STG Presents Third Annual Collaboration of Mark Morris Dance & Seattle Symphony, 5/21-5/23

Seattle Theatre Group (STG) presents the third annual collaboration of Mark Morris Dance Group with Seattle Symphony on May 21-23 at The Paramount Theatre. This year's engagement includes Seattle Symphony performing Haydn's Horn Concerto No. 2 in D major, A Lake; Bach's Jesu, Meine Freude; and Vivaldi's Gloria. The Tudor Choir will join Seattle Symphony for the Bach and Vivaldi pieces, and Gloria will feature special guest conductor, Seattle-native Mark Morris.

About Gloria
Conductor: Mark Morris
Composer: Antonio Vivaldi
The Mark Morris Dance Group first premiered Gloria on December 12, 1981, at Dance Theater Workshop in New York City. The New York Times said, "So much is going on at every moment that the mind and heart are dizzied, yet everything seems part of a whole. It's really quite miraculous." In 1984, the piece received a revised premiere at the Brooklyn Academy Of Music. Morris added the walk-and-crawl duet to the first movement ("Gloria in excelsis"), which was unchoreographed in the 1981 version. Gloria is one of the few pieces Mark Morris has ever revisited and edited after its original premiere. Described by The Washington Post as a "swell of music and euphoria," this piece is considered a hallmark of Morris' work.

About Jesu, Meine Freude
Conductor: Christian Knapp
Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach
Jesu, Meine Freude premiered on June 8, 1993 in Boston, MA. Revived only a few times over the years because of the choir required to perform with the piece, The New York Observer remarked, "This piece - deeply devout but never pious - goes hand-in-hand with Bach, and honors him." And The New York Times concurred, "In 'Jesu, Meine Freude,' Mr. Morris' seamless group patterning and poses worked with Michael Chybowski's celestial lighting...to create a piece for 10 earthly angels that captured the white-hot reverence of the Bach score."

About A Lake
Conductor: Christian Knapp
Composer: Franz Joseph Haydn
Originally premiering on July 30, 1991, A Lake was performed by the White Oak Dance Project, a contemporary dance company co-founded by Mark Morris and Mikhail Baryshnikov. The Boston Globe described A Lake as a "magnificently lyrical work."

Beyond the show, MMDG partners with Seattle Theatre Group to create extensive community outreach programs. Here are some details of what's going on around town this year.

Music Through Movement: A Conversation with Choreographer Mark Morris and Seattle Tudor Choir Director Doug Fullington
When: April 6, 2010 at 7:30pm
Where: Town Hall Seattle (8th Ave. & Seneca St)
Cost: Free
A lively discussion between Mark Morris and Doug Fullington about music and movement. Mark Morris Dance Group is committed to performing with all live music; performances are not just dance at the highest level, but simultaneously, concert-going at the highest level - a perfect blend of sound and movement, all happening in the moment.

RSVP Recommended; RSVP to LizY@stgpresents.org or call (206) 315-8009.

Intermediate/Advance Modern Dance Master Class
When: Wednesday, May 19, 2010 at 6:30pm-8:30pm
Where: Spectrum Dance
Cost: $18 (open to the public, recommended ages 14+)
To register call Spectrum at (206)325-4161 or email staff@spectrumdance.org

Dance for Parkinson's Master Class
When: Saturday, May 22, 2010 at 1:30pm-23:30pm
Where: Evergreen Hospital (Kirkland, WA)
MMDG teaching artists will provide a workshop for individuals with Parkinson's disease and their caregivers. Dancers and persons with Parkinson's both need to stretch and strengthen their bodies, use eyes, ears and touch to control movement, think about how they move and constantly work on balance. Participants will discover how exhilarating it is to dance - mentally, spiritually and physically.

Register online at www.evergreenhealthcare.org/classes or call the Evergreen Healthline at 425-899-3000,Monday - Friday, 7:00 A.M. - 7:00 P.M.

MMDG School Residencies
The MMDG school residency will take place at both Van Asselt and Dearborn Park Elementary Schools and Mercer Middle School. In the residencies students will participate in the interaction of words, music and dance, with an emphasis on curriculum connections in English, the arts, music, social studies and math.

Tickets: Mark Morris Dance Group with Seattle Symphony tickets are $37.00 - $75.00, not including fees and are on sale now. Purchase tickets online at www.stgpresents.org, by phone at (877)784-4849, in person at The Paramount Theatre box office, Monday through Friday 10:00am-6:00pm and The Paramount and Moore Theatre venue kiosks, 24-hours a day, 7-days a week, powered by Tickets.com. Groups of 10 or more receive a 15% discount, call STG's Groups hotline at (206)315-8054 for more details. The Paramount Theatre is located at 911 Pine Street in downtown Seattle.

About Mark Morris Dance Group
Mark Morris Dance Group was formed in 1980 and gave its first concert that year in New York City. The company's touring schedule steadily expanded to include cities both in the U.S. and in Europe, and in 1986 it made its first national television program for the PBS series Dance in America. In 1988, MMDG was invited to become the national dance company of Belgium, and spent three years in residence at the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie in Brussels. The company returned to the United States in 1991 as one of the world's leading dance companies, performing across the U.S. and at major international festivals.

Based in Brooklyn, NY, the company has maintained and strengthened its ties to several cities around the world, most notably its West Coast home, Cal Performances in Berkeley, CA, and its Midwest home, the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign. MMDG also appears regularly in New York, NY; Boston, MA; Fairfax, VA; and Seattle, WA. MMDG made its debut at the Mostly Mozart Festival in 2002 and at the Tanglewood Music Festival in 2003 and has since been invited to both festivals annually. From the company's many London seasons, they have also garnered two Laurence Olivier Awards.

MMDG is noted for its commitment to live music, a feature of every performance on its full international touring schedule since 1996. MMDG collaborates with leading orchestras, opera companies, and musicians including cellist Yo-Yo Ma in the Emmy Award-winning film Falling Down Stairs (1997); Indian composer Zakir Hussain, Mr. Ma and jazz pianist Ethan Iverson in Kolam (2002); The Bad Plus in Violet Cavern (2004); pianists Emanuel Ax, Garrick Ohlsson and Yoko Nozaki for Mozart Dances (2006); and with the English National Opera in Four Saints in Three Acts (2000) and King Arthur (2006), among others. MMDG's film and television projects also include Dido and Aeneas, The Hard Nut, two documentaries for the U.K.'s South Bank Show, and PBS' Live From Lincoln Center.

In the fall of 2001, MMDG opened the Mark Morris Dance Center in Brooklyn, NY, housing rehearsal space for the dance community, outreach programs for local children, as well as a school offering dance classes to students of all ages. For more information, visit www.mmdg.org.

About Seattle Symphony
Under Music Director Gerard Schwarz, Seattle Symphony enjoys international distinction for its performances and recordings of major works by American composers, creating a rich discography of historic American works. Now presenting its 107th season, Seattle Symphony has been under the artistic leadership of Music Director Gerard Schwarz since 1985. In 1998, the Orchestra began performing in Benaroya Hall in downtown Seattle. The Symphony is internationally recognized for its adventurous programming of contemporary works, its devotion to the classics, and its extensive recording history. Schwarz and Seattle Symphony have together made more than 125 recordings, garnered 12 Grammy nominations and received two Emmy Awards. The Orchestra is also known for its extensive education programming, which annually serves 100,000 people of all ages. From September through July, audiences number 315,000 people both at Benaroya Hall and in the community. For more information on Seattle Symphony, visit www.seattlesymphony.org.

About Tudor Choir
Hailed as "a superb choir" (Gramophone), as well as "a choir to watch" (Fanfare), the Tudor Choir and its director Doug Fullington have received national and international attention as interpreters of Renaissance polyphony and early American music. Founded by Fullington in 1993, the Tudor Choir is a Seattle-based professional vocal chamber ensemble of 12 core singers; the group can expand to up to 40 members for works such as Thomas Tallis's monumental Spem in alium. The Tudor Choir is a resident ensemble at historic Blessed Sacrament Church in Seattle.

About STG
STG is the 501 (c)(3) non-profit arts organization that operates the historic Paramount and Moore Theatres in Seattle, Washington. Our mission is to make diverse performing arts and education an integral part of our region's cultural identity while keeping these two landmark venues alive and vibrant. STG presents a range of performances from Broadway, off-Broadway, dance and jazz to comedy, concerts of all genres, speakers and family shows - at both historic theatres in Seattle and venues throughout the Puget Sound and Portland, Oregon.