The 2013–14 Newman Center Presents series is a great mix of old and new — with an emphasis on the new. Having honed his ear for the post-classical crowd that mixes Radiohead and Rachmaninoff, laptops and leitmotifs, Newman Center Executive Director Steve Seifert has put together a season featuring artists pushing the boundaries of their respective art forms.
“One of the things we’ve found is well-received here — and that we can do to add to Denver’s cultural landscape — is this group of young, creative people in multiple disciplines who are creating these exciting concert hall experiences,” Seifert says. “Not that there’s anything wrong with someone playing Beethoven or whatever, but I think younger audiences want to hear what their peers are doing.”
To that end, Seifert has booked young performers such as mandolinist and MacArthur “genius grant” winner Chris Thile (Punch Brothers, Nickel Creek), who will perform solo pieces from his forthcoming album featuring songs by Bach and Radiohead; string quartet ETHEL, which will perform in December with Native American flute player Robert Mirabal and a chorus of Opera Colorado singers; and organist Cameron Carpenter, a Juilliard-trained musician whose dramatic stage shows and glittery costumes have earned him the title “bad boy of the pipe organ.”
“He is one of the most amazing organ technicians you’ll ever hear,” Seifert says. “Bach or Liszt or Cesar Franck or any of the classical musicians who are famous for their organ music — he can play it with the best of them. And he also does his own arrangements of things — piano music by Chopin, sci-fi film scores, rock and pop tunes — that take advantage of this vast array of capacities that an organ has to give you a sonic experience that you won’t believe.”
On the dance front, the season includes Denver premieres from New York-based Mark Morris Dance Group and the Idaho-based Trey McIntyre Project, as well a performance by MOMIX, the whimsical dance-illusion troupe known for its colorful costumes and props.
“It’s a particular kind of movement theater that’s very entertaining and accessible, and it’s amazing the visual pictures they create on stage,” Seifert says.
Also visual in nature is the Feb. 11 screening of The Miners’ Hymns, an elegiac “wordless documentary” film about coal mining in England from filmmaker Bill Morrison. The score will be played live by its composer, Johann Johannsson, along with the American Contemporary Music Ensemble and members of the Denver Brass.
Season subscriptions go on sale on May and single tickets go on sale in June; visit newmancenterpresents.com for more information
Newman Center Presents 2013–14 season
Sept. 21–22: Mark Morris Dance Group
Oct. 5: Chris Thile, solo mandolin
Oct. 16: Colorado Symphony, featuring Natasha Paremski, piano soloist
Nov. 9: Cameron Carpenter, organ
Nov. 22–23: MOMIX, “Botanica”
Dec. 12: “Music of the Sun,” featuring ETHEL, a string quartet, with guest artist Robert Mirabal and members of the Opera Colorado Chorus
Jan. 16: “Duets,” with Chick Corea and Béla Fleck
Jan. 31: Trey McIntyre Project
Feb. 11: “The Miners’ Hymns,” a silent documentary film, with live accompaniment by ACME and The Denver Brass
Feb. 23: Colorado Symphony: “Music of the Silver Screen – A Tribute to Judy Garland”
March 6: Gabriel Kahane and yMusic
March 20: Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo
April 26, 2014: Paco Peña and Eliot Fisk, Flamenco Guitars
May 10–11, 2014: A Tribute to Ella Fitzgerald, with Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra and vocalist Kim Nazarian
May 14, 2014: Colorado Symphony: Music from the Opera