Cal Performance's Third Annual Ojai North! Features World Premiere of New Mark Morris Choreography for Rite of Spring

BERKELEY, January 4, 2013 - Cal Performances' third annual Ojai North!, a multi-year partnership with the esteemed Ojai Music Festival, opens with the world premiere of new choreography to Igor Stravinsky's Rite of Spring by the 2013 Ojai Music Director and choreographer Mark Morris on June 13-15, 2013. Set to The Bad Plus's rescoring of the explosive masterpiece for piano, bass and drums, Rite of Spring will be performed by the jazz trio and the Mark Morris Dance Group (MMDG). Highlighted by works that Morris champions, the festival programming also includes compositions by Lou Harrison, John Cage, Henry Cowell, Charles Ives and John Luther Adams. In addition to The Bad Plus, recognized by Rolling Stone magazine as 'about as badass as highbrow can get,' joining Morris in Berkeley will be his MMDG Music Ensemble, pianist/organist Colin Fowler, the American String Quartet, percussion ensemble red fish blue fish and Gamelan Sari Raras from the University of California, Berkeley. All performances will be at Hertz Hall unless otherwise noted.

Each summer the Ojai Music Festival (June 6-9, 2013), explores the musical interests of its Music Director, a position that is held for the first time this year by a choreographer. 'The Bay Area understands the genius of Mark Morris and his talents as a dancer, choregrapher and musician, perhaps better than anywhere else in the world,' said Cal Performances' Director Matias Tarnopolsky. 'We are proud to support Mark as Music Director of Ojai North! and introduce his fans here to this new endeavor.' Morris, who considers Cal Performances his West Coast home, has partnered with the institution since 1987, presenting numerous world, United States and West Coast premieres.

A series of education and community events to compliment Ojai North! programming, including film screenings and talks with the artists, are being planned, and will be announce at a later date.

This season's Ojai North! marks the third year of a residency partnership between Cal Performances and the Ojai Music Festival; the Festival will continue in Berkeley at the end of every annual music festival in Ojai Valley. This collaborative effort makes possible annual reprises of Ojai concerts in Berkeley, as well as co-commissions and co-productions. More than just a sharing of resources, Ojai North! represents a joining of artistic ideals and aspirations. The combined efforts of Ojai's legacy of artistic innovation and Cal Performances' tradition of groundbreaking productions create a joint force that allows artists to achieve more than would be possible by each organization separately.

THE PROGRAM

Ojai North! kicks off on Thursday, June 13 at 5:00 p.m. with an outdoor performance of John Luther Adams' A Strange and Sacred Noise with red fish blue fish; this free and open to the public event will be held on the Faculty Glade. At 8:00 p.m., the world premiere takes place of Mark Morris's newest work Rite of Spring, set to Stravinsky's masterwork, reinterpreted and performed by The Bad Plus and danced by MMDG. His company will also dance Mosaic and United (1993) set to Henry Cowell's Quartets No. 3 and No. 4, performed by the American String Quartet. Closing out the day is a late night jam session with The Bad Plus at 10:00 p.m.

Two concerts on Friday, June 14 at 5:00 p.m. and at 8:00 p.m. showcase Lou Harrison's work and those inspired by the legendary American maverick composer. At 5:00 p.m. Gamelan Sari Raras from UC Berkeley will perform Lou Harrison's Music for Gamelan and solo instruments. That evening at 8:00 p.m. members of the MMDG Music Ensemble will perform Harrison's Suite for Symphonic Strings under the baton of Joshua Gersen, conducting assistant to Michael Tilson Thomas at the New World Symphony. The American String Quartet along with pianists Colin Fowler and Yegor Shevtsov will counter with John Luther Adams's haunting work For Lou Harrison. Day two concludes at 10:00 p.m. with a second John Luther Adams work, staged outdoors, titled Songbirdsongs with red fish blue fish.

Saturday, June 15, is a full day of adventurous repertoire starting at noon with John Cage's Four Walls which will be performed by pianist Ethan Iverson and soprano Yulia Van Doren. At 2:00 p.m., the American String Quartet will offer Charles Ives's String Quartet No. 2 followed by a selection of songs by Ruth Crawford Seeger, Henry Cowell, Lou Harrison and John Cage with Doren, Jamie Van Eyck, mezzo-soprano and Douglas Williams, baritone performing. The audience joins in with the performers for the final work, Carl Ruggles' great hymn, Exaltation, conducted by Mark Morris.

At 7:30 p.m., Joshua Gersen conducts Lou Harrison's Concerto for Organ and Percussion with Colin Fowler and red fish blue fish. The final concert of Ojai North! at 9:00 p.m. begins with a pair of works by Henry Cowell performed by MMDG Music Ensemble: Heroic Dance, written for Martha Graham, and his cantata Atlantis with vocalists Doren, Van Eyck and Williams. The short Fugue for Percussion by Lou Harrison, one of his most fiendishly difficult pieces, and his Concerto for Piano and Gamelan with Colin Fowler and Gamelan Sari Raras round out the concert.

MARK MORRIS

Mark Morris was born on August 29, 1956, in Seattle, Washington, where he studied with Verla Flowers and Perry Brunson. In the early years of his career, he performed with the Koleda Balkan Dance Ensemble and later the dance companies of Lar Lubovitch, Hannah Kahn, Laura Dean and Eliot Feld. He formed the Mark Morris Dance Group in 1980 and has since created more than 130 works for the company. In 1988-1991, Morris was Director of Dance at the Theatre Royal de la Monnaie in Brussels, the national opera house of Belgium. Among the works created during his time there were three evening-length dances: L'Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato; Dido and Aeneas; and The Hard Nut. In 1990, he founded the White Oak Dance Project with Mikhail Baryshnikov. Morris is also a ballet choreographer and has created eight works for the San Francisco Ballet since 1994 and received commissions from many others.

Morris is noted for his musicality and has been described as 'undeviating in his devotion to music.' He has conducted performances for the MMDG since 2006. He has worked extensively in opera, directing and choreographing productions for the Metropolitan Opera, New York City Opera, Gotham Chamber Opera, English National Opera, The Royal Opera and Covent Garden. In 1991, he was named a Fellow of the MacArthur Foundation. He has received eleven honorary doctorates to date. In 2006, Morris received the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs Mayor's Award for Arts & Culture and a WQXR Gramophone Special Recognition Award 'for being an American ambassador for classical music at home and abroad.' He is the subject of a biography, Mark Morris, by Joan Acocella (Farrar, Straus & Giroux) and Marlowe & Company published a volume of photographs and critical essays entitled Mark Morris' L'Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato:A Celebration. Morris is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Philosophical Society. In recent years, he has received the Samuel H. Scripps/American Dance Festival Award for Lifetime Achievement (2007), the Leonard Bernstein Lifetime Achievement Award for the Elevation of Music in Society (2010) and the Benjamin Franklin Laureate Prize for Creativity (2012).

For bios of other artists go to ojaifestival.org.

OJAI MUSIC FESTIVAL

The Ojai Music Festival is an annual four-day immersion experience of concerts, symposia and auxiliary events set in the picturesque Ojai Valley, just north of Los Angeles. Founded in 1947 by John Bauer, the Festival receives a constant stream of innovative programming and fresh ideas as the Music Director changes each year. Now in his tenth year as Artistic Director, Thomas W. Morris has invited pianist Jeremy Denk to serve as the Festival's 2014 Music Director. Acclaimed conductors, composers and artists who have led the Festival in the past include Aaron Copland, Igor Stravinsky, Ingolf Dahl, Pierre Boulez, Robert Craft, Michael Tilson Thomas, Calvin Simmons, Kent Nagano and John Adams, among many others. Pianist Jeremy Denk assumes the leadership for the 2014 season. For further information go to ojaifestival.org.

TICKET INFORMATION

Tickets for Ojai North!, Thursday-Saturday, June 13-15, at Zellerbach Playhouse range from $20.00-$110.00 and are subject to change; single tickets will go on sale February 1, 2013. Tickets are available through the Cal Performances' Ticket Office at Zellerbach Hall; at (510) 642-9988; at www.calperformances.org; and at the door. Half-price tickets are available for purchase by UC Berkeley students. UC faculty and staff, senior citizens, other students and UC Alumni Association members receive a $5.00 discount (Special Events excluded). For select performances, Cal Performances offers UCB student, faculty and staff, senior, and community rush tickets. Rush tickets are announced three hours prior to a performance on Cal Performances' Facebook page and at 510-642-9988 and are available in person only at the Ticket Office beginning one hour before the performance; one ticket per person; all sales are cash only. For more information, call Cal Performances at (510) 642-9988, or visit www.calperformances.org.

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Cal Performances thanks Wells Fargo, The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and Bank of America for their major support of the Season.

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OJAI MUSIC FESTIVAL (JUNE 6-9, 2013)

Full calendar at end

OJAI NORTH! (JUNE 13-15, 2013)

CONTACT

Christina Kellogg 510.643.6714

ckellogg@calperformances.org

Joe Yang 510.642.9121

scyang@calperformances.org

CALENDAR EDITORS PLEASE NOTE:

CAL PERFORMANCES PRESENTS

Thursday, June 13, at 5:00 p.m. Faculty Glade Bancroft Way at College Ave.

Ojai North! Mark Morris, music director red fish blue fish

Program: John Luther Adams/A Strange and Sacred Noise

Tickets: Free and open to the public.

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Thursday, June 13, at 8:00 p.m. Hertz Hall, UC Berkeley Bancroft Way at College Ave.

Ojai North! Mark Morris, music director Mark Morris Dance Group American String Quartet The Bad Plus

Program: Cowell/Mosaic and United Stravinsky/Rite of Spring (World Premiere)

Tickets: Range from $20.00-$110.00, are subject to change, and are available through the Cal Performances Ticket Office at Zellerbach Hall; at (510) 642-9988 to charge by phone; at www.calperformances.org; and at the door.

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Thursday, June 13, at 10:00 p.m. Hertz Hall, UC Berkeley Bancroft Way at College Ave.

Ojai North! Mark Morris, music director The Bad Plus

Program: Jam Session

Tickets: Range from $20.00-$110.00, are subject to change, and are available through the Cal Performances Ticket Office at Zellerbach Hall; at (510) 642-9988 to charge by phone; at www.calperformances.org; and at the door.

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Friday, June 14, at 5:00 p.m. Hertz Hall, UC Berkeley Bancroft Way at College Ave.

Ojai North! Mark Morris, music director Gamelan Sari Raras

Program: Lou Harrison/Music for Gamelan and solo instruments

Tickets: Range from $20.00-$110.00, are subject to change, and are available through the Cal Performances Ticket Office at Zellerbach Hall; at (510) 642-9988 to charge by phone; at www.calperformances.org; and at the door.

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Friday, June 14 at 8:00 p.m. Hertz Hall, UC Berkeley Bancroft Way at College Ave.

Ojai North! Mark Morris, music director Mark Morris Dance Group Music Ensemble American String Quartet Joshua Gersen, conductor

Program: Lou Harrison/Suite for Symphonic Strings John Luther Adams/For Lou Harrison

Tickets: Range from $20.00-$110.00, are subject to change, and are available through the Cal Performances Ticket Office at Zellerbach Hall; at (510) 642-9988 to charge by phone; at www.calperformances.org; and at the door.

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Friday, June 14 at 10:00 p.m. Faculty Glade Bancroft Way at College Ave.

Ojai North! Mark Morris, music director red fish blue fish

Program: John Luther Adams/Songbirdsongs

Tickets: Free and open to the public.

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Saturday, June 15 at 12:00 p.m. Hertz Hall, UC Berkeley Bancroft Way at College Ave.

Ojai North! Mark Morris, music director Ethan Iverson, piano Yulia Van Doren, soprano

Program: Cage/Four Walls

Tickets: Range from $20.00-$110.00 are subject to change, and are available through the Cal Performances Ticket Office at Zellerbach Hall; at (510) 642-9988 to charge by phone; at www.calperformances.org; and at the door.

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Saturday, June 15 at 2:00 p.m. Hertz Hall, UC Berkeley Bancroft Way at College Ave.

Ojai North! Mark Morris, music director and conductor Yulia Van Doren, soprano Jamie Van Eyek, mezzo-soprano Douglas Williams, baritone American String Quartet TBA, trumpet Colin Fowler, organ

Program: Charles Ives/String Quartet No. 2 Songs by Ruth Crawford Seeger, Henry Cowell, Lou Harrison, and John Cage Carl Ruggles (Arr. by Colin Fowler)/Exaltation

Tickets: Range from $20.00-$110.00, are subject to change, and are available through the Cal Performances Ticket Office at Zellerbach Hall; at (510) 642-9988 to charge by phone; at www.calperformances.org; and at the door.

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Saturday, June 15 at 7:30 p.m. Hertz Hall, UC Berkeley Bancroft Way at College Ave.

Ojai North! Mark Morris, music director red fish blue fish Colin Fowler, organ Joshua Gersen, conductor

Program: Lou Harrison/Concerto for Organ and Percussion

Tickets: Range from $20.00-$110.00, are subject to change, and are available through the Cal Performances Ticket Office at Zellerbach Hall; at (510) 642-9988 to charge by phone; at www.calperformances.org; and at the door.

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Saturday, June 15 at 9:00 p.m. Hertz Hall, UC Berkeley Bancroft Way at College Ave.

Ojai North! Mark Morris, music director Mark Morris Dance Group Music Ensemble red fish blue fish Colin Fowler, organ Gamelan Sari Raras Joshua Gersen, conductor

Program: Henry Cowell/Heroic Dance; Atlantis Lou Harrison/Fugue for Percussion; Concerto for Piano and Gamelan

Tickets: Range from $20.00-$110.00, are subject to change, and are available through the Cal Performances Ticket Office at Zellerbach Hall; at (510) 642-9988 to charge by phone; at www.calperformances.org; and at the door.

Programs and artists are subject to change

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67th OJAI MUSIC FESTIVAL Thomas W. Morris, artistic director | Mark Morris, music director visit OjaiFestival.org

Thursday, June 6, 2012

1:00 - 3:00pm | Ojai Valley Community Church OJAI TALKS: Why a Choreographer? Moderated by Ara Guzelimian with Music Director Mark Morris 4:00 - 5:30pm | Ojai Playhouse OJAI FILM - TBA

8:00 - 9:30pm | Libbey Bowl OJAI CONCERT The Bad Plus 5-6 original compositions to be announced from the stage Stravinsky: The Rite of Spring (arranged by The Bad Plus)

10:00pm | Ojai Arts Center Opening Night Party Social Dancing Mark Morris and his dancers will lead a private dance lesson for donors and subscribers Friday, June 7, 2013

12:00pm - 1:00pm | Ojai Valley Community Church OJAI TALKS: John Luther Adams and Place The American composer in conversation with Ara Guzelimian 1:30 - 3:00pm | Ojai Valley Community Church OJAI TALKS: Lou Harrison and California Lou Harrison: World of Music Producer and Director Eva Soltes in conversation with Ara Guzelimian

3:30 - 5:00pm | Ojai Valley Community Church OJAI TALKS: Gamelan performance Gamelan music of Lou Harrison featuring UC Berkeley Gamelan Sari Raras 7:00 - 8:00pm | Libbey Bowl OJAI CONCERT Part I Mark Morris Dance Group American String Quartet Colin Fowler, piano Michi Wiancko, violin Wolfram Koessel, cello

Mosaic and United (Henry Cowell: Quartets No. 3 'Mosaic' & No. 4 'United') Empire Garden (Charles Ives: Trio) 9:00 - 10:00pm | Libbey Bowl OJAI CONCERT Part II Mark Morris Dance Group Colin Fowler, piano Michi Wiancko, violin

Excursions (Samuel Barber: Excursions) Candleflowerdance (Igor Stravinsky: Serenade in A) Grand Duo (Lou Harrison: Grand Duo) 10:30pm | Libbey Bowl OJAI LATE NIGHT Ethan Iverson, piano Yulia Van Doren, soprano

John Cage: Four Walls

11:30pm | Agave Maria Open Mic Night Mark Morris and other artists including The Bad Plus lead a live band karaoke event with Festival patrons.

Saturday, June 8, 2013

8:00am | Location TBA OJAI SUNRISE red fish blue fish

John Luther Adams: A Strange and Sacred Noise 11:00am - 1:00pm | Libbey Bowl OJAI CONCERT Performers TBA

Terry Riley: In C 1:30 - 3:00pm | Ojai Playhouse OJAI FILM: Lou Harrison: A World of Music Documentary film on Lou Harrison by Eva Soltes

3:30- 4:45pm | Ojai Playhouse OJAI FILM: Salome A silent film starring Alla Nazimova featuring The Bad Plus playing live with the film

6:00-6:45pm | Libbey Park Gazebo OJAI EXTRA: Gamelan performance Gamelan music of Lou Harrison featuring UC Berkeley Gamelan Sari Raras 8:00 - 10:00pm | Libbey Bowl OJAI CONCERT MMDG Music Ensemble (strings only) American String Quartet Joshua Gersen, conductor

Lou Harrison: Suite for Symphonic Strings John Luther Adams: For Lou Harrison (for string quartet, 2 pianos and string orchestra) 10:30 pm | Libbey Bowl OJAI LATE NIGHT Red fish blue fish

Percussion music of Lou Harrison and John Cage

Sunday, June 9, 2013

8:00am | Mediation Mount OJAI SUNRISE red fish blue fish

John Luther Adams: songbirdsongs 11:00am - 1:00pm | Libbey Bowl OJAI CONCERT Part I

Ruth Crawford Seeger: String Quartet American String Quartet Charles Ives: TBD American String Quartet Songs by John Cage, Henry Cowell, Ruth Crawford Seeger, Lou Harrison Carl Ruggles: Exaltation (arranged by Colin Fowler) Yulia Van Doren, soprano Jamie Van Eyck, mezzo-soprano Douglas Williams, bass-baritone Colin Fowler, organ TBA, trumpet American String Quartet Mark Morris, conductor 4:30 - 5:30pm | Libbey Bowl OJAI CONCERT Part I

Olivier Messiaen: Organ works TBA Colin Fowler, organ Lou Harrison: Concerto for Organ and Percussion Colin Fowler, organ red fish blue fish Joshua Gersen, conductor

6:30 - 7:30pm | Libbey Bowl OJAI CONCERT Part II

Henry Cowell: Heroic Dance (for Martha Graham) MMDG Music Ensemble Joshua Gersen, conductor Henry Cowell: Atlantis MMDG Music Ensemble Yulia Van Doren, soprano Jamie Van Eyck, contralto Douglas Williams, bass-baritone Joshua Gersen, conductor Lou Harrison: Fugue for Percussion red fish blue fish Joshua Gersen, conductor Lou Harrison: Concerto for Piano and Gamelan Colin Fowler, piano UC Berkeley Gamelan Sari Raras

Programs and artists are subject to change