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Wisconsin Union Theater announces 2004-2005 season

April 30, 2004 By Esty Dinur

During the Wisconsin Union Theater‘s upcoming 85th season, great performers will once again captivate and thrill audiences with the best in classical and world music, performance art, dance and travel films.

New this season are more special events and the Keyboard Conversations with Jeffrey Siegel. The Siegel concerts will include lively commentary by the pianist, who has appeared as a soloist and conductor with the world’s best orchestras and has served as music director and conductor of the Mainly Mozart Festival in Arizona for 13 years.

Keyboard Conversations are co-sponsored by the University of Wisconsin–Madison School of Music, and all performances will take place in Mills Hall, located in the Humanities Building.

The season is presented by the students of the Wisconsin Union Directorate Theater Committee under the advice and guidance of Ralph Russo. Russo, a longtime staff member of the Wisconsin Union, has been named its cultural arts director. In addition to programming the theater season, Russo will oversee the full range of visual and performing arts programming at the Union. He will also direct all day-to-day operations in the theater, while Mark Guthier, Wisconsin Union director, will advance the theater’s external role on campus and in the community.

“We are extremely pleased to have someone of Ralph’s caliber working with the students to program the theater season,” Guthier says. “Ralph’s knowledge of the arts, combined with his ability to bring together the diverse interests of students and our larger audience, has created a truly remarkable season. We are thrilled to bring it to you.”

The 2004-2005 season includes the following performance series and prices:

85TH ANNUAL CONCERT SERIES

  • Takacs String Quartet, Saturday, Oct. 2
  • I Solisti di Venezia, Thursday, Nov. 4
  • Midori, Friday, Nov. 12
  • Sérgio and Odair Assad with Paquito D’Rivera, Thursday, Jan. 20, 2005
  • Eroica Trio, Friday, Feb. 25, 2005
  • Alfred Brendel, Thursday, March 31, 2005
  • Tallis Scholars, Thursday, April 14, 2005

A season subscription for the Concert Series is $112-$207 for renewing subscribers (Union members receive an additional 5 percent off), $66-$122 for the first 250 new subscribers (save 50 percent), and $60 for UW–Madison students.

Renewing Concert Series subscribers will receive a free voucher that can be exchanged for any season performance, as well as a copy of “The Wisconsin Union Theater: Fifty Golden Years,” written in 1989 by the theater’s former director, Fan Taylor.

KEYBOARD CONVERSATIONS WITH JEFFREY SIEGEL

  • Splendor From Silence: Beethoven, Smetana and Fauré, Tuesday, Sept. 28
  • The Passion and Poetry of Chopin, Tuesday, Dec. 14
  • A Musical Love Triangle: Robert Schumann, Clara Schumann and Johannes Brahms, Tuesday, Feb. 1, 2005
  • The Magnificent Melodies of Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninoff, Tuesday, March 15, 2005

Keyboard Conversations are held at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesdays at Mills Hall. Subscriptions ($115) and single tickets ($32) are available from the Wisconsin Union Theater’s box office. Performances are free for UW–Madison students with a valid ID.

WORLD STAGE

  • Mariza, Friday, Oct. 15
  • Spanish Harlem Orchestra, performance and dance party, Saturday, Nov. 20
  • Habib Koite with Vusi Mahlasela, performance and dance party, Friday, Feb. 18, 2005
  • Chava Alberstein, Saturday, March 5, 2005
  • Dianne Reeves, Saturday, April 16, 2005

World Stage season subscriptions range from $83-$138 (Union members receive an additional 5 percent off) for the public and $45 for UW–Madison students.

Again this season, the theater offers dance parties, free to ticket holders, following the performances by the Spanish Harlem Orchestra and Habib Koite with Vusi Mahlasela.

45TH ANNUAL TRAVEL FILM SERIES

  • Alaska’s Inside Passage with John Holod, Sept. 27-29
  • The Real World of New Zealand with Rick Howard, Oct. 11-13
  • In Search of Shangri-la with Buddy Hatton, Nov. 15-17
  • Sailing Down to Rio on the Queen Mary 2 with Doug Jones, Feb. 7-9, 2005
  • Canada’s Incredible Parks with Dale Johnson, Feb. 28-March 2, 2005
  • Inside Iraq: The Untold Story with Mike Shiley, March 28-30, 2005

45th Annual Travel Film Series season subscriptions are $54 for the general public (Union members receive an additional 5 percent off) and $22.50 for UW–Madison students.

The Union’s Travel Buffet Dinners, white-linen buffet meals with food from the region presented in the film, will again be offered. Meals start at 5:30 p.m. on Travel Adventure Film days and cost $14 per person.

SPECIAL EVENTS

  • Laurie Anderson, Friday, Oct. 29
  • Pilobolus Dance Theater, Wednesday, Feb. 23, 2005
  • Israel Contemporary Dance Company, Friday, March 11, 2005

There are a number of additional special prices and other features available to ticket buyers this year, including:

  • New this season, different sections of the theater have been assigned different prices, increasing audience members’ choices while providing lower-cost options.
  • Renewing season subscribers will receive up to 15 percent off the single ticket price, have the same seats reserved for the entire season and the opportunity for seat renewal next season.
  • New this year is Create Your Own Series, an option that allows audience members to choose seven or more performances and get up to 20 percent off.
  • Concert and Create Your Own Series subscribers can purchase any number of additional single tickets at 15 percent off before single tickets go on sale to the general public.
  • Student tickets are only $10-all the time, every time.
  • Season subscribers may also purchase reserved parking in the Helen C. White Library ramp, located across the street from the theater.