Three ‘wows’ and ten years of arts leadership from Thor Steingraber 1

Architecture & Design · Dance · Ideas & Opinion · Music
ed. note: This story by arts journalist Debra Levine, commissioned by the Younes & Soraya Nazarian Center for the Arts, is printed with permission. “Three wows” sold Thor Steingraber on The Soraya. Steingraber’s long interview process in the fall of 2013 and winter of 2014 to become top executive of Cal State Northridge’s newish theater ...

Jazz/pop superstars Herb Alpert, Lani Hall to open Soraya jazz festival 1

Music
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ed. note: This story by jazz writer, Kirk Silsbee, was commissioned by The Soraya in advance of “A Golden Anniversary,” in the upcoming Jazz at Naz Festival January 27. It is published with permission. Few trumpet voices in history generate the kind of instant recognition as that of Herb Alpert. His short, pungent phrasing and ...

Shaken but not deterred, Diavolo dancers to commemorate Northridge earthquake

Dance
jacques heim, artistic director, diavolo dance Ed. note: This story by Debra Levine, commissioned the Younes & Soraya Nazarian Center for the Arts, is republished with permission. On January 17, 1994, slumberers across the city of Los Angeles were awakened by a heaving jolt. It was 4:31 a.m. (This writer was hurled from bed to ...

Step into the holidays … with Trinity Irish Dance Company

Dance
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Ed. note: This story by Mindy Aloff, commissioned and previously published by the Younes & Soraya Nazarian Center for the Arts, is reprinted with permission. During the 1960s and ‘70s, two young Irish step dancers growing up in Chicago proved to be outstanding champions in the rigorous world of dance competitions. Both studied at the ...

What would Pavlova do? Ask Tiler Peck, soon at The Soraya!

Dance
Ed. note: This story by Debra Levine, commissioned and previously published by the Younes & Soraya Nazarian Center for the Arts, is reprinted with permission. The similarities are uncanny. By 1913, Anna Pavlova, the eternal exemplar of classical-ballet artistry, having danced with the Russian Imperial Ballet and, briefly, with Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes, took a handful ...

Anoushka Shankar, virtuoso of ancient sitar, in artsmeme interview for The Soraya 1

Music
Ed. note: This story by Debra Levine, commissioned and previously published by the Younes & Soraya Nazarian Center for the Arts, is reprinted with permission. It’s a just-released “mini-album” from a first-rate artist who’s trailing a maximal career. Anoushka Shankar, the acclaimed virtuoso of sitar, music producer, and composer, will wind up a three-week, fifteen-U.S.-city ...

SoUNDz’ of Savion, at The Soraya

Dance
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Ed. note: This story by Susan Reiter, commissioned and published by the Younes & Soraya Nazarian Center for the Arts, is reprinted with permission. Savion Glover has been in the spotlight on stage and screen since an impossibly young age. In his third appearance at The Soraya, on October 7, the one-of-a-kind tap virtuoso brings ...

A Martha Graham/Agnes de Mille meet-up in the 21st century 5

Dance
in photo kathleen tovar, center, victor barbee, john gardner, american ballet theatre Ed. note: This story by Debra Levine, commissioned and previously published by the Younes & Soraya Nazarian Center for the Arts, is reprinted with permission. During the Second World War, with American men losing their lives in the overseas fight against fascism, Agnes ...

Two new ‘now’ ballets in world premieres by Ballet BC at The Soraya

Dance
Ed. note: This story by Debra Levine, commissioned and published by the Younes & Soraya Nazarian Center for the Arts, is reprinted with permission. It is a big, hopeful, nervous-making, celebratory event when a ballet has its world premiere.  The preparation is immense, with many moving parts to orchestrate: choreography and rehearsals, of course, but ...

Hélène Grimaud, with Wild Up & wild wolves 2

Music
Ed. note: This story by Debra Levine, commissioned and published by the Younes & Soraya Nazarian Center for the Arts, is reprinted with permission. As a child growing up in Aix-En-Provence, the French-born piano virtuoso, Hélène Grimaud, was rambunctious. Her parents, both professors, clambered to channel her energy. Lessons in martial arts, tennis, and ballet ...