UCLA Live Celebrates 75th Anniversary of Royce Hall
UCLA Live announces its 2004-05 season, showcasing hundreds of groundbreaking performances in international theater, dance, spoken word, ,classical, jazz, new and world music.
This year’s programs, including a soon-to-be-announced gala event, celebrate the 75th anniversary of the inauguration of Royce Hall. Continuing Royce’s distinguished tradition of excellence and innovation with another genre-bending season, UCLA Live, under the direction of David Sefton, presents a breathtaking range of global and local events, and an assortment of world, U.S., West Coast and Los Angeles premieres, debuts, commissions and exclusive presentations.
Among many season highlights is the American premiere production of Matthew Boume’s stunningly modem take on the classic “Nutcracker” ballet in a first-ever UCLA Live and Center Theatre Group/Ahmanson Theatre co-presentation. Also in dance, look for the West Coast debut of Spanish flamenco icon Sara Baras; the Los Angeles premiere of exhilarating Belgian artist Wirn Vandekeybus and his dance company, Ultima Vez; and France’s exquisite Lyon Opera Ballet.
Special classical music appearances include the legendary opera diva Jessye Norman; the U.S. debut of the China Philharmonic Orchestra, with pyrotechnic pianist Lang Lang; and cellist Yo-Yo Ma with pianist and long-time collaborator Emanuel Ax.
Events defying easy categorization include a new work by acclaimed performance artist Laurie Anderson; and pianist Christopher O’Riley playing Radiohead, as well as a tribute to the late Elliott Smith.
In music and film, the whimsical American band Lambchop performs a live score to F.W. Mumau’s classic 1927 film, “Sunrise,” in a Los Angeles premiere production; and the Bay Area’s Tin Hat Trio performs live to the animations of Russian filmmaker Ladislaw Starewicz.
March brings “Elective Affinities,” an unprecedented month-long festival celebrating the revolutionary ECM Record label and its roster of great innovators, including the Keith Jarrett Trio and Arvo Pärt. Jazz artists performing include Wynton Marsalis and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, Wayne Shorter and vibes virtuoso Stefon Harris, with rising star vocalist Lizz Wright. World music ranges from Brazilian superstars Caetano Veloso and Hermeto Pascoal to the Whirling Dervishes of Damascus, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Los Lobos and “Gods, Goddesses and Ancestors: Masked Rituals of Kerala, India.”
UCLA Live’s third annual International Theatre Festival continues to stretch artistic boundaries and redefine the possibilities of theater, introducing compelling and adventurous companies never or rarely seen in Los Angeles - from London’s Cheek by Jowl with a modem, edgy “Othello,” to the Los Angeles premiere of Georgian director Rezo Gabriadze’s latest creation, featuring actors including Mikhail Baryshnikov.
UCLA Live also has commissioned and will host the world premiere of a new work by Los Angeles’ own shape-shiffing osseus labyrint. Spoken word events include the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright David Mamet, inspirational activist/author Nikki Giovanni, a skewering of Christmas with filmmaker John Waters and the always-anticipated David Sedaris.
“UCLA Live’s 04-05 season, celebrating Royce Hall’s 75th anniversary, is an opportunity for the West Coast to discover or revisit some of the world’s greatest artists - actors, musicians, dancers, directors and authors,” said David Sefton, director of UCLA Live. From the newest work in international theater and legends and rising stars of classical, jazz and world music, to the most compelling dance companies and writers from here and around the word, each year we reach for the artistic edge to present a program of spectacular events hard to find anywhere else. The new season not only builds on the highlights of previous years, but also on Royce Hall’s legacy.”
Series tickets are available now at a substantial discount. To purchase tickets and for additional information, call 310-825-2101 or visit www.uclalive.org. Single tickets go on sale Aug. 2 and then also will be available at all Ticketmaster outlets. UCLA students may also purchase discounted tickets in advance. Student rush tickets at the same price are available to all students with a valid I.D. one hour prior to show time.