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May19
Norton Center’s reinvented 2011-12 season
Filed under: ballet, books, Central Kentucky Arts News, Classical Music, dance, Music, Musicals, Norton Center for the Arts, Uncategorized; Tagged as: Australian Chamber Orchestra, Dailey and Vincent, Dawn Upshaw, Hahn-Bin, Maria Schneider, Moulin Rouge, Norton Center for the Arts, Royal Winnipeg Ballet, Stanley Jordan, Steven A. Hoffman1 Comment
Steven A. Hoffman just announced the first season he has programmed as director of the Norton Center for the Arts. © Lexington Herald-Leader photo by Rich Copley.
DANVILLE — In his first year as director of Centre College’s Norton Center for the Arts, Steven A. Hoffman has noticed what’s around him in the student body.
It’s the iPod generation, as New Yorker magazine music critic Alex Ross once dubbed it: young adults who load wide varieties of music into their MP3 players from rock to classical to hip-hop to county to jazz and traditional music, and they let it all mix together.
The kind of audience that appreciates that variety is reflected in the Norton Center’s 2011-12 season, the first one programmed entirely by Hoffman, who came to Danville in July 2010.
Violinist Hahn-Bin will lead off the Club Weisiger series. © All artist photos courtesy of the Norton Center.
Highlighting the lineup are hip violin virtuoso Hahn-Bin, bluegrass stars Dailey and Vincent, a ballet version of Moulin Rouge from the Royal Winnipeg Ballet, jazz star Stanley Jordan and his trio, and the Australian Chamber Orchestra featuring soprano Dawn Upshaw singing a brand-new work by Maria Schneider.
Hoffman points out that 20 of the 21 acts playing the center’s 1,400-seat Newlin Hall and 350-seat Weisiger Theatre are Norton Center debuts. (A touring version of Fiddler on the Roof will return, and Hoffman says Upshaw has played the center before, but not with that program.)
“I may not have intentionally programmed that many debuts,” Hoffman says. “But I think I was trying to make a statement.
“People were really asking for new shows because the No. 1 piece of feedback I was getting was, ‘We want fresh and new programming.’
“From a college element, it can be like a Performing Arts 101 because you have a lot of different elements.”
The new lineup is geared toward performing arts connoisseurs.
The most notable departure from previous Norton Center seasons is the absence of blockbuster classical music talent like the New York Philharmonic or conductor Gustavo Dudamel.
Gone along with them are three-figure ticket prices, which used to come with those shows. The top ticket this year is $75.
The Nov. 4 concert by Dailey and Vincent is already attracting calls to the Norton Center.
“We’ve scaled back on some of the star power so we can charge prices that will allow people to see more shows,” Hoffman says. “Instead of just one, maybe you can come see two or three. If you used to go to five shows, maybe you can afford seven or eight.”
The season is also structured into just two series: the Newlin Hall Series and “Club Weisiger.” From those, patrons can build series in any number and combination of six or more shows they want. The benefit to people who buy more will be better prices and seat selection.
“We realize people have soccer games and trips and don’t necessarily want to see everything,” Hoffman says. “And people may be interested in seeing combinations we may have never thought of putting in a prepackaged series.”
Ballroom with a Twist will bring the action of dance competition shows to the Norton Center stage.
The “reimagined” season, as publicity materials call it, is a departure and risk for the center.
A positive sign Hoffman has already seen is that though the Norton Center did not release its lineup until Thursday, Dailey and Vincent posted the Danville date on their website a couple months ago. The center has been receiving a steady stream of calls about it.
Hoffman is also optimistic that the reimagined Weisiger Theatre programming, which used to lean on small classical ensembles, might yield some big response with artists such as Jordan, Hahn-Bin and former Mavericks frontman Raul Malo and his band.
“I didn’t budget to sell out every show,” Hoffman says. “But I’m thinking that when people see that they can see some of these stars in a 350-seat theater, they’ll say, ‘I’ve got to go.”
Guitarist Romero Lubambo, vocalist Luciana Souza and percussionist Cyro Baptista appear on the Viva Brazil program, Oct. 5.
Here’s the season:
All shows Mon.-Thurs. will be at 7:30 p.m.; Friday and Saturday shows at 8 p.m.; and Sunday shows at 4 p.m.
Newlin Hall series
Sept. 9: Robert Cray Band and Shemekia Copland Band, blues
Sept. 23: The Hills Are Alive by the Brooklyn Rundfunk Orchestra, music from The Sound of Music mashed with rock, hip-hop, gospel and country
Shemekia Copeland and her band join the Robert Cray Band to open the season. © Photo by Carol Friedman.
Oct. 5: Viva Brazil with the Luciana Souza Trio, Brazilian music
Oct. 22: Actress Cloris Leachman, one-woman show about her life and career
Nov. 1: Yamato: The Drummers of Japan
Nov. 4: Dailey and Vincent, bluegrass
Nov. 18: Ballroom With a Twist, featuring performers from Dancing With the Stars and So You Think You Can Dance?
Dec. 2: Judy Collins and Arlo Guthrie, folk
Jan. 13: “Tschaikowski” St. Petersburg State Orchestra
Feb. 10: L.A. Theatre Works presents The Rivalry, a dramatization of the Abraham Lincoln-Stephen Douglas debates
March 4: Fiddler on the Roof, musical
March 10: Diavolo Dance Theatre
March 27: Moulin Rouge: The Ballet by the Royal Winnipeg Ballet
April 5: Brentano String Quartet
April 13: Australian Chamber Orchestra featuring Dawn Upshaw, soprano
April 17: We Are What We Eat, lecture by author-researchers Marion Nestle and Dr. Daphne Miller
Club Weisiger
Sept. 30: Hahn-Bin, violin
Nov. 30: Raul Malo Band
Jan. 28: Stanley Jordan Trio, jazz
March 15: Geri Allen and Timeline, jazz, featuring tap dancer Maurice Chestnut
May 7: Portland Cello Project, eclectic string music
Comments Closed
One Response to “Norton Center’s reinvented 2011-12 season”
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Jim Deaton May 22nd, 2011 at 7:01 pm
Truth Alert!
Norton Center must not sell tickets to a January 13 performance by the fake orchestra coming to Danville billed as “Tschaikowski” St. Petersburg State Orchestra. If patrons are told the truth, they’ll pass on this newly patched-together, stateless assemblage of itinerant musicians who have to work for bad wages.
As reported in the May 16 New York Times, this sham orchestra is part of a stunning scam being perpetrated on America’s arts loving public. The article talks about this very outfit and the unscrupulous producers who may have scammed Norton’s new director.
The article begins:
Orchestras on Tour: Names Strike a False Note
By DANIEL J. WAKIN
Published: May 16, 2011Every year foreign orchestras with exotic or impressive-sounding names crisscross the country. They follow grueling routes and play in arts centers, small theaters and school auditoriums in places like Pembroke, N.C., and Modesto, Calif.
But they are not always what they seem.
The Dublin Philharmonic that played two years ago in nearly 50 towns? Mostly Bulgarians. The Moscow State Radio Symphony Orchestra that toured the United States last year? Largely freelancers. The “Tschaikowski” St. Petersburg State Orchestra, which is scheduled for a major American tour next year? Even the man advertised as its principal guest conductor said he had never heard of it.
A close look at these groups shows a pattern of creative marketing — even truth shading — concerning credentials and identities. At the least, audiences often do not know what they are getting, even though visa regulations require the groups to be “recognized internationally as outstanding” and to have had three-quarters of the same players for at least a year. Many of these groups are in fact pickup ensembles or have little reputation, even in their home countries.
To read the full article, go to:
Everyone interested in programming at Norton will want to read this well researched expose. I assume Rich somehow missed that day’s New York Times and hasn’t yet heard the bad news.
I’ll be gracious and assume Mr. Hoffman is also unaware of what this orchestra represents. I’ll assume he’s not one of those in the market for cheap, ersatz rip-offs. At any rate, Mr. Hoffman needs to cancel this performance. Nothing else will do. If he doesn’t respect his audience on something this significant, then his Norton career is going in the wrong direction.
There should still be time to fill the January 13 concert date with a respectable orchestra or at least something authentic – something honest and worthy of a deserving and discerning public.
Norton patrons have a right to know about this fraud – and soon – so they can boycott the performance should Mr. Hoffman fail to cancel and replace the program.
If Centre and Hoffman aren’t forthcoming about this unfortunate booking, Mr. Hoffman will lose some of the goodwill and support folks normally accord a new person trying to make it in a new job. I think this matter can be seen as a defining moment for Mr. Hoffman and the Centre officials who selected him as Foreman’s successor.
Centre has to maintain absolute honesty with the public – to wit, truth-in-advertising – if Norton is to retain the high regard and support developed over 25 years by the team of George Foreman and Debra Hoskins.
I’m afraid I see little in the upcoming season that would draw me to Norton. The lineup impresses me as a dumbing-down of this venerable institution. It’s a definite lowering of the bar, if you will.
And I’m not finding next season’s lineup particularly “fresh”. To my taste there are some good things, but they are few. I seriously wonder if the new director knows this discerning audience.
There are more than enough venues serving up hip hop culture without Norton joining the act. I liked that Foreman and Hoskins elevated the community and Centre students with great orchestras like the New York and Vienna Philharmonics. For goodness sakes, spare the students more of their ordinary diet, which tends toward flavor-of-the-day.
I’m afraid I don’t see anything fresh about a bastardized The Sound of Music or touring dancers from a cheesy TV dance competition show. Or any sense in Norton pandering to useless celebrity self-aggrandizement in an evening with Cloris Leachman. Heaven help us.
Fortunately, I can look to the new Center for the Performing Arts at Eastern Kentucky University to balance out the bad.
Mr. Copley: How about interviewing Mr. Hoffman to learn what he’s doing about this embarrassment?Norton Center’s patrons shouldn’t be asked to buy tickets to a performance by the fake orchestra coming to Danville January 13 billed as “Tschaikowski” St. Petersburg State Orchestra. If they know the truth, I suspect they’ll pass on this patched-together stateless assemblage of itinerant musicians who work for bad wages.
As reported in the May 16 New York Times, this sham orchestra is part of a stunning scam being perpetrated on America’s arts loving public. The article talks about this very outfit and the unscrupulous producers who may have scammed Norton’s new director.
The article begins:
Orchestras on Tour: Names Strike a False Note
By DANIEL J. WAKIN
Published: May 16, 2011Every year foreign orchestras with exotic or impressive-sounding names crisscross the country. They follow grueling routes and play in arts centers, small theaters and school auditoriums in places like Pembroke, N.C., and Modesto, Calif.
But they are not always what they seem.
The Dublin Philharmonic that played two years ago in nearly 50 towns? Mostly Bulgarians. The Moscow State Radio Symphony Orchestra that toured the United States last year? Largely freelancers. The “Tschaikowski” St. Petersburg State Orchestra, which is scheduled for a major American tour next year? Even the man advertised as its principal guest conductor said he had never heard of it.
A close look at these groups shows a pattern of creative marketing — even truth shading — concerning credentials and identities. At the least, audiences often do not know what they are getting, even though visa regulations require the groups to be “recognized internationally as outstanding” and to have had three-quarters of the same players for at least a year. Many of these groups are in fact pickup ensembles or have little reputation, even in their home countries.
To read the full article, go to:
Everyone interested in programming at Norton will want to read this well researched expose. I assume Rich somehow missed that day’s New York Times and hasn’t yet heard the bad news.
I’ll be gracious and assume Mr. Hoffman is also unaware of what this orchestra represents. I’ll assume he’s not one of those in the market for cheap, ersatz rip-offs. At any rate, Mr. Hoffman needs to cancel this performance. Nothing else will do. If he doesn’t respect his audience on something this significant, then his Norton career is going in the wrong direction.
There should still be time to fill the January 13 concert date with a respectable orchestra or at least something authentic – something honest and worthy of a deserving and discerning public.
Norton patrons have a right to know about this fraud – and soon – so they can boycott the performance should Mr. Hoffman fail to cancel and replace the program.
If Centre and Hoffman aren’t forthcoming about this unfortunate booking, Mr. Hoffman will lose some of the goodwill and support folks normally accord a new person trying to make it in a new job. I think this matter can be seen as a defining moment for Mr. Hoffman and the Centre officials who selected him as Foreman’s successor.
Centre has to maintain absolute honesty with the public – to wit, truth-in-advertising – if Norton is to retain the high regard and support developed over 25 years by the team of George Foreman and Debra Hoskins.
I’m afraid I see little in the upcoming season that would draw me to Norton. The lineup impresses me as a dumbing-down of this venerable institution. It’s a definite lowering of the bar, if you will.
And I’m not finding next season’s lineup particularly “fresh”. To my taste there are some good things, but they are few. I seriously wonder if the new director knows this discerning audience.
There are more than enough venues serving up hip hop culture without Norton joining the act. I liked that Foreman and Hoskins elevated the community and Centre students with great orchestras like the New York and Vienna Philharmonics. For goodness sakes, spare the students more of their ordinary diet, which tends toward flavor-of-the-day.
I’m afraid I don’t see anything fresh about a bastardized The Sound of Music or touring dancers from a cheesy TV dance competition show. Or any sense in Norton pandering to useless celebrity self-aggrandizement in an evening with Cloris Leachman. Heaven help us.
Fortunately, I can look to the new Center for the Performing Arts at Eastern Kentucky University to balance out the bad.
Mr. Copley:
How about interviewing Mr. Hoffman to learn what he’s doing about this embarrassment called “Tschaikowski” St. Petersburg State Orchestra?
I appreciate the opportunity to bring this problem to your reader’s attention.
Thank you.
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