UMS Concert Program, February 7, 1987: International Presentations Of Music & Dance -- Martha Graham Dance Company

Season: 108th
Concert: Twenty-eighth
Power Center For The Performing Arts Ann Arbor, Michigan

THE UNIVERSITY MUSICAL SOCIETY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
Martha Graham Dance Company
60th Anniversary Season
MARTHA GRAHAM Artistic Director
Ron Protas, General Director and Associate Artistic Director
Linda Hodes, Associate Artistic Director
James D. Nomikos, General Manager
Eugene Lowery, Operations Director
Kristina Angela Kapp, Development Director
Takako Asakawa Thea Nerissa Barnes Jacqulyn Buglisi Terese Capucilli Christine Dakin Donlin Foreman Judith Garay Julian Littleford Peggy Lyman Maxine Sherman George White, Jr. Larry White
Sophie Giovanola Joyce Herring Steve Rooks Kim Stroud
Mark Borneman Lyndon Branaugh Kathy Buccellato Mario Camacho
Christopher Dolder Floyd Flynn Debra Kantor Theresa Maldonado
Pascal Rioult Kenneth Topping Denise Vale
Costumes: Martha Graham, Halston Scenery: Isamu Noguchi, Ron Protas, Ming Cho Lee, Philip Staff,
Dani Karavan Lighting: Jean Rosenthal, Gilbert V. Hemsley, Jr., Beverly Emmons,
Thomas Skelton, Richard Nelson
Regisseurs: Martha Graham, Linda Hodes, Ron Protas, Bert Terborgh, Yuriko
Company Rehearsal Director: Bert Terborgh Assistant Rehearsal Director: David Hochoy
Saturday Evening, February 7, 1987, at 8:00
Power Center for the Performing Arts
Ann Arbor, Michigan
The Musical Society gratefully acknowledges the generosity of Ford Motor Company Fund for underwriting the costs of this house program. This performance is supported in part by Arts Midwest's members and friends, in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts.
Cameras are not allowed in the auditorium. Twenty-eighth Concert of the 108th Season Sixteenth Annual Choice Series
PROGRAM
PLAIN OF PRAYER
Choreography and Costumes: Martha Graham
Set: Jean Rosenthal Music: Eugene Lester
Lighting: Beverly Emmons after Jean Rosenthal
Choreography copyright 1977 by Martha Graham
First performed: May 29, 1968
There is a plain of prayer in Tibet. Maxine Sherman Julian Littleford
Lyndon Branaugh, Mario Camacho, Floyd Flynn, Steve Rooks, Kenneth Topping Kathy Buccellato, Debra Kantor, Denise Vale
This revival commissioned by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation
INTERMISSION
CAVE OF THE HEART
Choreography: Martha Graham Set: Isamu Noguchi Music: Samuel Barber
Original Lighting: Jean Rosenthal
Choreography copyright 1976 by Martha Graham
First performed: May 10, 1946
In Greek legend, Medea was a Princess of Colchis, renowned as a sorceress. She fled from her home with the hero Jason to Corinth where she lived with him as wife and bore him two children. But Jason was ambitious, and when Creon, the King, offered him the hand of his daughter in marriage, he abandoned Medea. Maddened with jealousy, Medea sent the Princess a wedding gift: an enchanted crown. When the Princess placed the crown upon her head, it brought down upon her a terrifying death. Medea then murdered her own children and fled Corinth in a chariot drawn by dragons, returning to her father, the Sun.
The Sorceress, Medea: Christine Dakin
Jason: George White, Jr. The Victim, Creon's Daughter: Debra Kantor
The Chorus: Sophie Giovanola
Originally commissioned by the Alice N. Ditson Fund, Columbia University, New York City.
Medea Ballet, Op. 23, used by arrangement with G. Schirmcr, Inc., publisher and copyright owner.
INTERMISSION
ACTS OF LIGHT
Choreography: Martha Graham Music: Carl Nielsen
Costumes: Halston Lighting: Beverly Emmons
First performed: February 26, 1981
Conversation of Lovers
Peggy Lyman Donlin Foreman
Lament
Jacqulyn Buglisi
Lyndon Branaugh, Mark Borneman, Mario Camacho Floyd Flynn, Kenneth Topping
Ritual to the Sun
Chief Celebrants: Peggy Lyman, Donlin Foreman
Kathy Buccellato, Sophie Giovanola, Joyce Herring
Debra Kantor, Theresa Maldonado, Kim Stroud, Denise Vale
Mark Borneman, Lyndon Branaugh, Mario Camacho, Christopher Dolder
Floyd Flynn, Pascal Rioult, Kenneth Topping
Commissioned in part by Edward H. Michaelsen.
"Thank you for all the Acts of Light which beautified a summer now passed to its reward." Taken from a letter by Emily Dickinson (No. 951) to Mrs. J. Howard Sweetser, Late Autumn 1884.
Pan and Syrinx, Bier of the Young Artist, Helios Overture. Music used by arrangement with Magnamusic-Baton, Inc. for Edition-Wilhelm Hanscn, publisher and copyright owner.
About the Artists
The Martha Graham Dance Company is in the midst of celebrating its 60th Anniversary Season, dating from April 18, 1926, when Martha Graham gave her first dance concert on her own -one that started her career as one of history's greatest dancers and choreographers. She has been compared to Picasso and Stravinsky because of her unquestionable dominance of her art. Her original move?ment technique and her monumental body of dance works -176 ballets -have been called the most significant contribution to dance in this century and include many classics of American modern dance.
During its sixty years, the Martha Graham Dance Company has received acclaim from audi?ences in over fifty countries. It has performed at opera houses in New York, London, and Paris, the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., as well as at the base of the Great Pyramids of Egypt, and the ancient Herod Atticus Theatre on the Acropolis in Athens, Greece. In addition to live performances, the company has also produced several films and videotapes that are telecast on the PBS network and then around the world.
The Martha Graham School in New York trains students in the Graham Technique, preparing them to become professional dancers in the Graham Company and other major dance companies throughout the world. The school's alumni include choreographers Paul Taylor, Merce Cunning?ham, and Twyla Tharp. Through a course entitled "Movement for Actors," actors including Bette Davis, Kirk Douglas, Tony Randall, Rip Torn, Lome Green, Eli Wallach, Joanne Woodward, and Woody Allen have studied with Martha Graham. The School is presently establishing a school in Florence, Italy, in response to the many requests from the cultural ministers throughout Europe for an authorized Martha Graham School in Europe.
The three concerts in Ann Arbor this weekend represent the company's only performances in the United States this year, prior to its full schedule of engagements abroad. Miss Graham continues to lead her company through engagements in the United States and abroad, as well as making dances, rehearsing, and teaching at her studio in New York City. The number of Ann Arbor concerts given by the Graham Company under Musical Society auspices total 16, including the three this weekend.
Martha Graham Dance Company Tomorrow afternoon, 3:00 p.m., Power Center
Appalachian Spring (1944)
Temptations of the Moon (1986)
The Rite of Spring (1984)
The Board of Trustees of the Martha Graham Center of Contemporary Dance, Inc. wishes to express its deepest appreciation to the following patrons whose extraordinary dedication and generosity make possible the continued activities of the Martha Graham Company and School: Halston, Mrs. Evelyn Sharp, Mrs. Lila Acheson Wallace, Pan American World Airways, Inc., The Eleanor Naylor Dana Charitable Trust, The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the New York Slate Council on the Arts, and the National Endowment for the Arts.
Coming Concerts
Kiri Te Kanawa, Soprano ................................... Tucs. Feb. 10
Guarneki String Quartet ................................... Fri. Feb. 13
Vienna PhilharmonicClaudio Abbado............ Tues., Wed., Mar. 3, 4
Vienna Symphony Virtuosi .................................. Fri. Mar. 6
Maurice Andre, Trumpet.................................... Sat. Mar. 14
Hungarian State Folk Ensemble...........................Tues. Mar. 17
New York City Opera National Company................Thurs. Mar. 19
Puccini's Madama Butterfly
Faculty Artists Concert (free admission) ................... Sun. Mar. 22
James Galway, Flutist........................................ Fri. Mar. 27
The Cambridge Buskers ................................... Sun. Mar. 29
Chamber Orchestra of Europe ...............................Fri. Apr. 3
Lorin Maazel, Conductor; Frank Peter Zimmeumann, Violinist
Gary Karr, Double BassEuor Fisk, Guitar .....................Sun. Apr. 5
Jean Guillou, Organist ......................................Sun. Apr. 12
1987 Ann Arbor May Festival -April 28-May 1
The Leipzig Gcwandhaus Orchestra
Kurt Masur, Music Director and Conductor
The Festival Chorus, Donald Bryant, Director
Pinchas Zukerman, Violinist Peter Rosel, Pianist
Marilyn Horne, Mezzo-Soprano
Arleen Auger, Soprano Vinson Cole, Tenor
Susanne Mentzer, Mezzo-Soprano Paul Plishka, Bass
Tuesday Beethoven: Violin Concerto (Zukerman); Dvorak: Symphony No. 9
("From the New World")
Wednesday Brahms: Piano Concerto No. 1 (Rosel); Beethoven: Symphony No. 5 Thursday Mahler: "Kindertotenlieder" (Horne); Bruckner: Symphony No. 4 ("Romantic") Friday Beethoven: Choral Fantasy (Rosel), Symphony No. 9, with Final Chorus on Schiller's
"Ode to Joy" (Auger, Mentzer, Cole, Plishka)
Series tickets now on sale; single tickets available March 9.
UNIVERSITY MUSICAL SOCIETY BOARD OF DIRECTORS
GAIL W. RECTOR, President DOUGLAS D. CRARY, Secretary
JOHN W. REED, Via-Prtsident JOHN D. PAUL, Trrawrr
NORMAN G. HERBERT HOWARD S. HOLMES DAVID B. KENNEDY RICHARD L. KENNEDY
PATRICK B. LONG tANN S. SCHRIBER HAROLD T. SHAPIRO
tHERBERT E. SLOAN LOIS U. STEGEMAN JERRY A. WEISBACH
First term began June 1, 1986. "("First term beganjanuary 1, 1987.
UNIVERSITY MUSICAL SOCIETY
Burton Memorial Tower, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109-1270 Telephone: (313) 764-2538