Arts and Culture / Magazine Feature

Newman Center Presents series to conclude with the eclectic Provenance

Classically trained cellist Maya Beiser will wrap up the 2008–09 Newman Center Presents series on Saturday, May 9, with a 7:30 p.m. performance of the eclectic work Provenance.

Beiser grew up on an Israeli kibbutz at the base of the Galilee Mountains in a region where Muslim, Jewish and Christian villages exist in peace. This experience as well as her interest in the Golden Age of Medieval Spain—a period between the 8th and 15th centuries when Muslims, Jews and Christians lived together creating distinct forms of art, culture and architecture—bestowed Beiser with the belief that music can help create conditions where people from different backgrounds can live together in harmony.

The performance also will include arrangements of works by Hamza el Din, Djivan Gasparyan and the 9th Century troubadour Martin Codax.

Co-commissioned by the Newman Center for the Performing Arts and Beiser, Provenance features work created by young composers from Israel, Palestine, Algeria, Morocco, Iran and the United States.

“It’s a very atmospheric presentation of this music from across different ages and cultural backgrounds,” says Stephen Seifert, executive director of the Newman Center.

Beiser will be joined in the performance by Bassam Saba, a Lebanese-American master oud player, Jamey Haddad, a hand drummer, and Shahrokh Yadegarie who will lend his live electronics to the mix.

Albert Hernandez, associate dean for academic affairs at the Iliff School of Theology, will give the “Behind the Curtain” lecture at 6:30 p.m. Tickets for the event, on sale now, are $52 for orchestra and parterre, $38 for mezzanine and $28 for balcony; ticket prices include parking.

Tickets can be purchased through Newman CenterRitchie Center and TicketMaster box offices. For more information, call the Newman Center at 303-871-7720.

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