UR Modlin Arts 2011-12

The Takács Quartet, one of the world’s premier string quartets, and Dawn Upshaw, the acclaimed American soprano and contemporary music proponent, head the list of classical artists performing in the 2011-12 Modlin Arts season of the University of Richmond’s Modlin Arts Center.

The coming season’s attractions also include Stile Antico, a widely praised early music vocal ensemble from Britain; the veteran American pianist Garrick Ohlsson; pianist Christopher O’Riley and cellist Matt Haimovitz, two leading proponents of classical performance in untraditional formats and spaces; and the American pianist and composer Stephen Prutsman, performing with the Shanghai Quartet.

The contemporary music sextet eighth blackbird will return for its eighth season in residence at UR with two programs, including several premieres. Other new-music attractions include “Rappahannock County,” a Civil War-themed theatrical song cycle by composer Ricky Ian Gordon and librettist Mark Campbell, commissioned by Virginia Opera and the Modlin Center (among others), being reprised at UR after its premiere this spring in Norfolk at the Virginia Arts Festival; Upshaw, with the Australian Chamber Orchestra, performing “Winter Morning Walks,” a song cycle by the jazz composer-bandleader Maria Schneider; the premiere of Prutsman’s Piano Quintet in his performance with the Shanghai; and the 11th annual edition of UR’s Third Practice Electroacoustic Music Festival.

Non-classical music attractions include appearances by three of the greats of 1960s folk and folk-rock – Joan Baez, Arlo Guthrie and Roger McGuinn, former leader of The Byrds; singer-songwriter Josh Ritter; acoustic and string-band music from banjoist Béla Fleck, the Red Clay Ramblers, the Carolina Chocolate Drops and The Grascals; jazz from singer (and former Richmonder) René Marie, singer-instrumentalist Esperanza Spalding, singer Gretchen Parlato, the Afro-flamenco artist Buika, Chucho Valdés and the Afro-Cuban Messengers; the gypsy jazz group Hot Club of San Francisco; and the salsa ensemble La Excelensia.

The coming Modlin season also will feature modern-dance performances by Pilobolus, River North Dance Chicago, the Moscow Festival Ballet in “Swan Lake,” Cirque Mechanics in “Boom Town,” Celtic Nights in “Journey of Hope,” Jump Rhythm Jazz Project and the Doug Varone Dance Company and Shen Wei Dance Arts; the flamenco dance troupe Compañia Flamenca José Porcel; comedy by Paula Poundstone; puppetry by Basil Twist; and theatrical performances by the Indian Ink Theatre Company, National Acrobats of the People’s Republic of China, Compagnia T.P.O. in “Farfalle (Butterflies)” and the Aquila Theatre Company in Oscar Wilde’s “The Importance of Being Earnest.”

Subscription-ticket packages for four or more events are available at discount prices through July 8. Single tickets will go on sale about six weeks before performance dates.

For details, call the Modlin Center box office at (804) 289-8980 or visit http://www.modlin.richmond.edu/

Modlin Arts 2011-12 artists and programs, with adult single-ticket prices:

Sept. 7 (7:30 p.m., Camp Concert Hall) – La Excelencia in “Salsa Dura” ($20).

Sept. 13-15 (7:30 p.m., Jepson Theatre) – “Rappahannock County” ($45).

Sept. 19 (7:30 p.m., Camp Concert Hall) – Carolina Chocolate Drops ($32).

Sept. 20-21 (7:30 p.m., Jepson Theatre) – Indian Ink Theatre Company in “The Guru of Chai” ($32).

Sept. 27-28 (7:30 p.m., Jepson Theatre) – Pilobolus ($40).

Oct. 1 (11 a.m. and 2 p.m., Camp Concert Hall) – Justin Roberts and the Not Ready for Naptime Players in Family Arts Day performances and activities from 12:30 to 4 p.m. ($20).

Oct. 3 (7:30 p.m., Camp Concert Hall) – Christopher O’Riley, piano, and Matt Haimovitz, cello. “Shuffle.Play.Listen,” works by Bach, Gabrieli, Chopin, Stravinsky, Piazzolla, Radiohead, others ($36).

Oct. 5 (7:30 p.m., Camp Concert Hall) – eighth blackbird in “Sounds of a New Century.” Fabian Svensson: “Two Sides” for sextet; Timo Andres: “Crashing through Fences” for flute and percussion; Dan Visconti: “Fractured Jams” for clarinet, violin, cello and piano; Mayke Nas: “digital#2” for piano four-hands; Amy Kirsten: “Pirouette” for solo flute (premiere); Bruno Montovani: Chamber Concerto No. 2 for sextet (U.S. premiere) ($20).

Oct. 12 (7:30 p.m., Jepson Theatre) – Esperanza Spalding in “Chamber Music Society” ($45).

Oct. 14 (7:30 p.m., Jepson Theatre) – Doug Varone Dance Company in “Chapters from a Broken Novel” ($36).

Oct. 20 (7:30 p.m., Jepson Theatre) – Compañia Flamenca José Porcel in “Gypsy Fire” ($38).

Oct. 26 (7:30 p.m., Camp Concert Hall) – Red Clay Ramblers ($32).

Nov. 2-3 (7:30 p.m., Cousins Studio Theatre) – Basil Twist ($20).

Nov. 12 (7:30 p.m., Camp Concert Hall) – Josh Ritter ($34).

Nov. 14 (7:30 p.m., Camp Concert Hall) – Takács Quartet. Janáček: Quartet No. 1 (“Kreutzer Sonata”); Britten: Quartet No. 1; Ravel: Quartet in F major ($38).

Nov. 15 (7:30 p.m., Carpenter Theatre, Richmond CenterStage) – National Acrobats of the People’s Republic of China ($28-$36).

Nov. 18 (7:30 p.m., Camp Concert Hall) – Joan Baez ($50).

Nov. 29 (7:30 p.m., Jepson Theatre) – Jump Rhythm Jazz Project ($34).

Dec. 1 (7:30 p.m., Camp Concert Hall) – Gretchen Parlato ($34).

Dec. 14 (7:30 p.m., Camp Concert Hall) – Stile Antico in “Puer natus est” ($38).

Jan. 13 (7:30 p.m., Camp Concert Hall) – The Grascals ($32).

Jan. 18 (7:30 p.m., Camp Concert Hall) – Garrick Ohlsson, piano. Bach-Liszt: Fantasy and Fugue in G minor; Liszt: Sonata in B minor; Liszt: “Jeux d’eaux à la villa d’este” ($40).

Jan. 20-21 (7:30 p.m., Jepson Theatre) – River North Dance Chicago ($40).

Jan. 26 (7:30 p.m., Jepson Theatre) – Aquila Theatre Company in “The Importance of Being Earnest” ($36).

Jan. 29 (3 p.m., Camp Concert Hall) – Hot Club of San Francisco in “Cinema Vivant” ($32).

Feb. 1 (7:30 p.m., Camp Concert Hall) – Chucho Valdés and the Afro-Cuban Messengers ($40).

Feb. 8 (7:30 p.m.) – René Marie in “Black Lace Freudian Slip Tour” ($34).

Feb. 12 (7:30 p.m., Camp Concert Hall) – Arlo Guthrie in “The Journey on Tour” ($40).

Feb. 15 (7:30 p.m., Camp Concert Hall) – Shanghai Quartet with Stephen Prutsman, piano. Mozart: Quartet in B flat major, K. 458 (“Hunt”); Prutsman: Piano Quintet (premiere); Brahms: Piano Quintet in F minor, Op. 34 ($34).

Feb. 22 (7:30 p.m., Carpenter Theatre, Richmond CenterStage) – “The All New Original Tribute to the Blues Brothers” ($30-$50).

Feb. 28-29 (7:30 p.m., Jepson Theatre) – Shen Wei Dance Arts ($40).

March 3 (2 and 7:30 p.m., Jepson Theatre) – Cirque Mechanics in “Boom Town” ($38).

March 11 (7:30 p.m., Jepson Theatre) – Moscow Festival Ballet in “Swan Lake” ($40).

March 14 (7:30 p.m., Camp Concert Hall) – eighth blackbird in “Less Is More.” David Lang: “these broken wings 3” for sextet; Alvin Lucier: “Fidelio Trio” for viola, cello and piano; Philippe Hurel: “…á mesure” for sextet; Morton Feldman: “Durations 1” for flute, violin, cello and piano; Matthias Pintscher: “Figura V/Assonanza” for solo cello; György Ligeti: “Etudes” for sextet ($20).

March 15 (7:30 p.m., Jepson Theatre) – Celtic Nights in “Journey of Hope” ($36).

March 21 (7:30 p.m., Camp Concert Hall) – Buika ($34).

March 24 (7:30 p.m., Camp Concert Hall) – Roger McGuinn ($36). Public workshop, 2 p.m. March 25.

April 17 (7:30 p.m., Carpenter Theatre, Richmond CenterStage) – Australian Chamber Orchestra with Dawn Upshaw, soprano. Shostakovich: “Polka and Elegy;” Grieg-Tognetti: String Quartet; Maria Schneider: “Winter Morning Walks;” other works TBA ($28-$36).

April 21 (7:30 p.m., Camp Concert Hall) – Paula Poundstone ($40).

April 22 (3 and 7:30 p.m., Camp Concert Hall) – Béla Fleck & The Original Flecktones ($36).

May 9 (7:30 p.m.), May 11 (7:30 p.m.), May 12 (11 a.m., 1 and 3 p.m., Cousins Studio Theatre) – Compagnia T.B.O. in “Farfalle (Butterflies”) ($20).