Category Archives: Events

May 29, 2008

French night at the Alley Theatre

The hilarious new musical comedy The Gershwins’ An American in Paris takes a behind-the-scenes look at the making of the legendary movie-musical.Reuniting Ken Ludwig, George Gershwin and Ira Gershwin – the team behind the Broadway smash Crazy For You – this new American musical tells the story of Michel Gerard, the greatest music hall singer in Paris. When Michel fails to turn up at Monumental Pictures’ Paris studio for the filming of a new musical, StudioHeadLouis Goldmansends his practical, no-nonsense secretary, Rebecca Klemm, to find the missing star – and when the legendary Parisian crosses swords with the indomitable American, nothing short of fireworks ensue. Don’t miss this blissful prequel to the famous movie, featuring some of the best-loved songs written by George and Ira Gershwin including: “’S Wonderful,” “They All Laughed,” “Stairway to Paradise” and many more.

Receive a discount on tickets with the promotion code TFAA

Words and Music by George Gershwin and Ira Gershwin
Book by Ken Ludwig
Musical Supervisor: Rob Berman
Choreography by Randy Skinner
Directed by Gregory Boyd
Hubbard Stage at the Alley Theatre

The evening was filled with champagne and truffles as Baccarat hosted the Texan French Alliance for the Arts in launching its newest limited edition collection called the “Crystal Candy Set,” designed by Spanish artist Jaime Hayon.
In from New York was Baccarat VP of Marketing, Brent McDaneld, describing the inspiration behind and the creation of this exclusive collection, which made its third stop in the US in Houston last night. Among the crowd was:

Lynn Wyatt
Steve & Betty Newton
Donatella & Fred Benckenstein
French Cultural Attache Dominique Chastres
Rania Daniel
Cindi & Franklin Rose
Reda Martin
Mehrnaz & Ned Gill
Jaleh & Bruce Sallee
Sima Ladjevardian
Mahnaz Kooros
Mickey (TFAA Board President) & Francoise Henry
Susan & Dennis Carlyle
Lorraine & Jonathan Talbot
Haleh Holmes
Gabriela & Danny Dror
Sabiha Rehmatulla
Bruce Padilla, Regional Manager, Baccarat North America

Pictures of the Baccarat Night

Two concerts celebrating the City of Lights

Sponsorship by TFAA and its presenting partner TOTAL E&P, USA

Februrary 29, 2008, 8 pm

Zilkha Hall, Hobby Center for the Performing Arts

The works performed:

Pascal Dusapin  Two Walking for two female voices (texts by Gertrude Stein)

Gertrude Stein  If I Told Him: A Portrait of Picasso

Paul Bowles  Selected Songs

Virgil Thomson  Selected Songs and Portraits

James Joyce  Anna Livia Plurabelle from Finnegan’s Wake

Stephen Albert  To Wake the Dead

The singers and musicians were Lucy Shelton, soprano; Karol Bennett, soprano; Thomas Meglioranza, baritone; Laura Flax, clarinet/bass clarinet; Leone Buyse, flute/alto flute/piccolo; Aloysia Friedmann, violin/viola; Norman Fischer, cello; Timothy Hester, piano/harmonium; Sarah Rothenberg, piano.

November 16-17, 2007, at DiverseWorks

Post-performance reception hosted by TFAA and its presenting partners Global Quality Imports, Inc. and Andre’s Pastry Shop and Café

Jean-Baptiste André continues to research the body, the topic of identity, and the notion of metamorphosis in his new work, comme en plein jour (as in full day). Jean-Baptiste is fascinated by the metamorphosis figure and how the body, in a wide and clear space, can create shapes and form. This diptych to 2004’s Interieur Nuit is powered by an electronic score, where circus, dance, and video art meet in a world of uncertain identity, shifting color, startling landscapes, and skewed perspective.

Jean-Baptiste has recently been working as the artist-in-residence at the Yamaguchi Center for the Arts and Media in Japan. He has been working with musician Aoki Takamasa and videographer Noriko Matsumoto to investigate the connections between dance, camera, music, and technology. André has also been working with noted multi-media installation artist Robin Rhode on a work on video titled “The Storyteller.”

“1909-2009: The Great Collaborators of the Ballets Russes”

October 15-17, 2009 at Zilka Hall of the Hobby Center of the Performing Arts

Dominic Walsh Dance Theater celebrates the 100th anniversary of the Ballets Russes. Under Sergei Diaghilev, this revolutionary company drew upon the genius of leading composers, artists, choreographers, and dancers to produce groundbreaking productions that redefined classical dance. In this tradition, Walsh offers his 21st century take on classics from that era — The Dying Swan, The Afternoon of a Faun, Le Spectre de la Rose, and The Firebird.

Tickets start at $24

Use Promotion code: TFAA  for a 20% discount

call the box office: 713-315-2525 or visit : www.dwdt.org

To see the flyer Click HERE and to see the video click HERE

press release July 2009

press release October 2009

Special Soiree :
Saturday, October 17, 2009
Benefactor’s Reception 6:15 PM
Performance 7:30 PM
Soirée 9:30 PM approximately

Have you heard of The Firebird – the ballet that electrified the classical dance world when Sergei Diaghilev and his newborn Ballets Russes introduced it in Paris 100 years ago? Well, prepare for another dance revolution – here in Houston – with the world premiere of Walsh’s Firebird featuring Paris Opera Ballet Étoile Marie-Agnès Gillot and Dominic Walsh Dance Theater principal Domenico Luciano.

To celebrate this new creation and the 100th anniversary of the Ballets Russes, we invite you to join us for the Firebird Soirée held in conjunction with the Saturday, October 17th performance.

The evening will begin at 7:30 PM at the Hobby Center for the Performing Arts, Zilkha Hall with Dominic Walsh Dance Theater’s 1909-2009: The Great Collaborators of the Ballets Russes. The celebration will continue with the festive Firebird Soirée at the Four Seasons Hotel Ballroom, capturing the Diaghilev spirit with cocktails, a seated Russian supper, artful conversation, and music by The Gypsies.

We will also honor Ben Stevenson at the Firebird Soirée with the inaugural “Spirit of Dance” Award. Back when Walsh was Houston Ballet’s Principal Dancer, Stevenson recognized and encouraged Walsh’s gift as a choreographer. We honor Stevenson, not only for his tutelage of Walsh, but for putting Houston on the world map for ballet. He is one of the most original figures in the development of regional ballet in the U.S. And though he is British, his achievement as teacher, choreographer, and company director is rooted in American ballet.

Firebird Soirée

Chair: Dr. Carolyn Farb, h.c.

Honoree: Ben Stevenson, O.B.E.
Artistic Director, Texas Ballet Theater
Former Artistic Director, Houston Ballet

Date & Time:
Saturday, October 17, 2009
Benefactor’s Reception 6:15 PM
Performance 7:30 PM
Soirée 9:30 PM approximately

Location:
Hobby Center, Zilkha Hall
Four Seasons Hotel Ballroom

Attire:
Black Tie or From Russia with Love
Individual Tickets:
$250, $500, and $1,000

Tables:
$2,500, $5,000, $7,500, and $10,000 (Tables of Ten)

Special Opportunity for Benefactors:

Kick-off Cocktail Party in September hosted by Benjy’s on Washington

Pre-reception in the Founders Salon of the Hobby Center graciously underwritten by MjC Events and Lucia and Michael Cordúa

For more information or to make a reservation, please call Leigh McBurnett at 713-652-3938 or email lmcburnett@dwdt.org

1909-2009: The Great Collaborators
of the Ballet Russes
October 15-17, 2009

Hobby Center for the Performing Arts,
Zilkha Hall

Pictured: DWDT Company Members Domenico Luciano and Dominic Walsh. Marie-Agnès Gillot and Erika Johnson.
Photos by Amitava Sarkar, Photography InSight and Frederique de Montblanc.

The exhibit is also sponsored by the Cultural Services of the French Embassy and the French Consulate of Houston.

The Texan-French Alliance for the Arts and its presenting partner, The Levant Foundation, are proud to  sponsor Jean Luc Mylayne, the first solo exhibition of the French photographer in an American museum.

The exhibition, on view at Blaffer Gallery, the Art Museum of the University of Houston from September 8 through November 10, presents portraits of bluebirds, hummingbirds, juncos, and other species of birds in the habitat of Western Texas. A constant theme of the show is the reflection of the relationship between humanity and nature.

The mission of the Texan-French Alliance for the Arts is to promote artistic and cultural exchanges and educational programs between Texas and France. In funding exhibitions such as Jean Luc Mylayne, the alliance hopes to develop a broad audience and cultivate the appreciation of different art forms, thus strengthening cultural awareness between Texas and France.

In collaboration with the University of Houston Downtown and Musiques de Nuit, Bordeaux.

Sponsorship by TFAA and its presenting partner Technip USA

Nine interns from Bordeaux, France join thirty American students under the direction of Robert Wilson, Director of the University of Houston-Downtown Civic Music Program, and Grammy Award participant Tony Campise and Lynn Seaton for two extraordinary jazz concerts.

The two free concerts are:

Saturday, June 2, 2007 at Camp Allen in Navasota, Texas

10 am to 12 noon in the Camp Allen Conference and Retreat Center

18800 FM 362, Navasota, Texas 77868

$9 per person for a lunch buffet and beverage after the concert

Sunday, June 3, 2007 Bordeaux Jazz Artis  ts and Guests Concert

11 am on the Outdoor Stage at Kemah Boardwalk

215 Kipp Avenue, Kemah, Texas 77565 

Next to the Flying Dutchman Restaurant

Sponsorship by TFAA and the Cultural Services of the French Embassy

On view from June 8 through September 16, 2007, the exhibition features works by Max Ernst, René Magritte, Jackson Pollack, Mark Rothko, Jean Tinguely, and African, Oceanic, and Pre-Columbian art. The exhibition opens on the Menil Collection’s 20th Anniversary date.

HOUSTON, May 18, 2007 — A MODERN PATRONAGE: de Menil Gifts to American and European Museums continues the Menil’s celebration of its 20th anniversary.

Organized by Menil director Josef Helfenstein, this exhibition brings together for the first time approximately 45 major works of art that John and Dominique de Menil donated to museums in Europe and America, including the Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris; Musée du quai Branly, Paris (formerly the L’Musée del Homme); the Museum of Modern Art, New York (MoMA); the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (MFAH); as well as The Menil Collection (which opened to the public on June 8, 1987).

“We feel very close to the Museum of Modern Art, and we like to give you the kind of things in which we believe,” John de Menil wrote in December 1955 to Alfred H. Barr, Jr., founding director of MoMA. The letter accompanied one of the de Menils’ first gifts to a museum in December 1955 — and set the stage for many subsequent decades of generosity. De Menil’s words revealed his deep belief in the power of the primacy of art, a philosophy of intuitive collecting and giving that he shared with Dominique (1908-1997). A MODERN PATRONAGE is more than a reunion of works of art or homage to their donors. In planning the exhibition, said Josef Helfenstein, “a fascinating story emerged. Bringing together pieces of the puzzle provided an opportunity to understand the philosophy that guided the de Menils’ approach to patronage. I hope this exhibition helps to illustrate that the Menil embodies the founders’ open-door approach to thinking about the possibilities of art.”

Beginning with works purchased as early as the 1940s, the exhibition presents attests to the de Menils’   interest in establishing a conversations between significant 20th-century artists ; — including Max Ernst, René Magritte, Man Ray, Mark Rothko, Jean Tinguely, Wols, Lee Bontecou, Jackson Pollock, Claes Oldenburg, Larry Rivers, and Andy Warhol , — and important selections of African, Oceanic, and Pre-Columbian art.

Accompanying the exhibition is a fully illustrated catalogue, with essays by Marcia Brennan, Alfred Pacquement, and Ann Temkin, exploring the complex set of circumstances that inspired the development and international reach of the de Menils’ artistic vision. Pacquement, the director of the Centre Pompidou, Paris, discusses Dominique de Menil’s pioneering role in bringing modern American Art to France in the 1970s.

In honor of her late husband, Dominique gave to the Pompidou at its 1977 inauguration a monumental Abstract Expressionist work by Jackson Pollock, The Deep (1953). Atypical of Pollock’s well-known drip paintings, with the work features a central composition that verges on the figural, its the unique and dramatic nature of the work led leading MoMA curator Frank O’Hara to describe the painting as “a work which contemporary aesthetic had cried out for … one of the provocative images of our time, an abyss of glamour encroached upon by a flood of innocence.”

The couple’s belief in individuals and objects vision led them to make deep their commitments to particular artists, including, famously, Surrealists such as Magritte and Ernst, and Jean Tinguely. Visiting the Swiss sculptor’s 1964 show at Alexandre Iolas’s Paris gallery, John was so inspired by what he saw, and heard — a cacophonous gathering of spurting and rocking machines consisting of rubber belts and electric motors — that he purchased every work on display for the MFAH. A selection of these Meta-Mecanique sculptures will be assembled for A MODERN PATRONAGE.

Demonstrating a truly modern patronage, the de Menils’ role as collectors transcends the works of art held by The Menil Collection, and this exhibition honors their international scope and presence.