Resilience

Soprano Vanessa Isiguen stars in the world premiere of Afghan-born composer Milad Yousufi’s new work that blends storytelling and music to give voice to the lived experiences of Afghan women. Boy and a Makeshift Toy, part of Armenian American composer Mary Kouyoumdjian‘s Children of Conflict series, is a poignant portrait that captures the realities of children growing up amid the devastation of war. Spectrum Dance Theater’s award-winning Donald Byrd returns with his phenomenal dancers in premiere choreography of dances to Erwin Schulhoff’s Five Pieces for String Quartet. Schulhoff, whose iconoclastic challenges to stylistic convention gained him a broad following between the two world wars, faced his end in a Nazi labor camp. Plus, a timeless favorite: selections from The Three-Penny Opera by Kurt Weill, in a jaunty arrangement for saxophone quartet! Weill’s music would go on to openly challenge and mock the Nazi regime.