Discover the best virtual activities from our Children’s Festival plaza partners
Penn Live Arts Recommends Children's Festival Family
PlazaMania, the lively outdoor component of the Children’s Festival, allows kids to explore their own creativity with a feast of hands-on activities provided by arts partners from across Philadelphia. We invite you to visit them in their own online spaces, via the following list, where you’ll find a whole host of cool activities to keep the whole family busy. So take in a show, then fire up the playlist and have fun creating your own PlazaMania! Read more...
World music superstar Angélique Kidjo remains active on the virtual stage
Penn Live Arts Recommends World Music
Chart-topping world music superstar Angélique Kidjo shone radiantly when she performed in the Zellerbach Theatre back in February (co-presented by World Café Live) and she remains a beacon of light since then, participating in multiple projects that push her incredible artistry out into the virtual space for us all to enjoy. This busy, four-time Grammy® Award winner recently performed on the new online series Live with Carnegie Hall, along with Nigerian Afropop star Yemi Alade, Senegalese singer-guitarist Baaba Maal, and another recent Annenberg Center performer, jazz vocalist Dianne Reeves. The session was moderated by John Schaefer of WNYC.
Kidjo also performed Bella Bellow’s “Blewu” with Yo-Yo Ma as part of his #SongsofComfort series, appeared on Read more...
The ultimate resource for all things dance on the web
Penn Live Arts Recommends Dance
Countless dance companies have risen in quick and wonderful ways to help us through the pandemic. In addition to sharing their artistry through exclusive archival footage for all to enjoy watching, many of our favorite dancers and companies are teaching us, motivating us to stand up and move with classes for all ages. Following is a selection of the virtual dance that is flooding our feeds at the Annenberg Center.
Read more...ListenUp: Jazz Playlist
Jazz ListenUp
This week’s ListenUp playlist features artists from our jam-packed 19/20 jazz season. We kicked things off in October with the electrifying pianist
Hiromi in a rare solo performance. In November, we welcomed drummer
Ralph Peterson, who brought with him a group of elite alumni from the Jazz Messenger bands, in a show celebrating the 100th anniversary of Art Blakey’s birth. The following week, we were delighted to present the Philadelphia debut of vibraphonist
Joel Ross. Two of today’s top jazz vocalists,
Dianne Reeves and
Alicia Olatuja graced our stages in December and February, and the sizzling hot salsa and Latin band
Spanish Harlem Orchestra returned to the Annenberg Center on a cold night in January. Earlier this month,
SFJAZZ Collective was slated to celebrate the 50th anniversary of two essential albums: Sly and Family Stone’s
Stand! and Miles Davis’
In a Silent Way. Although we missed them this time, we can’t wait to have SFJAZZ Collective back next April.
The Pennchants present Social Distance-SING, in partnership with Philabundance
Special Features
The Pennchants were formed in 1989 as an all-male subgroup of the Penn Glee Club with an interest in singing songs outside of the Glee Club’s standard barbershop and musical theatre repertoires. Opting to instead perform arrangements of the latest hit songs, The Pennchants became an overnight sensation within the campus music scene, leading them to a victory in the inter-Penn a cappella competition within a year of their inception. Praise rolled in from across the nation and The Pennchants eventually left the Glee Club in 2001. They have since experienced huge success as an award-winning, internationally touring ensemble.
Read more...Enjoy Enchantment Theatre Company's Peter Rabbit™ Tales with the family
Children's Festival Family Theatre
If you’ve ever been to our annual, three-day Philadelphia Children’s Festival, you might have seen a delightful performance by
Enchantment Theatre Company, who we have welcomed at our festival for numerous seasons. In 2017, Enchantment put on three sold-out performances of its charming
Peter Rabbit™ Tales. Now, as an extension of its Enchantment Everywhere outreach initiative, the festival favorite has made the full-length video of
Peter Rabbit™ Tales available for streaming on YouTube (see below).
Read more...Trusty Sidekick Theater Company's Shadow Play
Children's Festival Family
Plan a “play date” with the
Trusty Sidekick Theater Company! One of the highlights of our 2019 Children’s Festival was the Company’s marvelously inventive
Shadow Play. Stream the full video (for free) of the playful adventures of Flash and his exciting quest to reunite with his shadow in this multimedia performance for children (ages 2-5) and their adults. As an added bonus, learn how to make shadow puppets at home with Trusty Sidekick’s Artistic Director Drew Petersen.
Watch Here
ListenUp: Early Music Playlist
Early Music ListenUp
Our 19/20 season featured several early music artists from around the world.
Vox Luminis (Belgium) made its Annenberg Center debut in November and the
Dunedin Consort (UK) made its Philadelphia debut with us in January. Since we won’t get to present
Les Violons du Roy (Canada) in their own Philadelphia debut this weekend, this week’s ListenUp playlist includes some of the best early music heard in our theatres this season plus other stunning recordings by these remarkable early music ensembles.
Stream Pilobolus' classic Gnomen at home
Penn Live Arts Recommends Dance
Pilobolus, fondly known for its humorous, eye-popping and mind-boggling use of the human form, made its Annenberg Center debut on the Inaugural Dance Celebration Series in 1983 with 17 subsequent appearances. Audiences continue to be mesmerized by Pilobolus’ unfathomable athletic prowess and fluidity, sculptural beauty and collaborative weight-sharing techniques. Named after a phototropic fungus, Pilobolus broke rules and created a new dance language. Who else could fit 26 people inside a MINI Cooper (making the 2011 Guinness World Record), create a Hyundai Santa Fe with dancers’ bodies or be featured at the 79th Annual Academy Awards®?
Pilobolus shares with home-viewers its powerful and passionate Gnomen, a work that premiered at the Annenberg Center in 1998 and was to be performed April 16-18, 2020. One of the 115 works in Pilobolus’ world-touring repertory, Gnomen features four world-class male dancer/gymnasts set to music by Paul Stillman. Gnomen explores the interconnectivity of the human spirit – the need to touch, heal, and lift one another in challenging times.
Penn alumnus John Legend participates in the #TogetherAtHome Concert Series
Music Special Features
As Penn’s center for the performing arts, we were so pleased to see one of our University’s most celebrated alumni, John Legend, participating in the #TogetherAtHome Concert Series. The series, organized by Global Citizen, the World Health Organization (WHO) and a growing group of artists, serves to bring joy, optimism, and a shared sense of humanity during this time of uncertainty and challenge. We certainly felt hopeful watching Legend sing a few tunes with his family close by, from a Stevie Wonder cover, to
Beauty and the Beast (at his daughter’s request!), to one of his biggest hits, “All of Me.” Watch a replay of the performance below.
During his time as a student, Legend was President and Music Director of Penn’s oldest, co-ed a cappella group, Counterparts. Days before Penn announced that it was transitioning to remote classes due to COVID-19, Counterparts performed some of their material for Legend over their spring break, in what would soon be one of the group’s final performances with their graduating seniors. Our hearts go out to all of the Penn performing arts groups who had to cancel shows they had been working towards, and especially those who won’t have the opportunity to perform together again once we return to campus. Help us show Penn’s student performers some love and follow < Read more...
