Pace University To Present Pace Presents

Pace University is set to unveil the inaugural season of Pace Presents, a new annual series of performing and visual arts programs at the school's Michael Schimmel Center for the Arts. Directed by Martin I. Kagan, the Center's newly appointed Director of Cultural Affairs, the series is conceived as a platform to bring International Artists and ensembles of the highest quality to downtown audiences at affordable prices and exemplifies the university's commitment to community development in Lower Manhattan. "Pace has become a nationally known incubator for performing arts talent in the past several years," says Pace University President Stephen J. Friedman. "Our quickly growing theatre and performing arts department, the legendary Actor's Studio Drama School, and now Pace Presents solidify our position as the premier cultural venue in Lower Manhattan. We look forward to creating a culturally vibrant and accessible arts community for our students, downtown neighbors and for all of New York City."

As former executive director of OPERA America Inc., The Paul Taylor Dance Company, the Alex Theatre in Glendale, CA and the Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival as well as senior development executive for such organizations as the Philip Johnson Glass House and Consumer Reports, Kagan is uniquely poised to spearhead the programming and positioning of Pace Presents. "I am delighted to bring a roster of internationally-acclaimed talent to Lower Manhattan and am committed to making the Michael Schimmel Center for the Arts Lower Manhattan's premier performing arts venue," he says.

The season opens October 12 with the first in a series of four multimedia presentations by renowned scholar and art historian Dr. Janetta Rebold Benton entitled Great Painters and Their Masterpieces. Focusing on the life and works of Leonardo da Vinci, the talk (followed by an informal luncheon at which attendees may continue the conversation) will feature the signature mix of information and entertainment that audiences have come to expect from Dr. Benton's sold-out talks at the Metropolitan Museum of Art for the past 23 years. The series goes on to explore Rembrandt, Van Gogh and Picasso on October 19, October 26 and November 2 respectively.

Throughout the 2011-2012 season Pace Presents will emphasize the variety and breadth of excellence in American music today, starting with BOOM! on October 15: an evening of cabaret with Tony-nominated actors (and sisters) Ann Hampton Callaway and Liz Callaway featuring music by such artists as Joni Mitchell, Carole King, Carly Simon, The Beatles, Paul Simon, Jimmy Webb and Stevie Wonder. November 5 brings the jazz stylings of five-time Grammy winner Terence Blanchard's eponymous quintet to the Schimmel Theatre, and on March 2 the Carolina Chocolate Drops perform their brand of what Rolling Stone calls "dirt-floor-dance electricity" in celebration of their upcoming Nonesuch Records release. A rare, intimate cabaret performance by opera star Patricia Racette-fresh from starring roles in Metropolitan Opera productions of Tosca and Madama Butterfly-takes place March 11. And finally, on May 19 the New York Choral Society kicks off its summer tour of Italy with a program of Italian and American choral music.

A selection of today's leading world music innovators are also on the schedule of Pace Presents 2011-2012. On October 21, Senegalese master musician Baaba Maal-declared "one of the finest singers in the world" by the Guardian-presents an acoustic evening of stories and songs called Tales from the Sahel. International fado sensation Ana Moura performs her soulful take on the Portuguese musical style February 10 followed by Mariachi Los Camperos on February 11, who have been entertaining audiences worldwide for over 50 years. Yasmin Levy, whose voice the San Francisco Examiner says "seems to sing directly from [her] soul," performs her acclaimed blend of Judeo-Spanish Ladino and flamenco styles February 16, accompanied by Turkish multi-instrumentalist Omar Faruk Tekbilek. And finally Afrocubism, the groundbreaking ensemble referred to by Rolling Stone as "a meeting of powerhouse instrumentalists conversing atop a long history of African and Latin American musical exchange," arrives on March 15 to perform their border-defying fusion of Cuban and Malian sounds.

Dance programming launches January 6 & 7 with the Taylor 2 Festival, two different programs of some of the finest pieces by the company the New York Times calls a "kind of miracle." Then on April 13 & 14, Tango Connection: The Mariela Franganillo Company presents two evenings of dancers, musicians and vocalists all of whom are at the forefront of the tango world today.

At 650 seats, the Schimmel Theatre is large enough to serve as Lower Manhattan's premier performing arts center, yet small enough to boast flawless sightlines and intimate performances. Ticket prices top out at $55 with $25 seats available to the public and $5 student tickets available for all performances.

See below for full season details.

Program Details for Pace Presents 2011-2012:

LECTURE
Great Painters and Their Masterpieces with Dr. Janetta Rebold Benton: Da Vinci
Wednesday, October 12, 2011 at 11:00 a.m.
All Seats $25
Known for her sold-out lectures at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Distinguished Pace University Professor Dr. Janetta Rebold Benton comes home to Pace for this entertaining and informative series created specifically for Pace Presents. Widely recognized for her fact-filled, fast-paced multimedia presentations, Benton leads downtown audiences through the works, home and life of genius Leonardo da Vinci, exploring the points where science and art intersect.

CABARET
Ann Hampton Callaway and Liz Callaway in BOOM!
Saturday, October 15, 2011 at 7:30 p.m.
Orchestra Pit & Center Orchestra $50
Orchestra & Balcony Center $35
Balcony $25
Tony-nominated actors (and sisters) Liz Callaway and Ann Hampton Callaway join forces in BOOM!, their acclaimed show featuring the music of Joni Mitchell, Carole King, Carly Simon, The Beatles, Paul Simon, Jimmy Webb, Stevie Wonder and more. The two stars share heartwarming and humorous stories of their years growing up in Chicago and New York putting their unmistakable stamp on such classics as "Both Sides Now," "Up, Up and Away," "That's the Way I've Always Heard It Should Be," "Bridge Over Troubled Water," "Will You Love Me Tomorrow?" and "Downtown."

LECTURE
Great Painters and Their Masterpieces with Dr. Janetta Rebold Benton: Rembrandt
Wednesday, October 19, 2011 at 11:00 a.m.
All Seats $25
Known for her sold-out lectures at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Distinguished Pace University Professor Dr. Janetta Rebold Benton comes home to Pace for this entertaining and informative series created specifically for Pace Presents. Widely recognized for her fact-filled, fast-paced multimedia presentations, Benton explores the dramatic works and life of Dutch master Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn, known affectionately as the "Lord of Light."

MUSIC
Tales from the Sahel: An Evening with Baaba Maal
Friday, October 21, 2011 at 7:30 p.m.
Orchestra Pit & Center Orchestra $50
Orchestra & Balcony Center $35
Balcony $25
With releases ranging from contemporary Afropop to time-honored African music that have received worldwide critical acclaim, Senegalese master musician Baaba Maal has been making music for nearly two decades. His unique and thought-provoking Tales from the Sahel now comes to the United States following a successful U.K. tour. For this intimate two-part evening, Maal will discuss personal, social and political issues with noted music journalist and author Chris Salewiczby, and then will be joined by his longstanding percussionist Mamadou Sarr and multi-instrumentalist Jim Palmer for an acoustic set that fuses funk, rock and blues with the beats and melodies of West Africa.

LECTURE
Great Painters and Their Masterpieces with Dr. Janetta Rebold Benton: Van Gogh
Wednesday, October 26, 2011 at 11:00 a.m.
All Seats $25
Known for her sold-out lectures at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Distinguished Pace University Professor Dr. Janetta Rebold Benton comes home to Pace for this entertaining and informative series created specifically for Pace Presents. Widely recognized for her fact-filled, fast-paced multimedia presentations, Benton delves into the tormented, nomadic life of Vincent Van Gogh paying special attention to the intensity of his personal relationships and their subsequent treatments in vivid color.

LECTURE
Great Painters and Their Masterpieces with Dr. Janetta Rebold Benton: Picasso
Wednesday, November 2, 2011 at 11:00 a.m.
All Seats $25
Known for her sold-out lectures at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Distinguished Pace University Professor Dr. Janetta Rebold Benton comes home to Pace for this entertaining and informative series created specifically for Pace Presents. Widely recognized for her fact-filled, fast-paced multimedia presentations, for this final talk in the series Benton turns her focus to the innovations of Spanish ex-pat prodigy Pablo Picasso, widely considered the most influential artist of the 20th Century.

MUSIC
Terence Blanchard Quintet
Saturday, November 5, 2011 at 7:30 p.m.
Orchestra Pit & Center Orchestra $50
Orchestra & Balcony Center $35
Balcony $25
Five-time Grammy Award winner Terence Blanchard brings his ensemble's renowned jazz stylings to the Schimmel Theatre. With more than 29 albums and 50 film scores to his credit, Blanchard is also the composer of A Tale of God's Will (A Requiem for Katrina), a song cycle about Hurricane Katrina and the ravages suffered by the city of New Orleans and its residents. For his score to Spike Lee's 25th Hour Blanchard received a Golden Globe nomination and was also named Downbeat's Trumpeter of the Year. Currently he is working on the score for George Lucas's Red Tails and has completed musical contributions to the score for Disney's The Princess and the Frog, set for release this fall.

DANCE
Taylor 2 Festival
Friday & Saturday, January 6 & 7 at 7:30 p.m.
Orchestra Pit & Center Orchestra $55
Orchestra & Balcony Center $40
Balcony $30
Taylor 2 presents two separate evenings of programming at the Schimmel Theatre featuring their finest numbers including Company B, Esplanade, Arden Court, and Piazzolla Caldera.

MUSIC
Ana Moura
Friday, February 10 at 7:30 p.m.
Orchestra Pit & Center Orchestra $50
Orchestra & Balcony Center $35
Balcony $25
Portuguese vocalist Ana Moura's soulful interpretation of her country's expressive fado musical tradition-currently enjoying a widespread renaissance-has led not only to stardom at home, but also to worldwide recognition for her powerful performances. Hailed by the New York Times for her ability to express in her music the subtlest "glimmers of hope, hints of sensuality, passes of melancholy, glints of determination," Moura is also known to U.S. audiences for her collaborations with Mick Jagger and Prince.

MUSIC
Mariachi Los Camperos
Saturday, February 11 at 7:30 p.m.
Orchestra Pit & Center Orchestra $50
Orchestra & Balcony Center $35
Balcony $25
Under the direction of visionary musician Natividad "Nati" Cano, the Grammy Award-winning Mariachi Los Camperos has been entertaining audiences around the world for over 50 years. Based in Los Angeles and made up of musicians from the United States and Mexico, the group has recorded nine albums and is also known for its collaborations with Linda Rondstadt on her albums Canciones de Mi Padre and Mas Canciones.

MUSIC
Yasmin Levy with Omar Faruk Tekbilek
Thursday, February 16 at 7:30 p.m.
Orchestra Pit & Center Orchestra $50
Orchestra & Balcony Center $35
Balcony $25
Recognized as one of the most romantic musical traditions of all time, Judeo-Spanish Ladino dates back to 15th-century Spain. Beloved for her rich and haunting voice, international star Yasmin Levy was introduced to Ladino at a young age by her father, a leading figure in the research of Judeo-Spanish culture. Levy is particularly unique in her weaving of traditional Ladino music with flamenco influences, creating a hypnotic tapestry of sounds. For this special evening she will be joined by the great Turkish multi-instrumentalist Omar Faruk Tekbilek.

MUSIC
Carolina Chocolate Drops
Friday, March 2 at 7:30 p.m.
Orchestra Pit & Center Orchestra $50
Orchestra & Balcony Center $35
Balcony $25
Rooted in the tradition of old-time African American string bands from the old South, the Carolina Chocolate Drops present one of their signature evenings of what Rolling Stone calls "dirt-floor-dance electricity." Formed in 2005, the Grammy-winning quartet continues to build bridges between the musical past, present and future exemplifying their philosophy that "tradition is a guide, not a jailer." The show will serve as the New York celebration of their upcoming Buddy Miller-produced Nonesuch Records release.

CABARET
Patricia Racette: An Evening of Cabaret
Sunday, March 11 at 7:30 p.m.
Orchestra Pit & Center Orchestra $55
Orchestra & Balcony Center $40
Balcony $30
Following star turns this season in Metropolitan Opera productions of Tosca and Madama Butterfly, soprano Patricia Racette comes to the Schimmel Theatre for a cabaret evening of songs by the likes of Stephen Sondheim, Cole Porter, George Gershwin and Edith Piaf. This rare, intimate performance is a notable return to the singer's roots, having cultivated an early passion for jazz and cabaret prior to shifting her focus to operatic repertoire.

MUSIC
Afrocubism
Thursday, March 15 at 7:30 p.m.
Orchestra Pit & Center Orchestra $55
Orchestra & Balcony Center $40
Balcony $30
Afrocubism was the original concept for what ultimately became the Buena Vista Social Club: a musical collaboration between some of the finest instrumentalists and vocalists to be found in Mali and Cuba today. But when the Malian musicians were unable to make it to Cuba, the Buena Vista Social Club took shape in its wake. Fourteen years later the original invitees-including Toumani Diabaté, Elias Ochoa, Bassekou Kouyate, Djelimady Tounkara and Kasse Mady Diabaté-finally united, and now they come to the Schimmel Theatre for an evening of musical fusion that transcends borders and genres.

DANCE
Tango Connection: The Mariela Franganillo Company
Friday & Saturday, April 13 & 14 at 7:30 p.m.
Orchestra Pit & Center Orchestra $55
Orchestra & Balcony Center $40
Balcony $30
Mariela Franganillo's Tango Connection brings to the Schimmel Theatre a program that presents tango from its earliest roots to its most modern expressions in pieces ranging in tone from passionate to comical, tender to tormented. The company is composed of eight dancers, four musicians and a vocalist-all from Argentina and all at the forefront of the tango world today. Dancer, choreographer, teacher and producer Mariela Franganillo was a featured dancer in Forever Tango on Broadway, and has produced the influential hit shows Swango and Tango Noir.

MUSIC
New York Choral Society
Saturday, May 19 at 7:30 p.m.
Orchestra Pit & Center Orchestra $50
Orchestra & Balcony Center $35
Balcony $25
With 85 performances at Carnegie Hall and 35 at Avery Fisher Hall under its belt, the New York Choral Society kicks off its summer tour of Italy at the Schimmel Theatre with a program of Italian and American choral music accompanied by piano.

Tickets & Venue Information
All tickets are available to purchase online at schimmel.pace.edu or over the phone by calling the Ovationtix Call Center at (866) 811-4111. Patrons may also stop by the Michael Schimmel Center for the Arts Box Office, which is open Monday-Friday from 1pm-6pm (212-346-1715) or two hours before curtain on show days.

By Subway
2/3 TO PARK PLACE/BROADWAY or R/W TO CITY HALL-Exit subway and walk south on Park Place, turn left onto Park Row, follow Park Row north up the side of City Hall Park to Spruce Street, turn right on Spruce. Walk east on Spruce, past Nassau. Theater entrance is approx. 1/3 of the way down the block on the left.
J/M/Z TO FULTON STREET-Exit subway and walk north on Nassau Street, past Ann St and Beekman St, turn right on Spruce. Walk east on Spruce, past Nassau. Theater entrance is approx. 1/3 of the way down the block on the left.
4/5/6 TO BROOKLYN BRIDGE/CITY HALL-Exit subway and walk south on Park Row, along the side of City Hall Park, turn left onto Spruce Street. Walk east on Spruce, past Nassau. Theater entrance is approx. 1/3 of the way down the block on the left.

By Bus
For up-to-date scheduling and maps, please contact the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA).
M1-Take the M1 Bus to the City Hall/Broadway stop (walk east across City Hall Park to campus), the Brooklyn Bridge/City Hall stop (walk south down Park Row to campus), or the Broadway-Nassau St./Fulton St. stop (walk two blocks north on Nassau St. to campus).
M6-Take the M6 Bus to the City Hall/Broadway stop (walk as directed above) or the Broadway-Nassau/Fulton St. stop (walk as directed above).
M9-Take the M9 Bus to the City Hall/Broadway stop (walk as directed above) or the Brooklyn Bridge/City Hall stop (walk as directed above).
M15-Take the M15 Bus to Pearl and Frankfort St. (at campus), to the City Hall/Broadway stop (walk as directed above), the Brooklyn Bridge/City Hall stop, the Broadway-Nassau/Fulton St. stop (walk as directed above) or the Fulton/William St. stop.
M22-Take the M22 Bus to the City Hall/Broadway stop (walk as directed above), the Brooklyn Bridge/City Hall stop, or the Broadway-Nassau/Fulton St. stop (walk as directed above).
M103-Take the M103 Bus to the City Hall/Broadway stop (walk as directed above), the Brooklyn Bridge/City Hall stop, or the Broadway-Nassau/Fulton St. stop (walk as directed above).
B51-Take the B51 Bus to the City Hall/Broadway stop (walk as directed above).

About the Michael Schimmel Center for the Arts
Pace University's Michael Schimmel Center for the Arts, located within the University's downtown campus, has been an integral part of the Lower Manhattan community for almost 35 years. Located one block east of City Hall and at the foot of the Brooklyn Bridge, its 650-seat theatre is just a few blocks from the cobblestoned "Theatre Alley" that ran along the stage doors of some of the earliest theatres in Manhattan.

In addition to hosting academic and community events, the Schimmel Theatre presents an active season of international theatre, dance and music. It was also a founding venue for the River-to-River Festival. In the aftermath of 9/11, the theatre hosted both the Tribeca Film Festival and the Tribeca Theatre Festival. From 2002 to 2004, the Michael Schimmel Center for the Arts was the home of the National Actors Theatre. Television broadcast highlights include the only Democratic Presidential Debate to present all ten 2002 candidates and James Lipton's award-winning series Inside The Actors Studio, which has been taped on the Schimmel Theatre's stage since 2005.

About Pace University
For more than 100 years, Pace University has been preparing students to become leaders in their fields by providing an education that combines exceptional academics with professional experience and the New York advantage. Pace has three campuses in New York City, Westchester and White Plains. A private metropolitan university, Pace enrolls approximately 13,500 students in bachelor's, master's, and doctoral programs in the Dyson College of Arts and Sciences, with its rapidly growing Performing Arts Department, Lienhard School of Nursing, Lubin School of Business, School of Education, Seidenberg School of Computer Science and Information Systems and School of Law.

http://schimmel.pace.edu