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La Santa Cecilia

Grammy-winning La Santa Cecilia exemplifies the modern-day creative hybrid of Latin culture, rock and world music. The band is known for drawing inspiration from all over the world, utilizing Pan-American rhythms including cumbia, bossa-nova, rumba, bolero, tango, jazz and klezmer music.

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Taj Mahal & Sona Jobarteh

Two-time Grammy-winning blues icon Taj Mahal comes to The Luckman on a co-bill with Sona Jobarteh, the first professional female Kora virtuoso to come from any of the West African dynasties.

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Sing and Swing

After the success of Jazz at Lincoln Center Presents Songs We Love tour, this new and highly anticipated touring project from Jazz at Lincoln Center Presents celebrates the Great American Songbook in all of its playful — and sophisticated glory — brought to life by two of this generation’s brightest stars – Bria Skonberg and Benny Benack.

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Raiford Rogers Tetyana Seeds

Raiford Rogers Modern Ballet: Études

The Luckman will present the world premiere of Études by choreographer Raiford Rogers, set to Philip Glass’ Études 5 & 12, and Prophecies from Koyannisquatsi (a Hopi word meaning “life out of balance”).

Études, a coda for Rogers’ acclaimed ballet Seeds of Rain, are constantly evolving abstract narratives. Glass described them as being about the language of music itself. Performed by pianist Hui Wu.

An encore performance of Seeds of Rain will complete the program. The ballet is set to Philip Glass’ masterwork Mad Rush with Mark Alan Hilt (organ) and Czech composer Zbyněk Matějů’s Three Stones Concerto featuring pianist Helena Suchárová-Weiser and the Hradec Králové Philharmonic Orchestra (created specifically for this ballet collaboration).

The artwork (painting progressions) for both ballets is by painter Mike Nava.

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Jazz at Lincoln Center: Songs We Love

For over three decades, Jazz at Lincoln Center has been a leading advocate for jazz, culture, and arts education globally. Under the direction of Wynton Marsalis, Jazz at Lincoln Center has brought the art form of jazz from the heart of New York City to over 446 cities in more than 40 countries. Songs We Love was first presented as the 2016 season opener at Jazz at Lincoln Center. The program is a journey through the first 50 years of jazz song. Under the musical direction of trumpeter Riley Mulherkar, vocalists Vuyo Sotashe, Brianna Thomas, and Shenel Johns join Mariel Bildsten on trombone, Lucas Pino on reeds, Mathis Picard on piano, Barry Stephenson on bass, and TJ Reddick in this all-star ensemble celebrating the American art form of jazz. Combining their distinct talents, the group will sing their way through four decades of music, beginning with the early blues and jazz of the 1920s and ending in the early 1950s. Iconic singers to be explored include Ma Rainey, Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Frank Sinatra, and Judy Garland.

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Raiford Rogers Modern Ballet | Seeds of Rain

The Luckman Fine Arts Complex will present the world premiere of Seeds of Rain by choreographer Raiford Rogers, with musical compositions by Philip Glass and Zbyněk Matějů — featuring organist Mark Alan Hilt and pianist Helena Suchárová-Weiser. The performance will feature guest dancers Tetyana Matyanova (Ukraine) and Tigran Mkrtchyan (Armenia).

The music for Seeds of Rain (part 1) is a special arrangement of Philip Glass’ masterwork Mad Rush performed by Los Angeles organist Mark Alan Hilt and recorded at the First Presbyterian Church in Santa Monica.

Seeds of Rain (part 2) is set to Czech composer Zbyněk Matějů’s Three Stones Concerto featuring pianist Helena Suchárová-Weiser with the Hradec Kralové Philharmonic Orchestra — recorded specifically for this ballet collaboration.

The title for the ballet-diptych Seeds of Rain is a line from the D.H. Lawrence poem Autumn Rain about hope and renewal.

The artwork by painter Mike Nava is projected animations showing the chronologic evolution of a series of paintings each photographed layer by layer. The hundreds of stages of the painting’s development slowly fade from one to the next without a static moment providing a living environment for the dancers and visual embodiment of the music.

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Pablo Sáinz Villegas

Praised as “the soul of the Spanish guitar”, Pablo Sáinz Villegas has become a worldwide sensation known as this generation’s great guitarist. With his “virtuosic playing characterized by irresistible exuberance” as described by The New York Times, his interpretations conjure the passion, playfulness, and drama of Rioja, his homeland’s rich musical heritage. He is known for his passionate, emotive and open-hearted playing, whether he is performing at intimate recital halls, or playing with Plácido Domingo to an audience of over 85,000 at Santiago Bernabéu Stadium in Madrid, where maestro Domingo hailed him as “the master of the guitar”.

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Ballet Folklórico de México de Amalia Hernández

n 2022, Ballet Folklórico de México de Amalia Hernández celebrates its 70th anniversary. To commemorate the occasion, the company returns to the Luckman for three evenings featuring renewed performances of their most celebrated classic choreography. 

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Step Afrika!

Founded in 1994 by C. Brian Williams, Step Afrika! is the first professional company dedicated to the tradition of stepping. Under Mr. Williams’ leadership, stepping has evolved into one of America’s cultural exports, touring more than 60 countries across the globe, and the Company now ranks as one of the top ten African-American dance companies in the United States.

Step Afrika! blends percussive dance styles practiced by historically African American fraternities and sororities; traditional African dances; and an array of contemporary dance and art forms into a cohesive, compelling artistic experience. Performances are much more than dance shows; they integrate songs, storytelling, humor and audience participation. The blend of technique, agility, and pure energy makes each performance unique and leaves the audience with their hearts pounding.

Step Afrika! promotes stepping as an educational tool for young people, focusing on teamwork, academic achievement and cross-cultural understanding. The Company reaches tens of thousands of Americans each year through a 50-city tour of colleges and theaters and performs globally as Washington, DC’s one and only Cultural Ambassador.

Step Afrika! has earned Mayor’s Arts Awards for Outstanding Contribution to Arts Education, Innovation in the Arts, Excellence in an Artistic Discipline and headlined President Barack Obama’s Black History Month Reception at The White House. The Company is featured prominently at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African-American History & Culture with the world’s first stepping interactive exhibit.

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