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MUSIC
Mestre Cobra Mansa: Introduction to Capoeira Music
Thursday, April 25
12–1pm
Ann E Pitzer Center
Hutchison Drive & Cushing Way, Davis, CA 95616
Mestre Cobra Mansa is a recognized Capoeira Angola master based in Bahia, Brazil, who has extensive experience teaching and performing capoeira around the world. He participated in the revival of Capoeira Angola during the 1980s–90s in Bahia and now leads the International Capoeira Angola Foundation, one of the most influential capoeira groups in the world. Recently, he participated in the project Angolan Roots of Capoeira led by historian Matthias Rohrig Assuncao (University of Essex), which took them to Angola four times.
Free (a Shinkoskey Noon Concert)
Camellia Symphony Orchestra: Exuberant Energy
Saturday, April 27
7:30pm
C.K. McClatchy High School
3066 Freeport Blvd, Sacramento, CA 95818
Gabriela Lena Frank, Elegía Andina
Xavier Beteta, Piano Concerto (with Xavier Beteta, piano)
Mozart, Symphony No. 41 “Jupiter”
UC Davis Baroque Ensemble and the Davis High School Baroque Orchestra
Sunday, April 28
3pm
Ann E. Pitzer Center
Hutchison Drive & Cushing Way, Davis, CA 95616
UC Davis Baroque Ensemble:
UC Davis Faculty Affiliate Michael Sand and UC Davis Lecturer Phebe Craig, directors
Davis High School Baroque Ensemble:
UC Davis Alumnus Angelo Moreno, director
Works by Corelli, Muffat, J.S. Bach and his cousin J.B. Bach.
Trio Foss
Thursday, May 2
12–1pm
Ann E. Pitzer Center
Hutchison Dr & Cushing Way, Davis, CA 95616
This concert was originally listed as HRABBA ATLADOTTIR, VIOLIN.
Hrabba Atladottir, violin
Nina Flyer, cello Miles Graber, piano
Brahms: Piano Trio No. 3 in C Minor Robert Greenberg: The Daughters of Atlas (piece written for Trio Foss) Piazzolla: Verano Porteño
Free (a Shinkoskey Noon Concert)
New Music Percussion: Compositions by UC Davis Students
Friday, May 3
5pm
Ann E. Pitzer Center
Hutchison Drive & Cushing Way, Davis, CA 95616
Chris Froh, UC Davis Lecturer in Music, percussion
with percussion students of UC Davis
First performances of works written by graduate students of UC Davis in music.
Sam Clark-McHale
Jonathan Favero
Joseph Vasinda
Adam Strawbridge
Free
Storm Large & Le Bonheur
Friday, May 3
8pm
Mondavi Center
Old Davis Road & Mrak Hall Drive, Davis, CA 95616
As her name portends, Storm Large is every bit the natural phenomenon. After shooting to prominence on Rock Star: Supernova, Large has built a career that includes regular gigs with Pink Martini and the Oregon Symphony as well as her own one-woman shows Crazy Enough and Cabaret. With her longtime band, Le Bonheur, Large leads a bold show that includes the Great American Songbook, Broadway standards, rock anthems and some of her own original songs—alongside some unfiltered stage banter that will entertain (and perhaps elicit) a few blushes along the way.
Parental Advisory: Storm’s show includes mature subject matter and profanity.
UC Davis Symphony Orchestra: Aztec, Maya, and Inca Worlds
Saturday, May 4
7pm
Mondavi Center
Old Davis Road & Mrak Hall Drive, Davis, CA 95616
Christian Baldini, music director and conductor
UC Davis Department of Music
Ann Cleare: phôsphors (. . . of ether)
Brahms: Double Concerto with Tatjana Roos, violin, and Eunghee Cho, cello
Esteban Benzecry: Rituales Amerindios
Vijay Iyer Sextet
Tuesday, May 7
7pm
Mondavi Center
Old Davis Road & Mrak Hall Drive, Davis, CA 95616
Polymath. Genius. Vijay Iyer is no stranger to lofty names being thrown his way. From his first Trio albums, it was clear that his is a unique talent. What is more impressive is how he has grown as a composer and arranger over the past decade. With his sextet, Iyer makes a fascinating leap into ensemble writing that takes advantage of a powerful lineup (cornetist Graham Haynes, drummer Jeremy Dutton, saxophonists Steve Lehman and Mark Shim and bassist Stephan Crump) veering between tight horn lines, grooves and moments of atmospheric elegance.
Vladimir Feltsman, piano
Wednesday, May 8
7pm
Mondavi Center
Old Davis Road & Mrak Hall Drive, Davis, CA 95616
Connections, Influences and Inspirations, Part II: Brahms and Schumann
Pianist and conductor Vladimir Feltsman is one of the most versatile and commanding musicians of our time. He returns to the Mondavi Center for the second concert in a three-year project—Connections, Influences and Inspirations—featuring a performance that explores the ways in which some of the greatest composers for the keyboard drew on the work of those who came before. Following his 2018 performance (focused on the work of Bach, Beethoven and Chopin), this second performance of the project will focus on the work of Schumann and Brahms.
Schumann: Arabeske in C Major, op. 18
Schumann: Kreisleriana, op. 16
Brahms: Six Pieces, op. 118
Brahms: Four Pieces, op. 119
MUSIC/DANCE
Mestre Cobra Mansa and Friends: Capoeira Angola
Friday, April 26
7pm
Ann E Pitzer Center
Hutchison Drive & Cushing Way, Davis, CA 95616
Mestre Cobra Mansa is a recognized Capoeira Angola master based in Bahia, Brazil, who has extensive experience teaching and performing capoeira around the world. He participated in the revival of Capoeira Angola during the 1980s–90s in Bahia and now leads the International Capoeira Angola Foundation, one of the most influential capoeira groups in the world. Recently, he participated in the project Angolan Roots of Capoeira led by historian Matthias Rohrig Assuncao (University of Essex), which took them to Angola four times.
FILM
In the Fade
Sunday, April 28
2pm
Mondavi Center
Old Davis Road & Mrak Hall Drive, Davis, CA 95616
Directed by Fatih Akin
After a terrorist attack, Katja’s life falls apart. In the Fade follows her story through grief, the German legal system and the underground world of Neo-Nazis in Europe. Her friends and extended family try to give her the support she needs, and Katja somehow manages to make it through the funeral. But the mind-numbing search for the perpetrators and reasons behind the senseless killing complicate Katja’s painful mourning, opening wounds and doubts. Katja struggles as she endures the trial against the two suspects: a young couple from the neo-Nazi scene. The trial pushes Katja to the edge and there’s simply no alternative for her: she wants justice.
Post-film discussion lead by Jaimey Fisher, Professor, German and Cinema & Digital Media, Director, Davis Humanities Institute, UC Davis.
“In the Fade is a tragedy in three acts, their varying tone and effectiveness held together, however tenuously, by a powerhouse performance.” — Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic
“It's a deeply unsettling film - delivering a message that can't be ignored.” — Vanessa H. Larson, Washington Post
NOTE: Rated R for some disturbing images, drug use, and language including sexual references.
Body Games: Capoeira and Ancestry
Thursday, April 25
2pm
Ann E Pitzer Center
Hutchison Drive & Cushing Way, Davis, CA 95616
The film follows Capoeira master ‘Mestre’ Cobra Mansa and his friends in the search for the African roots of the Brazilian martial art known as Capoeira. In it, a powerful myth links Capoeira to a legendary Angolan game called Engolo—known as the Zebra dance. The film documents, for the first time, Engolo as well as other combat games, dances, and music from the Nyaneka-Humbi people in Southern Angola. The exchange between Capoeira and Engolo in Angolan villages and the insights from the streets of Rio and Bahia illuminate the affinities and differences between combat games and musical bows played on both sides of the Atlantic.
Directed by Richard Pakleppa, Matthias Röhrig Assunção, and Anthropologist Christine Dettmann.
Immediately following the film, Mestre Cobra Mansa will host a Q & A.
Free
Alhambra: Sacramento’s Palace of Fantasy
Saturday, April 27
2pm
Woodland Opera House
340 2nd St, Woodland, CA 95695
This documentary tells the story of Sacramento’s beloved Alhambra Theatre, a million dollar temple, built in 1927 for moving pictures and the arts. The story is told with compelling interviews, pictures and newly-found archival footage. Co-producers Matías Bombal and Chad E. Williams rendered the pieces of this historical puzzle into a compelling story arc of Sacramento’s pride and later, shame.
• 12:30 pm: Guided tours of the historic Woodland Opera House
• 2:00 pm: Movie will start promptly
• Bombal and Williams will address the audience and do a Q&A session following the screening
• Reception (non-hosted) will resume in the Heritage Plaza
THEATER
Rumpelstiltskin and the Game of the Name, The Musical
Friday, May 3–Sunday, May 12
Woodland Opera House
340 2nd St, Woodland, CA 95695
Theater for Families
Based on the classic fairy tale by the Brothers Grimm, Rumpelstiltskin and the Game of the Name is a children’s musical making its debut at the Woodland Opera House. The poor Miller’s tall tales get him into hot water, as he brags about his shy, unassuming daughter, Jane’s, ability to spin straw into gold.
Music is composed by Vatrena King, and its book and lyrics written by Catherine Hurd, the team behind the award winning musical, Zuccotti Park.
Recommended for audiences ages 4 and up.