Rush tickets (in the balcony) will be available for the Stradivari Quartet, starting at 12:30 p.m. Sunday, 11/8 at the University Auditorium Box Office. Rush tickets are $11.63 per person.

For more information about the Stradivari Quartet, click here.

Patrons interested in seeing the performance who do not have tickets are welcome to come the night of the show. UFPA will fill any empty seats just prior to showtime on a first-come, first-served basis. Seating is subject to availability.

General Admission
Free tickets (tickets may be picked up from the Phillips Center Box Office)

General Admission - Free tickets will be distributed beginning Friday, November 13, at 12 p.m. from the Phillips Center Box Office only.

Saturday, November 14, 6 p.m.
University Auditorium

General Admission
All tickets are $12 per person

Friday, November 6, 7 p.m.
Saturday, November 7, 1 p.m.
Saturday, November 7, 4 p.m.
Sunday, November 8, 2 p.m.
Sunday, November 9, 7 p.m.

Squitieri Studio Theatre
Free General Admission. Tickets will be distributed beginning approximately one hour prior to each show.

October 22, 2009

AVENUE Q Makes Gainesville Debut - Tickets On Sale Now

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — AVENUE Q is the smash-hit Broadway musical about real life in New York City, as told by a cast of people and puppets through a hilariously irreverent, Tony-winning book and score. The three-time Tony Award winning musical will make its Gainesville debut at the Phillips Center for the Performing Arts on Monday, November 9 and Tuesday, November 10.  Tickets are on sale now for both shows.

AVENUE Q tells the story of Princeton, a bright-eyed college grad who moves to NYC with big dreams and a tiny bank account. The only apartment he can afford is way out on Avenue Q, where everyone’s looking for the same things he is: a decent job, a stable relationship, and a “purpose.” Eventually, Princeton learns to embrace the ups and downs of city life and realizes that “the real world” isn’t so bad, after all!

The New York Times hailed AVENUE Q as “a breakthrough musical of a very different stripe. Savvy, sassy and delicious!” and Entertainment Weekly claimed it was “one of the funniest shows you’re ever likely to see!”

AVENUE Q features music and lyrics by Robert Lopez and Jeff Marx, book by Jeff Whitty, based on an original concept by Robert Lopez and Jeff Marx; and is directed by Jason Moore; puppet design by Rick Lyon, orchestrations by Stephen Oremus, choreography by Ken Roberson, scenic design by Anna Louizos, costume design by Mirena Rada, lighting design by Howell Binkley, and sound design by Lew Mead; associate director is Evan Ensign and music supervisor is Andrew Graham.  
 
AVENUE Q is produced by Work Light Productions. 

For more information on AVENUE Q, visit www.avenueqontour.com. 

Due to adult situations (like full-puppet nudity), AVENUE Q may be inappropriate for kids under 13.

ROBERT LOPEZ (Music and Lyrics, Original Concept, Animation Design) is still reeling from winning the 2004 Tony Award for Best Score for AVENUE Q, which has been produced in New York, Vegas, London, Stockholm, Helsinki, and now this tour!  Bobby’s musical version of Finding Nemo, co-written with his wife Kristen Anderson-Lopez, is currently playing in Walt Disney World.   In 2007, he co-wrote songs for a musical episode of NBC’s “Scrubs.”  He and his brother Billy Lopez have written music for Nick Jr’s “The Wonder Pets!” and Disney’s “Johnny and the Sprites.” Bobby is busy at work on lots of new projects. He grew up in Greenwich Village, graduated Yale 1997 (with a BA in English!) and now lives in Manhattan with his wife and daughter.

JEFF MARX (Music and Lyrics).  B’way debut.  Jeff would like to take this opportunity to plug his book, How To Win A High School Election.  A serious guide for student council candidates, it has sold over 15,000 copies and can be found in bookstores and on the internet.  This is Jeff’s first musical.  He is now living in Los Angeles, writing various projects with different collaborators.  He went to L.A. to work on the musical episode of “Scrubs,” loved it there, and stayed.  He has a law degree, a Tony Award, a Mustang convertible, and a wonderfully sweet rescue doggie named Princeton.  Many thanks to the hundreds of people whose contributions helped make AVENUE Q a reality.

JEFF WHITTY (Book) won the 2004 Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical for AVENUE Q. Plays include The Further Adventures of Hedda Gabler (next appearing in the Oregon Shakespeare Festival’s 2008 season), The Hiding Place, The Plank Project, Suicide Weather, and Balls.  Theaters presenting his work include the Atlantic Theater Company, South Coast Repertory, the Vineyard Theater, the New Group, and New York Stage and Film/Vassar.  Currently at work on the libretto for a musical version of Armistead Maupin’s Tales of the City.  As an actor, he has appeared regionally, Off-Broadway, and in film and TV.  Website: www.Whitless.com.

JASON MOORE (Director).  Broadway:  Shrek, Steel Magnolias, AVENUE Q.  Off-Broadway: Jerry Springer The Opera (Carnegie Hall), Speech and Debate (Roundabout), Avenue Q, Guardians, The Crumple Zone. Regional: Vices (Mixed Blood Theatre, Minnesota), Opening Day (Powerhouse Theatre, Los Angeles). Associate directing: Les Misérables (Broadway, National Tour), Ragtime (Vancouver). Writer: The Floatplane Notebooks (Charlotte Repertory Theatre). TV: episodes of “Dawson’s Creek,” “Everwood,” “One Tree Hill”, and “Brothers and Sisters.”

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AVENUE Q
Monday, November 9, 7:30 p.m.
Tuesday, November 10, 7:30 p.m.
Phillips Center for the Performing Arts

The performance is sponsored by WGFL-TV CBS4.

Ticket Price $34.00 - $60.50

Web sites:  
University of Florida Performing Arts: www.performingarts.ufl.edu
AVENUE Q: www.avenueq.com

To Purchase tickets, call the Phillips Center Box Office at 352-392-ARTS (2787) or 800-905-ARTS (toll-free within Florida) or call Ticketmaster at 800-745-3000 (toll-free).  Tickets may also be purchased in person at the Phillips Center Box Office, the University Box Office at the University of Florida Reitz Union or from any Ticketmaster outlet, or online at www.ticketmaster.com. Cash, checks, MasterCard and Visa are accepted.

Student tickets for AVENUE Q are SOLD OUT. Regularly priced tickets are still available.

For interviews and other press inquiries, please contact Marilyn Patrick at 352-273-2483.
 
For high resolution photos and/or artwork, please visit the web: www.performingarts.ufl.edu.
Performance dates, times and programs are subject to change.
 

October 22, 2009

Stradivari Quartet brings talent and four legendary instruments to Gainesville

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The Stradivari Quartet, made up of four extraordinary artists performing on a unique set of Stradivarius instruments, provided by the Stradivari Foundation Habisreutinger, will bring their distinctive sound to University Auditorium on Sunday, November 8 at 2 p.m.

The Swiss Stradivari Foundation Habisreutinger lent four exceptional Stradivari instruments to four outstanding young musicians from England, Austria, Poland, and Switzerland, who formed the Stradivari Quartet, based in Zurich. After a stunning debut concert, the Quartet was celebrated with standing ovations in its hometown as well as on its debut tour to Munich, Berlin, Prague, Budapest, Eisenstadt, Salzburg and Vienna. In autumn 2008 the Stradivari recorded a double CD of Haydn’s Opus 50 string quartets, which will be released by Sony BMG in late 2009 for the Haydn anniversary. In 2009 the Quartet will perform in the United States, China and the United Kingdom, among other places, and will visit the United States, Great Britain, and Japan on further debut tours. The Budapester Zeitung titled the Quartet’s debut as a moment “when stars are born,” and praised the “incomparable warm sound” and the “fabulous” interplay.

The legend behind these Stradivari instruments is just as fascinating as the performers themselves.

Violinist Bartek Niziol plays the Aurea. The “golden violin” comes from Stradivari’s ‘Golden Period’ (ca. 1700-1720).  During this period the master’s genius reached maturity and he made his best instruments, including the Aurea, which was made in 1715.  Presumably Stradivari proportioned this violin according to the “Golden Section” (sectio aurea), the name given to the special mathematical relationship according to which the smaller part relates to the larger part as the larger part relates to the whole. 

Violinist Xiaoming Wang plays the King George.  This valuable violin dates from 1710 and is named after its owner King George III.  In 1800 he gave it to a Scottish officer, whose motto was “Not without my Stradivari,” for he worshipped this instrument.  He fell in the Battle of Waterloo in July 1815, but the violin survived undamaged in his horse’s saddle bags. 

Violist David Greenlees plays the Gibson.  It was surely with a trembling hand that in 1734 Antonio Stradivari – already 90 years old – gave what was presumably his last contralto viola (which was smaller than his tenor violas) a craftsman like and artistic vitality which made it an instrument of unusual tone color and beauty. This is perhaps the most priceless of the instruments of his “Golden Period.” 

Cellist Maja Weber plays the Bonamy Dobree Suggia. The English scholar Bonamy Dobree owned this 1717 Stradivari cello.  The moving story of this valuable instrument actually begins with the mysterious, diva-like Portuguese cellist Guilhermina Suggia (1885-1950), who when playing her favorite cello combined technical perfection and interpretative feeling, enchanting her public with her playing as well as her warmth and depth of tone.  Outwardly extravagant and lively, inwardly intelligent and warm-hearted, Suggia lived many lives: in Paris as the pupil and lover of Pablo Casals, in London as a “Grande Dame” and cosmopolitan figure, in Portugal as the yearning woman seeking her homeland. After Suggia’s death the cello was sold and the proceeds used to provide grants for students at the Royal Academy of Music.

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Stradivari Quartet
Sunday, November 8, 2 p.m.
University Auditorium

Program:
Quartet in G Minor, D. 173 – Schubert
La Oracíon del Torero – Turina
Quartet No. 4 – Bartók
Quartet in A Minor, Op. 51, No. 2 – Brahms
Pre-performance DiscussionThere will be a pre-performance discussion at 1 p.m.

Ticket Prices: $23.25 - $34.00

Web sites:  
University of Florida Performing Arts: www.performingarts.ufl.edu
Stradivari Quartet: http://www.stradivariquartett.com/

To Purchase tickets, call the Phillips Center Box Office at 352-392-ARTS (2787) or 800-905-ARTS (toll-free within Florida) or call Ticketmaster at 800-745-3000 (toll-free).  Tickets may also be purchased in person at the Phillips Center Box Office, the University Box Office at the University of Florida Reitz Union or from any Ticketmaster outlet, or online at www.ticketmaster.com. Cash, checks, MasterCard and Visa are accepted.

UF students may purchase $10 tickets (with a valid student ID) at the Phillips Center Box Office and the University Box Office at the Reitz Union. Other students may purchase $10 student tickets (in the balcony) at the Phillips Center Box Office.

For interviews and other press inquiries, please contact Marilyn Patrick at 352-273-2483.
 
Performance dates, times and programs are subject to change.

University of Florida Performing Arts does more than entertain.  It breaks down walls.  It breaks down the walls between people by increasing cultural awareness through programming that attracts artists and audiences from around the globe.  It breaks down the wall between patron and performer with educational programs such as master classes, artist residencies and pre- and post-performance discussions.  It breaks down the wall between health and illness with AIM Together, a collaborative program between UFPA and Shands HealthCare that brings world-class performing artists to those who are hospitalized.  It breaks down the wall between idea and realization by commissioning and nurturing new work.  Art doesn’t have walls.  But sometimes life does.  UFPA breaks down the walls, enriching the lives of the citizens in the Heart of Florida, helping to make Gainesville “the #1 place to live.”