to assist you with this!
If you arrive to the performance late, you will likely be asked to wait until a break in the program to enter. Depending on the type of performance you are attending, you may have to wait until you hear audience applause to take your seat. The usher will help you find the best time to enter to minimize audience distractions.
It is sometimes hard to know when to clap for the performer(s). This practice varies between different performance types, as well as between different cultures! In North America, it is customary to applaud at times that do not interrupt the performer(s), so you may choose to wait until the end of a song, scene, movement, or piece to clap. If you are unsure, take cues from the people around you and clap when they do.
"Krannert Center for the Performing Arts is dedicated to the advancement of education, research, and public engagement through the pursuit of excellence and innovation in the performing arts. Embracing the art of the past as well as the art of our time, the Center supports the belief that creativity is a core human characteristic and that the arts hold uniquely transformative potential. Through its multiple and integrated roles as classroom, laboratory, and public square, Krannert Center serves as a touchstone for the exploration and expansion of human experience."
MPAL wishes to acknowledge the Strategic Communications and Marketing Committee of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Library, which provided support for this program.
September Events
September Events
Each month, MPAL highlight materials from the library's collections related to events happening at the Krannert Center. This is the landing page for September events. Explore individual events to learn more about related resources by using the tabs in the navigation bar, or by clicking on the corresponding picture below!
Featuring live, free performances by Mariachi Herencia de México, Gracie and Rachel, Cotton Candy Theremin, and The Soul Rebels in an environment the entire family will enjoy.
Friday, September 9th, 2022 at 5:30pm in the Lobby.
From the age of five, all Chad Lawson wanted to do was play the piano. Forty years of dedication has yielded several #1 releases of both Chad’s original compositions and fresh reinterpretations of the classical repertoire. He has toured worldwide and appeared on CBS Sunday Morning and NPR’s Weekend Edition with Scott Simon . Chad brings his trio featuring violinist Judy Kang (Lady Gaga, Ryuichi Sakamoto) and cellist Seth Parker Woods (Sting, Peter Gabriel) to Krannert Center for this free event, performing a set of meditative pieces described as “Classical music for the Spotify generation.”
Lawson will also be hosting a wellness event at Krannert Center on September 10th at 12:00pm. In this free session, Lawson explores how focused breathing techniques combined with live meditative music can help achieve a more relaxed state of mind.
More than 500 New Age musicians are profiled with lists of record labels and material on related musical styles.
Artist Spotlight: Chad Lawson
The Second City: Out of the House Party
About This Event
Rooted in the groundbreaking improvisational games of Viola Spolin, The Second City opened its doors on a snowy Chicago night in December of 1959, and a comedy revolution began. The small cabaret theatre has grown to become a world-class entertainment company, continuing to produce premier talent in all three of its locations (Chicago, Toronto, and Hollywood) and entertaining more than one million audience members a year. From Steve Carell to Keegan-Michael Key, Stephen Colbert to Tina Fey, Chris Farley to Mike Myers, Second City’s imprint is all over film, television, and beyond.
The Second City arrives at Krannert Center with their raring-to-go cast of comedians for another laugh-packed adventure. From improv games to classic sketches from the archives, this experience is a great way for us all to laugh our way into the new normal.
Saturday, September 10th at 7:00pm in the Tryon Festival Theatre
For more than 40 years, Jerry Douglas has made music on dobro and lap steel that’s earned him world renown as the top purveyor of his craft. On his latest musical foray, What If, Douglas decisively merges those jazz inclinations with the bluegrass, country, blues, swing, rock, and soul he’s spent his life absorbing and performing, forging a sound that flies beyond the boundaries of anything he—or anyone else—has done before. Like fellow bluegrass-rooted peers Bela Fleck and David Grisman, Douglas has always balanced respect for tradition with a desire to escape constricting expectations. But there were places even he was afraid to go—until now.
Saturday, September 10th at 9:00pm in the Colwell Playhouse
Robert Cantwell engages the historical background, commercial origins, internal workings, and cultural and social significance of popular, old-time music to provide a unique musicological and sociological perspective.
The most complete guide by one of the best-known players, geared for every level. Includes 33 tunes in tablature and features chapters on bluegrass, blues, country, Hawaiian, western swing and more.
Documentary on the history and state of bluegrass music as it exists today. Features interviews with musicians and behind-the-scenes festival footage interspersed with clips of live performances.
For this 50th-anniversary celebration, Pilobolus questions its own “givens,” turns its traditions sideways, and brings its past into the future. As fresh and vibrant as ever, Pilobolus—that feisty arts organism—puts the “Oh!” in Big Five-OH! and continues to morph its way thrillingly into audiences’ hearts and minds. The celebration includes signature works from vintage classics to their trend-setting innovative work in shadow.
Recommended for ages 8 and up.
Tuesday, September 13th at 7:30pm in the Tryon Festival Theatre
This is the moving story of the development of modern dance as told by the visionary artists who created it. The powerful words of Isadora Duncan, Martha Graham, Doris Humphrey, Ruth St. Denis, and twenty nine other modern dance artists come to life in these original essays.
Documents how Pilobolus Dance Theatre, Maurice Sendak, and Arthur Yorinks collaborated to create the dance work: A selection. Includes performance excerpts from the work.
On the eve of its fortieth anniversary, internationally-renowned Pilobolus returns to New Hampshire for a Dartmouth-commissioned premiere of a collaboration with cartoonist Art Spiegelman.
THE BIG FIVE-OH!
Use the Media/Widget asset and embed the code here for a video
Sinfonia da Camera: The Great Symphony in the Great Hall!
About This Event
Ian Hobson, music director, conductor, and piano
Sinfonia da Camera’s 39th season opens with Rossini’s brilliant overture to the last of his 39 operas, William Tell. The program continues with Beethoven’s solemn and regal Piano Concerto No. 3, performed by Maestro Hobson as piano soloist. Although Mozart and the Classical tradition seem still embodied in it, this concerto expresses the mature Beethoven’s individuality. Following intermission, the program concludes with Schubert’s Symphony No. 9—a challenge to the artistic and technical powers of both conductors and orchestral musicians worldwide! Schumann called it the “symphony of heavenly length,” and that name, as well as “The Great,” have become how the symphony is known. Full of Romantic spirit and rhythmic energy, join Sinfonia da Camera in this performance of the “Great” symphony in the Great Hall!
Rossini: William Tell Overture
Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 3 in C minor, Op. 37
Schubert: Symphony No. 9 in C major, “The Great,” D.944
Saturday, September 17th at 7:30pm in the Foellinger Great Hall
Author Alan Kendall examines Rossini's life and operatic works, providing an overview within the context of French and Italian opera during his lifetime.
In this book, the first full-length study of Beethoven's concertos, Leon Plantinga brings to bear his extensive scholarship in music of the Romantic era to establish the circumstances surrounding the composition and first performances of these enduring works. He locates them in their social and musical contexts and discusses the form, style, and affect of each concerto, searching out its eloquent individuality.
This collection addresses current issues in Schubert studies including compositional technique, the topical issue of 'late' style, tonal strategy and form in the composer's instrumental music, and musical readings of the 'postmodern' Schubert.
Sinfonia da Camera: Beethoven, Symphony No. 2 in D major, Op. 36
Pygmalion: Mwenso & The Shakes
About This Event
Mwenso & the Shakes are a unique troupe of global artists who present music that merges the highest form of entertainment and artistry while commanding a formidable timeline of jazz and blues expression through African and Afro American music. Immigrating from Sierra Leone, London, South Africa, Greenwich Village, Madagascar, France, Jamaica, and Hawaii, the Shakes all now call Harlem their home. Taking from the stylings of Fats Waller, Muddy Waters, James Brown, and many other American musical legends, Michael Mwenso leads an electrifying show the New York Times calls “intense, prowling, and ebullient”.
Saturday, September 24th at 7:30pm in the Colwell Playhouse
Exploring the temporal dimension of African American music in its development from early forms of blues and jazz to the free and fast-paced sequences of jazz musicians such as John Coltrane and Ornette Coleman, this volume addresses music as a key metaphor for the analysis of time in African American culture.
Ralph Ellison famously characterized ensemble jazz improvisation as "antagonistic cooperation." Both collaborative and competitive, musicians play with and against one another to create art and community.
Contains essays on Miles Davis, Pharaoh Sanders, Woody Shaw, Jay Hoggard, Bob Neloms, Cecil McBee, Craig Harris, Gil Scott Heron, Chico Freeman Dennis Moorman, and other contemporary musicians as well as reflections on soul, modern trends, and other aspects of the history of jazz and blues.
This broad and encompassing survey provides a rich, informative, and chronological study of jazz, with insightful commentaries on its origins, and full descriptions of the various styles of jazz and the personalities that have contributed to this innovative form of music.
Resolute : Know The God In You
Chicago Immigrant Orchestra
About This Event
Dedicated to the authenticity and historicity of living musical traditions, the Chicago Immigrant Orchestra was established in 1999 by the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events to perform as part of the first annual Chicago World Music Festival. Directed by Willy Schwartz, the orchestra involved Chicago musicians from the immigrant community representing music from all over the globe. The project lasted through 2004 and had a lasting impact on the Chicago music scene.
In 2019, the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events approached guitarist Fareed Haque and oud player Wanees Zarour to restart the Chicago Immigrant Orchestra and headline 2020’s Chicago World Music Festival. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the orchestra performed a critically acclaimed virtual concert in September 2020.
The new CIO today is a 20-piece ensemble that consists of members of the Chicago immigrant community, representing musical traditions from all over the world. In this fresh approach under the direction of Haque and Zarour, Chicago Immigrant Orchestra musicians from the Far East to Western Europe, Africa and the Americas are thoroughly involved in the evolution of the musical ideas that are presented. One orchestra, a world of music.
Tuesday, September 27 at 7:30pm in the Colwell Playhouse
This performance is a co-presentation of Krannert Center and the International and Area Studies Library. Tickets for this event are free to University of Illinois students, faculty, and staff.
Analytical and Cross-Cultural Studies in World Music presents intriguing explanations of extraordinary musical creations from diverse cultures across the world.
This book draws readers into a remarkable range of these historical encounters, in which music had the power to evoke the exotic and to give voice to the voiceless.
Rudra Veena is considered to be the mother of of all string instruments. Its origin goes back to the very time when music was invented by mediators, trying to find a way to express their inner experiences.
Mongolian Sound Worlds investigates the unique sonic elements, fluid genres, social and spatial performativity, and sounding objects behind new forms of Mongolian music--forms that reflect the nation's past while looking towards its globalized future.
Armayn and Dyngyldai - Chicago Immigrant Orchestra
October Events
October Events
Each month, MPAL highlight materials from the library's collections related to events happening at the Krannert Center. This is the landing page for October events. Explore individual events to learn more about related resources by using the tabs in the navigation bar, or by clicking on the corresponding picture below!
Stephen Alltop, music director and conductor
Elissa Lee Koljonen, violin
Champaign-Urbana Symphony Orchestra begins the season with exciting new sounds and old musical friends. The brilliantly talented Elissa Lee Koljonen returns to the Foellinger Great Hall stage to perform the mesmerizing Violin Concerto by the Persian composer Bezhad Ranjbaran. First championed by violinist Joshua Bell, this concerto has been praised for its exotic sounds and lustrous harmonies. The Symphony No. 1 of Brahms is among the composer’s most beloved works. Its big-shouldered and majestic outer movements are contrasted by the singing lyricism of its inner movements. Join CUSO for a night of memorable music-making!
Ranjbaran: Violin Concerto
Brahms: Symphony No. 1 in C Minor, Op. 68
Saturday, October 1, 2022 at 7:30pm in Foellinger Great Hall
In this 1997 book, David Brodbeck begins with an account of the lengthy genesis and complicated background to the writing of the symphony, before providing a thorough critical reading of the work, movement by movement.
Ravi Jain’s remixed, reimagined, and bilingual Prince Hamlet features a cross-cultural, gender-bent cast—challenging traditional ideas of who can tell this story. Interweaving Shakespeare’s spoken text with heightened and poetic American Sign Language, this groundbreaking production creates a visually stunning retelling for both hearing and Deaf audiences. You’ve never experienced Hamlet like this before.
Featuring Dawn Jani Birley as Horatio (Toronto Theatre Critics Award for Best Actress in a Play). “This is no ordinary Hamlet”- Toronto Star
This performances contains Shakespearean violence and is recommended for ages 12 and up.
Saturday, October 1, 2022 at 5:30pm in the Tryon Festival Theatre.
Call Number: PR3100 .S55 2008 (Literature & Languages Library)
Examining performances through the lenses of feminism, queer theory, and cultural materialism, this title situates cross-dressed Shakespeare in the context of critical debates over the social construction of gender.
Drawing on the notion of a "welcome table"--a space where artists of all backgrounds can come together as equals to create theatre--the book's contributors discuss casting practices as they relate to varying communities and contexts, including Middle Eastern American theatre, Disability culture, multilingual performance, Native American theatre, color- and culturally-conscious casting, and casting as a means to dismantle stereotypes.
Prince Hamlet
Alfredo Rodriguez Trio
About This Event
Alfredo Rodríguez is a GRAMMY-nominated pianist, composer, arranger, and producer. After meeting Quincy Jones at the Montreux Jazz Festival in 2006 and receiving an offer to work together, Alfredo emigrated to the US to pursue his dream of being an internationally acclaimed musician. Over the past decade, Alfredo has gone from a local Cuban artist to a globally recognized GRAMMY nominee with five critically acclaimed releases on tastemaker imprint Mack Avenue Records: Sounds of Space (2011), The Invasion Parade (2014), Tocororo (2016), The Little Dream (2018), and Duologue (2019) with percussionist Pedrito Martinez.
Club-style performances offer first-come, first-served seating at tables of four in the Studio Theatre. Full bar service is available during the performance.
Friday, October 7, 2022 - Saturday, October 8, 2022 at 7:30pm & 9:30pm in the Studio Theatre
Listening in Detail is an original and impassioned take on the intellectual and sensory bounty of Cuban music as it circulates between the island, the United States, and other locations. It is also a powerful critique of efforts to define "Cuban music" for ethnographic examination or market consumption
Cuba is home to some of the world's most vibrant popular music in the world, from son and rumba to salsa and chachacha. The Rough Guide to Cuban Music introduces the full range of Cuba's varied musical traditions and tells the story of their greatest performers, legends like Beny More, Celina Gonzalea alongside more recent stars such as Carlos Varela.
Alfredo Rodríguez Trio: NPR Music Tiny Desk Concert
Jupiter String Quartet
About This Event
The Jupiter String Quartet is a particularly intimate group, consisting of violinists Nelson Lee and Meg Freivogel, violist Liz Freivogel (Meg’s sister), and cellist Daniel McDonough (Meg’s husband, Liz’s brother-in-law). Now enjoying their 20th year together, this tight-knit ensemble is firmly established as an important voice in the world of chamber music.
The quartet has performed in some of the world’s finest halls, including New York City’s Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center, London’s Wigmore Hall, Boston’s Jordan Hall, Mexico City's Palacio de Bellas Artes, Washington, D.C.’s Kennedy Center and Library of Congress, Austria’s Esterhazy Palace, and Seoul’s Sejong Chamber Hall. Their major music festival appearances include the Aspen Music Festival and School, Bowdoin International Music Festival, Cape Cod Chamber Music Festival, Rockport Music Festival, Music at Menlo, the Seoul Spring Festival, and many others. In addition to their performing career, they have been artists-in-residence at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign since 2012, where they maintain private studios and direct the chamber music program.
This concert will start at the cusp of the twentieth century with Charles Ives’ String Quartet No. 1. Written in 1898, this four movement string quartet is also known by the subtitles “From the Salvation Army" and “A Revival Service” and is one of the composer’s first major works. Next on the program is the intricate and rhythmically charged second string quartet of Jamaican-born, British composer Eleanor Alberga, which she composed in 1994. The performance will then conclude just a few decades earlier than it began, with Mendelssohn's 1847 work, String Quartet in F Major–– a dramatic and heart wrenching piece written as an homage to the memory of his beloved sister Fanny.
Ives: String Quartet No. 1
Alberga: String Quartet no. 2
Mendelssohn: Quartet in F minor Op. 80
Saturday, October 8, 2022 at 7:30pm in Foellinger Great Hall
This volume shows Charles Ives in the context of his world in a number of revealing ways. Five new essays examine Ives's relationships to European music and to American music, politics, business, and landscape.
Bringing together previously unpublished essays by historians and musicologists, reflections on Mendelssohn written by his contemporaries, the composer's own letters, and early critical reviews of his music, this volume explores various facets of Mendelssohn's music, his social and intellectual circles, and his career.
Jupiter Quartet plays Mendelssohn op. 80, mvmt 1
Circa: Sacre
About This Event
Created by Yaron Lifschitz and the Circa Ensemble
Poetic tenderness. Raw emotion. Physical strength. Ten acrobats from the Circa ensemble bring Stravinsky’s seminal The Rite of Spring to the circus stage. Pulsating with tension and infused with dark humor, this distinctive production from Artistic Director Yaron Lifschitz confronts humanity’s inter-connectivity, our inherent sexual desire, and relationship with divinity. Featuring a piercing lighting design by Veronique Benett and a stirring new composition by Philippe Bachman for the first half of the performance, Sacre penetrates the senses and stirs the soul.
Recommended for ages 12 and up.
Friday, October 21, 2022 at 7:30pm in Foellinger Great Hall
Los Angeles Master Chorale: Lagrime di San Pietro (Tears of St. Peter)
About This Event
Orlando di Lasso, composer
Grant Gershon, conductor
Peter Sellars, director
From the creative mind of acclaimed director Peter Sellars comes his very first a cappella staging and most personal work to date. Orlando di Lasso, writing in the late 1500s, knew that Lagrime di San Pietro was to be the last piece he would ever compose, so he packed every measure with an emotionally charged texture that channeled his pain and remorse into a towering work of beauty. With the music committed to memory, the 21 singers of the Los Angeles Master Chorale—widely recognized as the country’s leading professional choir—transform this sweeping Renaissance work into a breathtaking experience. Modern English translations are projected above the stage, while lighting design by James F. Ingalls and costume design by Danielle Domingue Sumi complement Sellars’ dramatic staging.
Setting the poetry of Luigi Tansillo, “I accept responsibility” is the fundamental theme of Lagrime, which depicts the seven stages of grief that St. Peter experienced after disavowing his knowledge of Jesus Christ on the day of Christ’s arrest prior to crucifixion. Sellars translates Lagrime through a contemporary lens, suggesting that by taking responsibility and facing our past head-on, we can forge a more resolved and fulfilling future.
Please note that there will be no late seating for this performance.
Saturday, October 22, 2022 at 7:30pm in Foellinger Great Hall
Vision Duo presents "Genrefication," an exploration of musical genres and sonic possibilities for violin and percussion. This exciting program features works by classical and contemporary composers and introduces multidisciplinary elements of modern performance.
Ariel Horowitz (violin) and Britton-René Collins (percussion) are recipients of the 2020 Concert Artist Guild's Competition’s Ambassador Prize, awarded to musicians who show an exceptional level of virtuosity and humanity in their interest in community engagement and bringing the voices of new composers to the forefront.
Salon-style performances offer a close connection between artists and guests as audience members sit in six rows of seats on stage with the performer. Light refreshments are served before and after the performance. Balcony tickets (without refreshments) are also available.
Seyfried: Blues Train
Curlee: Nocturnes for Violin and Marimba
Chee: Coyotes
Bizet: Carmen Fantasy
Garner: Misty
Bach, J.S.: Movement from Sonata for Violin and Keyboard in E Major, BWV 1016
Piazzolla: Histoire du Tango
Sunday, October 23, 2022 at 3:00pm in Foellinger Great Hall, Salon Style
Bach Sonata for Violin and Keyboard BWV 1016 | Vision Duo
A Little Night Music
About This Event
Music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim
Book by Hugh Wheeler
Dawn Harris, director
Julie Jordan Gunn, music director
Rebecca Nettl-Fiol, choreographer
Love entangles all the characters in Stephen Sondheim’s four-time Tony Award-winning A Little Night Music—love remembered, love unrequited, love still to be found. In this musical comedy of manners, both charming and wistful, surprises lie just around the corner, and a magical summer night offers new beginnings. Romance and longing are carried along on Sondheim’s lush score, which includes the masterpiece “Send in the Clowns.”
Thursday, October 27, 2022 - Saturday, October 29, 2022 at 7:30pm at the Tryon Festival Theatre
Riccardo Muti, Zell Music Director
Xian Zhang, conductor
Simon Trpčeski, piano
Consistently hailed as one of the world’s leading orchestras, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra returns to its “southern home,” Krannert Center’s renowned Foellinger Great Hall.
Ngwenyama: Primal Message
Grieg: Piano Concerto in A Minor, Op. 16
Prokofiev: Symphony No. 6
Saturday, October 29, 2022 at 7:30pm in the Foellinger Great Hall
Each month, MPAL highlight materials from the library's collections related to events happening at the Krannert Center. This is the landing page for November events. Explore individual events to learn more about related resources by using the tabs in the navigation bar, or by clicking on the corresponding picture below!
J.W. Morrissette and Lisa Gaye Dixon, directors
Justin M. Brauer, music director
Joe Bowie and Lisa Dixon, choreographers
Winner of three Tony Awards, three Outer Critics Circle Awards, two Lucille Lortel Awards, and two Obie Awards, Urinetown is a hilarious musical satire of the legal system, capitalism, social irresponsibility, populism, bureaucracy, corporate mismanagement, municipal politics, and musical theatre itself! Hilariously funny and touchingly honest, Urinetown provides a fresh perspective on one of America's greatest art forms.
In a Gotham-like city, a terrible water shortage, caused by a 20-year drought, has led to a government-enforced ban on private toilets. The citizens must use public amenities, regulated by a single malevolent company that profits by charging admission for one of humanity’s most basic needs. Amid the people, a hero decides that he’s had enough and plans a revolution to lead them all to freedom!
Contains adult content.
Thursday, November 3, 2022 - Saturday, November 5, 2022 at 7:30pm in the Colwell Playhouse
Wednesday, November 9, 2022 - Saturday, November 12, 2022 at 7:30pm in the Colwell Playhouse
In The Complete Book of 2000s Broadway Musicals, Dan Dietz examines in detail every musical that opened on Broadway from 2000 through the end of 2009. This book discusses the era's major successes, notorious failures, and musicals that closed during their pre-Broadway tryouts.
Features a wealth of statistics, including: music and lyrics information; names of producers, directors and choreographers; cast lists; New York run dates; songs; and more. Also includes inside information, info on critical reception, and pithy commentary about each show.
The Revolutionists
About This Event
By Lauren Gunderson
Nisi Sturgis, director
The Revolutionists is a new play about four very real women who lived boldly in France during the French Revolution’s Reign of Terror.
Playwright Olympe De Gouge, assassin Charlotte Corday, former queen (and fan of ribbons) Marie Antoinette, and Haitian rebel Marianne Angelle hang out, murder Marat, lose their heads, and try to beat back the extremist insanity in the Paris of 1793. What was a hopeful revolution for the people is now sinking into hyper-violent, hypocritical male rhetoric. However, will modern audiences relate?
This grand and dream-tweaked comedy is about violence and legacy, art and activism, feminism and terrorism, compatriots and chosen sisters, and how we actually go about changing the world.
It’s a true story.
Or total fiction.
Or a play about a play.
Or a raucous resurrection . . .
that ends in a song and a scaffold.
Contains adult content.
Saturday, November 5, 2022 at 2:30pm & 7:30pm in the Tryon Festival Theatre
Wednesday, November 9, 2022 - Friday, November 11, 2022 at 7:30pm in the Tryon Festival Theatre
Saturday, November 12, 2022 at 2:30pm & 7:30pm in the Tryon Festival Theatre
Call Number: DC183.5 .B53 2021 (History, Philosophy and Newspaper Library)
This book brings together a wealth of factual elements, along with recent thinking on the ideological, emotional and tactical dimensions of revolutionary politics, to throw new light on how the phenomenon of terror came to demonise the image and memory of the French Revolution.
Meredith Monk: Cellular Songs
About This Event
Layering, replication, division, mutation—the cellular world is complex, often reassuringly cyclical, and an inspiration for the possibilities of human behavior in this music-theatre piece from Meredith Monk. Cellular Songs is the newest in a series of Monk's works that explore our interdependent relationship with nature while seeking to evoke that which cannot be expressed in words. Monk and the women of her acclaimed Vocal Ensemble, with participation from girls in the Central Illinois Youth Chorus, conjure the circle of life in Cellular Songs by incorporating vocal and instrumental music, movement, light, and film to create a contemplative, playful, and hope-filled experience that once again reveals the elegance and purity of one of the most unique and influential artists of our time.
Saturday, November 5, 2022 at 7:30pm in the Tryon Festival Theatre
This program is bookended by Romantic masterpieces from Rimsky-Korsakov and Dvořák and, between the two, celebrates the great American composer, George Walker. Rimsky-Korsakov’s Capriccio Espagnol, with virtuoso cadenzas for solo instruments and sparklingly brilliant Spanish themes, was described by Tchaikovsky as “a colossal masterpiece of instrumentation.” In honor of George Walker’s centennial celebration, Sinfonia da Camera will then be joined by pianist Rochelle Sennet for a performance of Walker’s Concerto for Piano and Orchestra. Having recorded 6 Volumes of his music, including this work with Ms. Sennet and Sinfonia Varsovia, Maestro Hobson wishes to share with you his great personal and musical connection to George Walker. The evening concludes with Dvorák’s acclaimed Symphony No. 7. Although the New World Symphony (Symphony No. 9) has greater popularity, many critics and historians contend that Symphony No. 7 is his best. Join Sinfonia da Camera for an evening of Romantic—and American—masterpieces!
Rimsky-Korsakov: Capriccio Espagnol, Op. 34
Walker: Concerto for Piano and Orchestra
Dvořák: Symphony No. 7 in D minor, Op. 70, B. 141
Saturday, November 12, 2022 at 7:30pm in Foellinger Great Hall
Created and performed by SITI Company
Conceived and directed by Anne Bogart
To mark its final season, SITI Company revives its first-ever devised piece: a meditation on technology that’s more resonant now than when it premiered in 1993. The Medium explores the effect of media and emerging technologies on our perceptions, our psyches, and our personal lives.
Based on the writings of Marshall McLuhan, The Medium explores the effect of media and emerging technologies on our perceptions, our psyches, and our personal lives. The Medium was originally devised by SITI Company in 1993 in Toga-mura, Japan, and premiered in New York City at New York Theatre Workshop in 1994. McLuhan, who died in 1980, is generally remembered for his belief that electronic communications would knit an alienated world into an all-embracing global village. But in interviews, he also spoke ruefully of the dominance of technologies. “I wish none of these had ever happened,” he once said. In an age where everyone carries a computer in their pocket, The Medium is perhaps even more resonant now than it was in 1993.
Saturday, November 12, 2022 at 7:30pm in the Tryon Festival Theatre
This study provides both a general introduction to Mee's unorthodox playwriting, Bogart's innovative directing, and the ensemble work of the SITI Company and an in-depth case study of their work together on bobrauschenbergamerica, a piece inspired by the art of Robert Rauschenberg.
Zakir Hussain is the preeminent classical tabla virtuoso of our time and is appreciated in the music world at large as an international phenomenon. A national treasure in his native India, he is one of the world’s most esteemed and influential musicians, renowned for his genre-defying collaborations, including Shakti (with John McLaughlin), the Diga Rhythm Band and Planet Drum (both with the Grateful Dead's Mickey Hart), Tabla Beat Science, Celtic Connection, Sangam with Charles Lloyd and Eric Harland, in trio with Béla Fleck and Edgar Meyer and, most recently, with Herbie Hancock. The foremost disciple of his father, the legendary Ustad Alla Rakha, Zakir was a child prodigy who began his professional career at the age of 12, accompanying India’s greatest classical musicians and dancers, and touring internationally with great success by the age of eighteen.
Blessed with a lineage of five generations of sitar players, Niladri Kumar is a world-renowned global icon. After gaining an in-depth, profound, and sound understanding of Indian classical music from his father and guru Pandit Kartick Kumar, Niladri went on to revolutionize the style of sitar playing and further invent his own instrument, the red electric sitar, which he coined as the Zitar. He is hailed as one of the serious exponents of Indian music and has an uncanny ability to make this music appealing to youth and audiences at large. He has achieved mastery over the instrument and produces soul-stirring, brilliant compositions and improvisations. Recognized with several prestigious awards and titles, Niladri has released more than 10 albums and has contributed greatly to the Indian film industry.
Wednesday, November 16, 2022 at 7:30pm in the Colwell Playhouse
The Jupiter String Quartet—quartet-in-residence at the University of Illinois and the internationally acclaimed winners of the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition and the Banff International String Quartet Competition—are joined for this concert by Chicago Symphony Assistant Principal Cellist Kenneth Olsen.
A longtime friend of the Jupiter Quartet, Olsen attended the Cleveland Institute of Music. He won the school’s concerto competition while there, and went on to earn prizes in the Nakamichi Cello Competition and the Holland-American Music Competition. Olsen is also a founding member of the East Coast Chamber Orchestra, a conductorless string orchestra comprised of musicians from orchestras and ensembles all over the country that will perform with the Jupiter String Quartet at Krannert Center on Tuesday, May 2, 2023.
For their collaborative performance of Schubert’s Cello Quintet in C major, the five musicians will blend their artistry to deliver the grandiose expression of Schubert’s final completed work, which he composed in 1828 just before his passing in November of that year. Brahms composed his Quartet in A Minor, Op. 51 No. 1 several decades after Schubert’s passing in 1828. The music transitions between melodic turbulence and more serene, legato performance. The calmer movements are bookended by the more volatile beginning and ending “Allegro” movements, ending with a sense of dark exigency reminiscent of Schubert’s final work.
Schubert: String Quintet in C major, “Cello Quintet”
Brahms: Quartet in A Minor, Op. 51 No. 1
Tuesday, November 29, 2022 at 7:30pm in Foellinger Great Hall
Each month, MPAL highlight materials from the library's collections related to events happening at the Krannert Center. This is the landing page for December events. Explore individual events to learn more about related resources by using the tabs in the navigation bar, or by clicking on the corresponding picture below!
Thurs. 12/1-Sat. 12/3, 2022 at 7:30pm
Sat. 12/3-Sun. 12/4, 2022 at 2:00pm
Sun. 12/4, 2022 at 6:00pm
Tryon Festival Theatre
The Nutcracker
About This Event
E.T.A. Hoffman’s timeless tale—complete with enchanted toys, a princely hero, and fanciful figures—comes to life in this showcase of community talent. This holiday tradition sparkles with exquisitely handcrafted costumes and magical moments.
Thursday, December 1, 2022 - Saturday, December 3, 2022 at 7:30pm in the Tryon Festival Theatre
Saturday, December 3, 2022 - Sunday, December 4, 2022 at 2:00pm in the Tryon Festival Theatre
Sunday, December 4, 2022 at 6:00pm in the Tryon Festival Theatre
Champaign-Urbana Symphony Orchestra: Songs of the Season
About This Event
Stephen Alltop, music director and conductor
Central Illinois Youth Chorus, Andrea Solya, Director
University of Illinois Chamber Singers, Andrew Megill, Conductor
Stephen Alltop, conductor and chamber organ
Nathan Sawyer, Assistant Conductor
Champaign-Urbana Symphony Orchestra’s joyous welcome to the holidays presents a delightful mix of traditional and contemporary music for the whole family to enjoy. The University of Illinois Chamber Singers will join CUSO to perform Bach’s resplendent Cantata No. 191, Gloria in excelsis Deo. The program also features a sparkling organ concerto of Handel and the beautiful voices of the Central Illinois Youth Chorus in songs of the season. The finale will make spirits bright as Maestro Alltop leads a sing-along of favorite carols and the “Hallelujah Chorus.”
Breiner: Santa Claus is Coming to Town (Christmas Goes Baroque)
Handel: Organ Concerto in F Major, Op. 4, No. 5
Bach.: Cantata No. 191, Gloria in excelsis Deo
Fry: My Dancing Day, On Christmas Night
Praetorius arr. Naughtin: Lo, How a Rose E’er Blooming
Anderson: Sleigh Ride
arr. Naughtin: Christmas Angels Sing-Along
Handel: “Hallelujah Chorus” (from Messiah)
Wednesday, December 7, 2022 at 7:30pm in the Foellinger Great Hall
Each month, MPAL highlight materials from the library's collections related to events happening at the Krannert Center. This is the landing page for January events. Explore individual events to learn more about related resources by using the tabs in the navigation bar, or by clicking on the corresponding picture below!
Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis: Middle East Meditations
About This Event
Featuring Naseer Shamma, oud
The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra (JLCO) comprises 15 of the finest jazz soloists and ensemble players today. Under Music Director Wynton Marsalis, the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra performs a vast repertoire, from rare historic compositions to Jazz at Lincoln Center-commissioned works, including compositions and arrangements by Duke Ellington, Thelonious Monk, Mary Lou Williams, Benny Goodman, and many others.
JLCO and Wynton Marsalis will be joined by internationally renowned musician and humanitarian, Naseer Shamma. Known for being one of the world's greatest oud (an ancient Middle Eastern stringed instrument) virtuosos, he has also received numerous awards for his contributions to promoting and advancing the oud and Arabic music all over the world. This tour will celebrate the first collaboration for JLCO and oud and will feature new works arranged by Marsalis, Shamma, and JLCO members.
Program to be announced from the stage.
Photography, audio or video recording of any sort is strictly prohibited.
Naseer Shamma appears in partnership with the Abu Dhabi Festival.
Thursday, January 26th 2023 at 7:30pm in the Foelinger Great Hall
Bab Touma - Wynton Marsalis Septet featuring Naseer Shamma at Jazz in Marciac 2017
Sinfonia da Camera: Ko Iwasaki Performs Dvorak
About This Event
Ian Hobson, music director and conductor
Ko Iwasaki, cello
Tickets for this event go on sale to the public Wednesday, December 7, at 10am, online only.
This performance of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 6, “Pastoral”, continues Sinfonia's multi-year Beethoven cycle. Although the problem of representing nature’s beauties in music held challenges and difficulties for Beethoven, this symphony has become a touchstone. On a violin part used at the first performance, a handwritten note, presumably quoting the composer, reads, “Recollection of life in the country—more an expression of feeling than a depiction.” Following intermission, Sinfonia da Camera is joined by cellist Ko Iwasaki in a performance of Dvořák’s Cello Concerto in B minor, Op. 104, widely considered the greatest cello concerto ever written. Composed in the United States, but without the American folk melodies that Dvorák included in his other American works, it presumably betrays the composer’s longing for his homeland and foretells his decision to return home.
Beethoven: Symphony No. 6 in F major, “Pastoral,” Op. 68
Dvořák: Concerto for Cello and Orchestra in B minor, Op. 104, B 191
Saturday, January 28th, 2023 at 7:30pm in the Foellinger Great Hall
Each month, MPAL highlight materials from the library's collections related to events happening at the Krannert Center. This is the landing page for February events. Explore individual events to learn more about related resources by using the tabs in the navigation bar, or by clicking on the corresponding picture below!
Dublin Irish Dance - Wings: a Celtic Dance Celebration
About This Event
Created in Ireland by a critically acclaimed artistic team, this brand-new Irish dance production features Irish champion and World champion dancers together with Ireland’s finest musical and vocal virtuosos. Complete with original music and choreography, infused with world dance and musical influences, the performance will thrill audiences with its emotional energy and imaginative design. Witness great dexterity and skill as these dancers defy gravity!
Recommended for ages 7 and up.
Tuesday, February 14th 2023 at 7:30pm in the Foelinger Great Hall
Aizuri Quartet: The Art of Translation (Cleveland Quartet Award Winner)
About This Event
Emma Frucht and Miho Saegusa, violins
Ayane Kozasa, viola
Karen Ouzounian, cello
The Aizuri Quartet has established a unique position within today’s musical landscape, infusing all of its music-making with infectious energy, joy and warmth, cultivating curiosity in listeners, and inviting audiences into the concert experience through its innovative programming, and the depth and fire of its performances.
Praised by The Washington Post for “astounding” and “captivating” performances that draw from its notable “meld of intellect, technique and emotions,” the Aizuri Quartet was named the recipient of the 2022 Cleveland Quartet Award by Chamber Music America, and since its inception in 2012 has received major chamber music prizes on three continents and been in residence at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The Quartet’s debut album, Blueprinting, featuring new works written for the Aizuri Quartet by five American composers, was released by New Amsterdam Records to critical acclaim (“In a word, stunning” —I Care If You Listen), nominated for a 2019 GRAMMY Award, and named one of NPR Msic’s Best Classical Albums of 2018.
In 2022, the Aizuri Quartet makes its major concerto debut with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra in performances of John Adams’ Absolute Jest, open for and perform with the legendary indie band Wilco in five performances at New York City’s United Palace, and are featured with Wilco on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. Throughout 2022 the Aizuri Quartet is a fellow of the Artist Propulsion Lab at WQXR, New York City’s classical music station.
If you can, show your love for the arts by purchasing an “Advocate” ticket; the additional ticket cost directly benefits Krannert Center.
Beecher: These Are Not Estonian Flowers
Schubert: An Die Musik
Kendall: Glances/I Don’t Belong Here
Schubert: Nacht und Träume
Wiancko, P.: Purple Antelope Sound Squeeze
Intermission
Schubert: String Quartet No. 14 in D Minor, “Death and the Maiden”
Sunday, February 19th 2023 at 3:00pm in the Foelinger Great Hall, Salon Style
Carnaval! is a party celebrating the end of the holiday season before the introspection of Lent begins, culminating in Mardi Gras, French for “Fat Tuesday.” Lyric Theatre @ Illinois will celebrate Spanish and Portugese South America with music, dancing, and revelry.
Carnaval! is a concert celebrating music and dance from South America, Spain, and Portugal—from operatic favorites to cabaret, musical theatre, salsa, tango, and more. Accompanied by the beauty of the University of Illinois Symphony Orchestra in Foellinger Great Hall, the company of Lyric Theatre @ Illinois will dazzle, delight, and entrance.
Bring your Mardi Gras masks, dress up, and join the fun in the Krannert Center Lobby at 6pm. Enjoy an appetizer and a drink while trying your luck at the gaming tables before following the parade of Marching Illini, acrobats, and cast into the Great Hall. Dessert will be served at intermission, and the guest who receives the special piece of cake will be crowned the Sovereign of Carnaval! Don’t miss the family-friendly fun.
Tuesday, February 21, 2023
Party starts at 6pm in the Lobby.
Concert follows at 7:30pm in Foellinger Great Hall.
Krannert Center: Carnaval! February 21, 2023 Promo
The Queen’s Cartoonists
About This Event
The Queen’s Cartoonists (TQC) perform music from cartoons! Pulling from over 100 years of animation, TQC’s performances are perfectly synchronized to the films projected on stage. The band matches the energy of the cartoons, leading audience members through a world of virtuosic musicianship, multi-instrumental mayhem, and comedy.
Projections of animated films dazzle the audience, while the band recreates original soundtracks note-for-note, or writes their own fresh compositions to modern pieces, all the while breathing new life into two uniquely American forms of art: jazz and animation. Watch your favorite classic cartoon characters interact with the musicians on stage, and expect the unexpected from the Golden Age of Animation, cult cartoon classics, and modern animated films. Inspired by the crossroads of jazz, classical music, and cartoons, TQC features Jazz Age composers such as Carl Stalling, Raymond Scott, and Duke Ellington, alongside classical giants Mozart, Rossini, and R. Strauss (to name just a few).
Since their inception in 2015, the band, hailing from as far away as Australia, Bulgaria, and Washington, DC, now all reside in Queens, New York, and are a creative part of the New York jazz scene. The band has brought their unique concert experience to performing arts centers, clubs, and festivals all across the United States and Europe.
Thursday, February 23, 2023 at 7:30pm in Foellinger Great Hall
The Lviv National Philharmonic Orchestra of Ukraine, based in the medieval city of Lviv, was officially established on September 27, 1902. During its first season, the orchestra performed nearly 115 concerts and included Richard Strauss, Gustav Mahler, Ruggiero Leoncavallo, and Mieczyslaw Karlowicz among its guest conductors. In 1933, the orchestra became incorporated as the National Philharmonic Orchestra of Ukraine. Many of the world’s greatest musicians have performed with the orchestra, including Sviatoslav Richter, Heinrich and Stanislav Neuhaus, Emil Gilels, Maria Yudina, David and Igor Oistrakh, Mstislav Rostropovich, Gidon Kremer, Leonid Kogan, Natalia Gutman, Oleksandr Slobodyanyk, and Oleh Krysa. After two seasons as the orchestra’s Principal Guest Conductor, Theodore Kuchar was appointed the Principal Conductor of the Lviv National Philharmonic Orchestra of Ukraine in 2022.
The Lviv National Philharmonic Orchestra of Ukraine has toured extensively around the world, to countries including Poland, Italy, Spain, France, Switzerland, Germany, the Netherlands, and The People’s Republic of China. During the past several seasons they have completed highly acclaimed recordings for major international labels including Naxos, Toccata Classics, and Brilliant Classics.
Stankovych: Chamber Symphony No. 3 for Flute and String Orchestra (1985)
Bruch: Violin Concerto No. 1 in G minor, Op. 26
Dvořák: Symphony No. 6 in D major, Op. 60
Sunday, February 26th 2023 at 7:30pm in the Foelinger Great Hall
Each month, MPAL highlight materials from the library's collections related to events happening at the Krannert Center. This is the landing page for March events. Explore individual events to learn more about related resources by using the tabs in the navigation bar, or by clicking on the corresponding picture below!
Sit a spell, sip a pint, and be spirited away to bewitching borderlands by this moving and magical comic fantasy. Based on the globally-acclaimed production by the National Theatre of Scotland, the original artistic team of The Strange Undoing of Prudencia Hart has reunited to bring the runaway hit of the 2011 and 2022 Edinburgh Fringe Festival back to the stage.
Inspired by the Scottish Border Ballads–centuries old songs, speaking of supernatural occurrences along the England-Scotland border–the tale finds uptight academic Prudencia Hart departing one wintry morning for a conference in the borderlands. What awaits her is an enchanting and suspenseful journey of devilish encounters, wittily wild karaoke, and dreamlike self-discovery. Renowned Scottish playwright David Greig connects the dots between contemporary themes, Scottish culture and identity, and the grand tradition of writing for the stage, by weaving a tale set in the current time but using largely rhymed verse. With razor-sharp turns, Prudencia is manically funny and soul-searching, often within the same stanza.
Prudencia is a full-tilt immersive theatrical experience. The actors will madly traverse our Studio Theatre, magically transformed for the night into a Scottish pub. With action everywhere around you, Prudencia takes you on an epic journey of vivid imagination.
Recommended for ages 14 and up
Nut allergy notice: Nuts will be thrown during the performance
Wednesday, March 1st 2023 at 7:30pm in the Studio Theatre
Thursday, March 2nd 2023 at 7:30pm in the Studio Theatre
Friday, March 3rd 2023 at 7:30pm in the Studio Theatre
Saturday, March 4th 2023 at 2:00pm & 7:30pm in the Studio Theatre
Lang Lang is a leading figure in classical music today—as a pianist, educator and philanthropist, he has become one of the world’s most influential and committed ambassadors for the arts in the 21st century. Equally happy playing for billions of viewers at the 2008 Olympic Opening Ceremony in Beijing or just for a few hundred children in the public schools, he is a master of communicating through music.
Heralded by the New York Times as “the hottest artist on the classical music planet,” Lang Lang plays sold-out concerts all over the world. He has formed ongoing collaborations with conductors including Sir Simon Rattle, Gustavo Dudamel, Daniel Barenboim, and Christoph Eschenbach and performs with all the world’s top orchestras. Lang Lang is known for thinking outside the box and frequently steps into different musical worlds. His performances at the GRAMMY Awards with Metallica, Pharrell Williams, and jazz legend Herbie Hancock were watched by millions of viewers.
Schumann: Arabesque in C Major, Op. 18 Goldberg Variation 1-15 with repeats Goldberg Variation 16-30 with repeats
Dr. Jeffrey Sposato, Musicologist
University of Illinois Oratorio Society, Andrew Megill, Director
Stephen Morscheck, Elijah
Michelle Areyzaga, soprano
Leah Dexter, mezzo-soprano
Steven Soph, tenor
Mendelssohn’s portrayal of the prophet Elijah is one of the most dramatic works in the oratorio repertoire. In a flow of stirring choruses, heart-felt arias, and theatrical interplay, Mendelssohn’s considerable gifts as a composer of vocal music are on full display. CUSO is joined by a stellar cast of soloists and the University of Illinois Oratorio Society to perform Elijah in all its force and majesty at what is sure to be one of the season’s greatest musical events.
Mendelssohn: Elijah
A panel discussion on Mendelssohn's Elijahlead by Dr. Jeffrey Sposato, Professor of Musicology and Director of the School of Music at the University of Illinois, will be held at Krannert Center on March 4, 2023, at 2:00pm ahead of the performance at 7:30pm that evening. This discussion is free and open to the public.
Saturday, March 4th 2023 at 7:30pm in the Foellinger Great Hall
Direct from Memphis, Tennessee, where a local street dance became an international phenomenon.
Renowned dance artist Lil’ Buck created Memphis Jookin’ the Show Powered by Nike to tell the story of the singular dance style known as Memphis Jookin’ and showcase the exceptional talents of Jookin’ dancers. Co-written by Ameenah Kaplan and Malcolm Barrett, Memphis Jookin’ the Show Powered by Nike is a metaphor for the evolution and history of Memphis Jookin’ told through the lives of fictional characters. A young aspiring film maker, JJ, is front and center for the ups-and-downs of the burgeoning international dance movement known as Memphis Jookin'. Through the lens of JJ’s camera, we witness the community of Memphis Jookin’ through their joys, battles, struggles, and successes.
The production starring Lil’ Buck and directed by Amy “Catfox” Campion, features 12 Memphis Jookin’ dancers performing to a soundtrack by the Mulherin Brothers and Young Jai that evokes the energy of the streets and clubs where Memphis Jookin’ was born. Marico “DrRico” Flake, Terran Noir Gary, and Lil’ Buck create choreography in collaboration with cast members that shines with signature Memphis Jookin’ movements artfully crafted into the narrative. Memphis Jookin’ the Show Powered by Nike launched in 2022, receiving standing ovations at every theater from Memphis to Berkeley.
Tuesday, March 7th 2023 at 7:30pm in the Tyron Festival Theatre
Sinfonia da Camera English Painters, Poets, and Playwrights
About This Event
Ian Hobson, music director and conductor
Richard Prior, guest conductor
Lyric Theatre @ Illinois, Dawn Harris, director
Tickets will go on sale Wednesday, January 25, at 10am, online only.
Sinfonia da Camera presents an evening of evocative musical imagery inspired by English painters, poets, and playwrights. A depiction of Thomas Rowlandson’s painting of the same name, Walton’s Portsmouth Point Overture portrays the seaside bustle of the busy port town in southern England as ships prepare for departure. The title of Frank Bridge’s There is a Willow Grows Aslant a Brook is drawn from Shakespeare’s Hamlet in which Queen Gertrude describes the tragic circumstances in which the drowned Ophelia was discovered. Sinfonia then welcomes Maestro Ian Hobson to the piano and composer Richard Prior to the podium to perform the world premiere of Prior's Piano Concerto, No. 2. Prior describes his composition as, “champion[ing] both the piano and orchestra in often equal roles as the vibrant cinematic drama unfolds.” Finally, as part of a continuing collaboration with Lyric Theatre @ Illinois, the evening concludes with a lightly staged production of Gilbert & Sullivan’s Trial by Jury. A comic opera depicting a “breach of marriage” trial, this farcical production ultimately concludes in an unexpected new marriage and “joy unbounded!”
Walton: Portsmouth Point Overture
Bridge: There is a Willow Grows Aslant a Brook
Prior: Piano Concerto No. 2 (world premiere)
Gilbert and Sullivan: Trial by Jury
Friday, March 24th 2023 at 7:30pm in the Foellinger Great Hall
Ten-year-old Belinda is a budding poet and loves to tell stories, but when she’s stuck in the basement preparing for a party upstairs that her stepmother and stepsisters will host, she’ll have to get creative. It’s a story within a story; Belinda lives out her version while also reenacting the classic tale of Cinderella, using whatever objects are at her disposal: napkins, teapots, and doilies, to name just a few. With these everyday items, a healthy dose of imagination, and a love of poetry passed down by her father, Belinda imagines a bigger world for herself.
When she learns that the party's special guest is (real-life) writer Gary Soto, Belinda wants desperately to attend the event and share her own writings with Soto. But to do that, she must learn to stand up for herself and take charge of her life and dreams. This captivating, bilingual, one-woman performance is a modern spin on the beloved fairy tale and tackles cultural heritage, family, and the power of language.
Recommended for ages 5 and up
Saturday, March 25th 2023 at 10:00am in the Studio Theatre
Cenicienta: A Bilingual Cinderella Story | Official Trailer
Ben Folds
About This Event
Ben Folds is widely regarded as one of the major music influencers of our generation.
He’s created an enormous body of genre-bending music that includes pop albums with Ben Folds Five, multiple solo albums, and numerous collaborative records.
He tours as a pop artist, while also performing with some of the world’s greatest symphony orchestras, and is currently serving as the first ever Artistic Advisor to the National Symphony Orchestra at the Kennedy Center. A New York Times Best Selling author and podcast host, Ben has several music projects currently in development, frequently guest stars in film and TV, and is working on two new albums.
He also recently launched a music education initiative in his home state of North Carolina, and continually advocates for improving public policies for the arts and arts education on the national level.
Wednesday, March 29th 2023 at 7:30pm in the Foellinger Great Hall
Call Number: 782.4 F697dr (Residence Hall Ikenberry Commons Library)
April Events
April Events
Each month, MPAL highlight materials from the library's collections related to events happening at the Krannert Center. This is the landing page for April events. Explore individual events to learn more about related resources by using the tabs in the navigation bar, or by clicking on the corresponding picture below!
Fri. 4/14 - Sat. 4/15, 2023 at 7:30pm
Tryon Festival Theatre
Ledisi
About This Event
2021 Grammy winner Ledisi is a 14-time Grammy-nominated powerhouse vocalist with a career spanning almost two decades. Over her career she's garnered three Soul Train Music awards, an NAACP Theater Award, and 13 NAACP Image Award nominations. Most recently, Ledisi received two LA Alliance Ovation Award nominations, one for Best Featured Actress in a Musical. Born in New Orleans and raised in Oakland, California, she has truly earned a place in the pantheon of the greatest singers of her generation. Ledisi is a favorite of The Obamas as well as a long list of icons including the late Prince, Patti LaBelle, Smokey Robinson, Stevie Wonder, Chaka Khan, and many more. No stranger to the film and television world, in 2008 Ledisi landed a role in her first feature, singing in the George Clooney-directed film, Leatherheads. In 2015, she portrayed the great Mahalia Jackson in the Oscar-nominated movie Selma and had a notable performance in Gabourney Sidibe's Shatterbox Anthology film, The Tale of Four. Ledisi secured her first television role playing the legendary Patti LaBelle on the hit BET series American Soul. She also starred in the BET+ drama Twice Bitten. This year Ledisi landed the starring role in the film Remember Me: The Story of Mahalia Jackson. To cap off an amazing year, she will also portray the incomparable Gladys Knight in the long-awaited film based on Neil Bogart's career, Spinning Gold, the story of Casablanca Records.
Thursday, April 6th 2023 at 7:30pm in the Tryon Festival Theatre
Sinfonia da Camera Season Finale: Mahler's Fourth Symphony
About This Event
Ian Hobson, music director and conductor
Andrés Cárdenes, violin
Peiqi Huang, soprano
In their 39th season finale, Sinfonia da Camera presents an eclectic collection of works by Fauré, Mendelssohn, and Mahler. The program opens with Fauré’s Pelléas et Mélisande Suite, assembled from incidental music he composed in 1898 for a performance in London of Maeterlinck’s Symbolist play about forbidden love, Pelléas et Mélisande. Sinfonia da Camera then welcomes violinist, Andrés Cárdenes, in a performance of Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto in E minor. One of the most performed and beloved violin concertos, Mendelssohn’s work displays deep romantic feeling, melodic polish, and refinement and would influence the development and evolution of the concerto for the next century. The 39th season concludes with Mahler’s heavenly Symphony No. 4. Composed in 1899-1900 while he was consumed with the Herculean task of running Vienna’s Imperial Opera, Mahler managed to sketch the whole work in just 10 days! Maestro Hobson invites you celebrate Sinfonia da Camera’s 39th season finale with one of Mahler’s most hopeful and uplifting symphonies.
Fauré: Pelléas et Mélisande Suite, Op. 80
Mendelssohn: Violin Concerto in E minor, Op. 64
Mahler: Symphony No. 4 in G major
Saturday, April 8th 2023 at 7:30pm in the Foellinger Great Hall
Mark Morris Dance Group and Music Ensemble: The Look of Love
About This Event
Mark Morris Dance Group and Music Ensemble returns to Krannert Center with The Look of Love, a new production created with musical collaborator Ethan Iverson, celebrating the timeless music of iconic songwriter Burt Bacharach.
Choreography: Mark Morris
Music: Original songs by Burt Bacharach and Hal David, arranged by Ethan Iverson
Costume design: Isaac Mizrahi
Instrumentation: vocals, piano, trumpet, bass, percussion
Friday, April 13th - Saturday, April 14th 2023 at 7:30pm in the Tryon Festival Theatre
In an adaptation by doctoral candidate Vincent Carlson, the play centers on Roman general Coriolanus, who makes his name defeating an enemy army and defending Rome. The Senate nominates him as consul, but he cannot win the people's vote, so he is banished from Rome and allies with his old enemy. He comes to attack Rome, his mother persuades him not to, and his newfound ally kills him for the betrayal. One of Shakespeare’s most brutal and truthful plays, Coriolanus contains soaring language, exhilarating action, and questions for today.
Contains adult content.
Saturday, April 15th 2023 at 7:30pm in the Tryon Festival Theatre
Sunday, April 16 2023 at 2:00pm in the Tryon Festival Theatre
Tuesday, April 18th - Friday, April 21st at 7:30pm in the Tryon Festival Theatre
Saturday, April 22nd 2023 at 2:00pm in the Tryon Festival Theatre
This “Bach to Black” recital will feature the Partita in C Minor by Johann Sebastian Bach and suites by three Black composers: Amanda Aldridge, Harry T. Burleigh, and R. Nathaniel Dett. The purpose of Dr. Sennet’s ongoing Bach to Black project is to help encourage continuing dialogue regarding inclusion and equity in classical music through recording and performing piano suites by several Black composers in combination with the suites of J.S. Bach.
Program
Bach: Partita no. 2 in C Minor, BWV 826
Aldridge: Carnival: Suite of Five Dances
Burleigh: From the Southland Suite
Dett: In the Bottoms Suite
Tuesday, April 18th 2023 at 7:30pm in the Foellinger Great Hall
Champaign-Urbana Symphony Orchestra: a Festival of Rhythm
About This Event
Stephen Alltop, music director and conductor
Rochelle Sennet, piano
Champaign-Urbana Symphony Orchestra’s season finale is a celebration of scintillating rhythms, beginning with George Gershwin’s brilliant symphonic tone poem, An American in Paris. The program also features soulful and syncopated music for strings from Sinfonietta No. 1 by Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson. CUSO is thrilled to welcome the immensely talented pianist Rochelle Sennet, performing Gershwin’s I Got Rhythm Variations. For the grand finale, CUSO presents the exciting tour de force of orchestral colors, Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition, as orchestrated by Maurice Ravel.
Program
Gershwin: An American in Paris
Perkinson: Sinfonietta No. 1
Gershwin: I Got Rhythm Variations
Mussorgsky, arr. Ravel: Pictures at an Exhibition
Saturday, April 22nd 2023 at 7:30pm in the Foellinger Great Hall
J.S. Bach: Chromatic Fantasia and Fugue in D Minor, BWV 903
Carl Vine: Piano Sonata No. 1 (1990)
Johannes Brahms: Piano Sonata No. 3 in F Minor, Op. 5
Robert Muczynski: Desperate Measures (Paganini Variations), Op. 48 (1994)
Huijae (Esther) Lee is a South Korean pianist from Cheongju and has won numerous competitions in Korea, including the Young Soloists Competition and the Min Classical Music Competition in 2018. She also won Second Prize at the 22nd Korean Chamber Orchestra Competition in 2021 and received an honorable mention in the Krannert Debut Artist Competition in 2022. Additionally, Esther Lee was named the Illinois State MTNA Young Artist Piano Performance Competition winner and also selected as an alternate for the MTNA East Central Division Competition.
Ms. Lee is currently pursuing a Doctor of Musical Arts degree with Dr. Rochelle Sennet at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign where she is a recipient of the Ross Fellowship and State Fellowship and holds a piano lesson instructor position for the Illinois Community Music Academy.
Sunday, April 23rd 2023 at 3:00pm in the Foellinger Great Hall (Salon Style)
Charlotte Mattax Moersch, harpsichord
Ann Yeung, harp
Salley Koo, violin
Iura de Rezende, clarinet
Soojin Kim, piano
This is a program of duos featuring the cello with a variety of duo partners. These partnerships demonstrate the versatility of the cello and the ability of the two instruments to embody different characters and sound worlds together. The repertoire on the program is diverse and represents different time periods, styles, and cultures. The audience will enjoy fun, dance-like rhythms, folk influences, moments of meditative reflection, as well as traditional western classical references.
Program
J.S. Bach, Sonata in G Major for cello and harpsichord
Kinan Azmeh, The Fence, the Rooftop and the Distant Sea for clarinet and cello
Jesse Montgomery, Duo for Violin and Cello
Jocelyn Morlock, Three Meditations on Light for cello and harp
George Walker, Sonata for cello and piano
William Grant Still, Summerland for cello and piano
Wednesday, April 26th 2023 at 7:30pm in the Foellinger Great Hall
Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center: the Brahms Effect
About This Event
Music’s leading figurehead at the culmination of the Romantic era, Johannes Brahms remains unsurpassed in his emotional range and innovative spirit, both of which laid an inspirational groundwork for a generation of composers to come. One such composer was Hungarian Ernő Dohnányi, whose Sextet in C major owes its formative elements to Brahms. Pair this work with two Brahms trios of profound originality, and audiences will not be able to help but feel moved.
Program
Brahms: Trio in A minor for Clarinet, Cello, and Piano, Op. 114
Brahms: Trio in E-flat major for Horn, Violin, and Piano, Op. 40
Dohnányi: Sextet in C major for Clarinet, Horn, Violin, Viola, Cello, and Piano, Op. 37
Thursday, April 27th 2023 at 7:30pm in the Foellinger Great Hall
Based on the novels Parable of the Sower and Parable of the Talents by Octavia E. Butler, this genre-defying work of political theatre featuring a powerhouse ensemble of 20 singers, actors, and musicians harnesses 200 years of Black music to give musical life to Butler’s acclaimed science fiction novels.
Parable of the Sower, set in 2024 and published in 1993, presciently grapples with many of the same issues we face today—global warming, corporate influence over government, a destabilized economy, water scarcity, food scarcity, the privatization of social services, homelessness, public safety, a return of long-forgotten diseases, and the profit-making machine that runs the medical industry.
Written by singer, composer, and producer Toshi Reagon in collaboration with her mother, Dr. Bernice Johnson Reagon (song leader, composer, scholar, social activist, and founder of Sweet Honey In the Rock), Parable of the Sower is a mesmerizing theatrical work of rare power and beauty that reveals deep insights into gender, race, and the future of human civilization.
Friday, April 28th - Saturday, April 29th 2023 at 7:30pm in the Tyron Festival Theatre
:format(jpeg)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/52160135/hamiltonmixtape.0.jpeg)
