World-class performances to grace FAC in 2001-02

by Daniel J. Fitzgibbons, Chronicle staff

ive world-class jazz, theater, Broadway, classical music, dance and more are all part of the Fine Arts Center's 2001-2002 Center Series.

     On Oct. 21 Gypsy Caravan 2 will celebrate Roma music and dance, performing a repertoire rarely heard in public, artists from India, Macedonia, Romania and Spain will create on stage the mosaic of sound and movement at the heart of Roma culture.

    The passion and energy of the Latin world come to campus when Ballet Hispanico performs on Nov. 14. The company is well-known for its extraordinary array of work which combines ballet, contemporary dance, jazz, and ethnic styles with a uniquely Hispanic aesthetic. Then, on Feb. 3, the "dream team" of guitar ensembles, the Brazilian Guitar Quartet bring their superb musicianship to the Concert Hall stage. These world-renowned guitarists perform on traditional six-string and on their own eight-string instruments.

    And on Feb. 27, the Fine Arts Center presents a very special performance, "Children of Uganda: Tour of Light 2002." Hailed as "first rate" and "inspiring" by the New York Times, the group is composed of 18 orphans who serve as ambassadors for the 1.4 million AIDS and war-related orphans of Uganda.

    The coming season also offers several collaborations featuring live music with dance performances.

    On Dec. 6, the Dayton Contemporary Dance Company and the Dirty Dozen Brass Band unite for "When the Spirit Moves." The performance is a series of vignettes celebrating the lineage from which two uniquely American arts forms - New Orleans brass band jazz and contemporary modern dance - emerge.

    On Feb. 6, area favorite Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company performs a rare program of works with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. The show features music by Beethoven and Gyorgy Kurtag, as well as a signature work choreographed by Bill T. Jones, D-Man in the Waters, set to Mendelssohn's "Octet in E-flat Major."

     And a different kind of collaboration is also part of this upcoming series. On April 26, the Paragon Ragtime Orchestra will perform original scores during a film festival celebrating the clown princes: Chaplin, Keaton, and Lloyd. Theater is also part of this year's mix.

    On Nov. 1, Theatre de la Jeune Lune performs Moliere's masterpiece "Tartuffe," seeking to rediscover the sensation this play caused when it first appeared in the time of Louis XIV. The Who's "Tommy," the revolutionary rock opera about the "deaf, dumb, and blind kid," comes to the Concert Hall stage Jan. 30 and 31 in a performance touted to be "the latest, and maybe the best version of one of rock music's grand creations." Then, on April 4, the legends of the old west come alive again in "Annie Get Your Gun," featuring Susan Anton. The 1946 musical tells the story of sharpshooter Annie Oakley's stormy relationship with the dashing marksman Frank Butler and features a timeless score by Irving Berlin.

    The Center Series opens Oct. 4 with "Directions in Music: A Tribute to Miles Davis and John Coltrane" featuring Herbie Hancock, Michael Breaker and Roy Hargrove. On April 6, renowned clarinetist Eddie Daniels will perform with Roger Kellaway as part of the UMass Jazz Festival.

    On the classical side, this year's series features an extraordinary lineup of performances, beginning Oct. 16 with Red Priest Baroque Ensemble, performing music from the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries. Kronos Quartet follows on Oct. 25, in a concert including music from Portugal, India, Mexico, Iran, Hungary and beyond.
On Nov. 8 the FAC welcomes the world's most famous and widely recorded chamber orchestra, the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields performing Mozart, Dvorak, Bruckner, Tchaikovsky, and its version of "Name that Tune." Then on Feb. 23, the sounds of Mozart will fill the Concert Hall when the Academy of Ancient Music visits with Christopher Hogwood, conductor, and Robert Levin, fortepiano soloist. Also scheduled is the Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio on March 9.