Quick Center’s New Season is Live - More Robust & Diverse Than Ever

Fairfield University’s Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts is thrilled to announce its new 2022-23 schedule of live performances, lectures, screenings, and more.

High-profile artists include performances by renowned jazz artists Preservation Jazz Hall Band and Monterey Jazz Festival on Tour. Premieres include the opera Nehanda by Nora Chipaumire and The Stranger by theatre-maker Brett Bailey. Internationally acclaimed artists include the U.K.’s Kingdom Choir, Israeli-based Vertigo Dance, and Montreal’s own Cirque Alfonse. Thought leaders include Judy Woodruff, Carl Bernstein, Frances Haugen, Evelyn Tribole, Bret Stephens, Rev. Naomi Tutu, Nick Gillespie and Bhaskar Sunkara, among others.

Audiences will share creative and intellectual experiences that excite and engage. The Quick is offering the best ticket prices in town to make all events accessible. Live performances and lecture tickets are only $30, or $20 for Quick Members.

“This season offers unbelievable performances at unmatched prices, with U.S. premieres of circus, theatre, and opera,” said Executive Director Peter Van Heerden. “Become a part of this exciting season.”

Highlights of the live and in-person season, include, but are not limited to:

· Nehanda by nora chipaumire (Friday, Sept. 23): Conceived as a durational opera running five and a half hours, this immersive, participatory, and durational spectacle is a communal experience where the audience can collectively perform and investigate the process of lawmaking and its crucial role in the European colonial project.

· Mariachi Herencia de México with Lupita Infante (Friday, Sept. 30): Cuando México Canta features a Latin Grammy-nominated group of young Mexican-American musicians, recognized as the new ambassadors of the mariachi tradition, performing a vibrant tribute to the golden age of Mexican music. They are joined by multiple Grammy-nominated star Lupita Infante, granddaughter of Mexican icon Pedro Infante.

· Brett Bailey, The Stranger (Wednesday, Oct. 5 & Thursday, Oct. 6): South African-born playwright, designer, and director Brett Bailey uses performance to interrogate the dynamics of the postcolonial world, highlighting the blind, forgotten, broken, and voiceless. The Stranger will feature 10 local performers, musicians, and other creatives in a ritual theatre work that brings an ancient myth into a fractured contemporary world.

· Preservation Hall Jazz Band (Friday, Nov. 4): The Preservation Hall Jazz Band was founded in New Orleans by tuba player Allan Jaffe in the early 1960s. The band derives its name from Preservation Hall in the French Quarter and will celebrate its 60th anniversary on this tour.

· Vertigo Dance in Pardes (Saturday, Jan. 21 ): With a musical soundtrack created by internationally acclaimed percussionist Itamar Doari, Vertigo Dance shares a powerful new work in which the dancers deal with the duality of their lives, with the tensions they experience between their individual needs and the demands of society, between the person and the universal.

· The Kingdom Choir (Friday, March 10): Formed of individual singers and performers from in and around London, The Kingdom Choir has been performing up and down England and all around the world for more than 20 years. Probably best known for their show-stopping performance at the royal wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, the choir offers a united sound and warm energy in an enthusiastic performance.

· Monterey Jazz Festival on Tour (Sunday, April 16): Starring vocalists Dee Dee Bridgewater and Kurt Elling, saxophonist Lakecia Benjamin, pianist (and Connecticut’s own) Christian Sands, bassist Yasushi Nakamura, and drummer Clarence Penn, Monterey Jazz Festival on Tour celebrates 65 years of bringing the festival’s artistry, spirit, and fun to audiences far and wide. These musicians embody the Monterey aesthetic by performing music — both historic and new —that reflects the festival’s values and legacy.

· Cirque Alfonse in Animal: A Farm Story (Sunday, April 23): Cirque Alfonse takes us on a journey of discovery through a series of slightly surreal farm fables served up with a touch of irreverence, impressive virtuosity, and the circus company’s familiar comic touch. In this re-invented “farm fantasy,” the farm is turned upside down and the barn turned inside out. A production for young and old alike, Animal is the farm gone haywire!

The acclaimed Open VISIONS Forum returns to the Kelley Theatre stage with thought-provoking speakers such as Frances Haugen, who will discuss ethics and the challenges of social media. Evelyn Tribole will speak about intuitive eating and its many benefits. Bret Stephens will share his experiences as a journalist, from Watergate to Washington 2024. Nick Gillespie and Bhaskar Sunkara will join us for the Common Ground Series presented by the College of Arts & Sciences. Reverend Nontombi Naomi Tutu will present the Bennett Center for Judaic Studies’ Jacoby-Lunin Humanitarian Lecture. Lastly, Judy Woodruff will headline the Bank of America Women and Leadership Series.

In addition to the robust new season’s live and in-person events, the Quick will also present livestreamed programs on its virtual platform, The Quick Live. Many of these virtual programs are free of charge, including those offered by the MFA program’s Inspired Writers Series, the Fairfield University Art Museum, the Frederickson Family Innovation Lab, and the Fairfield University DiMenna-Nyselius Library.

Live performances and lectures will go on sale to the general public on Monday, July 18, with advance sale options available to Quick Members starting July 5. The Met: Live in HD will go on sale to the general public on Monday, August 1, with advance sale options available to Quick Members starting Monday, July 18.

Find details about dozens of additional upcoming live and virtual performances and lectures at quickcenter.com, where you can also become a Quick Member. For more information, contact the Quick Center Box Office at 203-254-4010, Monday through Friday, from 12 to 5 p.m.

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Fairfield University is a modern, Jesuit Catholic university rooted in one of the world’s oldest intellectual and spiritual traditions. More than 5,000 undergraduate and graduate students from the U.S. and across the globe are pursuing degrees in the University’s five schools. Fairfield embraces a liberal humanistic approach to education, encouraging critical thinking, cultivating free and open inquiry, and fostering ethical and religious values. The University is located on a stunning 200-acre campus on the scenic Connecticut coast just an hour from New York City.