VIRTUAL FOUNDERS ROOM
SAVE THE DATES
Three Exclusive Virtual Donor Events
In recognition of your generous support
The Wallis proudly introduces
The Virtual Founders Room
Each of these exclusive gatherings will feature lively conversation, music-making, as well as engaging dialogue between attendees and artists.
RSVP to Summer Grubaugh
Development Assistant
sgrubaugh@thewallis.org
Zoom links will be sent via email closer to the date of each event.
FEATURING:
Wednesday, May 26 from 5pm to 6pm via Zoom
An evening with Pianist and UCLA Head of Piano Inna Faliks and composer and jazz-legend, Billy Childs
Thursday, June 17 from 5pm to 6pm via Zoom
An evening with Musical theater composer and screenwriter Cinco Paul and ASCAP Director of Musical Theatre, Michael Kerker
Wednesday, July 1 from 5pm to 6pm via Zoom
An evening with playwright and actor Tom Dugan (Wiesenthal) and legendary LA stage director, Sheldon Epps
Questions? Call 310.246.3800
The Virtual Founders Room is a donor benefit at the Artists Circle level and higher. While our intimate David Bohnett Founders Room remains closed to the public, we look forward to welcoming you to these exclusive online events.
ABOUT THE ARTISTS:
“Adventurous and passionate” (The New Yorker) Ukrainian-born American pianist Inna Faliks has established herself as one of the most exciting, committed, communicative and poetic artists of her generation. Faliks has made a name for herself through her commanding performances of standard piano repertoire, as well genre-bending interdisciplinary projects, and inquisitive work with contemporary composers. After her acclaimed teenage debuts at the Gilmore Festival and with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, she has performed on many of the world’s great stages, with numerous orchestras, in solo appearances, and with conductors such as Leonard Slatkin and Keith Lockhart. Faliks is currently Professor of Piano and Head of Piano at UCLA. Critics praise her “courage to take risks, expressive intensity and technical perfection” (General Anzeiger, Bonn), “remarkable insight” (Audiophile audition) “poetry and panoramic vision” (Washington Post), “riveting passion, playfulness” (Baltimore Sun) and “signature blend of lithe grace and raw power” (Lucid Culture). Her October 2014 all-Beethoven CD release on MSR classics drew rave reviews: the disc’s preview on WTTW called Faliks “High priestess of the piano, concert pianist of the highest order, as dramatic and subtle as a great stage actor.” Her previous, critically acclaimed CD on MSR Classics, Sound of Verse, was released in 2009, featuring music of Boris Pasternak, Rachmaninoff and Ravel. Her discography also includes a recital recording for the Yamaha Disklavier label, Chopin solo and cello sonatas recording with cellist Wendy Warner, and well as “Polonaise-Fantasie, Story of a Pianist” for Delos – a recital of short piano works from Bach to Chopin and Carter, combined with autobiographical essays written by Faliks. Read more on her website.
Billy Childs has emerged as one of the foremost American composers of his era, perhaps the most distinctly American composer since Aaron Copland – for like Copland, he has successfully married the musical products of his heritage with the Western neoclassical traditions of the twentieth century in a powerful symbiosis of style, range, and dynamism. A native of Los Angeles, Childs grew up immersed in jazz, classical, and popular music influences. A prodigious talent at the piano earned him public performances by age six, and at sixteen he was admitted to the USC Community School of the Performing Arts, going on to earn a Bachelor of Music degree in Composition under the tutelage of Robert Linn and Morten Lauridsen. By the time of his graduation from USC, Childs was already an in-demand performer in the L.A. jazz scene. Soon thereafter he was discovered by trumpet legend Freddie Hubbard, with whom he embarked on a successful performing and recording tour. He recorded and performed with a number of other influential jazz musicians including J.J. Johnson, Joe Henderson, and Wynton Marsalis before landing a record deal with Windham Hill Records in 1988, when he released Take For Example, This…, the first of four critically acclaimed albums for the label. The albums Twilight Is Upon Us (1989), His April Touch (1991), and Portrait Of A Player (1992) followed, each expansive contributions of depth and virtuosity. Since then Childs has written and produced I’ve Known Rivers (1995) on Stretch/GRP, The Child Within (1996) on Shanachie, and two volumes of “jazz/chamber music” (an amalgam of jazz and classical music) – Lyric, Vol. 1 (2006) and Autumn: In Moving Pictures, Vol. 2 (2010); the recordings earned him two GRAMMY awards and five nominations. Simultaneously with his recording career, Childs has occupied a parallel niche as an in-demand composer. His orchestral and chamber commission credits include Esa-Pekka Salonen and the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Detroit Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Leonard Slatkin, The Los Angeles Master Chorale, The Kronos Quartet, The Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, The American Brass Quintet, The Ying Quartet, and The Dorian Wind Quintet. Read more on his website.
Michael A. Kerker has been Director of Musical Theatre for ASCAP (American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers) since 1990. In addition to coordinating ASCAP’s Musical Theatre Workshop in New York, he works with Universal Theatrical Group to produce the ASCAP/ Universal Theatrical Group Theatre Workshop in Los Angeles, (both of which are led by composer/lyricist Stephen Schwartz). Together with Michael Feinstein, he produces a regular series of concerts at Carnegie Hall highlighting the catalogue of both legendary and contemporary songwriters. Michael has also produced a regular series of interview programs entitled “Broadway: Up Close and Personal” for the Kennedy Center. Michael’s onstage conversations with some of our nation’s most prominent songwriters have included evenings with Jerry Herman, Alan and Marilyn Bergman, Charles Strouse, Sheldon Harnick, Marvin Hamlisch, and Stephen Schwartz. Michael produced the ASCAP Foundation Jerry Herman Legacy Program, which is a series of seminars, master classes and concerts featuring the legendary composer/lyricist. The program has been presented nationwide in such cities as Chicago, Sundance, San Francisco, Phoenix, Savannah, Miami and Pittsburgh. Michael is proud to be a member of the Boards of the Actors Fund and the Johnny Mercer Foundation.
Michael A. Kerker has been Director of Musical Theatre for ASCAP (American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers) since 1990. In addition to coordinating ASCAP’s Musical Theatre Workshop in New York, he works with Universal Theatrical Group to produce the ASCAP/ Universal Theatrical Group Theatre Workshop in Los Angeles, (both of which are led by composer/lyricist Stephen Schwartz). Together with Michael Feinstein, he produces a regular series of concerts at Carnegie Hall highlighting the catalogue of both legendary and contemporary songwriters. Michael has also produced a regular series of interview programs entitled “Broadway: Up Close and Personal” for the Kennedy Center. Michael’s onstage conversations with some of our nation’s most prominent songwriters have included evenings with Jerry Herman, Alan and Marilyn Bergman, Charles Strouse, Sheldon Harnick, Marvin Hamlisch, and Stephen Schwartz. Michael produced the ASCAP Foundation Jerry Herman Legacy Program, which is a series of seminars, master classes and concerts featuring the legendary composer/lyricist. The program has been presented nationwide in such cities as Chicago, Sundance, San Francisco, Phoenix, Savannah, Miami and Pittsburgh. Michael is proud to be a member of the Boards of the Actors Fund and the Johnny Mercer Foundation.
Tom Dugan was honored for the Off-Broadway production of Wiesenthal with nominations for the New York Drama Desk Award, New York Outer Critics Circle Award, Los Angeles Ovation Award, and winning the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award, as well as being featured on PBS’s “Theatre Close-Up.” Wiesenthal (The script now available on Amazon) continues to inspire audiences with productions in Israel, Australia, India, as well as the U.S. Having kicked off the national tour of Wiesenthal at The Wallis in 2015 as well as the world premiere of his Jackie Kennedy project in 2018, Dugan is extremely pleased to return with the world premiere of his newest play Tevye in New York! His other critically acclaimed plays include: The Trial of Robert E. Lee, Oscar to Oscar, and The Ghosts of Mary Lincoln. Tom is currently developing two more plays – Frederick Douglass In The Shadow of Slavery, and his first multi-character play Cemetery Pub, as well as the film version of Wiesenthal.
Sheldon Epps was Artistic Director of the renowned Pasadena Playhouse for 20 years (1997-2017) and now serves the theatre as Artistic Director Emeritus. Before beginning his tenure at the Playhouse he served as Associate Artistic Director of the Old Globe Theatre for four years. He was also a co-founder of the Off Broadway theatre, The Production Company. Mr. Epps has directed both plays and musicals at many of the country’s major theatres including the Roundabout, Manhattan Theatre Club, the Guthrie, Playwrights Horizons, Seattle Repertory Theatre, Arena Stage, and the Goodman Theatre. He conceived the highly acclaimed musicals Play On! and Blues In the Night, which both received Tony Award nominations. He directed productions of both of those shows on Broadway, in London, and at theatres throughout the world. He co-directed the Broadway production of Baby It’s You!, which had its world premiere at The Pasadena Playhouse. He also has had a busy career as a television director helming episodes of shows such as Frasier, Friends, Everybody Loves Raymond, Girlfriends and many others. Mr. Epps received the James Irvine Foundation Leadership Award for his efforts and accomplishments at the Pasadena Playhouse. He served for many years on the SDC Executive Board and was previously also the Chair of the SDCF Board of Trustees. Recently he was appointed Senior Artistic Advisor at the historic Ford's Theatre in Washington DC.