Tickets and Show Details
Performance Dates and Times: Sept. 8-April 18 || 7:30 p.m.
Location: Harris Fine Arts Center, BYU
Tickets: Available starting May 15 for renewals and May 22 for new orders in person at the BYU Ticket Office in the Harris Fine Arts Center or Marriott Center, by phone at (801) 422- 2981 or online at byuarts.com
Celebrated musicians, innovative theater-makers and acclaimed dancers converge upon the stages of Brigham Young University’s Franklin S. Harris Fine Arts Center in a dynamic new season of exhilarating live performances by the crème de la crème of the performing arts world as part of the 2017-18 BRAVO! season.
The fifth anniversary of OFF THE MAP, BYU’s international theatre festival, also continues with three acclaimed performances – including a U.S. premiere – in January.
“The 2017-18 season marks my tenth as curator and producer of this world-class performing arts series,” says BRAVO! series producer Jeffrey Martin. “Curating, assembling and presenting a world-class series such as this takes many months – and sometimes even years – and I can’t wait to share these performances and experiences with our patrons.”
Some of the season’s highlights include a rare live performance by eight-time Academy Award-winning composer Alan Menken; Tony Award-winning Hamilton star Renée Elise Goldsberry’s new solo concert; and a gala ballet performance featuring New York City Ballet principal dancers Robert Fairchild, Megan Fairchild and Tiler Peck. The latter features a return home for two Utah siblings who grew up dancing in Salt Lake City.
“Robbie and I left Utah many years ago, but our parents still live there, and it still holds a special place in our hearts. To come back and perform in Utah is a dream come true for both of us. We are excited to share our talented friends with a Utah audience as well. We can’t wait for next March!” Megan Fairchild says.
BRAVO! series programming helps fulfil the BYU mission of providing inspiring learning in a stimulating setting where a commitment to excellence is expected and the full realization of human potential is pursued. Performances enhance the skills of students, supplement faculty teaching initiatives, inspire creativity, encourage greatness and support the university’s performance-oriented programs through visiting professional seminars and mentoring sessions.
Season tickets will be available for purchase beginning Monday, May 15, 2017, for renewals and Monday, May 22, for new orders. Tickets for individual events will go on sale approximately four to six weeks before each performance. Tickets are available at the BYU Ticket Office in the Harris Fine Arts Center and Marriott Center, online at bravo.byu.edu or by calling (801) 422-2981.
Complete information about the 2017-18 performances can be found online at bravo.byu.edu.
The BRAVO! 2017-18 schedule:
Renée Elise Goldsberry
Friday, Sept. 8, 7:30 p.m.
de Jong Concert Hall
CANCELLED - Saturday, Sept. 9
Winner of the 2016 Tony Award for her performance as Angelica Schuyler in the musical phenomenon Hamilton, Renée Elise Goldsberry is equally at home in a Broadway theatre, on a film set or on a concert hall stage. In this world-premiere concert performance, she shares some of the beloved songs and musical experiences that have shaped her life and helped her forge a career as one of her generation’s most electrifying artists.
Roomful of Teeth
Thursday, Sept. 28, 7:30 p.m.
Pardoe Theatre
This Grammy Award-winning vocal ensemble is dedicated to mining the expressive potential of the human voice. Through study with masters of singing traditions the world over, the eight-voice group of singers continually expands its vocabulary of singing techniques and, through an ongoing commissioning process, forges a new repertoire without borders. BYU School of Music faculty member Gayle Lockwood is one of Roomful of Teeth’s master teachers and regularly coaches the ensemble in contemporary vocal techniques.
Julie Fowlis: Music of the Scottish Isles
Wednesday, Oct. 11, 7:30 p.m.
Pardoe Theatre
Julie Fowlis’s exquisite voice, interpretation of Scottish Gaelic culture and ability to transport folk music out of the past and into something contemporary, dynamic and irresistible have made her an award-winning crossover star. Music of the Scottish Isles brings the rich traditions of her homeland to life in this evening of stories and songs performed with her incomparable live band. Fowlis will forever be recognized for singing the theme song to Brave, Disney-Pixar’s Academy Award-winning animated film set in the medieval highlands of Scotland.
Julian Lage and Chris Eldridge
Friday, Oct. 20, 7:30 p.m.
Pardoe Theatre
Renowned jazz guitarist Julian Lage and Punch Brothers anchor Chris Eldridge craft songs that sound familiar but are never easily classified. With music that bubbles with tinges of bluegrass and folk, insinuations of jazz and pop, and hints of classical and avant-garde composition, this duo rarely settles into any one particular category. Their acoustic innovation takes Americana music in exciting new directions as they perform songs from their recently released album, Mount Royal.
Joshua Bell, violin, and Alessio Bax, piano
Thursday, Nov. 2, 7:30 p.m.
de Jong Concert Hall
With a career spanning more than 30 years as a soloist, chamber musician, recording artist and conductor, Joshua Bell is one of the most celebrated violinists of his era and continues to enchant audiences with his breathtaking virtuosity and charismatic stage presence. His restless curiosity, passion and universal appeal have earned him the rare title of “classical music superstar.” Bell performs on the 1713 Huberman Stradivarius violin and uses a late 18th-century French bow made by Francois Tourte. He first performed at BYU in November 2013.
The King’s Singers: Gold 50
Thursday-Friday, Nov. 16-17, 7:30 p.m.
de Jong Concert Hall
One of the world’s most admired and successful vocal ensembles, the King’s Singers return to Provo during their extraordinary fiftieth anniversary season. From jazz standards to new commissions and medieval motets to Renaissance madrigals, this special program features music selected from multiple ages and genres performed throughout the world during the group’s illustrious history.
An Evening with Jason Robert Brown and Kelli O’Hara
Thursday, Dec. 14, 7:30 p.m.
de Jong Concert Hall
Known for his dazzling scores to renowned musicals of his generation, including The Last Five Years, Songs for a New World, Parade and The Bridges of Madison County, Tony Award-winning composer Jason Robert Brown has been hailed as “one of Broadway’s smartest and most sophisticated songwriters since Stephen Sondheim” (Philadelphia Inquirer). Tony Award-winner Kelli O’Hara has unequivocally established herself as one of Broadway’s great leading ladies in critically acclaimed productions of The King and I, South Pacific, and The Light in the Piazza. These two titans of Broadway will travel to Utah for this rare joint concert performance.
Utah Symphony
Thursday, Jan. 4, 7:30 p.m.
de Jong Concert Hall
Called “impetuous and authoritative, brilliant and beautiful” by the New York Times, Grammy Award-winning violinist Hilary Hahn returns to perform Dvořák’s dramatic Violin Concerto, conducted by Thierry Fischer. The program also continues Utah Symphony’s multi-season study of the early Haydn symphonies and includes selections from Dvořák’s irresistible Slavonic Dances, which made him an international star in 1878.
Utah Symphony
Thursday, Jan. 11, 7:30 p.m.
de Jong Concert Hall
Stephen Hough, “one of the finest pianists of the age” (St. Louis Post-Dispatch), performs Rachmaninoff’s boldly romantic Piano Concerto No. 1, conducted by Thierry Fischer. Preceding it is a newly discovered gem by the young Stravinsky, Funeral Song, performed only once before becoming lost for more than a century. It was composed just before Stravinsky’s first big success (and this program’s big finish) – the colorful, hugely imaginative score for the ballet The Firebird.
The Peking Acrobats
Friday, Jan. 19, 7:30 p.m. and Saturday, Jan. 20, 2:00 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.
de Jong Concert Hall
Pushing the boundaries of human ability, the Peking Acrobats defy gravity with astonishing displays of contortion, flexibility and control. Time-honored music, performed live by musicians who skillfully play traditional Chinese instruments, combines with high-tech special effects and impressive athleticism to create a showcase of culture with the festive pageantry of a Chinese carnival.
Jake Shimabukuro
Thursday, Feb. 15, 7:30 p.m.
de Jong Concert Hall
Honolulu’s Jake Shimabukuro has elevated the ukulele from a beloved Hawaiian folk instrument to a world-class tool, fearlessly traversing boundaries and putting his inspired touch on everything from island standards to popular tunes and, most recently, classical symphonic concertos. This solo concert brings him to Provo for the first time with an adventurous and engaging program of signature tunes and new compositions.
Wu Man and the Huayin Shadow Puppet Band
Thursday, Mar. 1, 7:30 p.m.
Madsen Recital Hall
Chinese pipa virtuoso Wu Man joins with the brilliant Huayin Shadow Puppet Band for an evening of old-time traditional music and shadow puppetry. Amid shouts and the strumming of lutes and fiddles, the percussion of clappers and the ringing of gongs, the band sings and plays about rural life in remote China, painting an aural picture of places and sounds rarely heard in the West. Equally at home in a variety of settings, Wu Man is a principal musician with Yo-Yo Ma’s Silk Road Ensemble and has also recorded music for the soundtrack of the DreamWorks Animation film Kung Fu Panda 3.
A Whole New World of Alan Menken: An Evening of Stories and Songs
Wednesday-Thursday, Mar. 7-8, 7:30 p.m.
de Jong Concert Hall
Spend an evening with legendary songwriter Alan Menken – eight-time Oscar winner and recipient of more Tony Awards than any other living individual – as he shares the stories and songs behind a three-decade career of hit movies and musicals, including The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Little Shop of Horrors, Aladdin, Newsies and more. Performed only a handful of times anywhere in the world, this new solo show originally premiered in Southern California in September 2016.
Bravo Ballet! An Evening of Dance with Robert Fairchild, Megan Fairchild, Tiler Peck and Friends
Friday-Saturday, Mar. 16-17, 7:30 p.m.
de Jong Concert Hall
It’s a family affair when Utah siblings Robert Fairchild (a Tony Award nominee for An American in Paris on Broadway) and Megan Fairchild – both currently principal dancers with New York City Ballet – curate and star in an exciting program of ballets by choreographers of yesterday and today. Joined by superstar ballerina Tiler Peck (also Robert’s wife) and several of their friends from New York’s internationally acclaimed ballet companies, this promises to be a truly special night to remember. All three stars will be teaching master classes to BYU dance students. The concert will feature a magnificent blend of classical ballet pieces along with contemporary new choreographers.
Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Chick Corea
Tuesday, Mar. 20, 7:30 p.m.
de Jong Concert Hall
Composed of 15 of jazz music’s leading soloists, this distinguished big band draws from an extensive repertoire including original compositions as well as the masterworks of Ellington, Mingus, Coltrane and other great jazz composers. Universally acclaimed keyboardist, composer and bandleader Chick Corea – winner of 22 Grammy Awards – joins the ensemble for a thrilling night of music making.
Lawrence Brownlee
Tuesday, Apr. 3, 7:30 p.m.
Madsen Recital Hall
The most in-demand American tenor in the world in the bel canto repertoire, Lawrence Brownlee continues to astonish audiences with the elegance and agility of his instrument. From firmly American roots, Brownlee has become a star on the international opera and recital scenes, lauded for the seemingly effortless beauty of his voice.
Actors From The London Stage: The Taming of the Shrew
Thursday-Saturday, Apr. 12-14, 7:30 p.m. and Saturday, Apr. 14, 2:00 p.m.
Pardoe Theatre
To woo, or not to woo: that may well be the question in Padua for suitors and sisters alike when five highly accomplished British actors – bearing credits from the Royal Shakespeare Company, the Royal National Theatre of Great Britain and Shakespeare’s Globe, among others – play all the parts in this lean and lively production of Shakespeare’s boisterous, fiery comedy. Founded in 1975, Actors from the London Stage made their BYU debut in Sept. 2014 performing Much Ado About Nothing outdoors in the courtyard of the Joseph F. Smith Building.
The Tallis Scholars
Wednesday, Apr. 18, 7:30 p.m.
de Jong Concert Hall
Founded in 1973 by conductor Peter Phillips, this London-based chamber choir has become the leading exponent of Renaissance sacred music throughout the world. Equally at home in St. Paul’s Cathedral or concert halls across the globe, the ensemble makes its long-awaited Utah return alongside two of the BYU School of Music’s premier choral ensembles, BYU Singers and BYU Concert Choir, who join our guests for two pieces on the program.
OFF THE MAP: BYU International Theatre Festival schedule:
Ailie Cohen Puppet Maker: The Secret Life of Suitcases
Wednesday, Jan. 24, 7:00 p.m.
Thursday, Jan. 25, 10:00 a.m. and 6:30 p.m.
Friday, Jan. 26, 6:30 p.m.
Saturday, Jan. 27, 1:00 p.m. and 6:30 p.m.
Nelke Theatre
Workaholic Larry has got no time for fun, but that quickly changes when his fantastical, flying suitcase takes him on a thrilling global adventure! Celebrating a handmade aesthetic in a digital world, this intimate, big-hearted piece of puppet theatre for youth is the first-ever coproduction between Ailie Cohen, one of Scotland’s leading puppet creators, and the Unicorn Theatre, the UK’s leading theatre for young audiences. As an associate artist of Scotland’s Puppet State Theatre Company, Cohen collaborated on the production of The Man Who Planted Trees, which was performed at BYU in Sept. 2012.
Out of Chaos: Macbeth
Thursday-Friday, Jan. 25-26, 8:00 p.m.
Saturday, Jan. 27, 2:30 p.m. and 8:00 p.m.
Pardoe Theatre
U.S. PREMIERE! Shakespeare’s classic tale of blind ambition in medieval Scotland mixes with 21st-century sensibilities in this exhilarating, high-octane adaptation by some of Europe’s most exciting theatre-makers. Two actors inhabit 20 characters and bring them to life with all of the drama, intrigue and madness for which this timeless story has become famous. The two stars of this production have both previously performed at BYU: Paul O’Mahony in Much Ado About Nothing (2014) and Troels Hagen Findsen in Next Door (2016).
600 Highwaymen: The Fever
Thursday-Saturday, Feb. 1-3, 5:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m.
Pardoe Theatre
The latest work by this Brooklyn-based ensemble tests the limits of individual and collective responsibility and our willingness to be there for one another. Performed in complete collaboration with the audience, The Fever examines how we assemble, organize and care for the bodies around us. Who will you be when our eyes are on you? What will we see when we all look your way? “A lovely, haunting meditation on human connection and disconnection.... A poetic evocation of our mostly unspoken – and un-called upon – dependence on one another” (New York Times).
