Free Ukulele Concert and Play Along at Mondavi Center

 

The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain

Join us in the Corin Courtyard on April 12 for food, drink and a free concert—and, bring your ukulele!

The concert features Uni & Her Ukelele who brings an eclectic mix of mean ukulele playing and infectious good fun. Those of you who play you own uke, bring it along! Cliff Adams of the Sacramento ukulele club Na Aikane will lead a Play Along rehearsal of George Hinchliffe’s Relentlessly “In C.” Food and drink will be available for purchase during the show.

The outdoor concert takes place prior to the performance of The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain in Jackson Hall. Audience members are encouraged to bring their ukuleles to the show and play Relentlessly “In C” with the orchestra during the performance. Audience members will be required to check their ukulele cases in the lobby.

Download music for Relentlessly "In C"

Friday, April 12
6:30–7pm: Uni & her Ukelele
7–7:10pm: Relentlessly “In C” rehearsal led by Cliff Adams of Na Aikane
7:10–7:30pm: Uni & her Ukelele
7:30–7:40pm: Relentlessly “In C” rehearsal led by Cliff Adams of Na Aikane

 

Uni & Her Ukelele

Google+ Hangout with Paul Dresher

The Quadrachord

 

Paul Dresher and Joel Deval of the Paul Dresher Ensemble not only bring inspiring fresh content to the world of new music, their musical expression also includes the invention of new instruments. Dresher and Deval joined Mondavi Center artist-in-residence Lara Downs for a Google+ Hangout on Thursday, March 28 to discuss the invention of The Quadrachord and the Marimba Lumina.

 

Watch the Hangout

These exciting new instruments will be featured in the Paul Dresher Ensemble’s performances of Double Duo at the Mondavi Center April 6 and 7.

The Paul Dresher Ensemble interprets the ideas and sounds of today’s most innovative and irreverent composers. With energy, virtuosity and incredible attention to the theatrical dimensions of performance, it produces and tours its own works of opera and experimental music theater (developed in collaboration with Obie Award-winning performer Rinde Eckert), and as the Electro-Acoustic Band, performs the work of an amazing range of contemporary composers with instrumentation that combines traditional acoustic and contemporary electronic instruments.

Marimba Lumina

Children's Stage For Adults

Photo by: Curtis Johnson

Joe Cashore of Cashore Marionettes had the soft toned voice of a longtime family doctor, when he introduced his program, Simple Gifts earlier this week. He opened the show with a quick little anecdote about what inspired the scene that we were about to see. Because of the soft lighting on him and his steady voice, it got me really relaxed and at ease. When the show started and he began making the different characters come to life it shocked me and woke me out of my relaxed state into one of complete alertness. I quickly realized that his mastery is not only in being able to move the numerous strings to make something “come alive” but his understanding of how other people feel. So, I guess that’s what we’d call empathy in physical form! From the worn-out mother of a newborn to a homeless man on the street and a stereotypical glam rock star, through slight movement of the hand he gave each puppet a personality making me forget that he was even standing on the stage.

I always find that when performances such as the Cashore Marionettes are “recommended for grades 4-12” I tend to love them the most. It seems that the performances for children are always much more didactic rather than being just pure entertainment (I love it when there is a moral to the story or something instructional). I feel that we can all still learn at any age. Really, in my experience, all Mondavi Center events are enjoyable for people of all ages! Don’t ever miss a show just because it says the show is for children. You just may think it’s the best performance you’ve seen yet!

—Bridgétt Rangel-Rexford

The next Children’s Stage event is Lara Downes Family Concert, Gertrude McFuzz, Carnival of the Animals and more! on Sunday, May 19 at 3PM


Bridgétt Rangel-Rexford is the winner of the 2012–13 winner of the Mondavi Center Golden Ticket Social Media Contest. Chosen to be the social media storyteller for our 10th anniversary season, Bridgétt will blog about her experiences at Mondavi Center performances throughout the season. You can also check out her Sun Queen Blog.

Free Outdoor Concert Featuring All-Stars

The Mondavi Center will present a free outdoor concert on Tuesday, March 19 from 6:30–7:30 p.m. featuring this year’s Mondavi Center SFJAZZ High School All-Stars and Sacramento’s Capital Jazz Project. Part of the Corin Courtyard series of concerts, the concert will precede the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis performance at 8 p.m..

The Corin Courtyard series of free outdoor concerts features local bands throughout the season. On the courtyard there is free wireless internet service, shady café tables and chairs and the Fusion Fresh Café food truck. The food and drink are available for purchase during the concerts.

 The All-Stars are a seven person ensemble of music students from two area high schools. Returning members are pianist Joey Cozza, drummer Paul Slater, trumpeter Jeric Rocamora and alto sax player Emery Mesich all from Rio Americano High School in Sacramento. Also returning is guitarist Noah Wolfe from Davis Senior High School. New this year is tenor sax player Lucas Bere and bassist Emma Simpson both from Rio Americano High School.

The All-Stars were selected by a panel of judges during a closed audition in the fall of 2012 at the Mondavi Center. Participants in the final audition were selected following open auditions in September of 2012.

Mike McMullen, founding member of the Sacramento region’s Capital Jazz Project and a jazz studies faculty member at California State University, Sacramento, will return this season to lead the ensemble.

Later this month the ensemble will also perform on at the new SFJAZZ Center with members of the San Francisco SFJAZZ High School All Stars and members of the SFJAZZ Collective sitting in. This performance will be held on Saturday, March 30 from 2:30 to 4 p.m.

More information about the Mondavi Center SFJAZZ High School All-Stars.

More information about the Mondavi Center Corin Courtyard Concerts.

Hear an interview with All-Star Emma Simpson on Capital Public Radio's Insight.

Mondavi Center SFJAZZ High School All-Stars

Egghead Walk & the St. Louis Symphony



Commissioned by the Campus Art in Public Places Work Group with private funds © UC Regents & Nelson Gallery; all rights reserved.

This week the Mondavi Center will host a three-day residency with the St. Louis Symphony sponsored in part by a grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

One highlight is the Egghead Music Walk on Friday, March 15 at 2 p.m. at UC Davis. This free outdoor concert features six world-premiere pieces composed by UC Davis music faculty and performed by members of the St. Louis Symphony on site at the six Egghead sculptures at UC Davis.

The sculptures were created by artist Robert Arneson, who was a UC Davis faculty member for four decades.

The Egghead Music Walk will begin at the “See No Evil/Hear No Evil” Egghead sculpture on the south side of Mrak Hall. After performing the first piece, the musicians and audience will proceed in turn to each of the five remaining Egghead sculptures on campus. The concert will conclude with a reception at the final Egghead location.

Download a Map of the Egghead Music Walk.

More information about the St. Louis Symphony Residency.

Sarah Chang's Encore

All photos courtesy of EMI

 

If you joined us for Sarah Chang last evening, perhaps you are wondering about the piece that she played for the encore. It was "Por Una Cabeza" by Carlos Gardel. 

Curious to know more about Carlos Gardel? Here is nice piece produced by NPR: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129783483.

 

 

Google+ Hangout with Lara Downes and Build

Lara Downes

Mondavi Center artist-in-residence Lara Downes and Matt McBane of the indie-classical band Build held a Google+ Hangout on Tuesday, March 5 at 1 p.m. This intimate online conversation discussed Moving in Place, a cinematic journey across centuries and continents, performed as part of the Mondavi Center’s Studio Classics Series March 23 at 8 p.m. and 24 at 2p.m.

 Watch the Hangout

Moving in Place features work from Downes’ new CD, Exiles’ Cafe, released in February— including works by Chopin, Bartok, Korngold and Mohammed Fairouz—along with McBane's original works from Build’s new album Place.

Build