“I am almost never satisfied with a painting until it has surprised me in some way, and probably after working on it for long while, weeks or months sometimes…This happens when the image I am chasing on the canvas suddenly suggests another direction—color, orientation even—and it is so compelling I am willing to undo weeks of work to try to integrate this upstart outlier, this strange event.” – Frances McCormack Frances McCormack is a Professor Emerita of Painting at the San Francisco Art Institute who’s work as an abstract painter draws on the history of gardens and landscape design. Her paintings are invented spaces or interior theaters that are essentially images of the process of growth and transformation within a contained space. She has sought out these spaces or walled gardens in Rome at the Villa d’Este and Villa Lante, at the Alhambra in Spain, the Topkai Palace in Istanbul, in Mexico at the houses of the architect Luis Barragan, or Santa Barbara at Ganna Walska’s LotusLand. These places provide a container where the urgency and noise of everyday obligations fall away and the visitor has access to other dimensions of thought and feeling. Combining architectural elements and loosely interpreted …
Jarabe Mexicano
Jarabe Mexicano captures the nostalgic spirit of their border roots with their brand of “Bordeño-Soul,” which honors the musical tastes and cultural influences of its members. Jarabe, which translates to “concoction,” highlights the eclectic mix of genres they perform ranging from Mexican Folk, Rock & Roll, and Norteño/Tex-Mex to Latin Rock, Trio Romántico, and popular Cumbia. Their traditional Mariachi string instruments and Norteño-inspired drums complement dramatic vocals in English, Spanish, and Spanglish, and shows how this multi-generational ensemble embraces change while still honoring the past. As educators, cultural ambassadors, and advocates for the arts, the Vilar Performing Arts Center raves that Jarabe Mexicano is “thought-provoking, heartfelt, and engaging.”
Turtle Island Quartet
Since its inception in 1985, the Turtle Island Quartet has been a singular force in the creation of bold, new trends in chamber music for strings. Winner of the 2006 and 2008 Grammy Awards for Best Classical Crossover Album, TIQ fuses the classical quartet esthetic with contemporary American musical styles, and by devising a performance practice that honors both, the state of the art has inevitably been redefined. Cellist nonpareil Yo-Yo Ma has proclaimed TIQ to be “a unified voice that truly breaks new ground – authentic and passionate – a reflection of some of the most creative music-making today.” The Quartet’s birth was the result of violinist David Balakrishnan’s brainstorming explorations and compositional vision while completing his master’s degree program at Antioch University West. The journey has taken Turtle Island through forays into folk, bluegrass, swing, be-bop, funk, R&B, new age, rock, hip-hop, as well as music of Latin America and India…a repertoire consisting of hundreds of ingenious arrangements and originals. As Turtle Island members continue to refine their skills through the development of repertory by some of today’s cutting-edge composers, through performances and recordings with major symphonic ensembles, and through a determined educational commitment, the Turtle Island Quartet stakes …
Dublin Guitar Quartet
Described as a “quartet with a difference” by The Irish Times, Dublin Guitar Quartet is the first classical guitar quartet entirely devoted to new music. Since its formation at the Dublin Conservatory of Music and Drama, the DGQ has worked to expand the limited repertoire by commissioning new works and adapting contemporary works from outside of the guitar repertoire. With the help of eight and eleven-string guitars, the quartet has created an original catalogue of arrangements by composers such as Philip Glass, Steve Reich, Arvo Part, and Gyorgy Ligeti. The DGQ’s work has brought the attention of some of the world’s leading composers.
Tony DeSare
Tony DeSare performs with infectious joy, wry playfulness, and robust musicality. Named Rising Star Male Vocalist in Downbeat magazine, DeSare has lived up to this distinction by winning critical and popular acclaim for his concert performances throughout North America and abroad. From jazz clubs to Carnegie Hall to Las Vegas and headlining major symphony orchestras, DeSare has brought his fresh take on old school class around the globe. DeSare has four top ten Billboard jazz albums under his belt and has been featured on the CBS Early Show, NPR, A Prairie Home Companion, The Today Show, and his music has been posted by social media celebrity juggernaut, George Takei. DeSare has also collaborated with YouTube supergroup Postmodern Jukebox. He has been a featured guest artist with over 100 symphony orchestras with some highlights including the Cleveland Orchestra, The New York Pops, The San Francisco Symphony, The Houston Symphony, and The Chicago Symphony.
Wyatt Earp: A Life on the Frontier
Meet the man, not the myth! The contemporary Wyatt Earp, great grandnephew of the original Wyatt Earp, has been portraying his famous ancestor in this one-man show since 1996. Set in the mid-1920s, an elderly Wyatt Earp tells of his adventures from Arizona to Alaska during the final days of the American frontier. Think 1928…the place is a small apartment in Los Angeles…a tired Wyatt Earp speaks one-on-one with his biographer telling of his time in Tombstone, and his sometimes-turbulent 47-year life with wife Josephine as they traveled throughout the West and Alaska. The play has delighted audiences throughout North America and Europe and was written by the late award-winning playwright Terry Tafoya Earp.
Cécile McLorin Salvant
Cécile McLorin Salvant is a composer, singer, and visual artist. The late Jessye Norman described Salvant as “a unique voice supported by an intelligence and full-fledged musicality, which light up every note she sings.” Salvant has developed a passion for storytelling and finding the connections between vaudeville, blues, theater, jazz, baroque, and folkloric music. Salvant is an eclectic curator, unearthing rarely recorded, forgotten songs with strong narratives, interesting power dynamics, unexpected twists, and humor. Salvant won the Thelonious Monk competition in 2010. She has received three consecutive Grammy Awards for Best Jazz Vocal Album for The Window, Dreams and Daggers, and For One To Love, and was nominated for the award in 2014 for her album WomanChild. In 2020, Salvant received the MacArthur fellowship and the Doris Duke Artist Award. Nonesuch Records released Ghost Song in March of 2022, and has since gone onto receive two Grammy Nominations as well as appearing on several year-end best lists for 2022
Pirate School!
Pirate School: Sea Dreams is a madcap, swashbuckling solo show created and performed by veteran New York actor David Engel. Set to an original cartoon-inspired musical score, complete with sound effects, Pirate Professor Billy Bones teaches the finer points of lighthearted mischief and offers up zany lessons on how to stand, talk, sing, and laugh like a boisterous buccaneer, all while promoting good manners, polite behavior, and social courage. Children have a natural fascination for adventure and the pirates’ life on the high seas. With eye-popping puppetry, eccentric props, and slapstick sword play, Pirate School! is a riotous, interactive variety show suitable for ages four and up. Where else can you find a talking skull and the world’s only wearable pirate ship? Kids (and adults) are encouraged to attend in costume.
Pirate School!
Pirate School: Sea Dreams is a madcap, swashbuckling solo show created and performed by veteran New York actor David Engel. Set to an original cartoon-inspired musical score, complete with sound effects, Pirate Professor Billy Bones teaches the finer points of lighthearted mischief and offers up zany lessons on how to stand, talk, sing, and laugh like a boisterous buccaneer, all while promoting good manners, polite behavior, and social courage. Children have a natural fascination for adventure and the pirates’ life on the high seas. With eye-popping puppetry, eccentric props, and slapstick sword play, Pirate School! is a riotous, interactive variety show suitable for ages 4 and up. Where else can you find a talking skull and the world’s only wearable pirate ship? Kids (and adults) are encouraged to attend in costume.
The Westerlies
The Westerlies, “an arty quartet…mixing ideas from jazz, new classical, and Appalachian folk” (New York Times) are a New York-based brass quartet comprised of childhood friends from Seattle: Riley Mulherkar and Chloe Rowlands on trumpet, and Andy Clausen and Willem de Koch on trombone. From Carnegie Hall to Coachella, The Westerlies navigate a wide array of venues and projects with the precision of a string quartet, the audacity of a rock band, and the charm of a family sing-along. Formed in 2011, the self-described “accidental brass quartet” takes its name from the prevailing winds that travel from the West to the East. “Skilled interpreters who are also adept improvisers” (NPR’s Fresh Air), The Westerlies explore jazz, roots, and chamber music influences to create the rarest of hybrids: music that is both “folk-like and composerly, lovely, and intellectually rigorous” (NPR Music).
