Over the past two decades, the Newman Center has moved itself from an outpost of Denver’s fine arts scene to the very center. These days, it is where all of the interesting things happen, at least when it comes to live performances.
Newman is where Denver audiences find access to talents from around the world: legacy American art makers, like the Martha Graham Dance Company; of-the-moment classical ensembles like the Isidore Quartet and Sphinx Virtuosi; jazz stars current and future, like revered saxophonist Joshua Redman and 23-year-old vocalist Samara Joy (who beat out top-selling pop acts to win Best New Artist at the 2023 Grammys).
Increasingly, it is a center for international acts. Along with all of the talents listed above, next year’s Newman Center audiences will get a chance to experience musicians and dancers with roots in South Asia, Ghana, Israel, Algeria and New Zealand. It’s big-city stuff, risky in all the right ways — and Newman has a monopoly on it.
The art comes courtesy of two bedrock presenters, the in-house Newman Center Presents, which has been importing entertainment here since the venue opened in 2002, and Friends of Chamber Music, which has brought world-class classical to Denver since 1954.
Both entities have their on-and-off moments, but each seems to have hit a sweet spot with the 2023-24 seasons they announced this month. The reason: They trust their customers’ evolving tastes and they know their venue, which has gained a reputation near and far for its acoustics and is a favorite with performers.
“Newman Center does not get the credit it deserves,” said Alix Corboy, who leads programming choices for Friends of Chamber Music. “People come to Denver because this hall is world-class.”
Friends has a unique set-up in the performing arts world. All of its artistic decisions and contract work are done by volunteers who keep tabs on the classical scene’s ups, downs and new faces. Each year, members of its music committee gather with their personal picks for the upcoming season and hash out who to invite to town.
It is Corboy’s job to work with artists and agents to figure out which performers can fit a Denver stop into their touring schedules, and when Newman is available to rent. There are a lot of variables.
This year, the standouts include the “super trio” of pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet, violinist Lisa Batiashvili and cellist Gautier Capuçon. Each musician is well-respected and could attract an audience on his or her own. Thibaudet has been the featured soloist on several occasions with the Colorado Symphony. But they join skills in Denver to perform works by Haydn, Ravel and Mendelssohn, a week before they perform a similar program at Carnegie Hall.
Another highlight is the Isidore Quartet, a young ensemble out of the Juilliard School of music and currently the darling of the classical set. It will play music from Mozart and Beethoven, along with jazz-and-classical composer Billy Childs’ Quartet No. 2.
Other highlights include the pairing of Les Violons Du Roy and guitarist Miloš, who will add a Baroque evening to the season; a program of American composers performed by soprano Karen Slack and the Pacifica Quartet; and separate appearances by soloists Michelle Cann and Jeremy Denk as part of Friend’s “Piano Series.”
As for the Newman Center Presents series, there will be something of a shift in 2023-24. The operation has always had a varied program, though it is best known for its decades as a presenter of European-based classical music and 20th-century American dance. This year, it positions itself with a more worldy outlook, with an emphasis on both musicians and dancers who will come from all parts of the globe.
That is a clear choice made by executive director and chief decision-maker Aisha Ahmad-Post, who sees the center — an arm of the University of Denver, where it is housed — as a place to introduce the city to a wider, and more geographically integrated, series of acts. “There’s this assumption that college presenters have to be at the center of classical music,” she said. “But there’s just so much amazing work being made out there.”
In that way, the season responds to a growing social awareness of, and demand for, diverse cultural offerings, and features acts that might not otherwise make it to the city.
It’s a high-end lineup, with its own “super trio” offering of vocalist Arooj Aftab, pianist Vijay Iyer and multi-instrumentalist Shahzad Ismaily, three jazz-minded musicians with South Asian roots, who have been performing together and will play echoes of their well-received 2023 recording project “Love in Exile.”
On the movement front, there is Okareka Dance, a contemporary Maori company from New Zealand, and Compagnie Hervé Koubi, a troupe of Algerian, Moroccan, Bulgarian, Italian and French dancers whose work, according to Newman media releases, “explores the historical mix of countless cultures and religions that span the Mediterranean.”
Classical remains on the schedule, particularly through two collaborative presentations with Friends of Chamber Music that feature the Sphinx Virtuosi, comprised of Black and Latino players, and the locally-based TAKT Trio, a combo of violin, horn and piano, whose program will honor the centennial of Hungarian composer György Ligeti.
And Newman will fulfill its role as Denver’s most important nonprofit presenter of popular jazz and American roots music with appearances by Samara Joy and Joshua Redman, along with the jazz favorites the Maria Schneider Orchestra and the Emmet Cohen Trio, and the folk-influenced combo of Aoife O’Donovan & Hawktail.
Still, the season is a departure from the lineup that local audiences usually associate with the Newman Center, previously powered by big-name dance, classical quartets and jazz stars past. Now, it’s a mix of genres and cultures that is sure to challenge audiences in new ways. It also throws down the gauntlet to other local fine-arts presenters — including Denver’s big-name classical music and dance organizations — to shake up their own programming in ways that mirror a city with widening tastes.
“A lot of people are not willing to challenge their audiences to grow. They’re nervous,” said Ahmad-Post. “But if not at a university, then where?”
More info: friendsofchambermusic.com or newmancenterpresents.com
Three promising picks for the 2023-2024 Newman Center Presents season
Arooj Aftab, Vijay Iyer & Shahzad Ismaily, Sept. 30
Samara Joy, Oct. 15
Aoife O’Donovan & Hawktail, March 30
Three promising picks for the 2023-2024 Friends of Chamber Music season
Supertrio Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Lisa Batiashvili and Gautier Capuçon, Oct. 19
The Isidore Quartet, Nov. 28
Soprano Karen Slack and the Pacifica Quartet, Jan. 17
