2023-24 Prime Performances

(Albany, NY):  The UAlbany Performing Arts Center is pleased to announce its guest artists for the 2023-24 season in addition to those previously announced as part of the Dance in Albany series (noted in purple on the chart at the end). The Prime Performances schedule includes a multi-disciplinary performance addressing global sustainability, shows that spotlight local artists, events celebrating the 70^th anniversary of a dystopian novel and other diverse performances by regional, national and international touring artists.

Kicking off the series on September 24 is a free performance of Rising Tide: The Crossroads Project, a program fusing original music with art, imagery and science which confronts a planet under siege and a future in peril while inspiring audiences to change course. With an original score by composer Laura Kaminsky, live musical performance by the Fry Street Quartet, lecture by physicist/climate educator Robert Davies and imagery by painter Rebecca Allen and environmental photographer Garth Lenz, the program provides hope as well as a path toward meaningful response.  The performers will also offer a high school matinee.  Both performances are presented in association with UAlbany’s Office of Sustainability.

Commemorating 70 years since it was published, Fahrenheit 451 will be the focus of activity in October through a collaboration with the New York State Writers Institute. Ray Bradbury’s work of science fiction imagined a future where all books are outlawed, and “firemen” tossed hidden tomes into bonfires.  The history and return to the practice of banning books and our current censorious moment make the subject matter timely and ripe for discussion. Two versions of the film will be screened – the 1966 film on October 13 and the more recent movie from 2018 on October 20. Literature to Life’s verbatim stage adaptation will be performed on October 26 by Rich Orlow who tells the story from the perspective of the protagonist and seamlessly transitions between the five other primary characters.  Book giveaways will take place during these events. There will also be multiple performances of the play for high school student groups.

Across the 2023-24 season, area artists of all disciplines will be highlighted to celebrate and support local talent.

-First to take the stage will be wind ensemble Quintocracy on November 12. They will perform area composer Brett L. Wery’s score for the screening of the 1920 silent film The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, arguably the first true horror film and one considered the quintessential work of German Expressionist cinema.  As the young Francis recounts his experience with the mysterious Dr. Caligari, the movie veers into mystique, metaphor and murder on the winding path to one of cinema’s most seminal twists. Imbued with layers of meaning, its distorted sets, sinister shadows and unnerving characters created a paranoid, unreal world at a time of despair throughout Europe. The film with musical accompaniment will also be shown for high school groups.

-On Jan. 29, high school students can experience the Capital Trio, the UAlbany Performing Art Center’s resident ensemble, as they dive into the mind of composer, Williams Matthews, and explore the different angles of his contemporary piece, A Book of Hours.  Popular in the Medieval and Renaissance periods, books of hours were varied handmade volumes built around a set of eight devotional texts with personal elements like art, psalms, illuminations, lessons, decorative elements and music. Matthews’ work is his personal answer to a modern devotional text.

-As part of an ongoing collaboration between UAlbany Physics professor Keith Earle and local choreographer Ellen Sinopoli that began in the 2013-14 season, there will be a performance specifically for high school students on February 7. ChoreoPhysics: Demonstrating Concepts through Dance is equal parts lecture, demonstration, performance and discussion focusing on more than a dozen laws of physics and deeply intertwining the science with dance. Approximately 2500 high school students taking classes in physics, calculus, pre-calculus, anatomy & physiology, chemistry and biology have experienced this program since its creation.

-At the onset of Women’s History Month, four local storytellers will spin yarns about strong and influential women: both past and present, famous and lesser known, real or imagined in myths, folktales and legends.  Honoring and exalting their contributions and the experience of being female, the tales in History is Her Story acknowledge that women across the world are groundbreakers shattering conventional wisdom, defying naysayers and making history theirs. There will be a public performance on March 3 followed by a special matinee for secondary students.

Written and performed by LeLand Gantt and directed by Estelle Parsons, Rhapsody in Black is a one-man show which explores the actor’s personal journey to understand and eventually transcend racism in America. Presented on February 14, the story follows the actor from an underprivileged childhood in a rough working-class neighborhood, to a teenager experimenting with crime and drugs, to a scholastic achiever and ultimately to an actor with a career that lands him in situations where he is the only African American in the room. Charming and self-deprecatingly funny, Gantt imbues every word from his mouth with the passion and poignancy of a preacher speaking the gospel. In celebration of Black History Month, the show will also be performed twice for area secondary students.

In its 14th anniversary year, the PAC’s annual artist-in-residence exchange program will host the Ekstasis Duo from SUNY Fredonia on April 19. Featuring cellist Natasha Farny and pianist Eliran Avni, the program will include masterpieces alongside recently discovered jewels.  Previous exchanges forged partnerships with CW Post, Clark University, SUNY Oswego, Williams College, Bates College, Hobart & William Smith Colleges, the Crane School of Music at SUNY Potsdam, Marshall University, Hartwick College, Colgate University, Technische Universität Braunschweig, the Aaron Copland School of Music at Queens College and Stockton University.

Returning after three highly successful engagements, Selected Shorts, Public Radio International’s wildly popular series and podcast, will be offered on April 27 as a unique evening of literature in performance. Presented in partnership with the NYS Writers Institute and featuring stars of stage, screen and television, the program will include short stories by established and emerging writers.

Tickets for the events with admission charges can be purchased through the UAlbany Performing Arts Center’s web site at https://www.albany.edu/pac/tickets.

Educators wishing to bring groups to any of the 10am morning matinees can do so by contacting the UAlbany Performing Arts Center office at (518) 442-3995 or [email protected]. Admission is free but reservations are required.