The Washington area public has selected the 10 finalists for the Fifth Annual DC-CAPital Stars Talent Competition. These talented DC high school students will showcase their artistic abilities at a special performance at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. That evening, a panel of celebrity judges (see below), along with help from the audience, will help select the grand prize winner who will receive a $10,000 DC-CAP college scholarship that will be applied toward their first year of college. In addition, all finalists will receive college scholarships. The event is part of DC-CAP’s A Night of DC-CAPital Stars Gala celebration, which will honor outstanding academic achievement and excellence in artistic abilities of college-bound students from the District of Columbia.
WHEN: Tuesday, March 26, 2013 at 7 pm
WHERE: Eisenhower Theater
The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
2700 F Street, NW, Washington, DC 20566
WHO: Celebrity Judges:
- Patti LaBelle, Grammy Award-winning singer, author and actress
- Amber Riley, actress and singer best known for her role on the hit FOX series “Glee”
- Jordin Sparks, American pop and R&B recording artist, songwriter, actress and 2006 “American Idol” winner
Donald Graham, Gala Co-Chair, Chairman of DC-CAP
Catherine B. Reynolds, Gala Co-Chair, Board Member, DC-CAP
Deborah Lehr, Gala Co-Chair, Board Member, DC-CAP
10 Finalists from DC-CAPital Stars Talent Competition
Honorees: The Late Joseph L. Allbritton, Allbritton Communications and DC-CAP Board Member; David Domenici, Co-Founder, Maya Angelou Public Charter Schools
BACKGROUND: In its fifth year, the DC-CAPital Stars Talent Competition showcases outstanding artistic abilities of college-bound DC public and public charter high school students. This citywide talent search began with a series of auditions in October 2012. During the month of January 2013, the top 41 auditions were posted on DC-CAP’s Web site for the public to view and choose their favorites in vocal, instrumental or dance categories.
From the more than 6,500 online tallies and input from a local panel of independent professional vocalists, dancers, musicians and educators from the metropolitan area, the top 10 finalists were selected and will perform at the Kennedy Center on March 26. Learn more atwww.dccap.org/gala
The DC College Access Program (DC-CAP) is a non-profit organization dedicated to encouraging and enabling all District public and public charter high school students to enroll in and graduate from college.
DIY DC
Thursday, March 28, 7 p.m.
$8 members; $10 public
Co-presented by Washington City Paper
During the 1980s, Washington’s go-go and punk scenes adhered to different sets of cultural rules, yet both shared a staunchly DIY approach. This panel discussion, moderated by Alona Wartofsky, a former writer and editor for City Paper and The Washington Post, will explore the music and gang cultures of pre-gentrification D.C. Panelists include Trouble Funk’s “Big” Tony Fisher, Rare Essence’s Andre “Whiteboy” Johnson, longtime Washington music writer Mark Jenkins, former D.C. Police detective Donald “Goose” Gossage, and Gangster George, a former member of the Gangster Chronicles crew.
A splashy warehouse party that packs MUSIC + MULTIMEDIA ART + PERFORMANCE + FUN AND FRENZY Into a night that will be hard to forget. Produced by The Pink Line Project.
8:00pm til 2:00am, Fri Mar 29 @ 500 Penn St NE, Washington, DC 20002
Cherry Blast has taken place in warehouses in every quadrant of the DC except for Northeast. 2013 is your year, Northeast! Come out to a splashy warehouse party that packs MUSIC + MULTIMEDIA ART + PERFORMANCE + FUN AND FRENZY Into a night that will be hard to forget. Produced by The Pink Line Project. Be there for our fifth year, bigger and better than ever. *Must be 18 years or older to attend this event. Featuring Bands, DJs, Artists and Performers: DNA Theater will be performing. DNA Theatre exposes audiences to a new type of performance that defies definition and traditional performing boundaries. Come watch them fly! Also performing: DJs Chris Netti and Lxsx Frank; Faracuyeah DJs; Jon Kwest and DJ Underdog; Bellflur; Mary Alouette; and Urban Artistry.
price $10
Strathmore goes pinky up with hosts with the mosts Lisa Markuson and Josef Palermo for an egg-paintin’, square-dancin’, photo takin’ Friday Night Eclectic with You, Me, Them, Everybody’s Most Eggcellent Country Teatime Jamboree onFriday, March 29, 2013 in the Mansion. Doors at 8 p.m., rompin’ starts at 8:45 p.m. All good townspeople, break out your seersucker, sundresses, linen suits, bows, bonnets, straw hats and saddle shoes for an all out dance-y, old time-y spring social. Twitter hashtag #teaeggsjam. For more information or to purchase tickets, call (301) 581-5100 or visit www.strathmore.org.
The night is anchored by the music and Appalachian square dancing of revival group DC Square Dance Collective, cello mastermind Daniel Frankhuizen and warbling and guitar fromLinsay Deming. In addition, three of D.C.’s premiere comedians take on Easter with unprecedented comedy—including the bizarre and hilarious characters of Adam Friedland, along with D.C.’s brother and sister phenom comedy combo Jenn Tisdale and Andrew Bucket, combining her dark autobiographical humor and his quick improvisational riffs. The creative and ever-wholesome Morgan Hungerford West, aka Pandahead, will lead revelers in craftiness on the Sun Porch with egg painting and portraiture from popular local artists includingElizabeth Graeber and Bryan Minnich, flower crown crafting and other countrified activities. Guests can commemorate the evening in an Easter-themed photo shoot and walk off with the spoils of Strathmore’s Mansion Easter egg hunt.
FNE is what happens when music and visual art collide. True to its namesake, the series embraces and features contemporary music of all genres, from hip-hop to folk rock, alt classical, rap, genre-bending hybrids and emerging sounds from the D.C. area’s best local musicians. The series brings a vibrant lounge atmosphere to the Mansion, with casual seating, bar and nosh. Friday Night Eclectic concerts are the “best reason to trek out of the District” (Express).
You, Me, Them, Everybody’s Most Eggcellent Country Teatime Jamboree Friday, March 29, 2013 Doors at 8 p.m., events at 8:45 p.m. Standing room only
On Friday, April 5 from 7-9 p.m., Washington, D.C. native iona ROZEAL brown will present Battle of Yestermore in a special FREE performance at the Corcoran Gallery of Art and College of Art + Design.
The piece extends the allegories of the artist’s renowned paintings to her first work of live performance. Originally commissioned for the Performa 2011 festival in New York, battle of yestermore draws from the myth-based genres of Kabuki and Noh theater, as well as hip-hop culture and vogueing, made famous in the Harlem ballroom scene of the 1960s. This will be the debut performance of battle of yestermore in Washington, D.C.
Admission to the performance, timed to coincide with the National Cherry Blossom Festival, is free, and preregistration is encouraged. To register, visit http://battleofyestermore.eventbrite.com/.
As a native Washingtonian, Brown was first introduced to Kabuki theatre by her mother, who took her to performances at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. battle of yestermore features performances by vogueing legends Benny Ninja, along with New York hip hop dancers Monstah Black, Beasty, Lady Beast, Monalisa, Katie, Toko and Uko, while brown performs an original sound score accompanied by live musicians. Featuring costumes and creative kimono adaptations by costume stylist Brent Barkhaus, the performance promises to be a spectacular feast for the senses.
Bowen McCauley Dance (BMD) will return to The John F. Kennedy Center’s Terrace Theater on Friday, April 5 and Saturday, April 6, 2013 at 7:30 p.m. with two world-premiere works, all live musical accompaniment, and two newly commissioned scores. BMD is known for a commitment to live music and collaboration – this special anniversary concert will embrace both as artistic director and choreographer, Lucy Bowen McCauley, brings together world-class artistic partners Alan Paul, Tony Cisek, Martha Mountain, Gaetano DiBacco, The Witkowski Piano Duo, Maryland Youth Ballet, and a host of talented musicians.
In Before the Fall, BMD Music Director, Larry Alan Smith, performs his new piano score that was written to accompany a dance prequel to the tale of Humpty Dumpty. Smith and McCauley present their vision of how Humpty came to be on “The Wall”. The dance will be performed by exceptional students from The Maryland Youth Ballet.
Fire and Air, a theatrical reimagining of the final act of Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra features a rare performance by Lucy Bowen McCauley, and is directed by The Shakespeare Theatre Company’s Associate Director, Alan Paul. On the selection of this project, Paul offers, “Cleopatra’s death is like none other in Shakespeare’s work. She famously says “I am fire and air; my other elements I give to baser life”. Now if that line doesn’t deserve a dance, I don’t know what does!” Patrick Soluri has been commissioned to create an epic score that propels the dance to its dramatic closure. McCauley and Paul first connected through the Urban Arias where they found a rich partnership. “Lucy and I are on the same wavelength—emotionally, stylistically—there is no other way to put it,” as Paul comments.
Tableau de Province, is a new ensemble five-part dance inspired by the music of French composer Paule Maurice, which will be played by world-class Italian saxophonists Gaetano DiBacco and concert pianist Marguerita Oundjian Smith. DiBacco and Smith will preview the piece with BMD at the Italian Embassy on April 3 at 7pm.
The concert concludes with McCauley’s tribute to the centennial of Stravinsky’s groundbreaking work, Le Sacre du Printemps (Rite of Spring). McCauley’s version of Sacre is set to the lesser known four-hand piano version of the score, which will be played by The Witkowski Piano Duo. BMD honors the milestone with an interpretation The Washington Post called, McCauley’s “strongest work to date…muscular, theatrically arresting.”
The piece has been considered the staple of modern dance — angular and abstract — with a score full of harmonic dissonance and syncopated rhythms. “I want people to relate to the full emotional range of the work and the unfolding of events in a less obvious way,” she says. She adds elements of surprise for those familiar with the 1913 masterpiece. “I’m honored to choreograph to an incredible piece of music that has been a major artistic influence on me for more than half of my life,” McCauley says.
The work features set and costume design by award-winning designer Tony Cisek.
The Saturday, April 6 concert will be followed by a Soiree event at The Rooftop Terrace Restaurant where guests will enjoy a post-performance reception with the artists including DJ and dancing. The event is a benefit to support BMD arts and education programs.
Bowen McCauley Dance (BMD) will return to The John F. Kennedy Center’s Terrace Theater on Friday, April 5 and Saturday, April 6, 2013 at 7:30 p.m. with two world-premiere works, all live musical accompaniment, and two newly commissioned scores. BMD is known for a commitment to live music and collaboration – this special anniversary concert will embrace both as artistic director and choreographer, Lucy Bowen McCauley, brings together world-class artistic partners Alan Paul, Tony Cisek, Martha Mountain, Gaetano DiBacco, The Witkowski Piano Duo, Maryland Youth Ballet, and a host of talented musicians.
In Before the Fall, BMD Music Director, Larry Alan Smith, performs his new piano score that was written to accompany a dance prequel to the tale of Humpty Dumpty. Smith and McCauley present their vision of how Humpty came to be on “The Wall”. The dance will be performed by exceptional students from The Maryland Youth Ballet.
Fire and Air, a theatrical reimagining of the final act of Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra features a rare performance by Lucy Bowen McCauley, and is directed by The Shakespeare Theatre Company’s Associate Director, Alan Paul. On the selection of this project, Paul offers, “Cleopatra’s death is like none other in Shakespeare’s work. She famously says “I am fire and air; my other elements I give to baser life”. Now if that line doesn’t deserve a dance, I don’t know what does!” Patrick Soluri has been commissioned to create an epic score that propels the dance to its dramatic closure. McCauley and Paul first connected through the Urban Arias where they found a rich partnership. “Lucy and I are on the same wavelength—emotionally, stylistically—there is no other way to put it,” as Paul comments.
Tableau de Province, is a new ensemble five-part dance inspired by the music of French composer Paule Maurice, which will be played by world-class Italian saxophonists Gaetano DiBacco and concert pianist Marguerita Oundjian Smith. DiBacco and Smith will preview the piece with BMD at the Italian Embassy on April 3 at 7pm.
The concert concludes with McCauley’s tribute to the centennial of Stravinsky’s groundbreaking work, Le Sacre du Printemps (Rite of Spring). McCauley’s version of Sacre is set to the lesser known four-hand piano version of the score, which will be played by The Witkowski Piano Duo. BMD honors the milestone with an interpretation The Washington Post called, McCauley’s “strongest work to date…muscular, theatrically arresting.”
The piece has been considered the staple of modern dance — angular and abstract — with a score full of harmonic dissonance and syncopated rhythms. “I want people to relate to the full emotional range of the work and the unfolding of events in a less obvious way,” she says. She adds elements of surprise for those familiar with the 1913 masterpiece. “I’m honored to choreograph to an incredible piece of music that has been a major artistic influence on me for more than half of my life,” McCauley says.
The work features set and costume design by award-winning designer Tony Cisek.
The Saturday, April 6 concert will be followed by a Soiree event at The Rooftop Terrace Restaurant where guests will enjoy a post-performance reception with the artists including DJ and dancing. The event is a benefit to support BMD arts and education programs.
BrightestYoungThings.com & The Hamilton Present:
The DC Emerging Artists Super Sampler
Vol 1
BYT decided to get a bunch of their favorite local acts to play a few of their best songs at one big massive chaotic show where the stage manager will have a stroke. Sort of like a non-sucky battle of the bands where everybody wins. Get your local love fest on with (in no particular order):
Beyond Modern
Shark Week
Reesa Renee
Uno Hype
Black Hills
Ra The MC
The Static
Kid Named Breezy
Track
Drop Electric
Incwell
DJ Steven Faith
Limited quantity early bird tickets on sale now at:
http://dcsampler.eventbrite.
The 2013 Opera Ball will be hosted by the Ambassador of Italy to the United States Claudio Bisogniero and his wife Laura Denise Bisogniero at their official residence Villa Firenze. Opera Ball will be held on Saturday, April 6, 2013 and is a highlight of the city’s cultural, philanthropic, and social season.
Constance Milstein de La Haye St. Hilaire will be the Chair of this year’s Opera Ball. Ms. Milstein is a longtime patron of Washington National Opera and is a member of its board of trustees. She is also a member of the Kennedy Center International Committee on the Arts, among her many other charitable endeavors.
Natalia Cobo de Bulgheroni of Argentina will serve as International Chair. Adrienne Arsht, who chaired last year’s Opera Ball, will serve as Honorary Chair.
“As we mark the beginning of the Year of Italian Culture and the 200th anniversary of the birth of Giuseppe Verdi, we are very proud to host the 2013 Opera Ball,” said Claudio Bisogniero, the Ambassador of Italy to the United States. “Opera is a vital part of Italy’s national identity, and we are happy to celebrate this beautiful part of our culture with our close friends at Washington National Opera.”
As in previous years, the elegant black-tie event will include intimate dinners hosted by many ambassadors at their embassies throughout the city. Following these private dinners, guests will gather at Villa Firenze for a festive evening of dancing, dessert, and music. Guests can look
forward to a special toast to Giuseppe Verdi’s 200th birthday and to performances of popular arias from Italian operas by members of WNO’s Domingo-Cafritz Young Artist Program.
Opera Ball is WNO’s largest fundraiser and one of Washington’s most anticipated events of the year. One hundred percent of the proceeds from the Opera Ball support the Opera’s awardwinning artistic, educational, and outreach programs. Recent Opera Balls have been hosted at the
embassies of the United Arab Emirates (2012), the People’s Republic of China (2011), the Russian Federation (2010), Germany (2009), and France (2008). Italy last hosted the Opera Ball in 2006.
Meaning Making. Fragmented Imaginary of Twelve Cantabrian Artists
Organized by the Government of Cantabria and SPAIN arts & culture.
Curated by Mónica Álvarez Careaga
Visiting hours: Monday-Thursday, from 9:30 am to 4:30 pm, and Friday, from 9:30 am to 2:30 pm.
- This exhibition brings together important creators from Cantabria (Spain) to showcase their work and highlight the region’s art history and cultural roots.
- The Department ofEducation, Culture and Sport of the Government of Cantabria (Spain) is putting new internationalisation initiatives into action in order to increase awareness of the creative potential of the region through a coherent series of promotion and publicity activities in the United States and Europe.
- The program includes this exhibition of contemporary art curated by Mónica Álvarez Careaga —Meaning Making. Fragmented imagery from twelve artists from Cantabria— which bring together important artists characterized by an expressive narrative that incorporate references to the history of art and their own experiences, as well as reinterpretations and assemblies of diverse images.
- The exhibition opens on Thursday, April 11 at 6:30 PM at the Embassy of Spain in Washington and will run until May 8.
- Artists include Víctor Alba, Luis Bezeta, Alfonso Borragán, Cristina del Campo, Antonio Díaz Grande, Álvaro González, Raúl Hevia, Javier Lamela, Gorka Mohamed, Cuca Nelles, Gloria Pereda and Álvaro Trugeda.
If we take contemporary art as a way of exploring the infinite complexity of the world and a way of understanding and communicating it, we can interpret the work of the twelve artists from the Spanish region of Cantabria featured at this exhibition as a mapping of new imagery, new awareness and world views.
What Víctor Alba, Luis Bezeta, Alfonso Borragán, Cristina del Campo, Antonio Díaz Grande, Álvaro González, Raúl Hevia, Javier Lamela, Gorka Mohamed, Cuca Nelles, Gloria Pereda and Álvaro Trugeda have in common is that they divide up their works by including various materials: references to history of the arts, documents related to their experience of life or reinterpretations and assemblies of images from a variety of backgrounds.
They are creators who operate with a mechanism for integrating fragments in broader contexts of significance. These fragments (drawings, photos, texts or films) accumulate, overlap, and even contradict each other by reflecting the diversity and the richness of the experience of life. They are, in short, constructors of meanings, private and individual most of the time.
This set of images and narratives constitutes, in the end, a fragmented and heterogeneous fresco of the concerns and interests of a generation of active Cantabrian artists at the beginning of their creative maturity. They do not share any common theoretical program, but with their works they advocate the autonomy of art and prepare ironic messages which are distanced from subjects which include a commentary and anything biographical.
