Join Emmy award-winning journalist Paula Zahn, acclaimed choreographer Mark Morris, and special guests Peter Sellars (March 4), Nico Muhly (March 11), and Alice Waters (March 18) for this series of live conversations about the arts, music, and food, presented by Mark Morris Dance Group in partnership with Stage Access and offered free of charge by Krannert Center.
Mark Morris, praised as “the most successful and influential choreographer alive, and indisputably the most musical” formed the Mark Morris Dance Group (MMDG) in 1980 and has since created over 150 works for the company that considers Krannert Center its Midwest home (The New York Times). Morris opened the Mark Morris Dance Center in Brooklyn, New York, in 2001 to provide a home for his company, subsidized rental space for local artists, community education programs for children and seniors, and a school offering dance classes to students of all ages and levels of experience with and without disabilities.
Nine-time Emmy award-winning journalist Paula Zahn is the executive producer and host of Investigation Discovery’s On the Case with Paula Zahn and host of WNET’s weekly arts and culture multi-platform showcase, NYC-Arts. An accomplished cellist, Zahn attended college on a cello scholarship. She has performed with renowned musicians in esteemed venues across the globe.
Opera, theatre, and festival director Peter Sellars has gained international renown for his groundbreaking and transformative interpretations of classics, advocacy of 20th-century and contemporary music, and collaborative projects with an extraordinary range of creative artists. His many notable productions include his creations with composer John Adams, including Nixon in China, The Death of Klinghoffer, and, most recently, The Girls of the Golden West.
Nico Muhly is an American composer and sought-after collaborator whose influences range from American minimalism to the Anglican choral tradition. The recipient of commissions from The Metropolitan Opera, Carnegie Hall, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Tallis Scholars and St. John’s College, Cambridge and others, he has written more than 100 works for the concert stage, including the opera Marnie (2017). Muhly is a frequent collaborator with choreographer Benjamin Millepied and, as an arranger, has paired with Sufjan Stevens, Antony and the Johnsons and others. His works for stage and screen include music for the Broadway revival of The Glass Menagerie and scores for films including the Academy Award-winning The Reader.
Alice Waters is a chef, author, food activist, and the founder and owner of Chez Panisse Restaurant in Berkeley, California (est. 1971). She has been a champion of local sustainable agriculture for over four decades. In 1995 she founded the Edible Schoolyard Project, which advocates for a free regenerative school lunch for all children and a sustainable food curriculum in every public school. In 2015 she was awarded the National Humanities Medal by President Obama, proving that eating is a political act, and that the table is a powerful means to social justice and positive change. Alice is the author of 16 books including her critically acclaimed memoir, Coming to My Senses: The Making of a Counterculture Cook, The New York Times bestsellers The Art of Simple Food I & II, and The Edible Schoolyard: A Universal Idea.
This live-streamed event will last approximately 60 minutes. Audience members will not appear on camera and will have the opportunity to write questions in the online chat area throughout the event for consideration during the question and answer portion.
If you require any accommodations for this event, please contact us in advance at patronservices@krannertcenter.illinois.edu.
