sjDANCEco presents ABLAZE with San José Chamber Orchestra

Opening program for the 21st Season

October 6 and 7 In the California Theatre

The opening program of sjDANCEco’s 21st Season will celebrate new works including four World Premieres by company choreographers Maria Basile and Nhan Ho and guest choreographers, Kara Davis, Rogelio Lopez and Cathleen McCarthy. As the company looks forward to its next twenty years, this also marks the first program overseen by Maria Basile in her new role as sole Artistic Director, following the retirement of Gary Masters.

The season also marks the 12th year of collaboration with Barbara Day Turner and the San José Chamber Orchestra.

 

Who: sjDANCEco presents

What: ABLAZE

When: Friday, October 6 and Saturday, October 7 at 8:00 pm.

Where: The California Theatre, 345 South First Street, San Jose, CA 95113,

 

Tickets: www.sjDANCEco. 408.520.9854

 

Pricing: $25 to $100

$25 Student - $45 Senior and $50 General Admission.   

$80 - $100. VIP Package

VIP packages include VIP seating and a Saturday evening reception with the Dancers and Choreographers, Guest Artists, Artistic Directors, Musical Director, and Board of Trustees.

 

The Passing of the Reins:

After twenty years as the Founder and Artistic Director of sjDANCEco, Gary Masters has formally announced his retirement and has passed the reins to his long-time Co-Artistic Director, Maria Basile. The two have worked together since the company’s inception when they were both part of Limón West Dance Project. Masters had this to say about her leadership, “As I step down from the artistic and administrative responsibilities of sjDANCEco, I feel confident in the future development and growth of the company under Maria’s artistic excellence and forward thinking. She has been, since the beginning, the company’s symbol of excellence through her extraordinary performances and stellar choreography. She believes in the power of dance to enhance, inspire, and change our world. I look forward to the next 20 years and beyond with her passionate leadership, keen eye, and devotion to Dance, the company and the community.” 

 

THE PROGRAM: (Still a work in progress)

sjDANCEco “Ablaze” is burning brightly into our next 20 years!

 

Title: TBA  / To Be Announced  (World Premier)

Choreographer: Maria Basile
Music: Concerto for Marimba and String Orchestra mvt. III Rythmique, Energique
Music by: Emmanuel Séjourné
Dancers: Full company

This piece is about breaking free from things that keep us bound. Assisted lovingly by others to fully feel our expanded selves.

 (Time: 8 minutes)

 

Title: TBA (World Premier)
Choreographer: Nhan Ho
Music: original score
Music by: Zachary White
Dancers: Full Company

This piece ingeniously melds space and motion, creating a mesmerizing exploration of the interplay between physicality and environment that leaves viewers captivated and spellbound.

(Time: 7 minutes)

 

Title: El recuento de nuestra ultima conversacion   (World Premier)
Choreographer: Rogelio Lopez
Music: Newton’s Cradle
Music by: Einaudi
Dancers: Full Company

(Time: 9 minutes)

 

Title: TBA (World Premier)
Choreographer: Kara Davis
Music: original score
Music by: Alex Kelly
Dancers:  Full company

(Time: Not yet finished)

 

Title: Remembrances (Company Premier)
Choreographer: Cathleen McCarthy
Music: Elegies
Music by: Rachmaninov
Dancers: Kevin Gaytan, Maria Basile

(Time: 5 minutes)

 

Title: Sacred Places (Company Premier)
Choreographer: Fred Mathews
Music:  No Distance Falls
Music by: Ferdinand Maisel
Dancers: Luis Isidoria, Raven Bautista, or Kelly Barry, Danielle Noda

(Time: 5 minutes)

 

sjDANCEco. The Full Company: Kevin Gaytan, Kelly Barry, Wade Reynolds, Luis Isidordia, Raven Bautista, Madeline Takemori, Danielle Noda, Alexandra Sheppard.

 

 

ABOUT US

sjDANCEco is a year-round contemporary dance company based in San Jose, California that produces world premieres by its core and guest choreographers, and presents the very best of Contemporary and Classic Modern Dance and Masterpieces of the American Modern Dance Repertory. The company has also participated in International Dance Festivals in New York and Taipei and produces a FREE Spring Festival each year celebrating National Dance Week. sjDANCEco ignites the spirit of dance.

Symphony Silicon Valley Performing Fantasia for Valentine's Day

Live Symphony Orchestra with Huge Movie Screen

San Jose, CA – There is a chill in the air, but the hottest ticket in town is the Valentine love story between Symphony Silicon Valley and Disney’s Fantasia.  The weekend of love, February 14 and 15 at San Jose’s Center for Performing Arts, Symphony Silicon Valley will be performing live on stage the classic music from the original 1940 Walt Disney film and Disney’s Fantasia 2000 update while the movie is projected in high definition on a huge screen.

“This performance is also a love story between the magic of film and the love of music,” said Andrew Bales, President of Symphony Silicon Valley.  “This is the perfect Valentine for everyone: friends, lovers, families, music lovers old and young.”

Disney shares one of its crown jewels of feature animation with Symphony Silicon Valley, accompanying scenes from both the 1940 original version by Walt Disney, as well as Disney Fantasia 2000, highlighting selections from each, including Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker Suite.

Other iconic moments include Mickey Mouse as he dabbles in magic in Paul Dukas’ The Sorcerer’s Apprentice and the mythical unicorns and winged horses that accompany Beethoven’s Pastoral Symphony. The greatest hits in Fantasia include Debussy’s Claire de Lune, Stravinsky’s Suite from The Firebird, and who doesn’t recognize Pomp and Circumstance by Sir Edward Elgar with Donald Duck as an assistant in The Noah’s Ark story. But the most memorable of all are the dancing hippos and elephants in Amilcare Ponchielli’s Dance of the Hours from La Gioconda.

The screening and concert of Fantasia will be on Saturday, February 14 at 8 PM and Sunday, February 15 at 2:30 PM at the San Jose Center for the Performing Arts, located at 255 S. Almaden Blvd, San Jose, CA 95113. Advance tickets are from $44 to $80 and available by calling the box office Monday – Friday 10 AM to 5 PM at 408 286 2600 or visit  www.fantasiassv.org

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About Symphony Silicon Valley

Symphony Silicon Valley is the professional symphony orchestra of San Jose.  Founded in 2002, the nonprofit company has progressed from a daring idea to rapidly become the greater South Bay's premiere orchestra and a notable community success story.  The Symphony's artists, nationally recruited, locally resident, with an average performance tenure in San Jose of over 20 years, are recognized as among the best in the greater Bay Area.  Led by an exciting roster of distinguished guest conductors on the European model, the Symphony is an anchor tenant of San Jose's magnificently restored downtown California Theatre, one of Northern California's most outstanding music halls.  Symphony Silicon Valley is setting an example of an innovative business model in the arts -- market driven and financially conservative, with low overhead and the flexibility to match its programming to its support base.  Besides the Symphony's core Classics concerts, other programs include Target Summer Pops free music festival, five diverse concerts produced outdoors on the lawn and annually bringing nearly 20,000 people out to enjoy totally free and family-friendly music; and ArtSPARK, the county-wide arts education program for all elementary students in grades 3-5. This school year the program will serve 19,000 students.

Lord of the Rings Trilogy with Live Orchestra at Symphony Silicon Valley

One weekend to rule them all.

Symphony Silicon Valley, Chorale, and Howard Shore (composer of the award-winning Lord of the Rings soundtrack) presents an epic weekend of the entire trilogy complete with a LIVE orchestra. 

And it'll be in downtown San Jose, April 2015. 

So before I get any further into this post - full disclosure - I'm doing a little bit of work related to this event. So when I found out about it I immediately knew that our readers at The San Jose Blog would love to hear about it. Of course, if you hadn't already via the front page news on The San Jose Mercury News or other media outlets like Twitter, etc, that have since spread the news.

That said - I really wanted to write about it. I've seen the movies, but never read the books. However, my husband is the big fan. He's read the books, seen the movies umpteen times, and back when Return of the King premiered, he and a friend went to an all day marathon screening of all the films back to back. 

So our household is very familiar with the Lord of the Rings. And perhaps needless to say, my husband is *very* interested in this news. 

Even though the event doesn't happen until April, the tickets are already going fast. My husband has already noted to me that this would make a great Christmas gift for him. He actually said to me, "Wink wink, nudge nudge." Yeah ok, hubs. I got it. 

The epic event happens in two different cycles to choose from:

Lord of the Rings Cycle 1:

April 16, 2015 7:00 pm The Fellowship of the Ring April 17, 2015 7:00 pm The Two Towers April 18, 2015 7:00 pm The Return of the King
April 19, 2015 1:00 pm The Two Towers
April 19, 2015 6:30 pm The Return of the King

Lord of the Rings Cycle 2

April 18, 2015 1:00 pm The Fellowship of the Ring

Tickets for all three films are sold in a package at $330, $240, and $150. Single (film) tickets may be available for any remaining seats at a future date: $120, $90, and $60. 

The San Jose Center for the Performing Arts is located at 255 S. Almaden Blvd, San Jose, CA 95113.

You can buy them at: www.lotrssv.org and www.symphonysiliconvalley.org