School is back in session, which for many Tucsonans signifies the end of summer and the anticipation of cooler fall weather.
For music lovers, it means that the fall performing arts season is just around the corner.
Caliente will publish its annual fall arts preview on Sept. 22 β the first day of fall! β which means if you run a theater company, art gallery, music group, dance troupe or present Broadway plays, you should email us (caliente@tucson.com) with your fall schedules and photos by no later than Sept. 7.
Some groups have been in fall mode for weeks and even months, but Arizona Arts Live, the University of Arizona arts presenter, isnβt waiting until fall to get started.
Itβs getting a head start when it co-sponsors Hoco Fest with Hotel Congress Sept. 1-4. The annual Labor Day boutique festival features dozens of local and national bands performing at Congress, 311 E. Congress St. Visit hocofest.com for tickets, lineup and more information.
Arizona Arts Live also is teaming up with UA Athletics to host a tailgate concert Sept. 10 with country singer Phil Vassar before the Wildcats football team plays its first home game of the season against Mississippi State. On Sept. 16, itβs presenting Grammy-nominated Mariachi Herencia de Mexico with guest vocalist Lupita Infante at Hotel Congress.
Other season highlights include βImpulseβ Oct. 4-Nov. 8, a teeter-toter follow up to last yearβs popular monthlong interactive swings exhibit βMi Casa, Your Casa 2.0β; and a free screening Oct. 6 of βThe Thief Collector,β a new docudrama about the 1985 theft of Willem de Kooningβs famous painting, βWoman-Ochre,β from the UA Museum of Art. The painting, which has been restored, finally comes home to the UA when the museum opens βRestored: The Return of Woman-Ochreβ on Oct. 8; the exhibit runs through May 2023.
Sergio Mendozaβs mamba band Orkesta Mendoza opens the Tucson Symphony Orchestra season Sept. 17 with their first-ever appearance with their hometown orchestra. βOrkesta Mendoza & the Magic of Mexicoβ will feature Mendoza, Salvador Duran, Brian Lopez and other guests joining TSO Conductor JosΓ© Luis Gomez and the orchestra in an all-Latin program.
Other early season events, to be held at the Linda Ronstadt Tucson Music Hall, include the return of violinist Anne Akiko Meyers on Sept. 23 to perform Arturo MΓ‘rquezβs Violin Concerto βFandangoβ and the Oct. 29 βCocoβ cineconcert, the first of two cineconcerts this season. Tickets are on sale now for the second, βStar Wars: Return of the Jedi,β which will be held in May as a follow up to last yearβs sold out βStar Wars: The Empire Strikes Back.β
True Concord Voices & Orchestra opens its season Sept. 30 with the Southwest premiere of a work penned by one of the professional choirβs longtime vocalists. Timothy Takach, who has sung with True Concord for years, penned βHelios,β described as βa heavenly display of the human voice.β The performance will feature visuals of the universe, something that was not included in previous performances, True Concord Music Director Eric Holtan said.
βHeliosβ is the first of two True Concord premieres this season. In January, as part of the 2023 Tucson Desert Song Festival, True Concord will premiere Jocelyn Hagenβs βHere I Am,β with soprano Susanna Phillips. The pair were set to perform the world premiere at the 2022 song festival but the event was postponed courtesy the pandemic.
True Concord commissioned the work from Hagen, who is married to Takach.
βTrue Concord has always been committed to new works,β said Managing Director Welz Kauffman. βTim and Jocelyn are rock stars.β
Singer-songwriter Andy Grammer had to rediscover his own joy after pandemic shutdown, βone of the hardest seasons of my life."
Four of Tucson's finest musicians will perform movements from Mozart, Beethoven, DvorΓ‘k quartets at the Bach Society's summer series finale.Β
The Borderlands Ensemble performs before the mezcal tasting event featuring agave distillates from four distilleries.
