The Walker Art Center’s 2023-2024 Performing Arts season celebrates the ongoing re-emergence and power of live performance after a season that saw people return to the McGuire Theater in large numbers. It kicks off in September with a celebration of category-defying composer and instrumentalist John Zorn on the occasion of his 70th birthday. Zorn, who has a long-standing history with the Walker, will collaborate with more than 20 musicians, including guitarists Bill Frisell and Julian Lage, the JACK Quartet, keyboardist John Medeski, and percussionist Sae Hashimoto, to create a series of one-of-a-kind musical experiences that respond to works in the Walker’s collection. The day-long Zorn-led and -inspired events will also include three evening concerts in the Walker’s McGuire Theater, providing ample opportunities for Zorn fans to immerse themselves in his distinct musical vision. Additional music events this season feature Alabaster dePlume, Sandbox Percussion, and ambitious projects by Tomeka Reid and Damon Locks, powerhouse composer/performers from the red-hot Chicago new music scene.
The season also continues the Walker’s commitment to experimental and evolutionary dance forms with emphasis on the diversity of contemporary Black dance in America today. In October, pioneering dance innovator Dianne McIntyre will return to the Walker with the world premiere of In the Same Tongue, which will explore the language and experience of Black American history and culture through the movement of a company of dancers and music by a jazz quartet. Additional performances by acclaimed dancers and choreographers include those by Nacera Belaza, Trajal Harrell, and Beth Gill. As part of its work to uplift the practices of regional artists, the Walker will also present in November its annual Choreographers’ Evening, highlighting Minnesota’s vibrant and diverse dance community.
In January, the Walker will launch its latest Out There festival series, which highlights new innovations and radical approaches to theatrical live performance. The long-running, multi-month series captures the Walker’s vision to present multi-disciplinary artforms and bring forward some of the most thought-provoking and leading-edge artistic experiences being created today. Out There features Ligia Lewis: A Plot/A Scandal, January 11–13; Aya Ogawa: The Nosebleed, January 25–27; Big Dance Theater, The Mood Room, February 8–10, and Honor, an Artist Lecture by Suzanne Bocanegra Starring Lili Taylor, February 22–24.
A complete detailing of upcoming events follows below.
Music
Zorn @ 70: A Walker Art Center John Zorn Marathon
Saturday, September 9
Category-defying composer and instrumentalist John Zorn celebrates his 70th birthday with a 12-hour immersive festival featuring more than 20 key musical collaborators. Taking place across multiple venues—ranging from the Walker galleries, McGuire Theater, and the Basilica of Saint Mary—this one-of-a-kind marathon brings together Zorn and major figures such as guitarists Bill Frisell and Julian Lage, keyboardist John Medeski, the JACK Quartet, as well as percussionists Ches Smith, Kenny Wollesen, and Sae Hashimoto.
The festivities begin with free acoustic concerts throughout the galleries and continue in the evening with three concerts in the McGuire Theater. The day culminates with Zorn’s free midnight Hermetic Organ recital on the Basilica of Saint Mary’s massive 1949 Wicks Opus 3047 organ.
Program support provided by the National Endowment for the Arts, and by Therese Sexe and David Hage.
Music
Alabaster dePlume
Thursday, September 14, 8 pm
McGuire Theater
A purveyor of messianic positivity, Alabaster dePlume has emerged as an idiosyncratic leader in the red-hot London jazz/new music scene. In his Minnesota debut, the composer, saxophonist, poet, and activist presents an evening of tender and spare songs filled with existential comedy and spiritual enlightenment. Merging magnetic sweetness, hypnotic sax melodies, and endearing weirdness, dePlume leads a concert of healing and connection.
Copresented with The Cedar.
Dance
DIANNE McINTYRE Group: In the Same Tongue
Thursday–Saturday, October 5–7, 8 pm
McGuire Theater
A pioneering Black dance innovator, noted for decades of collaborations with leading forces in avant-garde jazz, Dianne McIntyre returns to the Walker with the world premiere of a major new work featuring an evening-length score by celebrated composer Diedre Murray and poems by Obie-winning playwright Ntozake Shange. This elegant and captivating work employs a live jazz quartet and a vigorous company of dancers to explore the deep rivers of communication in Black American history and culture.
Co-commissioned and copresented by the Walker Art Center and Northrop.
World Premiere.
Commissioned by the Walker Art Center with support provided by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts. Co-commissioned by Northrop at the University of Minnesota, Duke University, Apollo Theater, Princeton University, ArtsEmerson, and Thomas M. Neff. Program support provided by the New England Foundation for the Arts National Dance Project.
Music
An Evening with Arooj Aftab, Vijay Iyer & Shahzad Ismaily Trio: Love in Exile
Tuesday, October 10, 7:30 pm
The Cedar Cultural Center, 416 Cedar Ave. S, Minneapolis
Grammy Award–winning vocalist Arooj Aftab returns to Minneapolis with the Love in Exile Trio, featuring two of her most trusted collaborators and longtime Walker-supported artists: polymath pianist Vijay Iyer and multi-instrumentalist Shahzad Ismaily. Transforming sound into sculpture, the trio creates lush, haunting collaborative soundscapes of meditation and yearning. Their quietly powerful, almost telepathic communication lends itself to experimentation and creates a sound as described by Aftab as “about self-exile, and the search for freedom and identity, and finding it through love and music.”
Copresented with The Cedar and Hennepin Theatre Trust.
Dance
Nacera Belaza: L’Onde
Friday and Saturday, October 27 and 28, 8 pm
McGuire Theater
Internationally revered for her powerfully abstract work, Nacera Belaza draws a path between shadow and light, using a rigorous focus to create a bond between performance and ceremony. In L’Onde, the French Algerian choreographer immerses five dancers in a darkened theater for a mesmerizing meditation on the body’s capacity for transformation. A hypnotic soundscape pairs with spellbinding, minimalist choreography that nods to Algerian ritualistic dances while blending tradition with modernity for a captivating and encompassing piece.
Program support provided by FUSED (French U.S. Exchange in Dance), a program of Villa Albertine and FACE Foundation, in partnership with the French Embassy in the United States, with support from The Ford Foundation, Institut français, the French Ministry of Culture, and private donors.
Dance
Trajal Harrell: The Köln Concert
Tuesday and Wednesday, November 7 and 8, 8 pm
McGuire Theater
Offering one of the most emotional and critically acclaimed works of his career, dance artist Trajal Harrell returns to the Walker for a rare U.S. appearance. Draped in black, Harrell and seven dancers release their energy on stage in response to Keith Jarrett’s best-selling jazz piano recording, The Köln Concert. This personal and entrancing work set to Jarrett’s soul-baring, gospel-fused improvisations is introduced by four songs of intimate vulnerability from Joni Mitchell’s masterpiece Blue. Together, the music and dancing synthesize Harrell’s influences, ranging from voguing and post-modern dance to ancient Greek mythology and Japanese Butoh dance.
Program support provided by Leni and David Moore, Jr./The David and Leni Moore Family Foundation
Dance
Choreographers’ Evening 2023
Curated by Darrius Strong
Saturday, November 25, 4 pm and 7 pm
McGuire Theater
The Walker’s annual dance showcase celebrates Minnesota’s vibrant and diverse dance community with powerful performances by a roster of local choreographers and movement artists. This year’s program is curated by dancer, choreographer, and 2021 McKnight Fellow Darrius Strong whose own work fuses ballet, hip hop, and more to tell universal stories.
Choreographers’ Evening is supported by a grant from the Jerome Foundation.
Music
Sandbox Percussion: Seven Pillars by Andy Akiho
Wednesday, November 29, 8 pm
McGuire Theater
Sandbox Percussion performs composer Andy Akiho’s Grammy-nominated piece with captivating light design by theater director Michael McQuilken. Seven Pillars continuously flows percussion and light without pause to seamlessly integrate sounds and vision. Virtuosic, playful, and mesmerizing, this evening showcases an incredibly disciplined collective musical experience.
Co-presented with Schubert Club Mix Series.
Dance
Beth Gill: Nail Biter
Friday and Saturday, December 8 and 9, 8 pm
McGuire Theater
Explore ritual and dance through science fiction and ancient myth in acclaimed choreographer Beth Gill’s darkly beautiful new work. Emerging as representations of our collective unconscious, five dancers—including Gill herself—transform a contemporary dance performance into an enigmatic and vital space of connection and loss with a sense of magic and awe.
Nail Biter embodies her signature choreographic craft, creating what Dance Magazine calls a “sense of control that doesn’t stifle but rather beckons our curiosity.”
Walker Commission
Commissioned by the Walker Art Center with support provided by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts. Program support provided by Leni and David Moore, Jr./The David and Leni Moore Family Foundation
OUT THERE 2024
Performance
Ligia Lewis: A Plot/A Scandal
Thursday–Saturday, January 11–13, 8 pm
McGuire Theater
Exploring the intersection between pleasure and distress induced by moments of scandal, Berlin-based conceptual choreographer Ligia Lewis’s new work weaves together historical, political, anecdotal, and mythical narratives. Lewis’s dance performance work draws inspiration from people and moments such as Enlightenment thinker John Locke and the 1521 revolt by enslaved people in her family’s home of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic; even Lewis’s great-grandmother appears as a guide of resistance. Surprising, deeply layered, and mysterious, A Plot / A Scandal explores the seen and unseen, representation, and refusal.
Walker Commission
Commissioned by the Walker Art Center with support from the National Endowment for the Arts. Co-commissioned by HAU Hebbel am Ufer, Ruhrtriennale, Arsenic – Centre d’art scéniquecontemporain, Tanzquartier Wien, Kunstencentrum VIERNULVIER, Kaserne Basel, and The Museum of Contemporary Art. Program support provided by Leni and David Moore, Jr./The David and Leni Moore Family Foundation.
Theater
Aya Ogawa: The Nosebleed
Thursday–Saturday, January 25–27, 8 pm
McGuire Theater
Are we doomed to repeat the mistakes of our parents? Through a series of absurd autobiographical vignettes, innovative playwright, performer, translator, and director Aya Ogawa’s hit Obie Award-winning show irreverently and boldly delves into what it takes to forgive. A trip to Ogawa’s home country of Japan, a child’s nosebleed, and the reality TV show The Bachelor come together in this darkly comical and psychologically insightful theatrical tribute to Ogawa’s father.
Co-presented with Theater Mu and The Great Northern.
Dance-Theater
Big Dance Theater, The Mood Room
Thursday–Saturday, February 8–10, 8 pm
McGuire Theater
Five sisters at a family reunion in 1970s Los Angeles set the stage for an ingenious theatrical work by Big Dance Theater’s director Annie-B Parson. Heightening perceptions of class, privilege, and the growing self-involvement of the new “me” generation, The Mood Room dazzles through a blend of film, movement, music, puzzles, and dry wit. This critique of how class and wealth have changed our relationship to citizenry features text by ’70s conceptual artist Guy de Cointet and a score by pop-electronic sound artist Holly Herndon.
Walker Commission
Commissioned by the Walker Art Center with support provided by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Co-commissioned by the Kitchen, Brooklyn Academy of Music, Carolina Performing Arts/UNC Chapel Hill, and the Wexner Center for the Arts. Program support provided by Leni and David Moore, Jr./The David and Leni Moore Family Foundation.
Theater
Honor, an Artist Lecture by Suzanne Bocanegra Starring Lili Taylor
Thursday–Saturday, February 22–24, 8 pm
McGuire Theater
This slyly subversive performance by conceptual artist Suzanne Bocanegra masquerades as a medieval art lecture before swiftly transforming into an irreverent and hilarious critique foregrounding the work and worldview of women over time. Performed by celebrated film actor Lili Taylor and centered on one of the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s greatest tapestries, Honor is a brilliant weave of musical and theatrical elements that emerge in surprising and delightful ways. Directed by Geoff Sobelle (The Object Lesson).
Program support provided by Nor Hall and Roger Hale, and Leni and David Moore, Jr./The David & Leni Moore Family Foundation.
Music
Tomeka Reid Stringtet
Saturday, March 2, 8 pm
McGuire Theater
Chicago-based cellist, composer, and MacArthur “Genius” Tomeka Reid has emerged as one of today’s most original and versatile musicians in the international jazz and improvised music scene. The Walker presents Reid’s most ambitious project to date—her full Stringtet, a 17-member improvising chamber orchestra that features stellar jazz and classical players such as Mazz Swift, Jason Kao Hwang, Fred Lonberg-Holm, Sylvia Bolognesi, and Tomas Fujiwara, among others, conducted by Taylor Ho Bynum.
Presented in partnership with Liquid Music.
Program support provided by King’s Fountain/Barbara Watson Pillsbury in honor of Henry Pillsbury, actor, theater director, and leading figure in Franco-American cross-cultural exchange in dance, theater, and music. Additional support provided by Leni and David Moore, Jr./The David & Leni Moore Family Foundation.
Music
Avant Joik
Katarina Barruk, Maja Solveig Kjelstrup Ratkje, and Matti Aikio
Saturday, March 16, 8 pm
McGuire Theater
Combining traditional Sami extended vocal technique with experimental electronic soundscapes, the remarkable trio of Nordic artists makes their U.S. debut at the Walker. Music from Indigenous Sami singer Katrina Barruk (vocals/joik) and veteran experimentalist Maja Ratkje (vocals/electronic) are paired with live visuals by Sami artist Matti Aikio to create a transporting experience that evokes contemplative atmospheres of the North and the untamed, forceful nature that lurks beneath.
Presented in association with the American Swedish Institute.
Dance
Shamel Pitts | TRIBE: BLACK HOLE – Trilogy and Triathlon
Thursday–Saturday, March 21–23, 8 pm
McGuire Theater
BLACK HOLE begins when a body emerges from its cocoon. What follows is a kaleidoscopic performance choreographed by award-winning movement artist Shamel Pitts and performed by his Brooklyn-based arts collective TRIBE. Deeply inspired by the ideals of Afrofuturism, the piece combines virtuosic dance, original sound, video projection, and light design to transport a trio of Black performers to a cosmic void. The third multidisciplinary live artwork in Pitt’s “BLACK Series” triptych, BLACK HOLE is a tale of vitality and tenderness, darkness and light, personal growth and collective empowerment.
Copresented with Northrop.
In honor of Dale Schatzlein (1948–2006) and his important work in dance and jazz in the Twin Cities, support is provided by Emily Maltz.
Music
Damon Locks’s Black Monument Ensemble
Saturday, April 20, 8 pm
McGuire Theater
Conceived initially as part of multi-media artist and activist Damon Locks’s sample-based sound collage work, Black Monument Ensemble has become a joyously live spectacle that makes unforgettably uplifting music. BME’s vibrant collective of artists, musicians, singers, and dancers draws from the diverse wellspring of Black excellence in Chicago and includes acclaimed multi-instrumentalists Angel Bat Dawid and Ben LaMar Gay. Together they create an Afrofuturist gospel that weaves samples, electronic beats, dance, and live music that celebrates the common goals of joy, compassion, and intention.
Dance
Abby Z and the New Utility: Radioactive Practice
Wednesday–Saturday, May 15–18, 8 pm
McGuire Theater
Choreographer Abby Zbikowski presents a rigorous, highly physical, often ecstatic dance work in intimate, on-stage seating. This Bessie Award-winning choreographer and her company members (performers with wide-ranging movement backgrounds including post-modern dance, synchronized swimming, African forms, and martial arts, among others) collaborate with Senegalese dance artist Momar Ndiaye to develop a complex, demanding, and perplexing physicality which confronts expectations and dives into the unknown. Radioactive Practice gives the audience an up-close view of the dancers shattering assumptions about established forms while testing their physical and mental limits.
Program support provided by Leni and David Moore, Jr./The David and Leni Moore Family Foundation.
TICKETS
Ordering tickets is easy: visit walkerart.org/tickets or call 612.375.7600. Prices include all applicable fees. Box Office is open Wednesday–Sunday and one hour before performances.
ACCESSIBILITY
Assistive-listening devices are available at either lobby desk. Please call two weeks in advance to schedule ASL interpretation, audio description, and CART captioning. To make a request or for more information, contact access@walkerart.org or call us at 612.375.7564.
STUDENTS COME EARLY
Students own the rush line! Get in line an hour before showtime for $10 rush tickets. One ticket per person with student ID. (Some restrictions apply.)
GET TOGETHER
Experience these performances in a group of 10 or more people and save 15% on tickets. Purchase group tickets online, over the phone, or in person. The discount is automatically applied at checkout on orders of 10 or more tickets to the same performance.
MEMBERS DO MORE
Become a member and enjoy a 20% discount on performance tickets, receive unlimited free gallery admission, and more. Call 612.375.7655 or visit walkerart.org/membership.
SEASON PARTNERS
Liquid Music
Liquid Music is a leading producer of special projects in contemporary music, an internationally recognized laboratory for artists from across genre and disciplinary spectrums. The institution serves as a safe place for performers, composers and audiences to stretch and challenge their comfort zones – to discover, learn, and be transformed.
Northrop, University of Minnesota
Located in the heart of the University of Minnesota campus, Northrop presents world-class dance and music performances, speakers, comedians, films, exhibits, and more. Northrop has opened new worlds to generations of diverse audiences and has been a catalyst for innovation and learning since 1929.
Schubert Club
Since 1893, Schubert Club has invited the world’s great recital soloists and ensembles to the Twin Cities and has promoted the superb musical talents of our community through performances, education, and museum programs. One of the first arts organizations in the country, Schubert Club remains today one of the nation’s most vibrant, relevant, and respected music organizations.
The Cedar
Located in the heart of Cedar Riverside, The Cedar promotes intercultural appreciation and understanding through the presentation of global music and dance. The theater is committed to artistic excellence and integrity, diversity of programming, support for emerging artists, and community outreach.
The Great Northern
The Great Northern celebrates Minnesota’s cold, creative winters through ten days of diverse programming that invigorate mind and body. In an era of changing climate that threatens their signature season, The Great Northern seeks to create community, to inspire action, and to share the resilient spirit of the North with the world.
Theater Mu
Theater Mu was founded in 1992 by Dong-il Lee, Rick Shiomi, Martha B. Johnson, and Diane Espaldon as an arts organization dedicated to bringing Asian American voices to the Twin Cities theater community. The company produces great performances born of arts, equity, and justice from the heart of the Asian American experience.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The Walker Art Center’s Performing Arts programs are made possible by generous support from the Doris Duke Foundation through the Doris Duke Performing Arts Fund, Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Arts.
PRODUCERS COUNCIL
Performing Arts programs and commissions at the Walker are generously supported by members of the Producers’ Council; Nor Hall and Roger Hale; King’s Fountain/Barbara Watson Pillsbury; Sarah Lutman and Rob Rudolph; Emily Maltz; Leni and David Moore, Jr./The David and Leni Moore Family Foundation; Jon Oulman; Therese Sexe and David Hage; and Mike and Elizabeth Sweeney.
ABOUT THE WALKER ART CENTER
The Walker Art Center is a renowned multidisciplinary arts institution that presents, collects, and supports the creation of groundbreaking work across the visual and performing arts, moving image, and design. Guided by the belief that art has the power to bring joy and solace and the ability to unite people through dialogue and shared experiences, the Walker engages communities through a dynamic array of exhibitions, performances, events, and initiatives. Its multiacre campus includes 65,000 sq. ft. of exhibition space, the state-of-the-art McGuire Theater and Walker Cinema, and ample green space that connects with the adjoining Minneapolis Sculpture Garden. The Garden, a partnership with the Minneapolis Park & Recreation Board, is one of the first urban sculpture parks of its kind in the United States and home to the beloved Twin Cities landmark Spoonbridge and Cherry by Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen. Recognized for its ambitious program and growing collection of more than 15,500 works, the Walker embraces emerging art forms and amplifies the work of artists from the Twin Cities and from across the country and the globe. Its broad spectrum of offerings makes it a lively and welcoming hub for artistic expression, creative innovation, and community connection.