Carly MurphyThe Marybelle and Sebastian P. Musco Center for the Arts at Chapman University is proud to unveil its highly anticipated 2023-2024 Fall/Winter season with a line up that will leave audiences mesmerized. From August through February 2024, a fusion of extraordinary artistry and groups from the realms of jazz, contemporary dance, classical music, ballet folklórico, film, theatre, and multi-genre performances unite to transcend cultural boundaries.
The series kicks off with “Symphony in the Cities,” an outdoor symphony serenade beneath the stars with Maestro Carl St. Clair. “LatinXoxo,” promises to weave a spellbinding tapestry of dynamic storytelling, while Disney’s beloved masterpiece, “The Little Mermaid,” takes on new life as a live orchestra accompanies this timeless tale. The breathtaking celebration of Día de Los Muertos with the soul-stirring fusion of Ballet Folklórico de Los Ángeles and the extraordinary Mariachi Garibaldi de Jaime Cuéllar are all special events included in this dynamic series.
Among the many highlights of this season, one stands out as a true beacon of innovation and artistry. The Marybelle Musco Contemporary Dance Series, an extraordinary creation conceived by the center’s co-founding benefactor, Marybelle Musco. This groundbreaking series will showcase three acclaimed professional dance companies: the awe-inspiring Mark Morris Dance Group, the incomparable Camille A. Brown & Dancers, and the visionary MOMIX. These companies will perform but also engage with students through the transformative Leap of Art Residencies. General ticket sales begin Monday, July 10 at 9 a.m. at muscocenter.org.
“Marybelle Musco has a lifetime interest in dance and is deeply knowledgeable about where dance is today,” said Richard T. Bryant, executive director of Musco Center. “We are thrilled to partner with her to bring this exciting new dance series to Chapman University. This collaboration will provide a powerful platform for creative expression and cultural exchange.”
Dr. Giulio M. Ongaro, Dean of Chapman University’s College of Performing Arts stated, “The Leap of Art residencies have been providing unparalleled access to outstanding artists who have challenged and inspired our students, not just in COPA but across the whole university. I am particularly grateful to Marybelle Musco for her vision in establishing the Marybelle Musco Contemporary Dance Series. I am really looking forward to those concerts and to seeing the fruits of the work these guest artists will do with the students of our nationally-ranked Department of Dance.”
Musco Center and Pacific Symphony presents
Symphony in the Cities
7 p.m. on Aug. 6
Gates open at 4:30 p.m. Pre-concert activities begin at 5:30 p.m.
Wrap up a beautiful summer day with an outdoor symphony serenade beneath the stars. Pack a picnic, grab a lawn chair or blanket, and gather the family for an evening of free music and fun featuring popular classics, pop tunes, and patriotic tunes. A pre-concert musical playground with interactive and hands-on activities for children, includes instrument making, a drum circle, and a conducting lesson with Maestro St.Clair.
Disney’s “The Little Mermaid” in Concert
Film with The Chapman Orchestra and Professional Musicians
7:30 p.m., Sept. 29
Bring the whole family to the beloved Oscar®-winning animated film “The Little Mermaid,” transformed into a unique concert experience with a live symphony orchestra of professional and student musicians from The Chapman Orchestra. It’s a visually stunning, high definition, multimedia family show that features Alan Menken’s beautiful score and beloved songs such as “Under the Sea,” “Part of Your World,” and more.
Musco Center, Wilkinson College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences & Crean College of Health and Behavioral Sciences present
Australian Haydn Ensemble
7:30 p.m., Oct. 14
Known for its vibrant and accessible performances, The Australian Haydn Ensemble is one of Australia’s leading historically informed orchestras and chamber music groups. AHE brings together world-class musicians who excel in modern and period instrument performance and pay equal attention to performance and historical research. Its repertoire, focused on the music of the late Baroque and early classical era, stays true to the sounds that would have been familiar to Haydn and his contemporaries. AHE has performed all over Australia and the United States and received critical acclaim for the debut ABC Classics recording, “The Haydn Album,” which premiered at No. 1 on the Australian classical aria charts.
U.S. Army Field Band
3 p.m. Oct. 15, free
From Boston to Baghdad, Tampa to Toronto, The United States Army Field Band has spent six decades sharing their music throughout the nation and abroad, earning the title of “The Musical Ambassadors of the Army.” As the premier touring musical representative for the United States Army, this internationally acclaimed organization, composed of some of the finest musical talent, is considered by music critics to be one of the most versatile and inspiring musical organizations in the world.
LatinXoxo
7:30 p.m. Oct. 19
“An expertly crafted evening of cabaret that tells an impactful story” — Broadway World
LATINXoxo is Migguel Anggelo’s nonconforming and self-accepting rallying cry: A break from “Latin Lover” clichés and his Venezuelan father’s gendered expectations. This artistic and inspirational transdisciplinary work immerses the audience in a highly personal story told through an artful collage of theater, queer comedy, physical movement, and sumptuous song selections. The musical repertoire spans decades of pop hits, his own original compositions, and the Spanish boleros that defined his youth. With indelible precision, weaving in and out of the audience, Venezuelan-born, Miami and Brooklyn-based Anggelo connects past and present while unraveling the stereotypes that would otherwise constrain him.
Anoushka Shankar
7:30 p.m., Oct. 21
Virtuosic and emotional, classical and contemporary, Anoushka Shankar’s masterful sitar playing creates a world where ragas, bright analogue soundscapes, and contemplative electronics beautifully coexist. As a child, Shankar studied the sitar with her father, Pandit Ravi Shankar, one of the world’s best known North Indian classical musicians. Eventually, she would merge the meditative, introspective qualities of Indian classical music with a teenage love for electronic music and the Goan psychedelic trance scene, creating a sound “one foot in the past and one in the present.”
Ofrenda — Ballet Folklórico de Los Ángeles & Mariachi Garibaldi de Jaime Cuéllar
3 p.m., Oct. 22
Celebrate one of Mexico’s most beloved holidays, Día de Los Muertos, with the nation’s premier Mexican folk dance company, Ballet Folklórico de Los Ángeles, and the musicians of Mariachi Garibaldi de Jaime Cuéllar, led by three-time Grammy award-winner Jimmy Cuéllar. Ofrenda pays tribute to traditional music and dances from different regions, including “La Bruja” from Veracruz and “Retablo Purépecha” from the state of Michoacán, along with amazing music from the Disney movie “Coco,” plus an homage to Mexican artists Juan Gabriel, Selena, Pedro Infante, and José Alfredo Jiménez.
Gordon Goodwin’s Big Phat Jazz Band
7:30 p.m, Oct. 26
Combining the big-band swing of the 1930s and ‘40s with contemporary music such as funk and jazz fusion, the Big Phat Band, led by pianist/saxophonist/arranger Gordon Goodwin, is a national phenomenon, a “winning combination of impeccable musicianship and pop savvy” (JazzTimes). Having amassed 21 Grammy nominations, four Grammy wins, and three Emmy wins, Goodwin leads this 18-piece jazz orchestra that bubbles over with melodic ingenuity and infectious rhythms and makes for a vibrant and energetic live experience that appeals to both beboppers and headbangers.
Mark Morris Dance Group – “The Look of Love”
7:30 p.m., Nov. 4
“No choreographer alive has a higher reputation for musicality than Mark Morris; and that reputation…has been well earned over more than 30 years of marvelously eclectic creativity.” — The New York Times
In “The Look of Love,” Mark Morris and his dancers present a wistful and heartfelt homage to the chart-topping songs of the late Burt Bacharach and his longtime lyricist Hal David. This evening-length work features original choreography by Morris and new musical arrangements by Ethan Iverson, with Broadway star Marcy Harriell on lead vocals. Bacharach’s marvelous music “calls out for dancing,” says Morris. You’ll hear new arrangements of classic hits, performed live by the Mark Morris Dance Group’s Music Ensemble, from “I Say a Little Prayer” and “Walk On By” to “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head.” Morris, a hugely influential figure in the world of dance, founded his Mark Morris Dance Group in 1980 and remains its artistic director. His works are universally celebrated for their wit, creativity, musicality, and emotional depth.
Nochebuena
Ballet Folklórico de Los Ángeles & Mariachi Garibaldi de Jaime Cuéllar
7:30 p.m., Dec. 20 – 21
“A lively holiday spectacular.” – Los Angeles Times
Artistic directors Kareli Montoya (Ballet Folklórico de Los Ángeles) and Jaime Cuéllar have created a vibrant holiday experience celebrating the traditions and customs of Christmas Eve in Mexico. Music and dance from across Mexico’s diverse regions blend the traditions of Indigenous cultures, Spanish heritage, and diverse cultural influences in an exciting night of festive family fun. Make this holiday extravaganza part of your family’s annual tradition. But buy your tickets early — this event sells out every year.
Camille A. Brown & Dancers – “ink”
7:30 p.m., Jan. 26
“Every aspect of the dance-making here is thoroughly accomplished.”— The New York Times
“ink”, the final installment of Camille A. Brown’s trilogy on Black identity, features a series of duets and solos, weaving together elements of African-American social dance, African, tap, jazz, modern, and hip-hop movement, accompanied by percussion-driven original music performed live by a quartet. Through ancestral stories and pop culture references, “ink” examines self-empowerment, Black love, brotherhood, and resilience. Brown has choreographed major Broadway shows such as “Choir Boy,” “Once on This Island,” and the production of “Jesus Christ Superstar: Live in Concert” which aired on NBC. She started her career as a dancer in Ronald K. Brown’s Evidence, A Dance Company, and has been a guest artist with Rennie Harris’s Puremovement, and Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater.
Herb Alpert & Lani Hall
7:30 p.m., Jan. 28
Husband-and-wife team Herb Alpert and Lani Hall are a musical power couple for the ages, with 11 Grammy Awards and countless chart-topping hits between them. Alpert is the legendary trumpeter of Tijuana Brass fame, who provided an upbeat soundtrack to the ‘60s with such hits as “The Lonely Bull,” “A Taste of Honey,” “Tijuana Taxi” and “This Guy’s In Love With You.” He’s taken his career in extraordinary new directions with his current agile, melodious jazz-pop trio. Hall, the unforgettable voice of the original Sergio Mendes and Brasil ’66, has recorded 22 albums in three different languages. Their musical offerings include tunes from the American songbook, jazzy sets sprinkled with Brazilian rhythms, a Tijuana Brass medley and much more.
Small Island Big Song
7:30 p.m., Feb. 3
“Indigenous instruments support modern sensibilities and vice versa … [It’s] one very big, very happy family doing what they do best while helping get the word out on a most serious issue.” — Tom Orr, Roots World, USA
Small Island Big Song is a multi-platform project uniting the seafaring cultures of the Pacific and Indian Oceans through songs, sending a collaborative and urgent message from a region at the frontline of the climate crisis. With two award-winning albums, a feature film, educational programs, and a live touring concert, Taiwanese producer BaoBao Chen and Australian music producer/filmmaker Tim Cole make cultural connections across vast oceans, working with artists dedicating to preserving the cultural voice of their people by singing in their native tongues and using traditional instrumentation. These uniques sounds meet with contemporary styles — roots-reggae, beats, grunge, RnB, folk, and spoken-word – and establish musical dialogues between cultures such as Madagascar, Aotearoa, Taiwan, Mauritius, Marshall Islands, Papua New Guinea, Tahiti and Rapa Nui, creating “one coherent jaw dropping piece.” (Billboard)
Jazz at Lincoln Center – “Sing and Swing” — Our American Songbook
Bria Skonberg and Benny Bencack III
3 p.m., Feb. 4
This new and highly anticipated project from Jazz at Lincoln Center celebrates the Great American Songbook in all of its playful and sophisticated glory, brought to life by two of this generation’s brightest stars. Each armed with prodigious trumpet talent and vocal charm, Bria Skonberg and Benny Benack III will relive and re-imagine some of the classic partners in jazz and popular song, including Ella Fitzgerald, Judy Garland and Bing Crosby, and Dean Martin and Peggy Lee. Featuring songs by Gershwin, Ellington, Cole Porter, Irving Berlin and many more, and joined by a who’s who of New York all-stars, this is an “unforgettable” evening of singin’ and swingin’ with Bria and Benny.
MOMIX – “Alice”
7:30 p.m., Feb. 23
“A magical mystery tour and a visual cornucopia” — Critical Dance
Travel down the rabbit hole MOMIX-style with Moses Pendleton’s newest creation, “Alice,” inspired by Lewis Carroll’s immortal fantasy “Alice in Wonderland.” As Alice’s body grows and shrinks and grows again, Pendleton’s dancers extend themselves using props, ropes, and other dancers. “Alice” is a natural fit for MOMIX and an opportunity to extend the company’s reach with a fusion of its signature dancing, lighting, music, costumes, and projected imagery. Pendleton founded MOMIX in 1980, and the company is now known worldwide for its visually stunning and innovative performances that blend dance, music, and multimedia elements.
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About Chapman University
Founded in 1861, Chapman University is a nationally ranked private university located in Southern California. Chapman is categorized by the Carnegie Classification as an R2 “high research activity” institution and offers personalized education to more than 9,000 undergraduate and graduate students. The campus has produced a Rhodes Scholar, been named a top producer of Fulbright Scholars, and hosts a chapter of Phi Beta Kappa, the nation’s oldest and most prestigious honor society. Based in the City of Orange, Chapman also includes the Harry and Diane Rinker Health Science Campus in Irvine. In 2019, the university opened its 11th college, Dale E. and Sarah Ann Fowler School of Engineering, in its newest facility, Keck Center for Science and Engineering. Learn more about Chapman University: www.chapman.edu.
Media Contact:
Cerise Valenzuela Metzger, Director of Public Relations | cmetzger@chapman.edu | 714-289-3143
Carly Murphy, Public Relations Coordinator | carmurphy@chapman.edu | Desk: 714-289-3196 | Mobile: 714-497-9683
