UC Davis March Arts Newsletter

March 2023

Pictured from top: Danika Sudik (M.A., dramatic art, ’17), a lecturer in theatre and dance, and student Karianyelis Navarro in "REFUGE." (Katherine Hung/UC Davis)

New Theatre Work Inspired by War in Ukraine

A new work, REFUGE – an immersive theatrical installation, draws from co-creator Victoria Tzykun’s experience as a Ukrainian refugee and is inspired by the Russian invasion of Ukraine one year ago. Tzykun and David Adam Moore, visiting artists in the UC Davis Department of Theatre and Dance, created this work of movement, spoken word, walk-through immersive environments and live music. Those attending can expect a walk-through experience lasting about an hour. It will be performed March 2-5 and 9-10.

Tzykun and her family fled Ukraine in 1990 as the Soviet Union, of which Ukraine was a part, was collapsing. The piece will not address the war in Ukraine directly, but explore issues of displacement, home and grief.

“What triggered the need to create REFUGE is an intense feeling that it was my home that was being invaded on February 24, 2022,” said Tzykun. “Like many of us in the Ukrainian expat community, I am actively, deeply worried about my friends and family in the region whose lives are being endangered and uprooted.”

Moore has worked as designer, composer, digital media artist and stage director, recently creating projections for the Lyric Opera of Chicago. He has performed as an opera singer at Metropolitan Opera, Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Teatro alla Scala, Lyric Opera of Chicago and New York City Opera. Tzukun has designed for the Lyric Opera of Chicago, Santa Fe Opera, Houston Grand Opera and many others, and in film and television, including art direction for Lady GAGA: A Very GAGA Thanksgiving. She is also a painter. They are the founders of GLMMR, a multimedia art collective in New York City.

MUSIC

Music Spanning the Globe — March 2

The month starts with an international flavor as six music department ensembles give one big concert. The free concert will have performances by the Gamelan Ensemble, Hindustani Vocal Ensemble, Afro-Cuban Ensemble, Bluegrass and Old Time String Band, and Capoeira.

UC Davis Mariachi Band

Concert Bands Premiere New Student Work — March 8

A new piece by undergraduate physics major Jason Chen, titled Noctilucence, will be performed, along with music by John Mackey, Leonard Bernstein, Samuel Barber, Ralph Vaughan Williams and many others, in a concert by the Campus Band and the Concert Band.

Mike Marshall and Choro Famoso in Concert — March 10

Mike Marshall is an internationally acclaimed bluegrass musician and a master of blending genres. He will be performing in the ensemble Choro Famoso, which also includes percussionist Brian Rice, a UC Davis music lecturer; Andy Connell on clarinet and saxophone; and Colin Walker playing seven-string guitar.

Choro music emerged in 19th-century Brazil as a mixture of European popular dance tunes and Afro-Brazilian rhythms. Most popular in the 1930s and 1940s, it is currently enjoying a renaissance. The group has released two albums.

Mike Marshall (second from left) and Choro Famoso

Marshall is best known as a mandolin player, but is also proficient on many instruments. Early in his career, he was a member of the Dave Grisman Quintet and has led many groups performing a wide variety of music. Recently he has been part of a supergroup made up of classical and bluegrass-rooted musicians Joshua Bell, Edgar Meyer, Bela Fleck and Sam Bush.

Orchestra and Choruses Join Forces for Mahler’s ‘Resurrection’ — March 12

The UC Davis Symphony Orchestra and University Chorus will be joined by the Alumni Chorus for a performance of Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 2, called the Resurrection symphony. Consisting of five movements and scored for a large orchestra, chorus and soloists, Resurrection is nearly 90 minutes long. The work contemplates life and death on a cosmic scale, opening with an inexorable funeral march and culminating in an ecstatic hymn of resurrection considered one of the greatest of all music climaxes. Mahler spent seven years composing

Horn players in the UC Davis Symphony Orchstra

the symphony, which was premiered in 1895. It became one of his most popular and successful works. Also on the program is Our Phoenix, a 2015 choral work by Mari Esabel Valverde with text by Amir Rabiyah, who identifies as a disabled queer femme poet and lives in Oakland, California.

Voices Join Percussion for Steve Reich’s Monumental ‘Drumming’ — March 17

Drumming, by Steve Reich, is considered one of the greatest works of minimalism and one of the prolific composer’s most significant and influential works. Written in 1971, Drumming uses Reich’s trademark phasing technique created through subtle changes in timing and timbre that cause the soundscape to build through a series of rhythmic loops that gradually evolve to create a wholly immersive experience. It will be performed by the UC Davis Percussion Ensemble, led by faculty member Chris Froh, and vocalists from the Graduate Student Ensemble.

Members of the UC Davis Percussion Ensemble

More music

Look for details on other concerts on the Department of Music website.

ART STUDIO

Visiting Artist Explores Ethnicity, Race, Migration — March 9

Rina Banerjee will give a talk about her art that draws on her personal history as an immigrant and uses a wide range of materials and historical references to explore ethnicity, race and migration. Banerjee has exhibited widely, including in 14 international biennials and a retrospective at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in 2018. Her works are included in the collections of the Whitney Museum of American Art, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and Centre Pompidou.

Rina Banerjee (David Stroud/Courtesy of Hosfelt Gallery)

DESIGN

See Shoe Show — through April 23

“From Concept to Creation: Inspired Shoe Design by Chris Francis” showcases the colorful and imaginative footwear created by Los Angeles-based designer Chris Francis. The exhibition of about 65 shoes runs through April 23 at the UC Davis Design Museum.

For more events, visit the UC Davis arts calendar.