Cubanísimo! at The Soraya
malpaso dancers / arturo o’farrill Ed. note: This story by dance critic Debra Levine, commissioned and originally published by the Younes & Soraya Nazarian Center for the Arts, is reprinted with permission. The havoc Hurricane Ian wreaked on the Caribbean and Florida, in an indirect way, nearly extended all the way to The Soraya’s stage. ...
‘Rivers of Sound’: From the Euphrates to The Soraya
ed. note: This story by jazz writer, Kirk Silsbee, was commissioned by The Soraya and first appeared on the theater’s blogsite. Composer Amir ElSaffar, the innovative jazz trumpeter and director of the Rivers of Sound Orchestra, is calling his latest new work “a sonic embrace.” ElSaffar penned the expression to describe Emergence, a sound experience ...
Vancouver’s ‘Ballet BC,’ resident dance company of The Soraya, to perform
Feb
21
2022
photo by luques ed. note: This story by dance critic Debra Levine, commissioned and originally published by the Younes & Soraya Nazarian Center for the Arts, is reprinted with permission. When the effervescent contemporary ballet troupe Ballet BC last appeared at The Soraya, it was indeed “BC”—Before Covid. The stellar dancers captivated the audience in ...
Gifted Cuban pianist López-Nussa to bring Soraya jazz fest to smoking finale
ed. note: The trio of concerts over a single weekend—Gerald Clayton Sextet (Feb 17), Gretchen Parlato (Feb 18), and the Harold López-Nussa Trio (Feb 19)—are the grand finale of the Soraya’s jazz festival, Jazz at Naz. This interview, conducted by artsmeme jazz writer, Kirk Silsbee, was commissioned by The Soraya and first appeared on the ...
Ella and Basie, reunited by Basie band & Lizz Wright at The Soraya
Lizz Wright, Basie orchestra ed. note: This story by music writer Kirk Silsbee, commissioned and originally published by the Younes & Soraya Nazarian Center for the Arts, has been excerpted with permission. The Count Basie Orchestra band has not just outlived the big band era, it has thrived. This is no ghost band; its last ...
Call in The Police! Stewart Copeland & Re-Collective Orchestra in ‘derangements’ 2
stewart copeland, the police deranged ed. note: This story by music writer Kirk Silsbee was commissioned and originally published by the Younes & Soraya Nazarian Center for the Arts. Excerpted with permission. No band electrified audiences in the 1970s and ‘80s like The Police. Omnipresent on the airwaves, they had arenas pulsing across the globe. ...
Lost Martha Graham solo finds contemporary context in world premiere @ The Soraya
Martha Graham, ‘Immediate Tragedy’ 1937. Photo by Robert Fraser. Courtesy Martha Graham Resources, a division of the Martha Graham Center of Contemporary Dance, Inc A scholar’s cache of rediscovered materials—remnants of a 1937 Martha Graham solo fashioned in response to the Spanish Civil War—has spawned a digital collaboration between Martha Graham Dance Company and the ...
post sponsored by The Soraya
On sacred ground: Step Afrika! @ The Soraya
Feb
5
2020
Ed. note: This article was commissioned and first published by The Soraya. It is republished on artsmeme with permission. In a return visit to The Soraya on Sunday, February 23, Step Afrika!, the distinguished Washington, D.C.-based performance troupe, will bring its latest creative project to Los Angeles. Drumfolk, a special Black History Month presentation, lends ...
post sponsored by The Soraya
Action-packed ‘Hotel’ from Cirque Éloize
Jan
16
2020
making their entry: artists of cirque eloize Ed. note: This article was commissioned and first published by The Soraya. It is republished on artsmeme with permission. They hurtle, tumble, and spin. They climb, juggle, and balance. Often, in practice, they fall. They’re the riveting performers of the Montreal-based contemporary-circus troupe Cirque Éloize (“ell-waz”). Their tireless ...
post sponsored by The Soraya
Farruquito, flamenco master, brings troupe to The Soraya
Juan Manuel Fernandez Montoya, aka Farruquito Ed. note: This article was commissioned and first published by The Soraya for Farruquito’s November 9, 2019 performance there. It is reprinted on artsmeme with permission. The brilliance was there from the start. At age 11, Juan Manuel Fernández Montoya, the reigning superstar of flamenco who performs under the ...