2014-15 Cultural Arts Preview

"New" is the word for the 2014-15 arts season in Rochester — new directors, new formats, new collaborations, new plays.

A need to attract younger audience members, mixed with the need for bigger audiences, has resulted in some out-of-the-ordinary shows and exhibits.

From video game music and original plays in more venues than ever, to a re-telling of the Iroquois creation story in dance and an exhibit that explores the diversity of black men, the mainstays of the cultural arts scene are challenging Rochesterians with fresh ideas.

So if you want to try something new, you have plenty to choose from this season.

Rochester's literary community continues to thrive, connecting local writers and drawing in top national authors for readings and talks.

Arts and Lectures at Downtown United Presbyterian Church continues to be the Cadillac series. This season, it includes MacArthur Fellowship recipient and Pulitzer Prize finalist Colson Whitehead (Oct. 9), award-winning Zadie Smith (Dec. 4), Edgar Award winner Erik Larson (March 19) and Guggenheim Fellowship recipient Rachel Kushner (April 16).

Writers & Books is the hub of our literary scene, offering classes, book clubs and special events. The organization sponsors the annual If All of Rochester Read the Same Book. This year's pick is The Ages of Miracles by Karen Thompson Walker, who will be in Rochester March 18 to 20.

And this year, Writers & Books has paired with the Lane Dworkin Jewish Book Festival (Nov. 2 to 16) for a Community Read of All I Love and Know by Judith Frank, who will be at the Jewish Community Center of Greater Rochester on Nov. 10.

Other authors coming to the festival include Rabbi Joseph Telushkin (Nov. 2), Pam Jenoff and Roberta Rich for the Fiction Panel Luncheon (Nov. 7) and Oliver Horowitz (Nov. 13).

The festival also is hosting some special events, including author Gail Sheehy (March 2, JCC).

Area colleges also host author talks open to the public, including the University of Rochester's Neilly Series, which includes Ayad Akhtar (Nov. 19) and Lily Koppel (April 8). UR also hosts the Plutzik Reading Series, which includes Susan Choi (Nov. 11).

Monroe Community College will be hosting a number of writers this year. Rebecca Skloot, author of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, will be on campus March 11; members of Lacks' family were here last spring and will return Nov. 17. Also coming: Atlantic senior editor and writer Ta-Nehisi Coates (Oct. 22); poet and activist Joan Larkin (Oct. 23); New York Times columnist and Pulitzer Prize winner Nicholas Kristof (April 27); travel writer Rolf Potts (April 16); and playwright Samuel Hunter (March 12 and 13). The MCC campus' "If All of MCC Read the Same Play" is Hunter's new work, The Whale.

The big news in the local classical music scene is Ward Stare, who took the podium for the first time as music director of the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra.

Stare, a Pittsford native, also will conduct the second Philharmonics series concert with Jeremy Denk, one of the hottest and most innovative pianists today (Oct. 2 and 4, Eastman Theatre) and the first Live at Hochstein concert (Oct. 15, Hochstein Performance Hall).

The second concert came under Stare's baton through a change in the schedule. While Stare will be the force behind next season's programming, this year's concerts were planned before he was named to his post. One of them, though is La Traviata in concert, in which he was to be the guest conductor (Feb. 26 and 28, Eastman Theatre). Some other concerts of note in the RPO's Philharmonics series at Eastman Theatre feature violinist Augustin Hadelich (March 5 and 7), Van Cliburn winner Vadym Kholodenko (Nov. 13 and 15) and conductor laureate Christopher Seaman and pianist Jon Nakamatsu (April 30 and May 2).

The RPO also is presenting some concerts outside its series this year, including what may be the modern classical music (or at least the most likely to attract tweens, teens and young adults): Video Games Live, featuring music from such classics as Zelda, Halo and Mario (Nov. 21, Eastman Theatre).

Another of the special concerts takes a much more somber tone. Kaddish will commemorate the 70th anniversary of the Allied Forces' liberation of the Nazi concentration camps (Jan. 15, Eastman Theatre).

The Rochester Chamber Orchestra also has a new music director in Gerald Floriano, a State University College at Geneseo professor and founder of the Finger Lakes Opera Festival. In his first concert, he will conduct a program of women composers that celebrates the life of great Eastman School of Music professor Jan DeGaetani, who died 25 years ago (Oct. 12, Hochstein Performance Hall).

Cary Ratcliff celebrates his first full season as artistic director of Madrigalia with the release of the CD For Better, For Worse! The group joins forces with early music choral group Musica Spei to perform the equivalent of duets — works that require two groups of singers (Feb. 28, Asbury First United Methodist Church).

Concerts can be found throughout the metro area on any given week, sometimes any given day. Cheap and free, but artistically excellent, concerts can be found at Eastman School of Music and Nazareth College, for example. There also are town orchestras and bands throughout the area.

Chamber music, because of the high-caliber faculty at Eastman (as well as students) and Hochstein School of Music and Dance, has a robust schedule this season.

Besides the chamber orchestra, probably the best known concert series is the Society for Chamber Music in Rochester, which is led by RPO concertmaster Juliana Athayde and the orchestra's principal oboist Erik Behr. The two have scheduled concerts this year that are themed, for example Haunted Halloween Night (Nov. 2, Hochstein Performance Hall) and Sonic Brass and Organ (March 13, Third Presbyterian Church). Like he has in the past, Nakamatsu, after performing with the RPO, will present a chamber concert (May 3, Third Presbyterian).

The Salon Series at Asbury First United Methodist Church features pianist Rebecca Penneys, violinist Mikhail Kopelman and cellist Stefan Reuss (who recently retired from the RPO). The series opens on Nov. 2.

First Muse is a chamber series at First Unitarian Church. It opens with the local Amenda Quartet (which includes another recently retired RPO veteran, David Brickman, and current RPO violinist Patricia Sunwoo, cellist Mimi Hwang and the series' director, violist Melissa Matson) playing another in their series of Beethoven quartets and adding guests violist Maria Lambros and cellist Michael Kannen for Arnold Schoenberg's Verklaerte Nacht (Sept. 28).

The RIT Performing Arts Series also provides an outlet for local musicians or musicians with local ties to the Rochester Institute of Technology's Henrietta campus. This year, Rebecca Penneys' Piano Extravaganza will feature four pianists — Penneys, Eunmi Ko, Omri Shimron and Johnandrew Slominski — playing two pianos (March 6, Ingle Auditorium).

The next concert features the Neave Trio, which is in residence at San Diego University and includes Eastman grad Toni James (Oct. 24, Ingle Auditorium). The trio also is performing at Live at Hochstein (Oct. 22, Hochstein Performance Hall) and Roberts Wesleyan College (Oct. 24, Howard Stowe Roberts Cultural Arts Center).

Eastman School of Music has two distinguished concert series, Kilbourn and Eastman-Ranlet, in Kilbourn Hall, which include the Dover String Quartet (Oct. 5), Gryphon Trio (Nov. 18), Emerson String Quartet (Feb. 1) and Third Coast Percussion (March 24). Eastman's resident Ying Quartet will perform twice this season (Nov. 16 and Feb. 22).

While Rochester Lyric Opera is making inroads, Eastman also is the hub of opera in Rochester right now. This year's Eastman Opera Theatre productions are Benjamin Britten's Albert Herring (Nov. 6 to 9) and Ned Rorem's Our Town (April 9 to 12).

Eastman also is presenting a multi-disciplinary chamber opera program with a comic book twist. P. Craig Russell's illustrations of the biblical Salomé will be the backdrop for Richard Strauss' operatic work of the same name by the school's Table Top Opera (Oct. 8 at Eastman Theatre, Oct. 10 at UR's Interfaith Chapel).

The Eastman Rochester Organ Initiative also is taking a multi-discliplinary route this year with the Organ and Film Festival (Oct. 23 to 26 at various places) featuring silent films such as Speedy and La Passion de Jeanne d'Arc accompanied by live organ music.

Rochester draws early music heavyweights, led by Eastman professor and Grammy winner Paul O'Dette. O'Dette has partnered with the Pegasus Early Music organization to perform the Monteverdi Vespers of 1610, with 24 musicians (April 19, Hochstein Performance Hall). The Pegasus series, led by Deborah Fox, opens with "Io Vidi in Terra" (Oct. 12, Downtown United Presbyterian Church) and also includes a concert of Bach's Goldberg Variations (Dec. 7, Downtown United Presbyterian Church).

Area churches also house ambitious concert schedules. For example, at Christ Church, pianist Elinor Freer and cellist David Ying will give a concert before the weekly Compline (Oct. 5). And at Asbury First United Methodist Church, Michael Lasser of Fascinatin' Rhythm on WXXI will host a concert of Downton Abbey-era music (Jan. 4) and Eastman's William Weinert (who also leads the church's chancel choir) will Bach's B Minor Mass in celebration of the 330th anniversary of the composer's birth (March 21).

Several excellent choral groups also call the area home, including the Rochester Oratorio Society, which performs on its own (next on Oct. 24, Hochstein Performance Hall). It also performs with the RPO four times this year, including Handel's Messiah (Dec. 13).

It's alive! Water Street Music Hall, after going through a long drought during a change of management that included losing its liquor license, is back in full. The bar is stocked and the calendar is filling up for Rochester's largest music club, at 204 N. Water St.

More than a century old, the building has retained some of its worn warehouse charm through ongoing renovations and a series of name changes: The Country Warehouse, The Horizontal Boogie Bar, The Boogie Bar, and now Water Street Music Hall. The challenges have sometimes been severe; the Rochester Police Department has made noise about closing it several times in the last two decades, particularly after violence during hip-hop and reggae shows.

The rejuvenated schedule includes the metal band Theory of a Deadman (Oct. 10), the pop-country duo Love and Theft (Oct. 31) and the great jazzy rock band Lake Street Dive (Nov. 16). Through the door on the right, the more-intimate Club at Water Street plays host to the metal band Soulfly (Oct. 8), the garage-rocking Heavy Trash (Oct. 10) and hipster rocker Mike Doughty (Nov. 15). Check waterstreetmusic.com for the complete schedule.

The Tedeschi Trucks Band (Sept. 25) is one of three big guitar acts playing the Auditorium Theatre this fall. Always a Rochester favorite, Tedeschi Trucks features blues singer and guitarist Susan Tedeschi and her husband, guitarist Derek Trucks. The 11-piece band offers a fusion of blues, roots rock, soul and funk that will be sorely missed with the impending retirement of The Allman Brothers, the group that Trucks has played a significant role in over the past decade.

More guitar at the Auditorium features the jazz of The Pat Metheny Unity Group (Nov. 18) and Joe Bonamassa (Nov 24). And it's a pretty safe bet that R&B stalwart Maze Featuring Frankie Beverly (Nov. 6) has a guitar or two.

The cavernous Main Street Armory, 900 E. Main St., alternates between elderly acts such as Judas Priest (Oct. 1), Kansas (Oct. 16) and The Charlie Daniels Band (Oct. 22) and youth-oriented events such as the electronic dance of Bassnectar (Oct. 3) and a reggae show with legit Jamaicans Elephant Man and Gyptian (Oct. 10). The loopy rock of "An Evening With Primus and the Chocolate Factory" (Nov. 2) and rapper Nas' Illmatic Tour (Oct. 2), celebrating the 20th anniversary of his acclaimed debut album, fall somewhere amid that spectrum.

Abilene Bar & Lounge, 153 Liberty Pole Way, has made a summer of reintroducing acts that have played the Xerox Rochester International Jazz Festival, and it has another one coming up. Grammy-nominated Julian Lage (Oct. 7), who teamed up with Nels Cline for a much-talked about set of shows at the jazz fest earlier this summer, joins the Infamous Stringdusters' Chris Eldridge. Their twin Martin guitars are a perfect fit for the roots-minded venue, playing host to acts such as Big Sandy & His Fly-Rite Boys (Sunday Sept. 21) and locals including Don Christiano's bi-weekly Beatles tributes (the next one is Tuesday), blues-rocker Steve Lyons (Thursday) and Greg Townsend's occasional bouts of Friday happy hours (Oct. 10). Bat McGrath (Oct. 29 and 30) makes the drive from his Nashville home to satiate the fan base he has had here since the late 1960s. And this one sounds really cool: The Dmitry Metheny Group (Sept. 27), a jazz-noir outfit led by a flugelhornist who played with jazz legend Art Farmer, Metheny's sound is original, seemingly right out of a crime film soundtrack. The band plays music from Touch of Evil and Chinatown, with spoken word that sounds like it could have been drawn from the writings of Raymond Chandler.

While we're on jazz, Exodus to Jazz brings back Toronto's Four80East (Oct. 18), the Canadian R&B instrumental disco machine, and puts it in a new venue for the series, Zeppa Auditorium at the German House, 315 Gregory St. The change is to accommodate those always-demanding dancers. Saxophonist David Liebman (Oct. 11), who has played the Xerox Rochester International Jazz Festival a few times, brings his new band, Expansions, to Lovin' Cup Bistro & Brews, 300 Park Point Drive, Henrietta, near the campus of Rochester Institute of Technology. Liebman's sound ranges from the fusion of his nights with Miles Davis to avant-garde.

Rochester trumpeter Paul Smoker is joined by double bassist Ken Filiano (Sept. 21) for a free 90th birthday celebration for Nazareth College at the school's Wilmot Recital Hall, 4245 East Ave., Pittsford. They'll be performing songs popular at the time of the school's 1924 inception ("Fascinatin' Rhythm," "The Man I Love" and "Tea For Two") as well as the modern compositions that Smoker and Filiano are known for.

Also at Lovin' Cup, the newest project by The Charlie Hunter/Scott Amendola Duo (Sept. 24) is a set of four digitally released EPs, each featuring five songs from notable composers: Duke Ellington, Hank Williams, Cole Porter and ... The Cars? Yeah. Hunter plays seven-string guitar with an avant-garde sensibility matched by Amendola's percussion.

Rochester's Giant Panda Guerilla Dub Squad (Oct. 4), which uses reggae as a starting point for all kinds of musical ideas, winds up its national tour at Zeppa Auditorium. The band releases its new album, Steady, on Sept. 30. Chris Wilson (Sept. 27), a sweet singer from Brockport who won the Viewers' Choice Award on the MTV reality show The Cut, is also celebrating the release of a new CD. He'll perform music from A Lovely Space to Be: The Songs Of John Denver in the Hart Theater at the Jewish Community Center.

Professional skateboarder, actor and rapper Bam Margera (Nov. 15) fits the crowd that comes to Montage Music Hall, 50 Chestnut St. Lots of heavy metal here, with detours into the excellent Canadian rockers Enter the Haggis (Nov. 20), the grunge-party punks The Supersuckers (Nov. 16) and Long Island's longtime jam band Max Creek (Nov. 21).

Patty Larkin (Oct. 4), a fine songwriter whose guitar-playing is often overlooked, is next up at Café Veritas, the coffeehouse-style venue at First Unitarian Church of Rochester, 220 S. Winton Road. Golden Link Folksinging Society has Annie and the Hedonists (Oct. 18) at Rochester Christian Reformed Church, 2750 Atlantic Ave., Penfield. Check goldenlink.org. Minnesota's Charlie Parr, the real thing for anyone into porch-picking folk blues, returns for an 8 p.m. Oct. 2 show at the Bop Shop, 1460 Monroe Ave., Brighton. Call (585) 271-3354 or check bopshop.com. A $10 donation is requested.

The Bug Jar, 219 Monroe Ave., retains its hefty commitment to the local indie scene. One show of big interest is a reunion of The Priests (Oct. 31), whose dark, Farfisa-organ-accented punk is missed. And typical of the Bug Jar's devotion to edgy material is William Burroughs Night (Oct. 4), with music, art and readings from the works of the man who wrote —and lived — Naked Lunch and Junkie.

When Ganondagan State Historic Site set out to expand and build its new visitors center, stakeholders wanted to open next summer with a bang.

That meant meaningful exhibits but also an opening celebration worthy of the history that Ganondagan tells. A central part of that celebration, funded by a $100,000 Farash Foundation grant, will be a piece co-created by Ganondagan and Garth Fagan that tells the creation story of the Iroquois.

The Garth Fagan Dance company will perform it live — and in a film that will be shown in the visitors center (set for July at the Victor living museum).

Before that, Garth Fagan, will complete a residency and concerts in California next month and then return here to finish preparing his company's hometown performance, which will include new pieces by Fagan and Norwood "P.J." Pennwell. (Dec. 3 to 7, Nazareth College Arts Center).

Here's a look at other concerts planned for the 2014-15 season. Many of the smaller groups will add more to the schedule in coming months.

The Rochester City Ballet's big shows this year will be with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra. Beyond the annual Nutcracker, RCB's Jamey Leverett is choreographing a dance to Jeff Tyzik's Images: Musical Impressions of an Art Museum (May 8 and 9, Eastman Theatre).

RCB also teams with FuturPointe during the RPO's Philharmonics series: RCB will perform George Balanchine's choreography to Tchaikovsky's Serenade for Strings, while FuturPointe dances to Milhaud's La création du monde, a retelling of an African creation myth (March 12 and 14, Eastman Theatre).

The Moscow Ballet's Great Russian Nutcracker has become a Rochester holiday favorite (Dec. 15, Auditorium Theatre).

Jessica Lang Dance, which premiered to sold-out audiences at the popular Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival in the Berkshires, formed in 2011 to perform the works of the famed choreographer (March 7, Nazareth).

If swing dance is more your style, Swingtime! pairs The Jive Aces (semi-finalists on Britain's Got Talent) with the Tinseltown Jitterbugs. (Feb. 21, Nazareth).

Top-flight tango dancers will be at two separate concerts, as well. Tango Buenos Aires, the world-renowned group from Argentina, will perform Song of Evita (March 1, Nazareth). The RPO's Pops series will feature dancers during its "Tango Caliente" (Jan. 23 and 24, Eastman Theatre).

There also will be two opportunities to see Chinese acrobats perform. The National Acrobats of the People's Republic of China bring Cirque Peking (Nov. 16, Nazareth), and The Peking Acrobats will join the RPO (April 17 and 18, Eastman Theatre).

Besides several professional companies, Rochester also has some top-ranked dance college programs.

Claire Porter, recipient of a 2013 Guggenheim Fellowship, will bring PORTABLES, her collection of humorous character sketches, to the University of Rochester dance department (Oct. 18, Spurrier Dance Studio).

Then UR faculty members take over with their own creative choreography. Missy Pfohl Smith's BIODANCE and Kathy Diehl's KDiehl Danceworks will perform original choreography during the "Frames of Mind" faculty concert (Nov. 14, Spurrier Dance Studio). BIODANCE's segment will include a piece debuted at the First Niagara Fringe Festival, Smith's "A Moment of Silence," created over the summer in Corfu, Greece, and influenced by ongoing conversations about diversity in the arts. KDiehl Danceworks will perform a piece debuted last weekend in New York City as part of the CHIN Project, a mentoring program by famed choreographer Doug Varone.

The College at Brockport also has a seasoned dance faculty. DANSCORE allows Brockport students to perform the choreography of its faculty (Nov. 13 to 15, Hartwell Dance Theater).

Rochester also is home to several ensembles that are emerging on the local and national scenes. PUSH Physical Theatre has several residencies and tours planned for the year, so the Fringe performances (twice on Sept. 27) might be the only time the company performs for the public in Rochester this season.

The Elizabeth Clark Dance Ensemble will perform "American Working Women" (March 8, St. Thomas Episcopal Church).

Rochester has one of the highest ranked children's museums in the country, and a regional powerhouse in its science museum.

Add in theater created for young audiences and touring shows, and the cultural arts scene is one of the reasons Rochester has ranked high on family-friendly city surveys.

The Strong over the past few years has had new touring exhibits for the younger set but also has been concentrating on building its video game collection and permanent displays. Now it's back to the younger ages with the new, permanent Play Pals exhibit that opens Dec. 6. The exhibit will focus on the history of play in the United States with artifacts (think G.I. Joes and dollhouses) and hands-on activities concentrating on imagination.

Both The Strong and the Rochester Museum & Science Center are bringing back popular exhibits this fall: Lego Castle Adventure (Oct. 4 to Feb. 1) at The Strong, and animatronic Dinosaurs (Oct. 25 to Jan. 25) at RMSC (Dinosaurs: Giants of Patagonia also will be back, opening Oct. 10, on the big Strasenburgh Planetarium screen).

RMSC also is introducing challenges in its "Inventor Center" permanent exhibit, starting with Wind Energy Challenge (Sept. 12 to Jan. 11), which has people figuring out how to invent a better turbine to help get the lights back on in a city.

Geography is the focus of Trivial Pursuit: A 50-State Adventure (Feb. 13 to May 10) coming to The Strong. Interactive stations will be built around Trivial Pursuit questions.

The community this season loses Rochester Children's Theatre, which disbanded. It gains RAPA Family Theatre.

TYKEs (Theater Young Kids Enjoy) also gains strength by formally aligning with the Jewish Community Center of Greater Rochester, where its plays have been staged. Shows planned for this season include Fly Guy and Other Stories (Nov. 8 and 9) and Alice in Wonderland (April 18 and 19).

The Auditorium Theatre will host one of the hottest touring shows for the tot set: The Fresh Beat Band Greatest Hits Live (Dec. 18), based on the Emmy-winning Nickelodeon series featuring the band.

Nazareth College Arts Center also has touring productions aimed at younger audiences, including Jim Henson's Dinosaur Train LIVE!: Buddy's Big Adventure (May 2), based on the PBS series. Other shows in the series: Lucky Diaz and the Family Jam Band (Nov. 9), winner of a Latin Grammy and on several lists for best children's album; Skippyjon Jones (Jan. 17), produced by Theatreworks USA; and Atlantic Theatre Company's Ivy + Bean: The Musical (Feb. 7).

The Rochester City Ballet produces a family show every year. This year, Peter and the Wolf (May 16 and 17) will be at Nazareth, with a family fair before performances.

Before Gary the Happy Pirate was a solo act, he had a partner. Doug & Gary's 25th Anniversary Reunion Concert (Dec. 13) will include songs from their early 1990s fame when The Adventures of Doug & Gary: The Happy Pirates aired on Nickelodeon and the duo was on national top-10 lists of children's performers.

Being the birthplace of Eastman Kodak Co., Rochester's thriving film scene is not surprising.

There are several smaller film series throughout the year, and a growing number of film festivals.

Two of the largest are in October, ImageOut: The Rochester LGBT Film & Video Festival (Oct. 10 to 19) and High Falls Film Festival (Oct. 23 to 26).

You might recognize these women's children more, but they are both distinguished filmmakers and will be draws at High Falls. Elaine Madsen, mother of Sideway's Virginia Madsen, directed I Know a Woman Like That, the opening night film, which is a documentary looking at women who refuse to take traditional roles as they age. Also at the festival is Very Good Girls (Oct. 25), a drama starring Dakota fanning and Elizabeth Olsen and directed by Naomi Foner Gyllenhaal, mother of actors Jake and Maggie Gyllenhaal.

At ImageOut will be Born to Fly: Elizabeth Streb vs. Gravity (Oct. 12). Opening night features BFFs and The Circle, and the closing night includes Alex & Ali.

George Eastman House and Memorial Art Gallery, our big players in the fine arts community, are both under new leadership.

Eastman House got a new director last year in Bruce Barnes. This year, MAG moves into its second century under Jonathan Binstock, who took over this summer after Grant Holcomb retired.

Each moves forward with seasons that mix exhibits from their own collections with large traveling shows.

Until Nov. 30, MAG is hosting New Ghosts for A New Age: Yoshitoshi's New Forms of 36 Ghosts. From Oct. 19 to Jan. 4, the museum, which is part of University of Rochester, will open an exhibit steeped with nostalgia — Golden Legacy: 65 Years of Golden Books. From Jan. 24 to March 29 will be Infinite Place: The Ceramic Art of Wayne Higby; Higby, a professor at Alfred University, is considered one of the visionaries of the American crafts movement.

Until Jan. 4, the Eastman House has Robert Burley: The Disappearance of Darkness; this exhibit documents the demise of film photography, which, of course, has a direct tie to both the museum and Rochester. Also on display through Jan. 4 is Innovation in the Imaging Capital, which celebrates the local entrepreneurial spirit.

If you want to see something different this fall, Rochester Contemporary Art Center might be the place to go. QuestionBridge: Black Males (Oct. 3 to Nov. 16) is a video-based exhibit that explores diversity and stereotypes. The gallery has partnered with several community groups to provide a discussion series and also outreach efforts to young African-American males.

From Feb. 13 to May 18, the Rochester Museum & Science Center will be hosting Da Vinci — The Genius. (Think the scope of the "Titanic" exhibit RMSC displayed a few years ago.) This exhibit is traveling the world and is the most comprehensive exhibit involving Leonardo da Vinci's life, art and inventions.

The gallery scene continues to thrive, as evidenced by new studios and exhibit spaces and growing First Friday and Second Saturday events. Solid and renowned art programs at area colleges and universities add exhibits worth looking out for and adding to your calendar.

Here are a few highlights:

History in the Making VIII (Oct. 3 to Nov. 8, Genesee Center for the Arts' Firehouse Gallery) will feature ceramicists — emerging artists to veteran traditionalists — from 11 states.

The Opposite of Concrete: An Exhibition of Abstract Painting and Photography, through Nov. 1 at Clifton Springs' Main Street Arts, features the work of artists such as Carl Chiarenza and Patricia Wilder.

The Penfield Art Association, which is now 50 years old, will hold its annual show from Sept. 28 to Oct. 24 at Legacy at Willow Pond.

Wall\Therapy has brought the spotlight to the idea of murals as public art. This year's installment of The College at Brockport's Monroe and Vicinity Biennial will be Drawing on Walls (Oct. 23 to Dec. 7, Tower Fine Arts Center Gallery), including work by High Voltage Tattoo of Batavia and Natrello of Rochester.

Also at the Tower gallery will be The Next: A Studio Glass Movement Continuum (Jan. 27 to Feb. 22), which will feature glass artists who are pushing the medium into new areas.

In an exhibit that will change daily, Monroe Community College's Mercer Gallery will feature Frame by Frame: Internal Combustion Events looking at aspects of film, video, animation and sound, from Jan. 20 to Feb. 13.

Two shows this fall are reminding us of great art cooperatives of the past. The Wildroot Gallery Re-Union is from Oct. 10 to Nov. 7 at the Mercer Gallery.

And remembering the old Shop One on Troup Street and its original artists will be the focus of an exhibit from Oct. 13 to Nov. 8 at Rochester Institute of Technology's Bevier Gallery. RIT now houses Shop One Squared.

You won't recognize all the titles in this year's theater season. And you're not meant to.

From Geva Theatre Center to JCC CenterStage, MuCCC and Bread & Water Theatre, original plays are being debuted on local stages.

Geva's originals include those by two native Rochesterians: True Home (April 23 to May 10) by Cass Morgan and Women in Jeopardy! (Feb. 24 to March 22) by Wendy MacLeod. The third original, Katherine's Colored Lieutenant (Feb. 5 to 22), is by a familiar name, Nora Cole, one of Geva's artists in residence.

Other highlights of Geva's season include Little Shop of Horrors (Jan. 13 to Feb. 15) with its man-eating plant; The Mountaintop (March 31 to April 26) about Martin Luther King Jr.'s last night; and the Tony Award winner with a lot of buzz, Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike (May 5 to 31).

JCC CenterStage at Jewish Community Center of Greater Rochester will premiere Naked in Encino (Dec. 6 to 21), about five women gathering for a self-help seminar and written by Wendy Kout (who created the sitcom Anything But Love).

CenterStage also is the first regional theater in the country to secure rights to the off-Broadway hit Bad Jews (Oct. 18 to Nov. 2). Other highlights include the New York premiere of Our Suburb (March 14 to 29), a modern take on Our Town, and the musical Into the Woods (May 2 to 17).

The Rochester Broadway Theatre League this year will bring back the blockbuster The Book of Mormon (Oct. 7 to 19) to open its season. Other highlights of the season at Auditorium Theatre: Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (Nov. 11 to 16), Cinderella (Dec. 9 to 14), and the first national tour of the revivals of Pippin (Jan. 13 to 18) and Kinky Boots (May 12 to 17).

Blackfriars Theatre is in a year of transition: It's the last for long-time artistic director John Haldoupis. Danny Hoskins, who will serve as assistant artistic director this season, will take over next year. Haldoupis has put together a challenging season for his last: I'm Not Rappaport (Oct. 24 to Nov. 9); Holiday in Vegas (Dec. 19 to Jan. 3); Romeo & Juliet (Feb. 20 to March 8); and Violet (May 1 to 17).

Downstairs Cabaret Theatre continually adds new shows throughout its season, including musical revues, premieres and off-Broadway hits. And a number of smaller community theater companies thrive on their own and as part of cooperatives.

For example, Pittsford Musicals will produce Curtains (Oct. 18 to 25, Pittsford Mendon High School).

MuCCC continues to provide a venue for several smaller playwrights and groups. For example, The Shakespeare Players, part of Rochester Community Players, will produce King Lear (Nov. 7 to 22). Michael Arve is directing veteran local actor Peter Doyle in the one-man show about Oscar Wilde, Diversions & Delights (Oct. 2 to 5). Right after that show, Out of Pocket Productions presents NY Plays (Oct. 9 to 11), a show of original shorts.

Bread & Water Theatre is one of our area's growing community companies, having moved to its own stage this summer. The group's annual Rainbow Theater Festival will feature The Jeweler's Shop (Oct. 24 to 26), written by a young Karol Wojtyla (who later became Pope John Paul II); God of Vengeance (Oct. 31 to Nov. 9) by Sholom Asch, which caused the original production cast and crew in 1907 to be arrested because it featured a lesbian relationship; and Confessions of a Nightingale (Nov. 14 to 23) by Charlotte Chandler and Ray Stricklyn, based on conversations with Tennessee Williams.

RAPA, or Rochester Association for the Performing Arts, has taken over the Kodak Center for the Performing Arts in addition to its East End Theatre. The organization has become an umbrella for groups such as the Rochester Latino Theatre Company, Greater Rochester Repertory Company, The Mystery Company and OFC Creations. It formed the RAPA Family Theatre this year.

This year, productions at the Kodak theater will include Italian Bad Boyz of Comedy (Oct. 18), West Side Story (Nov. 22 to 30) and Babes in Toyland (Dec. 6 to 14). At the East End Theatre on Main Street, productions include GRRC's A Murder is Announced (Nov. 14 to 22) and Brighton Beach Memoirs (March 6 to 15) and OFC's Avenue Q (Jan. 9 to 17) and Spring Awakening (May 29 to June 6).

Rochester also has had some top-notch productions produced by area colleges, such as the University of Rochester's International Theatre Program.

Eastman School of Music has put together a new concert series this year featuring a mix of Broadway, American Songbook and comedy.

The Eastman Presents series at Eastman Theatre opens with An Evening with Jason Alexander (Oct. 17), in which the Seinfeld star will demonstrate his Broadway chops with a cabaret-type show, and closes with An Evening with Bernadette Peters (April 25). Also performing in the series: Arturo Sandoval (Nov. 2), Vienna Boys Choir (Dec. 4) and Peter Serkin with Eastman Philharmonia (Feb. 21).

This season features a number of other acts to watch.

David Sedaris (Oct. 19) will be at Kodak Center for the Performing Arts for a benefit event for Writers & Books.

The Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra will perform at Eastman Theatre with Audra McDonald (Jan. 17), Preservation Hall Jazz Band (Feb. 13 and 14) and Michael Feinstein (May 29 and 30).

Mannheim Steamroller (Dec. 17) will bring its holiday tour to the Auditorium Theatre, which also will play host to Bill Cosby (April 25).

You can get your dose of Irish entertainment with Celtic Woman (June 23) at the Auditorium or the National Dance Company of Ireland (March 6) at Roberts Wesleyan College.

Roberts' Howard Stowe Cultural Life Center also will play host to the U.S. Navy Band Commodores (Nov. 4) and several powerhouse contemporary Christian acts, including Jars of Clay (Oct. 2) and Laura Story (Dec. 14).

And for fans of magic, Spencers: Theatre of Illusion (March 21), which has topped lists of international magician acts, will be at Nazareth College Arts Center.