PlacesA preview of Performing Arts at

Johnson County Community Collegewww.jccc.edu/TheSeries

“Jungle Jack” Hanna

Takács Quartet

American Voices, Songs of Our Nation

Natalie Cole, 20th Anniversary Celebration

Jack Hanna’s Into the Wild Live

Young Students Act Up

Ruel Joyce Recital and Jazz Fall Series

September 2010

Recognized as one of the world’s great ensembles, the Takács Quartetplays with a unique blend of drama, warmth and humor, combining fourdistinct musical personalities to bring fresh insights to the string quartetrepertoire. In its fourth appearance with the Performing Arts Series atJCCC, Takács Quartet performs at 8 p.m. Friday, Sept. 10, in Yardley Hall.

The program will be Haydn’s String Quartet No. 56 in E-flat major, Op.71no. 3, one of the Apponyi Quartets; Shostakovich’s String Quartet No. 2 inA, Op. 68; and Schubert’s Quartet in D minor, Death and the Maiden,recorded by Takács to critical acclaim.

The talented Takács (pronounced TA-kash) are violinists Edward Dusinberreand Károly Schranz, violist Geraldine Walther and cellist András Fejér. The inherent relationship of the violin, viola and cello and the ongoing bond of these musicians make their performances both deeply moving and vigorously passionate.

The Takács Quartet was formed by Gabor Takács-Nagy, Gabor Ormai,Schranz and Fejér in 1975, while all four were students at Budapest’s LisztAcademy. Now based in Boulder, Colo., the quartet has held a residency atthe University of Colorado since 1983.

The quartet is known for its innovative programs, collaborating regularlywith the Hungarian folk ensemble Muzsikas in a program that explores thefolk sources of Bartok’s music. The Takács performed a music and poetryprogram on a 14-city U.S. tour with the poet Robert Pinsky, and in October 2007, Takács played a Carnegie Hall concert called Everyman,

based on the Philip Roth novel with the Academy-Award winning actorPhilip Seymour Hoffman.

The Quartet’s award-winning recordings include the complete BeethovenCycle on the Decca label. In 2005, the Late Beethoven Quartets won Disc ofthe Year and Chamber Award from BBC Music Magazine, a GramophoneAward and a Japanese Record Academy Award. Their recordings of theearly and middle Beethoven quartets collected a Grammy, another Gramophone Award, a Chamber Music of America Award and two furtherawards from the Japanese Recording Academy.

In 2006 the Takács Quartet made their first recording for Hyperion Records,of Schubert’s Quartets D804 and D810. A disc featuring Brahms’ PianoQuintet with Stephen Hough was released to great acclaim in November2007 and was subsequently nominated for a Grammy. Brahms’ QuartetsOp. 51 and Op. 67 were released in 2008 and a disc featuring the Schumann Piano Quintet with Marc-Andre Hamelin was released in late2009. The complete Haydn “Apponyi” Quartets, Op. 71 and 74, will be released in early 2011.

Takács Quartet performs 80 concerts a year worldwide including previousYardley Hall concerts April 2005, October 2006 and April 2009, in whichthe Quartet played a program featuring the Schumann Piano Quintet Op. 44 with Hamelin.

Tickets $35 (includes a post-concert reception with the artists)

Takács Quartet

New Season Starts with Strings

Crystal Gayle, Larry Gatlin and Andy Cooney combine their distinctivevoices in a tribute to American songwriters in American Voices, Songs of Our Nation at 8 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 11, in Yardley Hall.

Gayle and Gatlin, Academy of Country Music’s Best Female and Male Vocalists of the Year in 1979, team up with Irish America’s Favorite Son,Andy Cooney, in this unforgettable night of patriotic favorites as well aseach singer’s well-known hits.

• Gatlin led The Gatlin Brothers through the course of a four-decade careerfrom dusty Texas stages to White House performances, from Broadway toGrammy ceremonies, and to the top of the country charts. After touringwith his brothers, Larry starred on Broadway taking the lead role in theTony Award-winning musical The Will Rogers Follies. Combining his loveof music and theater, Gatlin has recently scored an entire musical usingonly his songs, both old and new. Gatlin has 33 Top-40 singles under hisbelt, including both his solo recordings and those with his brothers.

• Gayle’s warm, resonant vocal style created a country crossover phenomenon as timeless as the beautiful music in her repertoire. Her

Grammy Award-winning hit, Don’t It Make My Brown Eyes Blue, is recognized as being one of the 10 most performed songs of the 20thcentury. With humble beginnings in the Appalachian coal mining town of Paintsville, Ky., Gayle has gone on to earn 21 other Top 10 singles and 16 No. 1 singles.

• One of nine children from an Irish-American family in Long Island, N.Y.,Cooney has a dynamic stage presence and outstanding voice that makeshim one of the busiest entertainers in America. His repertoire spans fromsea to shining sea, singing songs from Dublin, Ireland, to Dublin, Calif.,and everywhere in between. Cooney’s talent and versatility provide theability to deliver a song directly to the hearts of his listeners.

Together Gayle, Gatlin and Cooney perform a night of solos, duets and not-to-be-missed trios, accompanied by a live band. This performance honors America’s songbook and celebrates country, heritage and friendship.Combining American classics and the entertainers’ own compositions,American Voices is touring concert halls throughout the United States.

Tickets $48, $58, $125 in the orchestra pit

‘American Voices’ speaks to musical history, heart

Andy CooneyCrystal GayleLarry Gatlin

The Performing Arts Series at Johnson County Community College is giving itself and its audience a classy and elegant 20th anniversary gift— singer Natalie Cole. Better than the traditional 20th gift of platinum,the PAS has booked the eight-time Grammy Award winner at 8 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 25, in Yardley Hall of the Carlsen Center.

Backed by a big band, Cole sings tunes from her extensive repertoire ofsongs including those from her latest CD Still Unforgettable, standardsfrom her R&B collection, and the ’70s-80s pop songs that made us Colefans in the first place — This Will Be, Our Love and Inseparable. Throughon-stage technology, she is also known to team up posthumously with father Nat King Cole in Walkin’ My Baby Back Home, a duet title from her new CD.

Still Unforgettable, which earned Cole two Grammys and the NAACPAward for Best Jazz Artist, is a recreation of the American songbook withsongs like The Best Is Yet to Come, Come Rain or Come Shine, and Nice ‘N’ Easy. It follows 17 years after one of Cole’s best-remembered CDs, Unforgettable … with Love that featured Cole singing her father’sgreatest hits.

Much has been written and documented about Cole’s real-life strugglesand the effects it has had on her health. In 2000, Cole released her autobiography Angel on My Shoulder, which describes her battle with substance abuse during much of her life. In 2008, Cole was diagnosed with hepatitis C, a viral disease affecting the liver. She also had kidney disease for which she received dialysis until her successful kidney transplantin May 2009.

Now Cole is back in body, soul and song, looking glamorous and strong on stage. She plans to tour extensively – audiences are affectionately welcoming her comeback. The re-born singer lights up the stage with hervoice and personality, leaving fans to dub her the “MiraCole.”

Playing with Cole’s big band for the evening are local musicians David Chael, Tim Doherty, alto sax; Doug Talley, James ISAAC, tenor sax;Kerry Strayer, baritone sax; Jeff Hamer, Stephanie Bryan, Karen Zawacki,Paul Roberts, trombones; and Steve Molloy, Jay Sollenberger, Clint Ashlock, Ron Stinson, trumpets.

Tickets $50, $65, $200 patron tickets that include a post-concert reception

Natalie Cole gives the Performing Arts Series a bravo 20th

Make a toast to 20 yearsPlatinum is the traditional gift for a 20th anniversary. So why settle for gold when you can have platinum? Natalie Cole, whose albums like Natalie Live and We’re the Best of Friends reached gold in the late 1970s, has continued on to legendary fame. For its 20th anniversary, the PAS will have a celebration before and after Cole’s performance at 8 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 25, in Yardley Hall.

All ticket buyers are invited to a champagne pre-show reception from 7-7:45 p.m. in the Carlsen Center lobby to toast the PAS 20th anniversary. Three members of Quixotic Fusion, a Kansas City ensemble of musicians, dancers and aerialists, will perform in the lobby as a sneak preview to their appearance later in the fall (Oct. 29 and 30).

A limited number of VIP tickets will be sold at $200 as a fundraiser for the PAS. Those guests will be seated in the center orchestra and are invited to a post-show reception on campus with hors d’oeuvres and drinks.

Natalie Cole

Hanna and his furry and feathered friends provide ahhh-some animal escapades (sometimes unscripted) and educate us about the protection and conservation of some of our planet’s most precious species. Professionalscare for all animals performing as part of the show. Hanna also includesfascinating and humorous stories and footage from his adventures aroundthe world. Hanna’s hands-on approach to creatures great and small haswon him widespread acclaim as director emeritus of the Columbus Zoo,conservationist, author, television personality and lifelong adventurer.

Hanna’s television career began in 1983, when he was invited to appear on Good Morning America following the birth of baby twin gorillas at theColumbus Zoo where he served as director. He has been a regular guestand wildlife correspondent ever since.

In 1985, he appeared on The Late Show with David Letterman for the first time, and he is now a guest on The Late Show several times each year. A few years later he started appearing on Larry King Live, followed by The Ellen DeGeneres Show, Hollywood Squares, The MauryShow, Entertainment Tonight, FOX News, CNN programs and various other news programs.

In 1992, Hanna’s media appearances were taking so much time that he became director emeritus at the Columbus Zoo. In 1993, he became host ofthe nationally syndicated Jack Hanna’s Animal Adventures. After 12 years,he started a new TV series, Jack Hanna’s Into the Wild, an action-packed series that won a Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Children’s Series in 2008.

Author of 11 books and counting, his timeless tales continue to captivateaudiences from every generation. Everyone respects this ambassador between the animal and human worlds. And here is a little secret: For awildlife correspondent, Hanna admits to two rather tame pets — Tasha, a yellow Labrador, and Brass, a golden retriever.

This show is presented by Nationwide Insurance.

Tickets are $22 adults, $18 youth

* No koalas or rhinos will appear in Yardley Hall.

PAS arts education will sponsor a school/community show of JackHanna’s Into the Wild Live at noon Thursday, Sept. 30, in Yardley Hall.Tickets are $5, available at the PAS box office.

PAS goes wild with Jack Hanna

America’s most beloved animal expert “Jungle Jack” Hanna brings his animal friends to the Performing Arts Series in Jack Hanna’s Into the Wild Liveat 7 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 30, in Yardley Hall.

Each Monday for eight weeks this spring, children in the Hiersteiner ChildDevelopment Center’s Rainforest and Blue Lagoon classes, ages 3 ½ to 6,warmed up their bodies, voices and imaginations with theater classes co-sponsored by the Performing Arts Series arts education program andStarlight Theatre Academy.

Children stretched to touch a bowl of strawberries, bent over to pick flowers, blew out imaginary candles and donned animal masks to act outMeeow and the little chairs.

“We try to keep activities developmentally appropriate,” said Andi Meyer,teacher with the Starlight Theatre Academy.

While passing around an invisible bubble of varying size and weight fromchild to child looked like way more fun than the rest of us have during theday, the students were learning at the same time.

Angel Mercier, director of the PAS arts education, set up a pre- and post-study of children’s skills before and after the theater classes in fourareas: 1. learning arts 2. behavioral change 3. social change and 4. materialchange (the ability to transfer skills from the arts to everyday life), with 10 criteria covering each of the four areas. Students in associate professorRon Palcic’s statistics class completed the analysis. This is the fifth researchproject for Mercier, all examining the arts and learning. Other projects

evaluated dance in early education, development of self-efficacy for at-riskhigh school students studying jazz music, and using theater to supportfourth-grade science curriculum.

The acting class enhanced what HCDC teachers are already doing withmusic and movement on a day-to-day basis.

“These acting classes add a lot to children’s ability to solve problems in acreative way,” said Claire Ehney, manager, HCDC. “The classes give focus to what teachers do on a daily basis — movement, music and dramaticplay. The students love it. It is someone special, a little out of the ordinarycoming to their class.”

Amazingly, children as young as three could discuss props, costumes, audience and the various kinds of artists from visual to musicians in theiracting classes. They have attended school shows, such as the one by the Little Theatre for the Deaf, in Yardley Hall. HCDC has an open invitation toattend any of the Arts Education school shows that are age appropriate.

A partnership between PAS arts education and Starlight Theatre Academybegan introducing students pre-K through high school to musical theaterwith 14-week classes beginning in fall 2009 and continuing each semester,including this summer.

Andi Meyer added dramatic play to children’s learning through the arts.

Young students act up

Alex Armstrong (left) and Zain Cheema (right) were the“cats meow” in their HCDC class.

September 2010Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday

For best seats, order early.

Call 913-469-4445or buy tickets onlinewww.jccc.edu/TheSeriesfor tickets and information.

Service fee applicable.

Purchase live online

Box Office: 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Friday • Call 913-469-4445Tickets are required for most events in Polsky Theatre and Yardley Hall. Programs, dates and times are subject to change. Discounts are available for music, theater and dance students.

PAS Administrative Office: Open 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Friday • Call 913-469-4450A request for interpretative services must be made 72 hours before a performance. Call the box office at 913-469-4445 or TDD/TTY 913-469-4485.

Persons with disabilities who desire additional support services may contact services for patrons with disabilities, 913-469-8500, ext. 3521, or TDD/TTY 913-469-3885.

*free-admission event

Takács Quartet8 p.m. Yardley Hall

$35

American Voices,Songs of Our Nation

Larry GatlinCrystal Gayle Andy Cooney

8 p.m. Yardley Hall$48, $58, $125

*Ruel Joyce Recital Series

Mountain Duonoon Recital Hall

*Ruel Joyce Recital Series

Fedele Trionoon Recital Hall

Natalie Cole7 p.m. pre-show reception

8 p.m. Yardley Hallpost-show patron reception on-site$50, $65, $200

Kansas City SymphonyFamily Series

Vivaldi’s Ring of Mystery

2 p.m. Yardley Hall816-471-0400

*Jazz SeriesJazz Disciples

noon Recital Hall

*Ruel Joyce Recital Series

Ann-Marie Brown, violin

Lawrence Figg, cello

Robert Pherigo, piano

noon Recital Hall

Jack Hanna’s Into the Wild Live7 p.m. Yardley Hall

$22, $18 youth

*A Devil Inside7:30 p.m.

Bodker Black Box Theatre

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8 p.m. Feb. 26Yardley Hall

$30, $40

Season packages are still on sale.

Choose any five events or more and receive a 10% discount.

Friends receive 15% off season packages.

Call the box office at 913-469-4445.

Join Friends of the Series (online at www.jccc.edu/TheSeries)

and enjoy great benefits.

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Natalie Cole

Larry Gatlin Crystal Gayle Andy Cooney

Jack Hanna

Takács Quartet

JOHNSON COUNTY COMMUNITY COLLEGE

12345 COLLEGE BLVD

OVERLAND PARK KS 66210-1299

NONPROFIT ORG

U.S. POSTAGE PAID

Johnson County

Community College

www.jccc.edu/TheSeries

Recital series marks 22 years

In 1989 Doreen Maronde, former assistant dean, Arts and Humanities, andJerry Snider, former director, of what-was-then-called Cultural Education,conceived of a music series appropriate to the intimate setting of theRecital Hall in anticipation of the 1990 opening of the Carlsen Center. A 20-week series began in fall 1989 in the choral room of the Office andClassroom Building. In 1994, the series expanded to its current 30 recitalsper year — nine classical (Ruel Joyce) and six jazz, each spring and fall.

The Ruel Joyce Recital Series is at noon Monday, and the Jazz Series is noon Tuesday in the Recital Hall unless otherwise noted. Concerts are freeand open to the public on a first-come, first-served basis, funded in part by the Richard J. Stern Foundation for the Arts. The 2010 fall schedule islisted here.

Jazz SeriesJazz Disciples Sept. 28

Matt Otto Quartet Oct. 5

Steve Rigazzi Trio Oct. 12

Ervin Brown Quartet Oct. 19

Gerald Spaits Quartet Oct. 26 Polsky Theatre

Megan Birdsall Quartet Nov. 2

Ruel Joyce Recital SeriesMountain Duo Sept. 13

Fedele Trio Sept. 20

Ann-Marie Brown, violin Lawrence Figg, celloRobert Pherigo, piano Sept. 27

Christina Webster, flute Oct. 4

Brookside Brass Quintet Oct. 11

Ji Hye Jung, percussion Oct. 18 Polsky Theatre

Raymond Santos Clarinet Oct. 25

Sarah Tannehill, soprano Nov. 1

Jeffrey Brown, piano Nov. 8

For more information, call 913-469-8500, ext. 3605.

Fedele Trio