LET THE SHOW BEGIN!
Regional Performing Arts Center Announces Inaugural Season in the New Kimmel Center and the Historic Academy of Music
2001-2002 Season Includes Exciting Lineup With Several Philadelphia Debuts, Four Internationally Ranked Visiting Orchestras, Eight Renowned Recitalists and Chamber Music Ensembles and The Most Acclaimed Dance Companies And Jazz Interpreters of Our Time
Other Highlights Include an Extraordinary Two-week Inaugural Festival to Celebrate the Opening
March 22, 2001
As the Crown Jewel of the Avenue of the Arts begins to shine, Willard G. Rouse, III, chairman, and Stephanie Naidoff, president of the Regional Performing Arts Center (RPAC), unveiled the dazzling, world-class lineup of performances to be presented by RPAC in the new Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts and the venerable Academy of Music.
In fulfillment of its mission to create a brilliant showcase for the performing arts in Philadelphia and attract diverse performers from around the world as well as new audiences, RPAC's programs will celebrate the very best in classical music, jazz, pops and dance, launching a new era in Philadelphia's cultural history.
It all begins with an Inaugural Festival to celebrate the Grand Opening of The Kimmel Center followed by RPAC's electrifying subscription series that features several Philadelphia debuts and long anticipated performances, surrounded by a wonderful array of signature programs for the Inaugural Season.
Inaugural Festival presented by Lincoln Financial Group®
Following "The Kimmel Center Performs-An Artistic Open House," a presentation of free events and surprises in every corner of Philadelphia's spectacular new landmark on Sunday, December 16, the Regional Performing Arts Center will commemorate the opening of "The Crown Jewel" with a gift unlike any other--two weeks of exciting holiday programming beginning Monday, December 17 and cont Symng through Sunday, December 30. Celebrating the diversity of performances that will be presented in the new Kimmel Center during its Inaugural Season, the Inaugural Festival will feature numerous free events in the new building during the day, and programs by some of the Resident Companies and a variety of other performers in the evening, including three-time Tony award-winning singer and actress Audra McDonald; acclaimed jazz musicians Branford Marsalis and Joshua Redman; the Vienna Choir Boys; The Klezmer Conservatory Band; The Canadian Brass; Jimmy Bosch; Betty Buckley and Michael Feinstein; and more. The "ice"ing on the cake will be RPAC's very non-traditional presentation of The St. Petersburg State Ballet on Ice performing "Sleeping Beauty on Ice" to conclude the festival.
The celebration continues with the launch of RPAC's extraordinary subscription series. Categorized as "Great Orchestras on Tour," "Great Artists Series," "Recital & Ensemble Series,""Jazz Series" and "Dance Series," RPAC's Inaugural Season sets the stage for dynamic performances in the 21st century.
Great Orchestras on Tour presented by First Union National Bank
The completion of a dedicated concert hall, such as The Kimmel Center's Verizon Hall provides arts lovers in the Philadelphia region a thrilling opportunity to experience visiting orchestras in an acoustically superior setting. The signature ensembles of Boston, Israel and New York will return for long-overdue engagements, while the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam will make its Philadelphia debut.
"Great Orchestras on Tour" strikes its first note when Zubin Mehta leads the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra in its first concert hall performance in Philadelphia since 1991, featuring Bartók's The Miraculous Mandarin Suite and Richard Strauss' Ein Heldenleben, Op. 40.
The series continues with Riccardo Chailly leading the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam in a concert featuring Mahler's Symphony No. 2 in c minor (Resurrection) with soprano Janice Watson, alto Petra Lang, and the Westminster Symphonic Choir.
The engagements of both the Boston Symphony Orchestra and the New York Philharmonic mark the Philadelphia farewell concerts of internationally celebrated music directors, Seiji Ozawa and Kurt Masur. Seiji Ozawa leads the Boston Symphony Orchestra in its first Philadelphia concert since 1990 in a program featuring Berlioz's Symphonie fantastique, Op. 14. Kurt Masur closes the series when he brings the New York Philharmonic to Philadelphia for the first time since 1984 with a performance including Mahler's Symphony No.1 in D Major (Titan).
Great Artists Series presented by PECO Energy
Philadelphia's own famed pianist, André Watts, will lead this series of recitalists renowned for brilliant artistry and technique. A leading soprano of the MetropolitanOpera, Renée Fleming, will follow Mr. Watts, making her Philadelphia recital debut. The series continues with a performance by James Galway--"The Man with the Golden Flute"--climaxing with a performance by Itzhak Perlman--the long-reigning virtuoso ofthe violin--who debuts in The Kimmel Center with his first Philadelphia recital since 1995.
Recital & Ensemble Series
The versatility of the Perelman Theater serves as a fitting backdrop for this line-up of performers. Highlighted by multiple Philadelphia debuts, this series catapults an incredible range of recital and ensemble performers onto center stage, beginning with two artists on the cutting edge of a new generation of emerging stars--Christian Tetzlaff on violin and Leif Ove Andsnes on piano. Marking their American debut as a duo, their program will include sonatas by Beethoven, Brahms and Bartók.
Next, Metropolitan Opera star and mezzo-soprano, Anne Sofie von Otter, will astound her audience with her Philadelphia recital debut, followed by a joint concert by the Emerson String Quartet and the Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio, both of which will be celebrating their 25th anniversary seasons.
One of today's greatest classical guitarists, John Williams, will close this series with his first Philadelphia recital in 30 years. Perhaps best known for his inspired interpretations of Spanish masterworks and as the artistic heir to pioneer guitarist, Andres Segovia, Williams is sure to delight his audience with this rare performance.
Jazz Series presented by Lincoln Financial Group®
America's most powerful musical legacy will resound throughout Verizon Hall in a city recognized for its rich jazz tradition. Performing in Philadelphia for the first time in 20 years, pianist, Keith Jarrett, will perform with trio members Gary Peacock on bass and Jack DeJohnette on drums in a rare display of their Grammy-nominated talent.
Show-stoppers, Herbie Hancock and Dianne Reeves, subsequently take the stage for a dynamic evening of jazz that draws upon a world of influences, both cultural and musical, to create sounds that break musical ground.
Next, eight-time Grammy Award-winner, Wynton Marsalis, conducts the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, America's signature jazz band and foremost ensemble of its kind.
Adding to an already impressive roster of jazz greats, The Buena Vista Social Club closes out the series with a presentation by singer, Omara Portuondo, who makes her Philadelphia solo concert debut. Known as "The Edith Piaf of Cuba," Ms. Portuondo enchants audiences everywhere with her passionate and moving voice.
Dance Series presented by American Express
Leading companies from the world of dance present three dynamic performances featuring the best in movement in world-class facilities. Philadelphia’s own world-renowned dance company, PHILADANCO, will kick off RPAC's inaugural dance series in the Perelman Theater with Conversation for Seven Souls and Rosa-moving salutes to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Rosa Parks, respectively, and the premiere of a specially commissioned work.
The spotlight moves to the Mark Morris Dance Group as this 20-year-old company illuminates the stage with blazingly declarative dances that fearlessly address various subject matters and extend the expressive scope of dance as an art form.
A sleek and charismatic dancer and choreographer best known for pure dances and epic theater works, Bill T. Jones will make his Kimmel Center debut in a rare solo performance entitled The Breathing Show, a dramatic exploration of the dancer's passion for dance.
The only dance company in the series to perform outside of The Kimmel Center's Perelman Theater, internationally-acclaimed, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater takes center stage at the treasured Academy of Music. Presenting a unique blend of ballet, modern, jazz and Afro-Caribbean dance, this legendary company has been directed by Philadelphia-native, Judith Jamison, since 1989, and returns to Philadelphia for the first time since 1996, performing, among other works, Revelations, the company's signature work.
Signature Programs
In addition to its subscription series, RPAC will host a variety of special individual programs to highlight a diversity of performers from a wide range of disciplines. Concerts planned include the comedy of Philadelphia's own Bill Cosby, conductor/composer/vocalist, Bobby McFerrin, in a solo concert; popular exponents of traditional Irish Music, The Chieftains; Grammy Award-winning a cappella ensemble, Sweet Honey in the Rock; and the multi-faceted talent of Three Mo' Tenors. RPAC subscribers will also enjoy priority access to a special presentation by the legendary Moiseyev Dance Company, the Russian folk dance ensemble that blends athleticism and grace and has thrilled audiences since its founding in 1937. Additional performances will be scheduled and announced later this year.
Subscriptions for the Inaugural Season are available by calling 215-893-1955. For more information about the Inaugural Festival and a complete program schedule call 215-790-5810.
The Regional Performing Arts Center is pleased to recognize Performance Partnerships with WPVI-TV 6-ABC, WHYY TV12 and 91FM, KYW Newsradio, Philadelphia Magazine and The Philadelphia Tribune for the Inaugural Celebrations and Inaugural Season. Each partnership will support RPAC's efforts to present The Kimmel Center to the region and the world, and develop special broadcasts, print supplements and community programs to celebrate this new age for the arts dawning in Philadelphia.
Opening December 16, 2001, the new 450,000 square-foot Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts is located at Broad and Spruce Streets along Philadelphia's Avenue of the Arts. Designed by internationally-acclaimed architect Rafael Viñoly, The Kimmel Center will join the historic Academy of Music to become one of the nation's largest performing arts complexes, administered by the Regional Performing Arts Center. The Kimmel Center features the 2500-seat Verizon Hall, a state-of-the art concert hall with acoustics designed by Russell Johnson for the world-renowned Philadelphia Orchestra. In addition, the arts complex will host the annual seasons of the Opera Company of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Ballet, American Theater Arts for Youth, Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia (formerly Concerto Soloists Chamber Orchestra), PHILADANCO, The Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, and Peter Nero & the Philly Pops®.
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