SummerFest 2023 SYNERGY Weekend
SYNERGY SERIES
SummerFest 2023 sees the return of the Synergy Initiative, a series co-produced by Inon Barnatan and Clara Wu Tsai, which invites top creators of music, dance, spoken word and visual arts to collaborate across their different art forms and produce performances that inspire our audiences in unexpected and powerful ways.
Join us for three exciting Synergy events in one thrilling weekend!
Additional funding for Synergy provided by
Louis Cato, bandleader of The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, makes his La Jolla Music Society debut
Jazz @ The JAI
THE LOUIS CATO TRIO
Thursday, August 17 · 6:00 PM & 8:30 PM
Louis Cato, bandleader of The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, makes his La Jolla Music Society debut leading his trio in a delightful evening of jazz in the intimate atmosphere of The JAI.
Spoken word artist and activist Marc Bamuthi Joseph
Artistic Director, Ailey II, Francesca Harper reimagines CARNIVAL OF ANIMALS
Legendary dancer Wendy Whelan reimagines CARNIVAL OF ANIMALS
CARNIVAL OF THE ANIMALS
Friday, August 18 · 7:30 PM
The Baker-Baum Concert Hall
A special preview performance of a reimagination of Carnival of the Animals co-commissioned by La Jolla Music Society for SummerFest’s Synergy Initiative
An evening-length interdisciplinary work of dance, spoken word and music, Carnival of the Animals is an intentional response to the January 6 insurrection, navigating the reality of the political jungle by embodying shifting societal values and our relationship to democracy. Choreographed and directed by Francesca Harper and anchored in the words of poet Marc Bamuthi Joseph (VP/Artistic Director of Social Impact for The Kennedy Center) and the transcendent movement of legendary dancer Wendy Whelan, Carnival of the Animals reimagines Saint-Saëns’ original animals and creates new animals in the political ecosystem, locating the classical in the present context. Each animal is tethered between order and disorder across a landscape of natural and socio-political arrangement. Harper utilizes Joseph’s writing of these new animals, including butterflies, free birds, goat, and elephant, to create physical poetry, giving life and breadth to the dynamic visions for hope, examples of resiliency as well as the polarizing experiences of race and gender, and different takes on political people and moments in our recent history.
Louis Cato, bandleader of The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, makes his La Jolla Music Society debut
The Synergy Series at La Jolla Music Society includes Clarinetist Mark Dover
Tessa Lark is part of the Synergy Series at La Jolla Music Society
La Jolla Music Society's Synergy Series includes Bassist Michael Thurber
AMERICAN CLASSIC: CATO/DOVER/LARK/THURBER
Saturday, August 19 · 7:30 PM
The Baker-Baum Concert Hall
A musical explosion of joy with four creative powerhouses meeting at the intersection of blues, classical music, jazz and songwriting. The Late Show with Stephen Colbert bandleader Louis Cato joins GRAMMY nominees Tessa Lark and clarinetist Mark Dover, along with Broadway-bound composer/bassist Michael Thurber, for never-before-heard originals, arrangements, and improvisations that bring seemingly disparate stylistic influences into an organic, unique sonic experience.
Cover art: Lee Mullican, Electric Night, 1967. Oil on canvas, 36 ¼ x 76 in. (92.1 x 193 cm.)
Collection Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego. Gift of Ruth Gribin, 2011.31
Photographer: Pablo Mason © Lee Mullican, 1967