Programming Director Margaret Lawrence unveiled the Hopkins Center performance schedule for the 2011-2012 season on Wednesday. The presentation was an overview of a diverse collection of offerings for the upcoming school year, some of which were commissioned by the Hopkins Center. The Hopkins Center has designed a series of performances titled "Off Road: Exploring the Great Unknown," which aim to "depart from the well-trod path," according to a Hopkins Center brochure.
Particular highlights of the coming season include the return of the Young@Heart Chorus of elderly vocalists, and guitar legend Pat Metheny. Later in the season, several international performers will come to campus, such as South African superstar Hugh Masekela, Korea's SamulNori, Brazilian jazz musician Hermeto Pascoal, the Creole Choir of Cuba and Berlin's Max Raabe and the Palast Orchester.
Co-commissioned by the Hopkins Center, the puppeteering company Phantom Limb will perform the North American premiere of 69S, a retelling of Sir Ernest Shackleton's 1914-1916 Antarctica expedition on Sept. 30, Lawrence said. The company researched in Antarctica and studied Dartmouth's Polar Exploration collection to create an accurate representation of the explorers' experience.
The next artist Yefim "Fima" Bronfman, described by Lawrence as "a titan of the classical recital world" will play several piano solos, including Brahms' Sonata No. 3 in F minor and Liszt's Trascendental Etudes.
In another Off Road event co-commissioned by the Hopkins Center, "The Great Flood" a film by Bill Morrison with music by Bill Frisell contemplates the 1927 flood of the Mississippi River, which had catastrophic effects on human lives and the environment but also revived the Delta Blues in the north as Southern blacks migrated from their homes. The film captures the impact of the flood through a compilation of deteriorating archival footage, Lawrence said.
In early November, the New York Polyphony, a vocal quartet, will perform both medieval English and French pieces and contemporary scores written for the quartet, Lawrence said.
Baby Universe (A Puppet Odyssey), performed by the Wakka Wakka company, is a science fiction story in which the planets try to birth and raise a "baby" universe to which humans can move, according to the pamphlet. Puppeteers will be visible onstage wearing gas masks, Lawrence said. The play mixes comedy with a serious message about climate change, she said.
Performer Max Raabe and the Palast Orchester will bring a mixture of vintage hits and originals that recall the 1920s and 1930s in Berlin. Lawrence said Max Raabe's music is reminiscent of "the Weimar Republic as you would hear it in a nightclub."
In April, the American Records Theater will present ReEntry, a play based on direct interviews with Marines returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, Lawrence said. Their interviews compose the script, she said. The play did not begin with an agenda, and has been performed at the Pentagon and at active army bases, according to Lawrence, who called it "funny, proud and realistic."
Hermeto Pascoal, a musician who recorded with Miles Davis, draws from Brazilian folk music as a basis for his sextet of multi-instrumentalists. The whimsical and futuristic style of this group has garnered Pascoal the nickname "The Sorcerer" in Brazil, according to the pamphlet. Pascoal is also a prolific composer who for a full year wrote one song a day, according to Lawrence. He will visit the Hopkins Center April 5.
The Australian Chamber Orchestra will perform with featured soprano Dawn Upshaw on April 25 in Spaulding Auditorium. The performance will feature new work written for Upshaw by Maria Schneider, based on former Poet Laureate Ted Kooser's book "Winter Morning Walks," according to Lawrence.
