McCain Conversations

2015-2016 Conversations

From the CALIFORNIA SUN to the HALL OF FAME!

6:30 p.m. Monday, May 16, Kirmser Hall, McCain Auditorium

Host: Dr. Steven Maxwell, Associate Professor, School of Music, Theatre, and Dance

The Beach Boys are one of the true leaders of the rock and roll world. Join us for this presentation as we discover how the Beach Boys went from being a pop group singing about surfing to one of the most influential rock bands of all time.

Ticket holders of Beach Boys are invited to a McCain Conversation to hear an expert preview the show. McCain Conversations are informal, fun and free! Coffee and light desserts provided.

The "Impressions" of Christ Botti Live in Concert

6:30 p.m. Tuesday, May 10, Kirmser Hall, McCain Auditorium

Host: James Johnson, Instructor of Trumpet, School of Music, Theatre, and Dance

Jim will discuss Chris Botti's musical influences as well as talk about Botti's new CD "Impressions." Chris Botti's purpose in life is to change the world through his musical output. His mother, a concert pianist, and his father, an Italian language teacher, provided him with the opportunities that would shape him into the world-class musician that he is today.

Ticket holders of Chris Botti are invited to a McCain Conversation to hear an expert preview the show. McCain Conversations are informal, fun and free! Coffee and light desserts provided.

Russian-Latin-Western Fusion = Carmen Suite

3 p.m. Sunday, April 24, Kirmser Hall, McCain Auditorium

Host: Laura Donnelly, Dance Instructor and Arts Educator, School of Music, Theatre, and Dance

Created in 1967 by Cuban choreographer Alberto Julio Rayneri Alonso for the Russian Prima Ballerina Maya Plisetskaya to music composed by Russian Rodion Shcherdrin. For his score Shcherdrin started with Bizet’s melodies from the opera Carmen and wrote an arrangement highlighting the strings and percussion to create an entertaining, if iconoclastic, retelling of Bizet's opera. We'll talk about how this unique collaboration evolved.

Ticket holders of Carmen are invited to a McCain Conversation to hear an expert preview the show. McCain Conversations are informal, fun and free! Coffee and light desserts provided.

Isabel Leonard: 21st Century Diva

6:30 p.m. Sunday, April 17, Kirmser Hall, McCain Auditorium

Host: Cheryl Richt, Instructor of Voice, School of Music, Theatre, and Dance

A native New Yorker, Ms. Leonard is the quintessential 21st century Diva progressing from the steps of the Juilliard stage to the Metropolitan Opera. Ms. Leonard is as successful on the concert stage as she is the opera stage and has established a thriving career both nationally and internationally. Ms. Leonard is uniquely as comfortable performing early chamber music as she is contemporary opera and art song.

Ticket holders of Sharon Isbin, Guitar and Isabel Leonard, Mezzo-Soprano are invited to a McCain Conversation to hear an expert preview the show. McCain Conversations are informal, fun and free! Coffee and light desserts provided.

Ragtime: Novel, Film, Musical

6:30 p.m. Thursday, April 14, Kirmser Hall, McCain Auditorium

Host: Shannon Skelton, Ph.D., Instructor, School of Music, Theatre, and Dance

This presentation will analyze the various iterations of E.L. Doctorow’s Ragtime as it has moved from the written page to celluloid and onto the Broadway stage. What is lost — and what is gained — as a work of literature moves through various interpretations and adaptations? How does the work itself alter when it moves from its perch as a “Great American Novel” onto the big screen and then into the realm of musical theatre? This presentation will feature readings from Doctorow’s original novel, clips from Milos Forman’s acclaimed 1980 film adaptation as well as selections from the musical.

Ticket holders of Ragtime are invited to a McCain Conversation to hear an expert preview the show. McCain Conversations are informal, fun and free! Coffee and light desserts provided.

The Supreme Solitude of BRANFORD MARSALISS

6:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 5, Kirmser Hall, McCain Auditorium

Host: Dr. Wayne Goins, Director of Jazz, School of Music, Theatre, and Dance

World-renowned saxophonist Branford Marsalis has conquered both worlds of jazz and classical saxophone. As a three-time Grammy award winner and Jazz Master, this New Orleans native and member of the legendary Marsalis family consistently delivers major works such as the commemorative 50th anniversary CD of John Coltrane’s 1965 "A Love Supreme." His quartet's most recent recording, "Four MFs Playin' Tunes," was named "Best Instrumental Jazz Album" in 2012. Branford's first solo concert at San Francisco's Grace Cathedral, is documented on his 2014 recording, "In My Solitude," featuring an eclectic mix of repertoire that ranges from Bach to Hoagy Carmichael.

Ticket holders of An evening with Branford Marsalis are invited to a McCain Conversation to hear an expert preview the show. McCain Conversations are informal, fun and free! Coffee and light desserts provided.

Moving onto the Stage

6:30 p.m. Sunday, March 6, Kirmser Hall, McCain Auditorium

Host: Laura Donnelly, Dance Instructor and Arts Educator, School of Music, Theatre, and Dance

Flashdance — The Musical is a stage adaptation of the 1983 musical film Flashdance. A common occurrence in today’s entertainment world, approximately 158 movies have been adapted for live performance onstage including The Lion King, Sister Act, and Billy Elliot. Our discussion will encompass some of the challenges writers and directors experience when developing a successful film to stage adaptation.

Ticket holders of Flashdance — The Musical are invited to a McCain Conversation to hear an expert preview the show. McCain Conversations are informal, fun and free! Coffee and light desserts provided.

Piano Careers in the 21st Century: The Case of the Brilliant Yuja Wang

6:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 26, Kirmser Hall, McCain Auditorium

Host: Dr. Sławomir Dobrzański, Associate Professor of Music School of Music, Theatre, and Dance

Dr. Dobrzanski will discuss the peculiarities of the piano world today and concentrate on the unusual career path of Yuja Wang. He will also address the reasons why Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto no. 2 remains a hidden gem in the piano concerto repertoire.

Ticket holders of Russian National Orchestra with Yuja Wang, piano are invited to a McCain Conversation to hear an expert preview the show. McCain Conversations are informal, fun and free! Coffee and light desserts provided.

Melting/Merging/Multi-media

6:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 18, Kirmser Hall, McCain Auditorium

Host: Laura Donnelly, Dance Instructor and Arts Educator

Influenced by rock and roll, Tex-Mex, country, folk, R&B, blues, brown-eyed soul, and traditional music such as cumbia, boleros and norteños, the music of Los Lobos is a perfect match for the melting pot of styles that is Ballet Folklórico Mexicano. Blending elements from many cultures, there are at least six styles of Folklórico in Mexico. Created from a merging of cultural influences from Spain, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Africa, and Asia, Folklórico is both an historical form and an evolving art form. We’ll talk about how crosspollination creates exciting new forms.

Ticket holders of Los Lobos with Ballet Folklórico Mexicano are invited to a McCain Conversation to hear an expert preview the show. McCain Conversations are informal, fun and free! Coffee and light desserts provided.

Life Is An Audition

3 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 14, Kirmser Hall, McCain Auditorium

Host: Dr. Reginald Pittman, Professor of Music and Director of Opera

These extraordinary singers have spent years of auditioning to become a Metropolitan Opera Rising Star. How did they achieve this level of “stardom” and what’s next for these singers to maintain a career in opera?

Ticket holders of The Metropolitan Opera Rising Stars Concert Series are invited to a McCain Conversation to hear an expert preview the show. McCain Conversations are informal, fun and free! Coffee and light desserts provided.

Jessica Lang — To be, Dance

6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 9, Kirmser Hall, McCain Auditorium

Host: Laura Donnelly Dance Instructor and Arts Educator, School of Music, Theatre, and Dance

Choreographer Jessica Lang is known for her artfully crafted, emotionally engaging contemporary ballets that enrich and inspire global audiences by immersing them in the beauty of movement and music. Her ballets incorporate striking design elements that become part of the dance. Collaborating with designers, composers, and architects, Ms. Lang uses the language of classical ballet to create works that are a feast for the senses and full of energy and beauty.

Ticket holders of Jessica Lang Dance are invited to a McCain Conversation to hear an expert preview the show. McCain Conversations are informal, fun and free! Coffee and light desserts provided.

Aaron Neville Tell It Like It Is: HIS TRUE STORY

6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 9, Kirmser Hall, McCain Auditorium

Host: Dr. Wayne Goins, Director of Jazz, School of Music, Theatre, and Dance

Aaron Neville's latest album, My True Story, is a flashback to the music he grew up with. This remarkable first release for Blue Note Records contains twelve classic doo-wop numbers, performed in his immediately recognizable vocal style that only Aaron Neville can deliver. "I attended the university of doo-wop-ology," he says, so let's take a close-up look and listen to his fresh and unique interpretation of music from Little Anthony and the Imperials, Hank Ballard and the Midnighters, and the Drifters!

Ticket holders of Aaron Neville are invited to a McCain Conversation to hear an expert preview the show. McCain Conversations are informal, fun and free! Coffee and light desserts provided.

A Tale of Christmas Brass’d

6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 1, Kirmser Hall, McCain Auditorium

Host: Dr. Paul Hunt, Professor of Trombone School of Music, Theater and Dance

Why are some musical instruments associated with certain festive occasions? Join Dr. Paul Hunt, Professor of Trombone for a pre-concert talk on the traditions of the use of brass instruments during times of celebration, sorrow, or festivity.

Ticket holders of Canadian Brass: A Holiday Concert are invited to a McCain Conversation to hear an expert preview the show. McCain Conversations are informal, fun and free! Coffee and light desserts provided

What Bram Stoker was really afraid of

6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 13, Kirmser Hall, McCain Auditorium

Host: Dr. Anne Longmuir, Associate Professor, Department of English

With its phonographs, typewriters, and blood transfusions, Bram Stoker's Dracula is, as its hero Jonathan Harker notes, "nineteenth century up-to-date with a vengeance." Its ostensible villain may be an ancient European aristocrat, but some rather more contemporary fears permeate this novel of the 1890s. This McCain conversation will explore what Dracula has to say about late nineteenth-century anxieties over the rise of the New Woman, the emergence of the United States as a world power, and impact of the mass media, before considering why even today the vampire remains such a potent myth.

Ticket holders of Bram Stoker’s Dracula are invited to a McCain Conversation to hear an expert preview the show. McCain Conversations are informal, fun, and free! Coffee and light desserts provided.

Shirley MacLaine: Life as a "Wonderful Play"

6:30 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 11, Kirmser Hall, McCain Auditorium

Host, Shannon Skelton, Ph.D., Instructor School of Music, Theatre, and Dance

The presentation will use film clips, songs and images to illustrate and analyze MacLaine's career on stage and in film and television. From The Apartment and Sweet Charity to Terms of Endearment and Coco Chanel, this brief overview will explore MacLaine's unique contributions to the arts during the last 50 years. We will consider MacLaine's work with some of Hollywood's greatest directors (such as Vincente Minnelli, Billy Wilder, Alfred Hitchcock and Bob Fosse), as well as her perpetual appeal to audiences (as in her recent turns on Glee and Downton Abbey).

Ticket holders of An Evening with Shirley MacLaine are invited to a McCain Conversation to hear an expert preview the show. McCain Conversations are informal, fun, and free! Coffee and light desserts provided.

"They make it look so easy!" The Education and Classical Training Behind Today's Broadway Divas

6:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 2, Kirmser Hall, McCain Auditorium

Host, Dr. Patricia Thompson, Associate Professor School of Music, Theatre, and Dance

The natural-born classical singer and performer is a rarity. Very few singers have made it to stardom simply because "their grandmas said they have a pretty voice." Kristin Chenoweth earned a masters degree in Voice Performance from Oklahoma City University before heading to Broadway stardom. Other examples are Patti LuPone (Juilliard), Audra McDonald (Juilliard), and Idina Menzel (NYU Tisch Center for the Arts). We will look at what it takes to be a successful performer on Broadway, and at the educational paths of some of today's biggest stars.

Ticket holders of "An Evening with Kristin Chenoweth" are invited to a McCain Conversation to hear an expert preview the show. McCain Conversations are informal, fun, and free! Coffee and light desserts provided.

Joseph the First Superstar, More than a Fashion Show

6:30 p.m. Saturday, September 26, Kirmser Hall, McCain Auditorium

Host, Jim Reed, Retired minister, First United Methodist Church

This conversation will explore how Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice worked together to tell the Genesis tale of Joseph in Egypt. Webber and Rice capture the essence of the biblical story in this their first publicly performed musical, that preceded "Jesus Christ Superstar." Leading the conversation is Dr. Jim Reed, retired United Methodist minister, lover of musicals and K-State sports, sometime theologian, and most of the time trombonist with the Thundering Cats Big Band.

Ticket holders of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat are invited to a McCain Conversation to hear an expert preview the show. McCain Conversations are informal, fun, and free! Coffee and light desserts provided.

Robert Cray: The Strong Persuader of Blues Guitar

6:30 p.m. Tuesday, September 22, Kirmser Hall, McCain Auditorium

Host, Dr. Wayne Goins, Director of Jazz, School of Music, Theatre, and Dance

Robert Cray is widely considered one of the greatest blues guitarists of his generation. But Cray is much more than that: his soul, pop, rock and R&B guitar style defines his versatility and range — not to mention his incredible songwriting skills. We will discuss his sixteen studio albums and Blues Hall of Fame induction in 2011, as we listen to selected cuts from his seventeenth studio album, "In My Soul,: released April 1, 2014.

Ticket holders of The Robert Cray Band are invited to a McCain Conversation to hear an expert preview the show. McCain Conversations are informal, fun, and free! Coffee and light desserts provided.