More dance and less touring theater.
That’s the message Denver audiences have sent Newman Center for the Performing Arts leaders after three seasons of Newman Center Presents, an annual, multifaceted series in the University of Denver facility.
And in booking the newly announced 2006-07 season, they listened. For the first time, there is not a traditional theatrical production in the lineup.
“Partly it’s because there are so many resident theater companies in the city and because, quite frankly, we haven’t yet found it particularly well attended when we’ve done it in Gates Concert Hall,” said executive director Stephen Seifert.
“So rather than insist on going down that road, we may do a little less of that and a little more dance, because dance has always sold out.”
The 2006-07 lineup includes appearances by two nationally known dance companies – Doug Varone and Dancers of New York City on April 28. 2007 and Colorado’s Aspen Santa Fe Ballet on March 3 2007.
Varone is well known in Denver for his work on Opera Colorado’s productions of “Orpheus and Eurydice” and “The Barber of Seville,” and a high-energy 2003 commission for the Colorado Ballet titled “Pounds and Stomps.”
In all, Newman Center Presents will present 14 events in 2006-07 – nine as part of its main subscription series and five extras.
“I think it’s a fun mix of jazz and classical music, of old standards and new things that are themselves very entertaining,” Seifert said.
Highlighting the classical-music offerings on March 21, 2007, will be the Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra, with world-renowned guitarist Eliot Fisk as guest soloist.
The program will include the world premiere of a Newman Center-commissioned work for guitar and chamber orchestra by Daniel Bernard Roumain, a boundary-busting composer who blends funk, rock, hip-hop and classical music.
Ivo Pogorelich, one of the most sought-after if controversial pianists in the world in the 1980s and early ’90s but now largely forgotten, will present a recital on Nov. 11 as part of what could be labeled a comeback tour.
He catapulted to instant fame in 1980 during the Chopin International Piano Competition in Poland. After his elimination in the third round, celebrated pianist Martha Argerich resigned from the jury in protest.
His career quickly skyrocketed, but his maverick interpretations provoked the ire of many critics and his penchant for cancellations and being something of a prima donna earned him unwelcome notoriety at the same time.
Rounding out the classical-music offerings on Oct. 14, 2006, will be the London Symphony Chorus, which previously has performed only on the East Coast. It will join DU’s Lamont Symphony Orchestra for Rossini’s “Stabat Mater.”
Among the remaining offerings, Seifert is especially excited about a Feb. 8, 2007, concert with gypsy violinist Roby Lakatos.
“I went to L.A. in November to hear his North American premiere at UCLA. The man is amazing, and he plays the violin like nobody I’ve ever seen,” he said.
“People look at me and say, ‘But nobody’s heard of him.’ I say, ‘Yeah, but we’re a university, multidisciplinary presenter. We’re supposed to be presenting new discoveries to people.”‘
Fine arts critic Kyle MacMillan can be reached at 303-820-1675 or kmacmillan@denverpost.com.
Music and dance
Here is the lineup for the 2006-07 Newman Center Presents:
Sept. 21, Italian Festival
Sept. 28, Tiempo Libre
Sept. 29, Dizzy Gillespie All-Star Big Band
Oct. 14, London Symphony Chorus
Oct. 18, “The Race Show”
Oct. 28, So Percussion
Nov. 11, Ivo Pogorelich, pianist
Dec. 2, Paragon Ragtime Orchestra
Jan. 18, Ute Lemper, vocalist
Feb. 8, Roby Lakatos Ensemble
March 3, Aspen Santa Fe Ballet
March 21, Stuttgart Chamber
Orchestra; Eliot Fisk, guitarist
April 28, Doug Varone and Dancers
May 12-13, “The Pirates of Penzance,” Carl Rosa Opera
Tickets: 303-871-7720 or
