Ventana Ballet and The Cathedral present their 3rd Annual Night Birds, a celebration of dance, art and music. The company’s avian-themed program includes five dancers, three cellists from Austin Camerata (with artistic director Daniel Kopp, MM ’18), and art from the atxGALS collective inside the Cathedral. For two nights only, offering two shows per evening, tonight, Thursday, August 31st and tomorrow, Friday, September 1st.
The program includes an intimate 360 degree performance featuring local professional dancers, cellists, visual art from emerging women and nonbinary artists, and a curated, complimentary bar experience that offers bird-themed signature cocktails and other refreshments from local distilleries and breweries.
Of the 2021 performances of Night Birds, Robert Faires of the Austin Chronicle wrote: “Ventana Ballet is noted for the immersive nature of their shows, and bird-watchers won’t have to go scouting around the Cathedral to spy these creatures. Everyone will be seated around a central stage space, though the dancers are likely to take flight through and around the crowd as they channel our feathered friends.”
The program presents several dances, each named after a familiar (or unfamiliar) bird of the night, with the movement intended to represent “the essence and beauty of the animal – paying homage to its nature, without being too obvious,” according to AJ Garcia-Rameau, the director of Ventana Ballet.
Both Latinas, Monica Ceniceros (Founder of the Cathedral and atxGALS) and AJ Garcia-Rameau (Director of Ventana Ballet), wanted to “spice” up the birds program this year in honor of Hispanic Heritage Month. To that end, this year’s program will include some musical selections by hispanic composers, including excerpts from Gaspar Cassadó’s “Suite for Cello Solo” and Pablo Ferrández’s “El Cant del Ocells (Song of the Birds)”. Guests will delight in experiencing some of last year’s birds as well. After a viral stint on Instagram with a recording from last year’s show, the Nightingales will soar again to Beethoven’s coveted “Moonlight Sonata,” played by three cellos to an original arrangement by Austin Camerata member Cory Blais (MM ’19).
Performance Schedule:
Thursday, August 31st
Show 1: 6:30PM (Doors open at 5:45p)
Show 2: 8:30PM (Doors open at 7:45p)
Friday, September 1st
Show 1: 6:30PM (Doors open at 5:45p)
Show 2: 8:30PM (Doors open at 7:45p)
Tickets:
On sale through Eventbrite: https://nightbirds2023.eventbrite.com
Tomorrow evening, Seulki Lee (DMA ’19) performs in the Gala Opening Night of the the Estonia National Opera, Rahvusooper, beginning her first season as Section Cellist with the opera company. This follows stints as Section Cellist in the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra, a trial week as Cello 3 in the Welsh National Opera—a second trial week is scheduled for Spring 2024—and work as a substitute cellist with the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra and Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra.
Longhorn Cellos 