Portland Ovations Announces New Season: The Midtown Men and More

On May 30th Portland Ovations Executive Director Aimée M. Petrin previewed the new season for Ovations' Members at the Annual Members-Only Sneak Preview Party. During the capacity-crowd reception, Ovations Members received the first look at a dynamic new season made up of masterful artists and astonishing performances which Portland Ovations will bring to stages around the Portland area during its 2012-2013 season. Performance presentations will take place at Merrill Auditorium; Hannaford Hall at USM, Portland; ICA at MECA and the state-of-the-art Westbrook Performing Arts Center.

Each year for over 80 years the not-for-profit performing arts presenter brings an exciting array of artists and performances that entertains, inspires and delights our community. Its new 2012-13 season is no different and celebrates the centennial anniversaries of Igor Stravinsky's Rite of Spring and the opening of Merrill Auditorium. This season long celebration will be anchored by a performance by the world-renowned Joffrey Ballet on March 21, 2013 and will include other artist interpretations of Stravinsky's Rite of Spring. Up and coming award-winning classical pianists Soyeon Lee and Ran Dank will play the piece in the not-often performed four-hand arrangement (one piano, two musicians); acclaimed jazz trio, The Bad Plus brings their project On Sacred Ground: Stravinsky's Rite of Spring, a multi-media event taking the original composition to its farthest reaches and bringing it into the 21st century and North America's premier Grammy nominated wind quintet, Imani Winds will perform a unique arrangement of Rite of Spring created by Jonathan Russell for wind instruments.
Throughout the upcoming season audiences can enjoy performances from such genres as Dance and Movement, Music of the Americas, Broadway and Beyond, Global Traditions, Family Series and the longstanding Classical Series.

Dance and Movement opens the season with the world-premiere, First Friday presentation of Bridgman/Packer Dance's Voyeur. Co-commissioned by Ovations with footage shot in and around Portland, Voyeur blends video and live dance in an interactive installment at the ICA at MECA. The dance series continues with the Italian Spellbound Dance Company in its first major U.S. tour and the aforementioned Joffrey Ballet.

The Music of the America's category celebrates highly acclaimed musicians from both North and South America, featuring performances by Natalie MacMaster in a special holiday program, Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, The Pablo Ziegler Trio and banjo master Tony Trischka's world premiere of The Banjo Project, a multimedia event bringing to life the history of the banjo.

Broadway and Beyond includes classic Broadway performances of West Side Story and Hair, as well as more modern titles Disney's Beauty and The Beast and Rock of Ages. Another Broadway offering The Midtown Men brings together the four original members of the Broadway smash Jersey Boys for a concert of incredible 60's hits. Portland

Ovations' Global Traditions category serves up some unbelievable talent from around the world such as, the high-energy Royal Drummers and Dancers of Burundi, Haitian musician BélO and the fully staged theatrical production of Shaolin Warriors which focuses on the mental and physical disciplines of Shaolin Kung Fu and its Zen philosophy.

With its youngest audiences in mind, Portland Ovations will present The True Story of the Three Little Pigs and Treasured Stories by Eric Carle as part of its Family Series.

Finally, Ovations' esteemed classical series includes performances from renowned pianist Marc-André Hamelin, the string quartet ETHEL, Jonathan Biss and the Elias String Quartet, along with Soyeon Lee, Rank Dank and Imani Winds.

"We strive to bring artists from a wide breadth of the performing arts world and connect them to our community through the performances and the Ovations Offstage activities that accompany them each season. We look forward to seeing our patrons take advantage of these many opportunities again and again during the 2012-13 season," expresses Petrin.

Be sure to check the Portland Ovations website regularly as Ovations Offstage offers several ways to understand more about each performance being presented and connect with the artists including pre-performance lectures, masterclasses and artist residencies throughout the season.

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