MUSIC + MOVEMENT FESTIVAL Announced!

The Auditorium Theatre’s MUSIC + MOVEMENT FESTIVAL welcomes the best of Chicago musicians and dance companies for a celebration spanning February through June of 2013. In a series of collaborations, 11 dance companies will pair off with musicians to create brand new works. 

The MUSIC + MOVEMENT FESTIVAL will feature: 

Feb - April: 10 new collaborations in the Auditorium's Katten/Landau Studio - 425 S. Wabash, 4th Floor | Chicago 
April 13: HAVANA BLUE, a World Premiere collaboration between River North Dance Chicago and Orbert Davis’ Chicago Jazz Philharmonic’s Chamber Ensemble 
May 15: MUSIC + MOVEMENT SHOWCASE featuring Giordano Dance Chicago and Luna Negra Dance Theater, plus the top 5 studio collaborations 

The MUSIC + MOVEMENT FESTIVAL will continue with community performances through June in select locations around Chicago.


Chicago Tribune
Music + Movement Festival to bow at city's stages 
February 05, 2013|Howard Reich

A new festival celebrating music and dance will launch Feb. 28 under the auspices of the Auditorium Theatre of Roosevelt University and run into June in venues downtown and across the city. 

The Music + Movement Festival will present 11 Chicago dance companies performing newly commissioned work with live music, some of it created for the occasion.

Two key events – by River North Dance Chicago with Orbert Davis' Chicago Jazz Philharmonic (April 13) and a Music + Movement Showcase with Giordano Dance Chicago and Luna Negra Dance Theater (May 15) – will unfold on the stage of the Auditorium Theatre, 50 E. Congress Pkwy. The other performances will take place at the Auditorium’s Katten/Landau Studio (425 S. Wabash Ave., 4th floor) and in Chicago community centers to be named.

“This really came about because of a desire on the Auditorium’s part to work with a lot of great artists in Chicago that we normally wouldn’t be able to work with because of the costs,” said Auditorium Theatre executive director Brett Batterson.

“We thought: There are all these terrific musicians, all these terrific dance companies – could we raise enough money to put them together and see what happens?”

The Auditorium found support from the Chicago Community Trust, the Boeing Company and the Joyce Foundation for a festival budgeted at approximately $150,000, said Batterson. The River North/Chicago Jazz Philharmonic event, already announced as part of the Auditorium’s 2012-2013 season, is sponsored by BMO Harris Bank.

Read the entire article HERE

Chicago Sun Times
Auditorium Commissions 11 world premieres for festival

By Hedy Weiss and Thomas Conner Staff Reporters February 5, 2013

The Auditorium Theatre has announced a major new initiative, “The Music + Dance Festival,” a project designed to pair 11 of Chicago’s finest dance troupes with some of Chicago’s best live music makers. The festival, which will unspool over a five-month period (beginning this month and running through June), is being underwritten with $145,000 in grants from the Chicago Community Trust, The Boeing Company and The Joyce Foundation.

The festival will begin with 10 performances taking place in the Auditorium’s Katten/Landau Studio, 425 S. Wabash (4th floor), and will continue on the Auditorium Theatre stage, 50 E. Congress, with the highly anticipated April 13 collaboration between River North Dance Chicago and Orbert Davis’ Chicago Jazz Philharmonic in “Havana Blue,” and exploration of Afro-Cuban music and dance.

The Auditorium also will host a May 15 showcase featuring five selected performances from the festival as well as Giordano Dance Chicago and Luna Negra Dance Theater.

“This festival came out of a conversation [River North artistic director] Frank Chaves and I had when we were both part of the Miles Davis Festival at the Auditorium,” Orbert Davis, co-founder and conductor of the Chicago Jazz Philharmonic, said Tuesday. “We talked about what we could do, something bigger, that blended music and movement. Then he mentioned that his family was from Cuba.”

Davis and Chaves spent nine days in Cuba in September. Davis, a trumpeter, was transformed: “I became truly inspired. My goal was to become Cuban, which meant taking my horn to every restaurant. Guys in the street, I was playing with them. Guys in a band would see I had an instrument and say, ‘Come on over and play!’”

The result is the new “Havana Blue,” one segment of which features both musicians and dancers improvising.

Read the entire article HERE

Home for the Holidays [Set List]

The Auditorium Theatre welcomes back the immensely talented Bourné Family, after their sold-out show this spring! Singing traditional carols, as well as their personal Christmas favorites, the evening promises to leave you in the holiday spirit. See their set list below!

Home For The Holidays
Set List

Silent Night

Carol of the Bells

Silver Bells

Ave Maria (a couple different ones)

Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree

O Come, Emmanuel

The Music of Christmas

Happy Christmas (War is Over)

Tell Me Why

Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas

and many more...

But that's not all!  Interlaced with all of the songs will be Bourné Family holiday traditions from games, to stories, and a few more surprises!

----

Home For The Holidays With The Bourné Family

Venue: The Auditorium Theatre Katten/Landau Studio
Dates: Saturday, December 1, 2012
Times: 8:00 pm
Price: $35-$25

WWII Song Book [Guest post by Tammy McCann with VIDEO]

By Tammy McCann

I'm so thrilled to have this opportunity to share my musical vision with the Auditorium Theatre Membership.   Music for me is a basic and expansive form of human communication.   It’s a medium that is the most personal form of expression and also brings people together.  Jazz, in particular, is such a rich and varied idiom that allows one to create their own language. With this show I hope to  uplift and connect with the listener and the intimate setting of the Katten/Landau Studio is the perfect venue.

In my research of this time period I found music rich with humanity, love and longing.  The show is entitled “I'll Be Seeing You” because I felt this song embodied the heartfelt wish of a soldier to his young bride or a mother to her beloved son. That this was not good-bye but just a short moment in time that would be over before they knew it.  I’m so fascinated by the amazing strength of the men and women who endured so much during this time in our nation's history and I  wanted to share my interpretation of these timeless stories.   Please join me to celebrate the” WWII Song Book” and lets create some new memories together .

 ----

Tammy McCann is an internationally recognized Jazz Vocalist whose powerful, sultry, and soulful voice paints pictures and tells stories by merging Classical vocal technique and Gospel esthetic with Jazz to create a sound that is completely her own.  Or as Jazz Critic Stanley Crouch would put it, “Her pitch is superb,…clear on the top and startling at the bottom, while all of the steps in between are polished with swing...”    Ms. McCann’s warm delivery allows her audience to go on the musical journey with her and her engaging personality imprints the memory of her performance on their hearts.  McCann has performed with such luminaries as Von Freeman, Ramsey Lewis, Les McCann, and toured as a ‘Raylette’ with the great Ray Charles. With sold out shows in some of the top jazz venues in America including Birdland, The Blue Note, and Jazz at Lincoln Center's Dizzy’s Club Coca Cola and the Jazz Showcase.  Tammy McCann is one of the rising stars with a one of a kind voice.  Or as Chicago Tribune’s Arts Critic, Howard Reich would put it McCann has, “A voice that soars in all registers, at all tempos, on all occasions .. a voice that inspires wonder!”

About her upcoming show, “I’ll Be Seeing You – The World War II Songbook,” McCann says, "I’m so fascinated by the amazing strength of the men and women who endured so much during this time in our nation’s history.  In my research I found music rich with humanity, love and longing.  Timeless stories that need to be shared."

The show will feature, "Do Nothin' Til You Hear From Me" by Duke Ellington with lyrics by Bob Russell, "I'll Be Seeing You"  by Sammy Fain with lyrics by Irving Kahal, "Don't Get Around Much Anymore" by Duke Ellington with lyrics by Bob Russell and "Straighten Up and Fly Right" written by Nat King Cole and Irving Mills.

----

Tammy McCann: I’ll Be Seeing You – The World War II Songbook

Venue: Auditorium Theatre Katten/Landau Studio, 425 S. Wabash
Dates: Saturday, August 25, 2012
Times: 8:00 pm

THIS EVENT IS SOLD OUT

Meet Bourné Sibling #3: Katherine Lee

By Katherine Lee Bourné

Hi all! It’s me, Katherine Lee, checking in with the next blog post for our Bourné Family: Welcome to Our Home Katten/Landau Studio Series concert! We are totally excited to be performing in the Auditorium Theatre’s new concert venue THIS SATURDAY! Without further ado, here’s a bit about my family, myself, our music, and the show!

I will begin by giving you a run-down of what everyone does. In addition to singing: Mom plays with her harp and tambourine; Liz tinkers on the piano; Chris looks at her acoustic guitar; I arrange our music, struggle with my acoustic guitar and the piano, and recently had the audacity to put my mouth to a saxophone; Paul plays piano; Tim plays electric and acoustic guitar; Bek plays acoustic guitar, piano, violin, a spot of drums, and is embarking on the bass guitar; Ehron plays the flute and a touch of piano; and John plays drums, piano, a bitty bit of acoustic guitar, and just took up harmonica two weeks ago.

I consider myself the middle child of the Bourné family even though there is an even number of siblings. However, I have justification for feeling that way because there are five years between Christina (Bourné #2) and me and then another 5 years between Paul (Bourné #4) and me, whereas the rest of us are a stair-step or two apart, so, that's my validation for middle-child syndrome.  Also, in our house, there are two groups: those born before '85, thereby christened the first set, AKA, the old folks/fogies, olders, or the big people; and those born after '90 referred to as the second set, AKA, the children, youngers, or the little people. Since I belong to neither group, I am kind of like the bridge between the two and everyone's go-to-girl. I do hair, pick outfits, shop, help with work and school projects; you name it, for everyone. I'm like the family consultant. For some reason my judgment is really respected in our house and my help and opinion are always called upon. The solution to every query or unfulfilled desire is, "Ask/Tell Katie." Being in between the age groups, I didn't really have a sibling playmate so Mom was my best friend and still is. I think that's an added plus. My position in the family fits my personality perfectly. I was born for this!

A little something about me: 

Q: Are any of you married?

A: No. But, thanks everyone who thinks we would make perfect spouses.

Q: Does everyone live in the same house?

A: Yes. There's actually an ideology behind why, but that would take too long to explain.

Q: What’s up with all the big hair?

A: Letting everyone’s hair grow out began as a funny experiment in trying to look like cartoon characters and turned into a Bourné trademark. I’ve heard people recall us as…"That big family with all the hair.”

Q: When did you all start singing?

A: As children around the house. Our parents started out the same way and were in band and choir in school growing up and tried their hand at songwriting together.  There was/is always music playing in the house. I remember sitting around the stereo with everyone having snacks after Liz and Chris would get home from school and singing along to old records as a toddler. The first time we sang as a family was at a candlelight Christmas Eve service at our church. That was before some of us were even born. We started travelling and singing about three years ago. We never planned on being a singing family troupe but I think that’s been the plan all along all the same.

Q: What’s it like being in such a big family?

A: I don’t know about being in anyone else’s big family, but I love being a part of mine. I mean seriously, whom would we trade out for whom else or whom would we send…back? Right, so… It’s pretty cool. I always have at least one someone to talk to and if I don’t feel like talking to anyone, we know each other so well I don’t have to say it. Also, for us, it doesn’t seem like we are that many people anyway. By the time we’re all in a room, we stop and count to make sure it’s really all nine of us there, we seem so few sometimes. Of course it’s hilarious when we all go to a store or restaurant together and have to explain that yes we all are indeed together and that no we are not a group of sisters and their children: we are eight children and one mama!

Q: Who organizes the music?

A: That would be yours truly…me!

For our show this Saturday, we are doing a capella/acoustic compilation. We were going to pull out all the drums and what have you, but thought about it and realized that's not how it would be if you were visiting us at home. By opening up our hearts to you in song, we welcome you into our home! The first set will be a tribute to famous families of song, and the second set will be a showcase of our original music. I had the hardest time narrowing down the selections for the performance, but I think you will enjoy everything! Everyone is excited and a bit nervous, but really looking forward to the evening with all of you. Thanks for planning to attend! So, until Saturday…I remain respectfully yours.

Katherine 

-------------------------

The Bourné Family: Welcome to Our Home

Venue: Auditorium Theatre Katten/Landau Studio, 425 S. Wabash
Dates: Saturday, July 21, 2012
Times: 8:00 pm
Price: $35-$25

Indroducing the Bourné Family: Christina

By: Christina Bourné

 
Bringing the joy of music, love, and whimsy, the Bourné Family joins the Auditorium for the second performance in our Katten/Landau Studio Series. The Bourné Family, composed of 8 children and their mother, is a talented tour de force, combining unique vocal harmonies that are often referred to by their fans as “the voices of angels.”

Meet Christina Bourné, 2^nd eldest of the 8 Bourné siblings performing alongside their mother in our upcoming performance in the Katten/Landau Studio Series this summer. As a vocalist, Christina is a Lyric Soprano. She has also been a member of Auditorium Theatre staff for the last 5 years in different capacities and now serves as our Interim Director of Education. As one of our own, we could not be more excited to see her make her official Auditorium Theatre debut as a performer. We sat down with Christina to learn a little more about her family and what to anticipate for The Bourné Family: Welcome to Our Home on July 21.

ATRU: Can you describe the different roles you’ve served here at the Auditorium Theatre?

 
Christina: I have definitely worn many hats here! I have worked as the lead musical coach for Hands Together, Heart to Art camp, as a member of the Development team for events and data entry, and also selling for Group Sales. I have served as the Assistant Stage Manager for Too Hot to Handel and the occasional "unofficial understudy" for shows we have on our stage. Now, I have stepped into this position leading Hands Together, Heart to Art Camp this year. It’s all been a wonderful whirlwind!

ATRU: Will you tell us some fun facts about your family?

Christina: There are so many to choose from!  One of my favorite things to do every year is go caroling as a family. We, of course, go around Christmas but sometimes go during other times of the year as well, making up our own medley of songs.

Another fun fact, we write a lot of our songs playing a family sing-a-long version of the game “Telephone.”  We all sit in a circle, somebody comes up with a phrase and it passes from ear to ear, you know, like classic “Telephone,” except the last person to hear the phrase has the guitar and he or she has to create a song based on what they think they heard.  The melody for our song “Darling” actually was created off of this game. 

Thanksgiving is also a riot. We aren’t allowed to come to dinner unless we dress up as some type of Pilgrim or Indian.

ATRU: What are you most looking forward to about your show in the Katten/Landau Studio this month?

Christina: Well, we picked “Welcome to Our Home” as the title because we wanted the audience to feel like they were stepping into our zany world.  We are a fun and loving bunch of down-to-earth musicians, and we want to be able to share our music and our personalities with a broader audience. I think this show will really allow us to do that.

ATRU: Finally, if you could have dinner with one iconic artist, who would it be?

Christina: Beverly Sills, the opera singer.  I truly respect and admire her work. 

The Bourné Family: Welcome to Our Home
Click HERE for tickets and information.

Venue: Auditorium Theatre Katten/Landau Studio, 425 S. Wabash
Dates: Saturday, July 21, 2012
Times: 8:00 pm
Price: $35-$25 

Introducing the Bourne Family: Elizabeth

Introducing the Bourne' Family - Elizabeth

By: Elizabeth D. Bourné

Bringing the joy of music, love, and whimsy, the Bourné Family joins the Auditorium for the second performance in our Katten/Landau Studio Series. The Bourné Family, composed of 8 children and their mother, is a talented tour de force, combining unique vocal harmonies that are often referred to by their fans as “the voices of angels.”

There is one thing I LOVE & HATE about being the eldest of the 8 Bourné Children… Always being first! For instance, I LOVED being the first to be left in charge; to have a birthday party with guests besides family; to take an overnight trip; wear make-up; drive a car; go to college; turn 21 and so on. However, I HATED being the first to lose a tooth; give up a toy when someone younger wanted to play; do "big girl" chores; get a shot when we went for our check-ups; be punished even when we were all in trouble; grow up and get a gray hair, etc. As I type this blog, I am trying to decide if being the first of the Bourné Family to post a message to you, in anticipation of our upcoming concert, is a first LOVE or first HATE. sometimes going first is fun and adventurous, but other times it is nerve-wrecking. I guess I am both excited and nervous. Of course it shouldn't be any different than making a new acquaintance. thus, without further ado… HELLO!!!!

My name is Elizabeth Bourné. I bring you greetings and warm felicitations, from my lovely mother, Lisa and seven younger siblings, Christina, Katherine, Paul, Timothy, Rebekah, Ehron, & John! We are thrilled to be one of the three acts with the privilege of inaugurating the Auditorium Theatre's new Katten/Landau studio series this summer and doubly pleased to soon meet you face-to-face at our show on July 21st. As our concert date quickly approaches, we are feeling a little nervous, excited, cool, shocked, serious, calm, more focused, zealous, and surprisingly, at peace (I think I covered the sentiments of all nine of us). More than anything we are simply looking forward to seeing you all and sharing a bit of ourselves (love, friendship, talent) with you. We wish we could have you all over for dinner, but there is time enough for that…

We are noticing the funniest thing as the "BIG DAY" draws near. People have been asking us two questions, "Have you started practicing yet?" and (BTW, not sure what I expected folks to say when they found out that the BOURNÉs ARE GOING TO BE PERFORMING FOR THE OLDEsT, sTANDING THEATRE IN CHICAGO!!!!!), "What kind of music do you all sing?" Hmm…the answers are…no and almost everything. For one, it seems we have been so busy preparing for other engagements that we haven't had the time, but that, we are learning, in itself is practice. For two, we sing everything from Kyries to Korean Pop Music and we write everything in between. The selections we choose for each performance are based on the agenda of the event, which makes it a lot more fun! Picking the songs for our summer show has been interesting and tedious because our repertoire is vast and we want to tailor a program that will be most appealing to you! As we narrow it down, looks like you're in for a treat and hopefully a very pleasant surprise.

Just one more month and we will all be enjoying a wonderfully entertaining summer evening together! Our best regards to you until we share your company on that most auspicious date.

SEE YOU SOON, EDB!

The Bourné Family: Welcome to Our Home

Venue: Auditorium Theatre Katten/Landau Studio, 425 S. Wabash
Dates: Saturday, July 21, 2012
Times: 8:00 pm
Price: $35-$25

Buy tickets HERE!