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August 4, 2003
Arts & Lectures director offers up her second
season of innovative programming
By Scott Rappaport
It’s only fitting that the 2003-04 Arts & Lectures season kicks
off with the Turtle Island String Quartet performing a tribute to legendary
trumpet player Miles Davis.
Crossing boundaries and merging genres is the order of the day as
UCSC’s innovative performing arts presenter offers up a brand-new
lineup of 23 original performances by some of the world’s most
inventive artists.
“There is a lot of music as well as cross disciplinary works in
the season,” observed Arts & Lectures director Michelle Witt.
“It’s fascinating to present a wide variety of top folk, jazz,
world, classical, and early music, and see where the genres intersect.”
Along with performances by 10-time Grammy winner and vocalist extraordinaire
Bobby McFerrin, revolutionary performance artist Laurie Anderson, and
acclaimed classical guitarist Sharon Isbin, UCSC Arts & Lectures
will also present comedy, theater, and dance from such groundbreaking
performers as Chicago’s legendary touring comedy troupe Second
City, the hilariously eccentric monologist Spalding Gray, and San Francisco’s
boundary-smashing Joe Goode Performance Group.
Virtuoso country and bluegrass fiddler Mark O’Connor will bring
his new band, the Hot Swing Trio, for an evening of jazz inspired by
the 1930s union of violinist Stephane Grappelli and guitarist Django
Reinhardt. “They just performed at the San Francisco Jazz Festival
and they’re getting great reviews all over the country,” Witt
noted.
The Ghazal Ensemble will also showcase an intricate blend of two distinctive
types of classical music for a passionate evening of Indo-Persian fusion.
“These performers are superstars in the field of Indian and Persian
music,” said Witt. “And they’ve intertwined the classic
traditions to create something entirely new.”
Cutting-edge artist Maya Beiser, formerly known as the cellist for
the Bang on a Can All-Stars, will additionally present a brand-new multimedia
solo concert featuring the premiere of a Steve Reich multitrack cello
piece, plus other new works--employing text, vocals, dramatic lighting,
as well as interactive video created by Irit Batsry, winner of the Whitney
Museum’s prestigious Bucksbaum Award.
And in a fascinating career reinvention, Dan Zanes, former lead singer
and songwriter for the Boston rock band The Del Fuegos, will bring his
new band that specializes in performing award-winning music for kids.
As the Nashville Scene put it: “This rock veteran reinvents children’s
music, and parents everywhere are thankful.”
This is the second season programmed by Witt, a classical violinist
who came to UCSC in 2001 after spending five years as director of performing
arts at Sun Valley Center for the Arts in Idaho. She holds a graduate
degree in music from UCLA and spent several years at the University
of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, where she taught violin. An experienced
performer, “mostly chamber music and with orchestras,” Witt
will display her own musical talent this fall in the UCSC Music Department’s
faculty recital series with pianist Mary Jane Cope.
It’s no surprise then, that she’s excited about booking artists
such as The Artis Quartet in their first-ever appearance at UCSC. “They’re
a young string quartet out of Vienna that is absolutely wonderful,”
Witt enthused. “They have an unbelievably beautiful sound and are
some of the most intelligent interpreters of the standard repertoire
that I’ve ever heard.”
Witt described her criteria for selecting artists to create a new season.
“The most important thing I look for is excellence--there are
so many artists out there that I try to find the truly exceptional ones
that are doing work a cut above in whatever genre,” she said. “I
also look at originality--what is their vision? Are they creating something
new? And how well are they able to engage and draw in the audience,
because performances really are opportunities for interaction.”
Witt added that she strongly considers the needs of both the UCSC and
Santa Cruz communities.
“Some communities won’t support work that is politically
and artistically challenging, and some organizations are afraid of alienating
audiences,” Witt said. “But at UCSC, I have found the institution
and the audiences are really receptive to material that asks difficult
questions. There’s a sense of curiosity, openness, and knowledge
here that our artists greatly appreciate. The artists always tell us
how wonderful our audiences are here--they feel appreciated and want
to come back.
“That’s a huge compliment to audiences in Santa Cruz and
ensures that we can continue to bring unique and important voices to
our community,” she added.
Subscription tickets for the 2003-04 season are now available through
the UCSC Ticket Office at (831) 459-2159 or online.
For more information, see the Arts & Lectures web
site.
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