With the 2005/2006 Kimmel Center Presents season upon us, several people - from the press and from the public - have asked if the appearances by Tony Bennett, The Roots, Solomon Burke and the MFSB Band on opening weekend indicate a shift in our programming philosophy. Where is the classical music? Where is the big name recitalist?
To begin the 2002/2003 season we presented children's entertainer Raffi on Saturday morning, the incomparable mezzo Cecilia Bartoli in a Sunday afternoon concert and the Oscar Peterson Quartet the same evening. All three sold out. In 2003/2004, Jazz @ Lincoln Center with Wynton Marsalis played to a sold out house on opening night. Last year saw an opening that included three performances by Shen Wei Dance Arts in a co-production with the Philly Fringe Fest, a rare opportunity to hear the great Ornette Coleman in a performance that stretched the minds and ears of our listeners and a sublime evening of pure vocal magic with the ever elegant Dame Kiri Te Kanawa.
So what happened this year? The short answer is... we are doing exactly what we have done for the first four seasons of programming -trying to bring the best of the best to our stages no matter the genre. However, due to the peculiarities of artist tour scheduling, it happens that our first traditional classical concert will not occur until November with a recital by the Curtis trained violin virtuoso Hilary Hahn.
In the mean time the "best of the best" programming philosophy remains. If you are in search of the finest purveyor of the Great American Songbook, look no further that Mr. Bennett; want the best in hip-hop, sign up The Roots, universally acclaimed for the artistry in a field full of "made-by-marketing posers"; tired of warmed over (and over produced) R & B, let Solomon Burke show you how it is done...after all, he has been doing it since he first started preaching at Philly's Solomon Temple when he was 7 years old. Just for kicks you can top it all off with a little bit of the finest ear candy this city has ever produced when the MFSB Band hit the Verizon Hall stage and take us back to the glory days of Gambel and Huff with hits including TSOP.
Four iconic acts over three nights... as different from each other as Bartoli and Peteron or Dame Kiri and Ornette. How they all came to be on our opening weekend, well that's another story. Stay tuned.