Stanford Live

Solidarity, anguish and action

Stanford Office of the Vice President for the Arts stands in solidarity with Black students, colleagues, artists and activists fighting against the racial violence, inequality and systemic injustice.

With yet another Black person, George Floyd, killed at the hands of the police, all across this country protestors have swarmed into streets, risking disease and death. When the words of a people are consistently unheard, their bodies will speak. They will march on the streets, they will declare their pain, and they will make…

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Winter quarter 2020 guest artists

The roster of winter quarter guest artists includes talent from around the globe. Melbourne Australia’s Choir of Trinity College performs with the Stanford Chamber Chorale; Chinese dance legend and renowned choreographer Yang Liping presents her reimagined production of Rite of Spring to Memorial Auditorium; Maqueque, a collective of female artists from Cuba led by Canadian Jane Bunnett,…

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Stanford Live presents a genre-bending musical performance exploring beauty and aesthetics in Robert Mapplethorpe’s photography

"Triptych (Eyes of One on Another)" Oct. 3, 2019, in Memorial Auditorium

Marking 30 years since the death of groundbreaking photographer Robert Mapplethorpe, Triptych (Eyes of One on Another) explores the origins and impact of Mapplethorpe’s controversial photography. This staged musical work produced by ArKtype / Thomas O. Kriegsmann combines orchestra, vocal ensembles, theater, poetry, and photography to re-examine notions of obscenity, race, and aesthetics that Mapplethorpe himself challenged…

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Welcome back to Stanford’s Frost Amphitheater

The iconic amphitheater reopens after extensive renovations and upgrades that make it one of the premiere music venues in the Bay Area and a place for university pomp and circumstance.

On May 18, Frost Amphitheater officially launched in a big way with Stanford Concert Network’s eighth annual Frost Music and Arts Festival featuring solo R&B co-headliners Kali Uchis and Jorja Smith with opener DJ Mia Carucci. The rain on Saturday did not stop patrons from enjoying over four hours of music that began with two…

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Stanford Live’s 2019-20 season will explore the intersection of art and politics

The stellar line-up includes pianist Lang Lang, banjo and bluegrass virtuoso Rhiannon Giddens, acclaimed violinist Joshua Bell, Afro-Cuban jazz exponent Chucho Valdés and multimedia artist Laurie Anderson.

Stanford Live’s curators have put together a 2019-20 season of multidisciplinary events that intersect music and performance with politics. “A key role of the artist is to reflect a society back upon itself and that political context and content is a crucial part of this storytelling process,” says Chris Lorway, executive director of Stanford Live.…

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Spring quarter 2019 guest artists

Thirty different departments and organizations on campus host 80+ guest artists during spring quarter.

Over 30 departments, centers and campus organizations host guest artists each quarter. The Architectural Design Program and the University Architect/Campus Planning and Design Office co-present the annual Architecture & Landscape–Spring Lecture Series, and the theme this year is “Architecture of Humanity.” The series features five designers who believe architecture has a much greater responsibility beyond aesthetics.…

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Stanford University announces Stanford Live partnerships with Goldenvoice and the San Francisco Symphony

The partnerships at Frost Amphitheater will include rock, pop and classical concerts as well as spoken-word performances in the inaugural season of this newly renovated venue in the university’s arts district.

When Frost Amphitheater reopens in the spring, the Stanford and South Bay community will again be able to enjoy live music on the terraced lawn. And thanks to Stanford Live’s two new musical partnerships, the performance offerings are richer than ever. Frost Amphitheater will reopen this spring after an extensive renovation project that includes the…

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Stanford’s Frost Amphitheater renovation on pace

The university is upgrading the 82-year-old facility while preserving its iconic past.

In the summer of 2017, renovation construction began on Frost Amphitheater, a venue that holds a special place in the hearts of all those who were lucky enough to attend an event there since its opening in 1937. The goal of the project is to build a state-of-the-art stage and introduce other back-of-house amenities, as…

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Stanford unveils new Presidential Residencies on the Future of the Arts and welcomes international guest artists

Guest artists from around the world bring vitality and variety to campus in the fall.

Artists from across the globe come to Stanford to perform, create and engage. The 80-plus guest artists visiting campus this fall are hosted by over 20 Stanford departments, centers and programs. Some of the artists will be at Stanford for a single public event and others will stay for an extended visit for deep engagement…

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Stanford students play leading role in first U.S. performances of Elfman’s “Concerto for Violin and Orchestra”

In anticipation of the Stanford Symphony Orchestra’s performance of Concerto for Violin and Orchestra: Eleven Eleven, students had the rare opportunity to work closely with its prominent composer, Danny Elfman.

“Great concentration, great job and great work,” composer Danny Elfman said, complimenting Stanford student musicians after a run-through of his Concerto for Violin and Orchestra: Eleven Eleven. Caption: Members of the Stanford Symphony Orchestra were the first musicians in the United States to play Elfman’s Concerto for Violin and Orchestra. In anticipation of Stanford Symphony Orchestra’s March…

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Neuroscience and music: A conversation with opera singer Renée Fleming

About a month before she opens on Broadway in the revival of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Carousel, Renée Fleming is sitting in a broadcast booth talking to me about neuroscience and music. I’m able to grab time with the celebrated soprano to discuss Sound Health: Music and the Mind, a collaboration between the Kennedy Center, the National Institutes of Health, and the National Endowment for the Arts,…

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Stanford students take master class with L.A. Dance Project’s David Adrian Freeland Jr.

On Jan. 25, L.A. Dance Project’s David Adrian Freeland Jr. taught a master class for students at Roble Gym. Stanford Live sponsored the class and presented the company at Memorial Auditorium on Jan. 26 and 27. After a warmup based in Horton technique, the dancers moved across the floor with small jumps. Freeland taught a…

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Stanford’s winter quarter guest artists

Stanford in winter is a hotbed of creativity and artistic expression. The extensive roster of guest artists on campus includes actor/alum Sterling K. Brown, recent winner of the Golden Globe for best actor in a TV drama series and the first African-American male in history to do so, with fellow actor/alum Ryan Michelle Bathe performing…

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What happened when Shelley Correll interviewed Samantha Bee

Shelley Correll interviews Samantha Bee at the Stanford Memorial Auditorium as a part of Stanford Live’s 2017-18 season event.

There was a full house in Memorial Auditorium when sociologist SHELLEY CORRELL interviewed America’s “first lady of late night,” SAMANTHA BEE. The Nov. 10 event, part of STANFORD LIVE’s 2017-18 season, was also a celebratory nod to Canada’s 150th anniversary. Bee, a Canadian who recently became an American citizen, offered her perspective on American politics and culture under the questioning of…

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Pakistan’s Sachal Ensemble comes to Stanford’s Bing Concert Hall as part of its first U.S. tour

Their journey from Lahore to Lincoln Center was captured in ‘Song of Lahore,’ a documentary by Stanford alums Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy and Andy Schocken

A jazz song from the 1950s, an Oxford-educated financial advisor and a group of once-celebrated but unemployed musicians — some of whom no longer even owned an instrument — are not the standard ingredients for a global hit. But a viral video of Dave Brubeck’s iconic “Take Five” led to an invitation to perform with…

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Keepers of the Flame

Performances by Jason Moran and the Sachal Ensemble deal with the power of cultural traditions.

Tradition has been defined as “the handing down of information, beliefs, and customs by word of mouth or by example from one generation to another without written instruction.” Stanford Live is presenting two ensembles, Jason Moran and his Big Bandwagon and the Sachal Ensemble, that deal with their specific cultural traditions in ways that on the surface sound…

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