Skirball Free Sunset Concerts Series 2009

Free admission · No reservations
Parking: $5 · Carpooling encouraged!
Limited seating available on a first-come, first-served basis
General information: (310) 440-4500 or www.skirball.org

The Skirball Cultural Center announces the thirteenth season of its popular Sunset Concerts series, showcasing celebrated musicians from around the globe. Presenting five outdoor concerts free of charge on Thursday nights from July 16 through August 13, the Sunset Concerts series remains integral to the Skirball’s ongoing mission to explore world arts and culture in the context of Jewish heritage, immigration, and the American experience.

The Sunset Concerts take place outdoors, in the Skirball’s Mark Taper Foundation Courtyard, nestled against the Santa Monica Mountains. During Sunset Concerts, the Skirball’s museum galleries, except Noah’s Ark at the Skirball, are free and open until 10:00 p.m. The Skirball’s Zeidler’s Café offers a fixed-price, pre-concert buffet dinner; reservations for the buffet are required: (310) 440-4575. Concertgoers may also purchase grab-and-go light fare from Zeidler’s Cart.

SUNSET CONCERTS 2009

ISSA BAGAYOGO
Thursday, July 16, 8:00 p.m.
Player of the n’goni—a West African three-stringed lute believed to be the direct ancestor of the banjo—Issa Bagayogo of Mali infuses the acoustic traditions of his region with elements of rock, funk, dub, and electronica.

MIKE MARSHALL, DAROL ANGER, AND VÄSEN
Thursday, July 23, 8:00 p.m.
L.A. premiere! Two of America’s finest acoustic musicians, Mike Marshall on mandolin and Darol Anger on fiddle, perform with the Swedish ensemble Väsen, featuring Olov Johansson on nyckelharpa (traditional Swedish string instrument), Mikael Marin on viola, and Roger Tallroth on twelve-string guitar. Together the quintet creates a new landscape of traditional sounds that closes the gap between fiddle and dance tunes of Appalachia and the nyckelharpa and polskas of Sweden.

GADJI GADJO
Thursday, July 30, 8:00 p.m.
L.A. premiere! Performing on violin, mandolin, clarinet and bass clarinet, accordion, guitar, double-bass, and percussion, this Quebec-based band reinvigorates the Roma and klezmer traditions of Eastern Europe with diverse world influences.

THE WILD MAGNOLIAS
Thursday, August 6, 8:00 p.m.
Among the participants in New Orleans’ famed Mardi Gras festivities, there is perhaps no more elaborate or fascinating a group than the secret society of African Americans known as the Mardi Gras Indians. Through its artistry, the renowned ensemble known as the Wild Magnolias carries on the hundred-year-old Mardi Gras Indian tradition of paying homage to the Native Americans who befriended and assisted runaway slaves during the slave trade days of New Orleans. Thrilling audiences with its irresistible folk-rooted music and stunning, ornate costumes, the Wild Magnolias epitomize New Orleans’s flamboyant aesthetic and showcases the affinity between African and Native American minorities that is central to Mardi Gras Indian culture.

OMAR FARUK TEKBILEK
Thursday, August 13, 8:00 p.m.
Honored as a peacemaker and musical virtuoso, Omar Faruk Tekbilek is one of the most sought-after Turkish/Middle Eastern musicians living in the United States. Relentless worldwide touring and welcoming openness to music from all cultures position him as a rare artist who transcends political obstacles while maintaining traditional sensibilities.

SUNSET CONCERTS 2009 ARE MADE POSSIBLE IN PART BY HOTEL ANGELENO, LOS ANGELES COUNTY ARTS COMMISSION, MORGAN STANLEY, RHINO RECORDS.

Visiting the Skirball
The Skirball Cultural Center is located at 2701 N. Sepulveda Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90049 (exit 405 Freeway at Skirball Ctr Dr ). Parking for Sunset Concerts: $5. The Skirball is also accessible by Metro Rapid Bus 761. Museum hours: Tuesday–Friday, 12:00–5:00 p.m.; Saturday–Sunday 10:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m.; closed Mondays. Museum admission: $10 General; $7 Seniors, Full-Time Students, and Children over 12; $5 Children 2–12. All exhibitions are free to Skirball Members and Children under 2. Exhibitions are free to the public on Thursdays. The Skirball is also home to Zeidler’s Café, which serves innovative California cuisine in an elegant setting and Audrey’s Museum Store, which sells books, contemporary art, music and more. For general information, the public may call (310) 440-4500 or visit www.skirball.org.

About the Skirball
The Skirball Cultural Center is dedicated to exploring the connections between 4,000 years of Jewish heritage and the vitality of American democratic ideals. It welcomes and seeks to inspire people of every ethnic and cultural identity. Guided by our respective memories and experiences, together we aspire to build a society in which all of us can feel at home. The Skirball Cultural Center achieves its mission through educational programs that explore literary, visual, and performing arts from around the world; through the display and interpretation of its permanent collections and changing exhibitions; through an interactive family destination inspired by the Noah’s Ark story; and through outreach to the community.

Skirball Cultural Center presents "Latin Jewish Life in Film"

Thursday, May 21st, 2009 at 7:30 p.m. ~ Morirse Está en Hebreo - My Mexican Shivah

Thursday, June 4, 2009 at 7:30 p.m. ~ O Ano Em Que Meus Pais Saírem de Férias - The Year My Parents Went on Vacation

Sunday, June 14, 2009 at 2:00 p.m. ~ Nuestros Desaparecidos - Our Disappeared

Admission Price: $6 General, $5 Skirball Members and Full-Time Students. Advance tickets available online at www.skirball.org, at the Skirball Cultural Center or by phone at (877) SCC-4TIX or (877) 722-4849. General information: (310) 440-4500 or http://www.skirball.org/

The Skirball Cultural Center presents Latin Jewish Life in Film, featuring screenings of three thought-provoking recent films - from Mexico, the dramatic comedy My Mexican Shivah (Morirse está en Hebreo, 2007); from Brazil, the touching coming-of-age story The Year My Parents Went on Vacation (O ano em que meus pais saírem de férias, 2008); and from Argentina, the deeply personal documentary Our Disappeared (Nuestros Desaparecidos, 2008). After the screening of Our Disappeared, on Sunday, June 14, Inés Kuperschmit, one of the film’s subjects, will share insights into the film and talk about her life experiences.

Latin Jewish Life in Film is presented as part of the Skirball’s ongoing Viva! initiative, exploring the connections between Jewish and Latin American cultures through lectures, conversations, and performing, visual, and media arts.

“Film has become an increasingly important medium for Jewish artists in Latin America to express themselves,” notes Jordan Peimer, Skirball Director of Programs. “We’re excited to present three compelling examples of contemporary Latin cinema. Each film gives voice to a unique and fascinating aspect of the Jewish experience in Latin America, where the encounter between tradition and contemporary culture produces three very different Jewish stories”.

About the Films
MY MEXICAN SHIVAH
MORIRSE ESTÁ EN HEBREO
Thursday, May 21, 7:30 p.m.
When Moishe (Sergio Kleiner) passes, his family and friends sit shivah, the seven-day Jewish mourning ritual. The spirit angels Aleph and Bet observe what the mourners say about the deceased to calculate which angel will accompany Moishe’s soul to the afterlife. Set in Polanco, the Jewish quarter of Mexico City, My Mexican Shivah is a dramatic comedy about how the death of a man results in the celebration of his life. Based upon a short story by acclaimed Mexican-Jewish writer and cultural critic Ilan Stavans. (Mexico, 2007, 98 min. No MPAA rating. In Spanish, Yiddish, and Hebrew with English subtitles.)

THE YEAR MY PARENTS WENT ON VACATION
O ANO EM QUE MEUS PAIS SAÍRAM DE FÉRIAS
Thursday, June 4, 7:30 p.m.
Set in Brazil during the 1970 World Cup, this poignant coming-of-age story thrusts twelve-year-old Mauro (Michel Joelsas) into a maelstrom of political and personal upheaval. When his left-wing parents are forced underground, Mauro is left in the care of his Jewish grandfather’s neighbor (Germano Hauit) in São Paulo and forced to create an ersatz family from the diverse, colorful population of his new neighborhood. (Brazil, 2008, 105 min. Rated PG. In Portuguese with English subtitles.)

OUR DISAPPEARED
NUESTROS DESAPARECIDOS
Sunday, June 14, 2:00 p.m.
Through a casual Google search, Argentine director Juan Mandelbaum finds out that Patricia, a long-lost girlfriend, was among the thousands kidnapped and tortured by the military in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Featuring rare archival footage and interviews with family and friends of the victims, Our Disappeared chronicles Mandelbaum’s grievous journey to find out what happened to Patricia and other friends who were “disappeared.” (Argentina, 2008, 99 min. No MPAA rating. In English and Spanish with English subtitles.)

Visiting the Skirball
The Skirball Cultural Center is located at 2701 N. Sepulveda Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90049 (exit Skirball Ctr Dr off the 405). Parking is free. The Skirball is also accessible by Metro Rapid Bus 761. Museum hours: Tuesday–Friday, 12:00–5:00 p.m.; Saturday–Sunday 10:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m.; closed Mondays. Museum admission: $10 General; $7 Seniors, Full-Time Students, and Children over 12; $5 Children 2–12. All exhibitions are free to Skirball Members and Children under 2. Exhibitions are free to the public on Thursdays. The Skirball is also home to Zeidler’s Café, which serves innovative California cuisine in an elegant setting and Audrey’s Museum Store, which sells books, contemporary art, music and more. For general information, the public may call (310) 440-4500 or visit http://www.skirball.org/.

About the Skirball
The Skirball Cultural Center is dedicated to exploring the connections between 4,000 years of Jewish heritage and the vitality of American democratic ideals. It welcomes and seeks to inspire people of every ethnic and cultural identity. Guided by our respective memories and experiences, together we aspire to build a society in which all of us can feel at home. The Skirball Cultural Center achieves its mission through educational programs that explore literary, visual, and performing arts from around the world; through the display and interpretation of its permanent collections and changing exhibitions; through an interactive family destination inspired by the Noah’s Ark story; and through outreach to the community.