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Stanford Lively Arts unveils new season
Premieres planned in jazz, film, percussion, theater

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Steve Reich, you've just won the Pulitzer Prize in music. What are you going to do now?

Bring a new work to Stanford.

Granted, the New York composer isn't scheduled to come to the university until January. But Stanford Lively Arts' new season, which was announced today, gives Reich enthusiasts something to look forward to.

According to the lineup, the Brooklyn quartet So Percussion will give a U.S. premiere to "Mallet Quartet" on Jan. 9 as part of an all-Reich program. The composer is also expected to speak on campus.

Reich, known for his minimalist style and innovative mix of sounds -- Western classical, jazz and taped speech, for starters -- won the Pulitzer last week for his piece "Double Sextet." It can be performed by 12 players or by six musicians with a recording of themselves, Reich told National Public Radio.

Plenty of other premieres are also on the bill for Lively Arts in the 2009-10 season, which runs Oct. 10 through May 5.

The season opens with jazz pianist and composer Uri Caine giving a West Coast premiere to his work "The Othello Syndrome," which has roots in Shakespeare and the Verdi opera.

On Jan. 16, the Kronos Quartet will give the first West Coast performance of "Yin Yu Tang: A Chinese Home." The staged work with video also features Wu Man playing the pipa (a plucked Chinese instrument) and is inspired by a Chinese home that was rebuilt in Massachusetts -- and the eight generations of the family it housed.

A central project in the season is a yearlong residency with jazz trumpeter Dave Douglas and filmmaker Bill Morrison. They'll work with students and faculty and develop a new work of film and music, tentatively titled "Frankenstein: The First Hundred Years." The composition will look at technology and the spirit of invention, and be premiered on April 24 with a festival of student works.

Another noted trumpeter, Terence Blanchard, is scheduled to perform on March 6. The composer will play his "A Tale of God's Will (A Requiem for Katrina)" from the score of Spike Lee's film "When the Levees Broke," with the Stanford Symphony Orchestra.

"It's a good year for trumpets," Lively Arts artistic and executive director Jenny Bilfield said.

It's also a good year for Stanford students. While they've always gotten a discount to Lively Arts performances, this year the university's students will get in for $10. This is funded by longtime donors and the Stanford Institute for Creativity & the Arts.

"Our hunch is we'll see an upswing in student participation," Bilfield said.

In theater, L.A. Theatre Works' radio play "The RFK Project" will be performed on Jan. 27, looking at Robert Kennedy's involvement in civil rights. On May 5, multimedia artist Laurie Anderson will give a U.S. premiere to "Two-Sided Plays," 10 plays on ways to view opposing sides of issues.

Other planned events include performances by the new ballet company Morphoses/The Wheeldon Company, the vocal quartet Anonymous 4, and South African singer-songwriter Vusi Mahlasela. The "Prokofiev Project" will feature discussions, concerts and a family matinee with large puppets.

Lively Arts also organizes other events, such as free artist talks and workshops with students. Students are also expected to curate a new series of opening acts this season.

For more information, go to livelyarts.stanford.edu.


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