Tony Bennett has been leaving his heart in San Francisco for decades, and now he can leave it here, too, after performing at the Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts for the first time — at 8 p.m. Wednesday, May 25, in Jackson Hall. Ticket availability is limited.
More at the Mondavi
• ϲϿ Davis Symphony Orchestra, with the University Chorus — Performing works by Gershwin's Catfish Row (Suite from Porgy and Bess), Mozart's Mass in C Minor ("Great Mass") and Associate Professor Kurt Rohde's new Double-Franken-Trouble-Stein (world premiere). 7 p.m. Sunday, May 15, Jackson Hall.
• Connie Nielsen and Lost in Africa — The Danish actress visits ϲϿ Davis to talk about the plight of millions of people around the world who live in slums like Kibera, a place she encountered outside Nairobi, Kenya, while making the film Lost in Africa. The film will be screened during Nielsen's appearance, Saturday, May 21. The program starts at 6:30 in the Vanderhoef Studio Theatre, with Nielsen sitting down for an interview with Dean Steven C. Currall of the Graduate School of Management. The film starts at 7, and will be followed by a discussion panel and a question-and-answer session. UPDATE: Getting a ticket may be difficult but not necessarily impossible. They were given away free last week, and all had been spoken for as of 5 p.m. May 13. However, some may be returned and other ticket holders may not show up — so, if you are interested, contact the box office for further information. The Vanderhoef Studio Theatre holds only about 200 for a film screening.
• ϲϿ Davis Baroque Ensemble, with the Davis High School Baroque Enemble — Works by Francesco Geminiani, J.S. Bach and Mozart (early divertimentos). The Davis High School Baroque Ensemble, on its own, will perform a Handel concerto grosso and one piece with the ϲϿ Davis Baroque Ensemble. 3 p.m. Sunday, May 22, Vanderhoef Studio Theatre.
• ϲϿ Davis' Empyrean Ensemble: New Music from Davis — Premiering the works of graduate student composers. 7 p.m. Monday, May 23, Vanderhoef Studio Theatre.
• ϲϿ Davis Jazz Bands: Guest Artists — Featuring composer, arranger and saxophonist Gregory Yasinitsky, along with Carlos Medrano on congas and Tim Acosta on trumpet. 7 p.m. Wednesday, May 25, Vanderhoef Studio Theatre.
• ϲϿ Davis Concert Band: Earth Songs — Celebrating the biological, ecological and agricultural sciences. Also: a tribute to the bicycle, featuring well-known bicycle tunes. 7 p.m. Wednesday, June 1, Jackson Hall.
• ϲϿ Davis Symphony Orchestra — Family Concert, featuring the winners of the orchestra's 2011 Concerto Competition and the Composition Award. 7 p.m. Thursday, June 2, Jackson Hall.
• Alexander String Quartet — Beethoven's String Quartet in A Minor, Op. 132, and String Quartet in F Major, Op. 135. This is the last of the quartet's four concert dates in the Mondavi Center's 2010-11 season, and brings to a close the quartet's three-year Mondavi Center cycle of performing all of Beethoven’s string quartets. 2 and 7 p.m. Sunday, June 5, Vanderhoef Studio Theatre. Postperformance question-and-answer session with quartet members. The 2 p.m. concert is sold out; check with the box office about the waiting list.
• Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra — The “greatest large jazz ensemble working today,” according to the Chicago Tribune, draws from an extensive repertoire, including original works by Marsalis, Ted Nash and other members of the group. Marsalis, trumpeter, and the orchestra’s leader and music director, received the Pulitzer Prize in music in 1997 — becoming the first jazz artist to be so honored. He earned the prize for Blood on the Fields, a commissioned work for Jazz at Lincoln Center, the orchestra’s parent organization (with Marsalis as artistic director). 8 p.m. Saturday, June 18, Jackson Hall.
• Pink Martini — A 12-member band that draws inspiration jazz, classical, old-fashioned pop and the romantic Hollywood musicals of the 1940s and ’50s — with a more global perspective. As Pink Martini bandleader and pianist Thomas Lauderdale said, “If the United Nations had a house band in 1962, then hopefully we’d be that band.” Pink Martini’s latest album is Splendour in the Grass, described as a virtual carnival of musical influences, with one grand purpose: to rebuild a culture that sings and dances. 8 p.m. Tuesday, July 5, Jackson Hall.
Tickets are available , or by visiting or calling the Mondavi Center box office, (530) 754-2787 or (866) 754-2787. Box office hours: noon-6 p.m. Monday-Saturday.
Media Resources
Dave Jones, Dateline, 530-752-6556, dljones@ucdavis.edu