The Siuslaw news., January 28, 2017, SATURDAY EDITION, Image 25

Center
Stage
F EBR U AR Y 2017
Jazz
Eugene Ballet
Concert
Bria Skonberg
The Jazz Kings
O
n Feb. 2 at 7 p.m., be whisked away from
winter’s cold to the warm, lush green forests
of A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
Shakespeare’s adored comedy of love, magic, fairies,
mixed up lovers and the mischievous Puck comes
alive in Toni Pimble’s delightful choreography set to
Felix Mendelssohn’s spirited score performed by
Orchestra Next.
A new EBC-commissioned ballet, “Wandering
On,” arranged for the company by award-winning
choreographer Stephanie Martinez, will open the
program.
Chicago-based Martinez, winner of the Joffrey
Ballet’s 2014 “Winning Works: Choreographers of
Color,” brings her acclaimed talent to the Eugene
Ballet, stretching the creative minds of its dancers
and audiences.
Martinez’s ballet is supported by The Hult
Endowment of The Oregon Community
Foundation.
The Surrounding Third, a new work choreo-
graphed by EBC Company Dancer Suzanne Haag
and set to Samuel Barber’s Adagio for Strings, will
complete the program.
Founded in 1978 by Toni Pimble and Riley
Grannan, the Eugene Ballet Company has grown
from a community-based dance group to become
ast year’s Jazz Kings tribute to the Jazz Age
was such a hit thanks to so much great
material from that hot, sassy and fascinat-
ing period of American popular music, the
Jazz Kings felt they had to do a follow-up concert
to get in more of the music that had to be left out
during the first show.
The Feb. 11 performance, which begins at 2
p.m., gives a special nod to the many fantastic
female vocalists of the period, including Helen
Kane, Annette Hanshaw, Bessie Smith and Ida
Cox. The show will also include early classics by
Hoagy Carmichael, Bing Crosby, the Rhythm
Boys and more. Jazz Kings will include such gems
as “Dangerous Nan McGrew,” “That’s My
Weakness Now,” “Body And Soul,” “I Need A
Little Sugar In My Bowl,” “River Boat Shuffle,”
“Wild Women Don’t Have The Blues,” “Livin’ in
the Sunlight, Lovin’ in the Moonlight,” and, of
course, “Avalon.”
While the rise of jazz during the 1920s is most
often associated with the raw, extroverted “hot
jazz” style of New Orleans, there were in fact a
number of markedly different and ultimately
highly infuential variations on the new art form
as it spread and developed in other regions and
music communities. Jesse Cloninger and the Jazz
Kings will contemplate and interpret several of
L
Ballet (Page 3)
Concert (Page 3)
Jazz (Page 3)
A LSO
Gallery One (page 2)
C
anadian singer, trumpeter, and songwriter
Bria Skonberg has been described by The
Wall Street Journal as one of the “most
versatile and imposing musicians of her genera-
tion.”
Recognized as one of “25 for the Future” by
DownBeat magazine (summer 2016), Skonberg
will be performing at the Florence Events Center
as part of the SEAcoast concert series on Sunday,
Feb. 26, beginning at 4 p.m.
Wielding a unique blend of modern-day pop
sensibility and sizzling musicianship, Skonberg
aims for a sense of allure on the new collection.
She credits producer Matt Pierson with helping
her create music that is both curious and exotic,
playing with tension and storytelling.
Her elite jazz chops, artfully mixed with worldly
rhythms and contemporary songwriting, result in
a sophisticated pop sound closely resembling that
of Michael Bublé, Diana Krall and Harry
Connick Jr.
Skonberg’s original tunes include the tango
“Curious Game,” the bluesy instrumental “Down
in the Deep,” and the Brazilian-flavored “How
Can It Be,” which is a reflection of the sampling
era.
Noted as a Millennial “Shaking Up the Jazz
World,” according to Vanity Fair, Skonberg is a
INSIDE THIS ISSUE
Wallflowers & Wine (Page 4)
SEAcoast (Page 4)
“Going Home” watercolor
by Carole Hillsbery
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