International Festival of Arts & Ideas Announces
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE | March 25, 2015 CONTACTS: Art Priromprintr, Marketing & Communications (203) 498-3712, [email protected] Sean Layton, Lou Hammond & Associates (212) 891-0238, [email protected] Artwork & images at artidea.org/media INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL OF ARTS & IDEAS ANNOUNCES COMPLETE LINE-UP FOR FESTIVAL 2015, JUNE 12-27 Premieres, commissions, and exclusive presentations highlight the 20th annual festival, launching the Festival’s third decade with great art and big ideas of the past, present, and future NEW HAVEN, CT—The International Festival of Arts & Ideas today announced the full schedule for its 20th annual festival, occurring June 12 to 27, 2015. The Festival will include world premieres, commissions, and exclusive presentations from internationally renowned artists and speakers, ranging from previously announced artists such as Mark Morris Dance Group and Taylor Mac to Lucinda Williams, Darlene Love, and much more. A full list of 2015 events follows on page 3. “Festival 20 is a celebration of the bright future we see ahead of us,” said Mary Lou Aleskie, the Festival’s Executive Director. “We are celebrating great art and big ideas that are influencing today’s world, as well as twenty years of great accomplishments that have brought us to this milestone year.” “In programming this year, we asked ourselves three important questions,” said Aleskie. “Where are we—as people, artists, and a society—now? Where are we headed? And where have we been? Our past informs our future, and the present day gives us an important opportunity to examine our past. We’ve put together a Festival that examines these questions through performance, art, ideas, and most importantly: big, smart fun.” Highlights include: Free Headline Concerts on the New Haven Green, featuring Lucinda Williams, Darelene Love, Angélique Kidjo, Ibeyi, and Kurt Elling with the New Haven Symphony Orchestra The exclusive 2015 East Coast engagement of Mark Morris Dance Group’s Acis and Galatea; a world premiere commission from Taylor Mac; legendary dancer Carmen de Lavallade; Roger Guenveur Smith’s topical one-man play Rodney King; the new Quebec circus troupe Machine de Cirque, and the Festival co-commission of a new performance work from Imani Winds, Passion for Bach and Coltrane. Free talks and conversations on our Ideas program, including New Yorker cartoonist Roz Chast, poet Claudia Rankine, journalist Jelani Cobb, and topical conversations on water and the environment, art and politics, race and civil liberties today, and more. PAGE 1 OF 16 An exploration of Frank Sinatra at 100, in collaboration with The GRAMMY Museum, The New York Public Library, and the Sinatra Family, featuring a special exhibition of historic photographs, a New Haven-exclusive panel conversation with members of the family and historians, and a concert performance from Kurt Elling with the New Haven Symphony Orchestra. Thematic explorations of today’s major topics, including: race and civil liberties through the presentation of Roger Guenveur Smith’s Rodney King, journalist Jelani Cobb’s talk “Contingent Citizenship,” about race and democracy in the age of Ferguson; water and environmental issues in the presentation of Mondo Bizzarro/ArtSpot Productions’ Cry You One, about South Louisiana’s disappearing coastline, with an Ideas talk on environmental issues hosted by WNPR’s John Dankosky; and more. Film throughout the Festival—more than the Festival has presented in the past—including screenings of feature films, documentaries, and exploration of their subjects, with: a retrospective series on filmmakers John Sayles and Maggie Renzie, presented in collaboration with the Yale Summer Film Institute; acclaimed director Mike Leigh in conversation, with screenings of his recent film Mr. Turner, presented with the Yale University Art Gallery and Yale Center for British Art; and screenings and discussions of recent documentaries on New Haven legend Angela Bowen and Capturing Grace, on the Mark Morris Dance Group’s Dance for PD® project. Ticketed Events go on sale to the general public on April 15, and to Festival Members on March 25. Most free events, including Headline Concerts on the New Haven Green, do not require tickets or reservations. Convenience options for Headline Concerts on the New Haven Green are available, including premium seating and hospitality tent access, and go on sale April 15. Free reservations for tours and master classes are available starting June 12, and from April 15 for purchasers of the Advance Pass. More information is available at the Festival’s website. New this year—no handling fees for tickets purchased online through the Festival’s website, at artidea.org. ABOUT THE INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL OF ARTS & IDEAS The International Festival of Arts & Ideas is a 15-day festival of performing arts, lectures, and conversations that celebrates the greatest artists and thinkers from around the world. Each June, the Festival takes over the theaters, open spaces, and courtyards of New Haven, Connecticut, with performances and dialogues that tickle the senses, engage the mind, and inspire the soul. More than 80% of Festival programs are completely free to the public, including events that feature some of the most prestigious jazz, classical, dance, and theater artists in the world. The Festival’s programs have an impact throughout the year, including engagement and educational programming such as the Festival Fellowship Program for underserved youth, and the Visionary Leadership Award held in winter each year. The International Festival of Arts & Ideas was established in 1996 by Anne Calabresi, Jean Handley, and Roslyn Meyer. The founders envisioned an annual celebration in New Haven—a small city rich with diversity and steeped in strong cultural and educational traditions— distinguished from established arts festivals by its fusion of ideas events. Their aim was to gather world-class artists and pre-eminent thinkers from around the globe, showcasing the city and the state as a major arts destination. Festival 2015 is presented with major support from the State of Connecticut, the Community Foundation for Greater New Haven, the City of New Haven, the Eucalyptus Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, First Niagara, and Yale University. PAGE 2 OF 16 SHOWS AND EVENTS HEADLINE CONCERTS ON THE NEW HAVEN GREEN Darlene Love Saturday, June 13 at 7pm First Niagara Stage, New Haven Green (Free) In a remarkable career that has stretched from the 60s through Motown and rock-n-roll history, Darlene Love has continued to captivate audiences worldwide with her warm, gracious stage presence and sensational performances. Her resonant and soulful voice has been featured in some of rock's most iconic records, and her remarkable story is featured at the center of the recent documentary film 20 Feet from Stardom. Family Day Sunday, June 14 from 2pm-8pm First Niagara Stage & environs, New Haven Green (Free) The New Haven Green becomes the most exciting place in town for all ages on this special Sunday filled with activities and performances. Family shows on the First Niagara Stage will occur throughout the afternoon, featuring Magmanus, Moona Luna, and special guest Dan Zanes. Activities include Box City, an interactive crafts activity in which young city planners imagine and build a metropolis of the future. The day ends with a dance party, featuring Pistolera on the First Niagara Stage. Kurt Elling with the New Haven Symphony Orchestra Saturday, June 20 at 7pm First Niagara Stage, New Haven Green (Free) Presented as part of the Festival’s celebration of Sinatra: An American Icon (see page 10). Kurt Elling‘s Passion World is a tour-de-force concert of songs of love collected from throughout the world. Said The New York Times, “Elling is the standout male vocalist of our time,” and here Elling brings his arsenal of talents to songs of love and loss as performed in their native languages. Elling also tells the rich background stories for each of the carefully selected songs, one is swept away on a grand, multicultural, tour of exotic places, cultures and times. At the Festival, he is joined by the New Haven Symphony Orchestra, one of the region's premiere symphonic ensembles. Angelique Kidjo with Ibeyi Sunday, June 21 at 7pm First Niagara Stage, New Haven Green (Free) Afropop superstar Angélique Kidjo is a Grammy-winning singer and songwriter whose powerfully uplifting music has audiences on their feet, dancing and clapping with her in the aisles at her energetic performances. Her newest album, Eve, won a Grammy for Best World Music Album, and in January, she was honored by the Festival with the Visionary Leadership Award. Opening the program is Ibeyi, a French-Cuban duo of twin sisters, Lisa-Kaindé Diaz and Naomi Diaz. Their music combines a love of two very different worlds: the Yoruba chants of their Nigerian ancestors and the electronic, hip hop and jazz influences of growing up in Paris. PAGE 3 OF 16 Lucinda Williams Friday, June 26 at 7pm First Niagara Stage, New Haven Green (Free) Lucinda Williams’ delta-infused blend of rock and folk overflows in her most ambitious project to date, Down Where the Spirit Meets the Bone. Rooted in the here and now while conjuring up the spirit of classic ‘70s country soul, this is her first release on her own label. The Carrie Ashton Band opens the evening at 6pm, performing as part of the Festival’s Noon to Night series. Plena Libre Saturday, June 27 at 7pm First Niagara Stage, New Haven Green (Free) Plena Libre is a 12-piece Puerto Rican ensemble of virtuoso musicians that has captivated and moved audiences around the world throughout its eighteen-year Grammy-nominated history. Plena Libre stays true to the Puerto Rico's unique African-based plena and bomba pulse while flirting unabashedly and engagingly with sounds from across the Caribbean and Latin world, keeping the rhythmic core of Puerto Rican music and adding layers of complex, good-spirited brass, string and hard-hitting hand percussion.