Quarterly preview: Tucson arts pop with creativity

Artistically speaking, the first month of 2017 explodes.

There’s the Tucson Fringe Theater Festival, which will present 19 shows Jan. 13-15 (see the lineup, Page 17). If you haven’t taken in a fringe fest, you are missing out. It’s a gluttony of theater, some thrilling, some not so much, but all new and daring and gutsy.

And the Tucson Desert Song Festival, which begins Jan. 18 and continues through Feb. 5, coordinates with local dance and music organizations to bring in world-class performers. Find more information on that festival Sunday, Jan. 15, in the Star’s Home + Life section.

The Tucson Jazz Festival, Jan. 12-22, will have the town hopping with world-class talent (see story, Page 22) that includes performances presented by the Tucson Symphony Orchestra and UA Presents.

That’s just the beginning to the next three months, which is full to overflowing with amazing performing arts.

Sure, it’s impossible to buy tickets to everything. That’s where we come in. We’ve gone over what’s coming up through the end of March to make our put-it-on-the-calendar list. We’re sharing it with you — but be forewarned: Some of these happen on the same dates. Oh, what a quandary ...

Classical music

• Classical guitarist

Carlos Bonell

• has advised Paul McCartney, recorded more than 20 albums and performed around the world. On Jan. 14, he joins equally-impressive classical guitarist Brad Richter for a concert at the Vail Theatre of the Arts.
• The University of Arizona Fred Fox School of Music celebrates individual instruments with a series of events. The school teams with up with UA Presents for the

Tucson Cello Congress

• . Cello players — more than 100 of them — from around the Southwest will participate. It will culminate in a recital at Crowder Hall on Jan. 14, featuring soloist Matt Haimovitz.
• And on Jan. 15, the school hosts the

Tucson Bass Jam

• with clinics all day. That evening there’s a free performance of a bass orchestra piece. It’s in Room 170 of the music school.
• Wait, there’s more: the school also plans the Saxophone Artist Series. On Jan. 18, saxophonist

Jonathan Hulting-Cohen

• and harpist

Jennifer R. Ellis

• will perform at the school. That one’s free, as is the

Timothy McAllister/Liz Ames

• recital on Jan. 24 at Crowder Hall. He plays sax, she piano. Then, Jan. 22 it’s

Clarinet Day

• . The afternoon will be full of performances (players are invited to join the “Clarinet Choir”). That one’s free, too.
• The school is also giving us a chance to hear

Joseph Alessi

• . He’s the principal trombonist for the New York Philharmonic and a trombone professor at Juilliard — and a visiting prof at the UA’s music school this semester. He’ll be playing with pianist

Martha Locker

• at Crowder Hall on Jan. 19. It’s free.
• The Arizona Friends of Chamber Music will totally indulge us Jan. 18 with the

St. Lawrence Quartet,

• which will perform works by Beethoven, Haydn and John Adams at the Leo Rich Theatre.
• Here’s a chance for a euphoric experience: The

Tucson Symphony Orchestra

• performs Brahms Requiem Jan. 20-22 as part of the Song Festival. Soprano Heidi Stober, baritone Andrew Craig Brown and the TSO Chorus all help to make for what will surely be a soaring event.
• Lute lovers will be in heaven Jan. 22 with

“A Musical Banquet”

• at Grace St. Paul’s Episcopal Church. It features a program of lute songs performed by tenor Rufus Müller and Daniel Swenberg on Renaissance guitar and lute. It’s part of the Desert Song Fest and an Arizona Early Music Society concert.

True Concord Voices & Orchestra

• has a massive project coming up, and we are the better for it: The group teams up with the Tucson Desert Song Fest to perform Mendelssohn’s epic “Elijah” Jan. 27-29. It features a 50-piece orchestra, 70 vocalists and 13 soloists — including Grammy-winning baritone Richard Paul Fink. It’s at Catalina Foothills High School Jan. 27; Green Valley’s Valley Presbyterian Church Jan. 28; and Catalina United Methodist Church Jan. 29.
• Arizona Friends of Chamber Music’s annual

Winter Chamber Music Festival

• is March 12-19 at the Leo Rich Theatre. Choosing is impossible: Poulenc, Schubert, Mozart and Beethoven are on the programs. And there will be a world premiere of a piece by Pierre Jalbert. And, of course, some of the finest musicians from around the world will perform. I guess we’ll just have to do it all.
• Making life even more delectable: UA Presents brings the

Academy of St. Martin in the Fields

• to Centennial Hall on March 28. They’ll be performing Haydn’s Symphony No. 26 D minor “Lamentatione,” and a few pieces by Shostakovich.

Opera

• Arizona Opera has performed Puccini’s “Madama Butterfly” eight times since its inaugural 1972-73 season. There’s a reason Puccini’s

“Madama Butterfly”

• is so popular — it is beautiful. The company presents the opera for the ninth time Jan. 28-29 at Tucson Music Hall, also as part of the Song Festival. It’s about a geisha in love with an American navy officer who turns out to be quite the cad. It all leads to tragedy, of course.
• Zane Grey’s novels were once the thing to read. Now, his

“Riders of the Purple Sage”

• could be the thing to see. This will be the first world premiere produced by Arizona Opera. It’s set in Zane’s wild west and adapted by composer Craig Bohmler. It’s Feb. 25-26 at Tucson Music Hall.

Dance

Ballet Tucson

• ‘s Winter Concert is a collaboration with the Tucson Desert Song Festival. Opera stars Bernardo Bermudez and Victoria Robertson will sing as the dancers perform. It’s at the Stevie Eller Dance Theatre Feb. 3-5. Miss that and you can catch the company’s Spring Concert, also at the Stevie Eller, March 18-19.
• The

UA School of Dance

• is considered one of the best. See why: The UA Dance Ensemble and the Arizona Choir perform Stravinsky’s ballet-cantata, “Les Noces” Feb. 15-19 at the Stevie Eller.
• The gorgeous

Dance Theatre of Harlem

• performs at Centennial Hall Feb. 17 courtesy of UA Presents. This is a don’t-miss for dance lovers.

Jazz/world/blues/country

• The

Tucson Jazz Festival

• launches Jan. 12 with sax player Kamasi Washington at the Rialto. Among the highlights of this year’s event: Tucson Symphony Orchestra and jazz great John Pizzarelli, Jan. 14-15 at Tucson Music Hall; crooner Storm Lodge Jan. 13 at the Fox Tucson Theatre; George Benson at the Fox on Jan. 19; and Grammy-winning vocalist Dee Dee Bridgewater joins the Tucson Jazz Institute’s Ellington Band on Jan. 20 at the Fox. The fest continues through Jan. 22. This is another of those events that’s impossible to cherry pick — we want to see it all.
• Any chance we get to hear mezzo soprano

Korby Myrick

• sing, we take it. And if it’s Gershwin she’s crooning, we really can’t resist. Jan. 21, she joins

Alexander Tentser

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• for a performance of Gershwin tunes at Rincon Congregational Church.

Bernadette Peters

• is kind of legendary on Broadway. And we’ll get a chance to hear her sing with her distinctive voice on Jan. 21 at Centennial Hall as part of the Tucson Desert Song Festival. Thank UA Presents for the gift.
• The Scottish band

Daimh

• brings its fiddle, bagpipes and gorgeous voices to St. Francis in the Foothills Church on Feb. 4, courtesy of In Concert! Tucson.
• Blues and funk lovers will swoon Feb. 8 when

Bettye Lavette

• — she’s called “The Godmother of Soul” — performs at the Fox Feb. 8. It’s a UA Presents event.

Tucson Symphony’s SuperPops

• goes country Feb. 11-12 with music by the likes of Johnny Cash, Hank Williams, Dolly Parton and a host of others. It’s at the Tucson Music Hall.
• The

Branford Marsalis Quartet

• and vocalist Kurt Elling will jazz it up at the Fox on Feb. 14. Now that’s how to spend Valentine’s Day. Also stopping in at the theater:

Michael Feinstein

• (Feb. 23), whose musical interpretation of tunes from the Great American Songbook has won him wild praise, and the incomparable

Rosanne Cash

• on March 5.
• Get ready for St. Paddy’s day with a concert by the Irish band

Goitse

• , which is bringing along step dancers for the gig. In Concert! Tucson brings the group to the Berger Performing Arts Center March 8.
• Trumpet great

Terell Stafford

• blows his horn better than most. Hear for yourself: He’s at Crowder Hall March 10, thanks to UA Presents.

Theater

Companies are entering the second half of the season with an abundance of thrilling offerings. Among them are those we’ve highlighted in other stories in this section.But there’s more, much more:

• Broadway in Tucson brings in

“Dirty Dancing”

• (Jan. 24-29), the musical version of the movie of the same name;

“Motown”

• (Feb. 21-26), which uses the story of Motown founder Berry Gordy to sing some of the finest rock ‘n’ roll songs ever recorded; and the Grammy- and Tony-winning

“Kinky Boots”

• (March 14-19). Packed with songs by Cyndi Lauper and loaded with a big heart, “Kinky Boots” is the one we are most excited about seeing. All productions are at Centennial Hall.
• The powerful Tony-winning drama

“Proof,”

• by David Auburn, is on stage at the Tornabene Theatre Feb. 5-26, courtesy of Arizona Repertory Theatre. The gripping play is about the daughter of a brilliant mathematician who struggles with the possibility that she has inherited his madness. Arizona Rep also stages Shakespeare’s comedy

“Twelfth Night”

• March 6-April 1.
• Something Something Theatre Company goes back to 1914 and a Catholic reformatory school to make a point about women’s rights in Monica Byrne’s

”What Every School Girl Should Know.”

• You can’t get much more timely than a play about women’s rights. It’s Feb. 9-26 at the Community Playhouse.
• I
• rish playwrights are among the best (George Bernard Shaw, Samuel Beckett, Brendan Behan, to name a few). The list includes Martin McDonagh, who wrote

“The Cripple of Inishmaan,”

• which Live Theatre Workshop stages Feb. 16-March 25. The dark comedy (do the Irish do any other kind?) is about a young man who sees a chance to escape the oppressive life in his small Irish town when a Hollywood film crew shows up to shoot a documentary about Inishmaan.
• Digna Theater is a new company that aims to stage works that address human rights issues. And its first play,

“Digna,”

• by Patricia Davis, does just that: It’s about the Mexican lawyer Digna Ochoa who was assassinated as a result of her civil rights activities. It’s Feb. 23-March 5 at the YWCA of Southern Arizona.
• Betcha can’t stop yourself from singing along: Arizona Theatre Company stages

“Ring of Fire: The Music of Johnny Cash”

• at the Temple of Music and Art March 4-25.
• Another astounding Irish playwright — Enda Walsh — is represented in The Rogue Theatre’s production of the tragicomedy,

“Penelope,”

• March 2-19. It’s his take on a piece of Homer’s “Odyssey.” Penelope is Odysseus’s wife, who waits patiently for her husband to return from the long, dangerous trip he’s on. Walsh imagines that, while Odysseus is away, four men vie for Penelope’s attention. The action takes place in an empty swimming pool. There are many compelling reasons to see this, not the least is which how the Rogue will give us that pool in their cozy theater.
• Invisible Theatre takes on Israel Horovitz’s powerful drama,

“Lebensraum,”

• Feb. 7-19. The play takes place in modern-day Germany. Six million Jews have been invited to return home, where jobs and benefits await them. Some cheer, others don’t.

Young at Art

• The TSO teams up with Tucson Regional Ballet for the symphony’s

“Aladdin and Other Tales”

• Jan. 28 at the Leo Rich Theatre. Classic fairy tales are told to the music of Ravel, Prokofiev and others.And TSO’s Feb. 25

Just for Kids

• tells the story of Tonya the Tortoise with the symphony’s Wind Quintet. That’s at the Tucson Symphony Center.
• The Southern Arizona Arts & Cultural Alliance, which does some of the coolest arts events in our neck of the woods, joins different groups for its

“Musical Magic for Kids,

• ” happening the first Saturday of every month. Feb. 4, the Civic Orchestra of Tucson brings its music and its instruments to the Oro Valley Children’s Museum. And March 4, the Music and Dance Academy leads the storytelling and music at the Oro Valley Council Chambers.
• There’s little to envy about Phoenix, but here’s one thing: Childsplay Theatre Co. The troupe stages pristine productions for children. It is bringing its version of

“The Cat in the Hat”

• to the Fox for one performance only, Feb. 21.
• The

Peking Acrobats

• defy gravity and, seemingly, anatomy, with their twists and turns and leaps. You can catch their performance at Centennial Hall on Feb. 12. Thank UA Presents for that gift.
• When it comes to keeping children entertained, Live Theatre Workshop’s Family Theatre is tops.

“Cat-Man and Kid Sparrow, The Fantastic Crime-Fighting Duo”

• plays through March 12. It’s by Stephen Frankenfield, LTW’s assistant director of Family Theatre, and the music is by Tucsonan David Ragland.