Cal Performances, in association with Aaron Concerts presents Madrid’s Acclaimed

NOCHE FLAMENCA

July 25-27 at the Hollywood Bowl

http://www.hollywoodbowl.org/calendar/calendar.cfm

Featuring

Martin Santangelo, Artistic Director
Soledad Barrio, Co-founder and lead dancer
Isabel Bayon, dancer
Antonio Jimenez "El Chupete", dancer
Jesus Torres, guitar
Paco Cruz, guitar
Manuel Gago, vocals
Antonio Vizarraga, vocals

Cal Performances Zellerbach Playhouse

Zellerbach Playhouse, June 24 – July 6, 2003

Tuesday-Saturday, June 24 – 28 at 8:00 p.m. Zellerbach Playhouse, UC Berkeley Campus
Sunday, June 29 at 7:00 p.m. Bancroft Way at Dana Court, Berkeley
Tuesday-Thursday, July 1-3 at 8:00 p.m.
NO SHOW JULY 4
Saturday, July 5 at 8:00 p.m.
Sunday, July 6 at 7:00 p.m.

Zellerbach Playhouse, UC Berkeley Campus Bancroft Way at Dana Court, Berkeley 510.642.9988

One of the world’s foremost flamenco companies and a sensation in its 2000 Bay Area debut, Noche Flamenca takes the stage at Cal Performances’ Zellerbach Playhouse for a two-week run of eleven performances beginning at 8:00 p.m. Tuesday, June 24 and running through Sunday, July 6, 2003. Noche Flamenca’s appearance is part of Celebración de las Culturas de Iberoamérica, Cal Performances’ programming initiative to bring the performing arts of Latin America, Spain and the Caribbean to Bay Area audiences.

Hailed by The New York Times as "A soul-stirring tour-de-force of theater," Noche Flamenca captures the essence, the purity of form and emotional fire that has made the company one of Spain’s most successful ensembles. Founded by Artistic Director Martin Santangelo and leading dancer Soledad Barrio in 1993, the Madrid-based ensemble has quickly become one of the most sought after dance companies in the world, and one that delivers the "fully felt emotional expression of the soul that pure flamenco demands" (The Washington Post).

NOCHE FLAMENCA

The uniqueness of Noche Flamenca emanates from the combination of extraordinary guitarists, singers and dancers who perform together with a communal spirit and a profound understanding of flamenco. Their talents are interwoven and given equal weight, in an artistic vision developed by the founders. The performers offer dance works of deep dramatic substance and top-rank virtuosity that reveal the true heart and soul of flamenco. In its international touring, the ensemble has visited Egypt, Australia the United States and Canada, with followers who described the company as "brilliant" and "the real thing." These performances are part of a summer tour that also includes dates at the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra in Los Angeles, Lincoln Center Out of Doors, the Florida International Festival, An Appalachian Summer Festival, and a two-week debut tour of Argentina.

Tickets: $42.00 (orchestra) and $30.00 (obstructed view side section), available through the Cal Performances Ticket Office at Zellerbach Hall; at (510) 642-9988 to charge by phone; at www.calperfs.berkeley.edu; and at the door.

All Cal Performances programs are supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts, the California Arts Council, and the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation.

THE ARTISTS

Performances in Berkeley will feature dancers Soledad Barrio, Isabel Bayon and Antonio Jimenez "El Chupete;" guitarists Jesus Torres and Paco Cruz; and singers Manuel Gago and Antonio Vizarraga. The Berkeley performances are presented by Cal Performances in association with Aaron Concert Artists of New York. Martin Santangelo, co-founder of Noche Flamenca, is a resident of Madrid. A student of Ciro, Paco Romero, el Guito, Manolete and Alejandro Granados, he has performed throughout Spain and the U.S. with Maria Benitez’s Teatro Flamenco, at the Lincoln Center Festival of the Arts and with Paco Romero’s Ballet Español. He also appeared in and choreographed a solo for Julie Taymor’s Juan Darien at Lincoln Center. Santangelo choreographed Romeo and Juliette at the Denver Theater Center and co-directed and choreographed Bodas de Sangre with Larry Kornfield at SUNY Purchase. Santangelo, who was born and raised in New York’s Greenwich Village, was exposed to dance by his Argentine mother, a dancer with Alwin Nikolais. As a young man, he studied acting at New York University and moved to San Francisco, joining El Teatro Campesino. While with the theater company he happened to fill in for an actor in a flamenco performance and was transfixed. He soon left the U.S. for Madrid, to pursue flamenco studies there.

The co-founder of Noche Flamenco, Soledad Barrio has been described by George C. Wolfe, Artistic Director of New York’s Joseph Papp Public Theater as "a once-in-a-lifetime perfomer who combines overwhelming physicality and spirituality." She was born in Madrid and trained in flamenco and Clasico Español. Barrio has appeared as soloist with the Ballet Español of Paco Romero, Manuela Vargas, Blanca del Rey, Luisillo, El Guito, Manolete, Cristobal Reyes, and Toleo. In 2001 Barrio was named the winner of a New York Dance & Performance Award (a.k.a. the "BESSIES") for Outstanding Creative Achievement. She is married to Artistic Director Martin Santangelo, and they have two daughters, Gabriela and Stella.