University of Florida Performing Arts has unveiled its 2013-14 season, and Director Michael Blachly is proud to announce it will feature nearly 80 performances from July through April.
UFPA has scheduled an impressive array of artists and performers who hail from Siberia to Mongolia to Africa and whose appeal cuts across different age groups and tastes.
Several solo artists also are among those performing, including Coloratura soprano Kathleen Battle and violin virtuoso Itzhak Perlman. Pianists Veit Hertenstein, Ran Dank and Soyean Kate Lee also will perform, as well as bluegrass mandolinist Chris Thile and 19-time Grammy-winning jazz guitarist Pat Metheny.
The AnDa Union and The Manganiyar Seduction by Roysten Abel are two groups whose music is steeped in its own national culture. The former is composed of Mongolian musicians whose goal is to make new music inspired by old and forgotten Mongolian songs. The latter brings Indian music to the forefront of international consciousness.
Among the other performers representing their home lands are: the always-popular Peking Acrobats; the acrobatic Diavolo Dance Theater; Siberia’s Krasnoyarsk National Dance Company; Argentina’s Tango Fire; and Madrid’s Stars of Flamenco.
Also on tap: YouTube sensations Straight No Chaser; The New Directions Veterans Choir (mostly made up of formerly homeless veterans); and gospel and spiritual performers, the Soweto Gospel Choir.
UFPA also will host six Broadway musicals this season: Mama Mia!; Buddy — The Buddy Holly Story; Hello Dolly!; Man of La Mancha; Memphis; and Million Dollar Quartet.
For more information, visit http://performingarts.ufl.edu/.