1) Vatican Splendors: From St. Peter’s Basilica, The Vatican Museums, and Swiss Guard The largest collection of
Vatican artifacts ever to tour the country, this exhibit will only be seen in four U.S. cities—and St. Paul is one of them. The show features more than 200 Vatican artifacts and artworks, including crowns, robes, paintings, and relics from as far back as 300 A.D., many of them displayed in dramatic recreated settings. Opens Sept. 27.
The Minnesota History Center, 345 Kellogg Blvd. W., St. Paul, 651-259-3000
2) Merce Cunningham’s Ocean, Walker Art Center
Legendary choreographer Merce Cunningham turns ninety this year, and part of the celebration is a remount of his most ambitious work ever, Ocean, at (get this) the Rainbow Rock Quarry in St. Cloud. There, Cunningham’s dancers will perform to the music of a live, 150-piece orchestra and create a spectacle of historic proportions. Sept. 11-13, Rainbow Quarry, Waite Park, near St. Cloud, 612-375-7600
3) India: Public Spaces, Private Spaces, Minneapolis Institute of Arts
The MIA’s big fall show features the work of twenty-eight contemporary photographers and video artists whose work grapples with the paradoxes of everyday life in modern India. A nation driven simultaneously by ancient cultural traditions, modern economic pressures, and contemporary cultural influences, India is a vast and mysterious country to many Westerners, but this exhibit will go a long way toward illuminating it. Oct. 26-Jan. 18, 2009, Minneapolis Institute of Arts, 2400 Third Ave. S., Mpls., 888-642-2787
4) Shadowlands, by William Nicholson, The Guthrie Theater
This play explores the complex connection between famed author C. S. Lewis, whose mother died of cancer, and his wife, Joy, who also died of the disease. Lewis was one of the most influential Christian thinkers of the twentieth century, and the play argues that his struggle to reconcile the deaths of his wife and mother with his faith was central to much of his writing. Nov. 7-Dec. 31, The Guthrie Theater, 818 S. 2nd St., Mpls., 612-377-2224 (Note: C. S. Lewis fans may be interested to know that while Shadowlands is playing at the Guthrie, the Children’s Theatre Co. will be featuring a new production of The Lion, Witch, and the Wardrobe, based on C. S. Lewis’s Chronicles of Narnia.)
5) Eero Saarinen: Shaping the Future, Walker Art Center and Minneapolis Institute of Arts
Famed Finnish-born architect Eero Saarinen was one of the most influential figures in late twentieth-century design, a giant who designed structures as varied as St. Louis’s Gateway Arch, the TWA terminal at JFK airport, and IBM’s corporate campus in Rochester. Parts of this ambitious exhibit—which features models and drawings of more than fifty buildings, some of which were never built—will be on display at both the Walker Art Center and the Minneapolis Institute of Arts. The exhibit is the first true collaborative exhibit between the two institutions since Olga Viso (Walker) and Kaywin Feldman (MIA) took the director reins at their respective institutions. Sept. 14-Jan. 9, 2009
6) Peter Pan, Children’s Theatre Company
Though it will take place on CTC's smaller Cargill Stage, this innovative interpretation of the popular children’s story is a show produced in collaboration with the Scottish theater for young people, Visible Fictions. The production itself was developed by famed shadow puppeteer Fabrizio Montecchi and uses a phantasmagorical array of shadow puppets and other effects to bring the story of Peter Pan to life. Sept. 5-Oct. 2, Children’s Theatre Company, 2400 Third Ave. S., Mpls., 612-874-0400
7) St. Paul Chamber Orchestra 50th Anniversary: Maria Schneider and Dawn Upshaw
To celebrate its fiftieth birthday, the SPCO has commissioned Grammy-award-winning jazz composer Maria Schneider to write a song cycle for SPCO artistic partner Dawn Upshaw. The catch: Schneider has never written for a classical ensemble before, so the results are bound to be interesting. Early word is that Schneider’s composition is based on verses from the Brazilian poet Carlos Drummond de Andrade. Oct 23-25. Ordway Center for the Performing Arts, 345 Washington St., St. Paul, 651-291-1144
8) Ah, Nagasaki, Minnesota Chorale and collaborators
It just so happens that St. Paul is the sister city of Nagasaki, Japan. To commemorate the sixtieth anniversary of the bombing of Nagasaki, the Minnesota Chorale has teamed up with a number of other organizations, including the Mu Daiko drummers, to present this world premiere by composer Robert Kyr. In the piece, two halves of the choir separate and gradually come together as a symbol of peace and reconciliation. Oct. 11, The O'Shaughnessy at the College of St. Catherine, 2004 Randolph Ave., St. Paul, 651-690-6700
9) VocalEssence’s 40th Anniversary Celebration
If anyone knows how to throw a party, it’s Philip Brunelle and Garrison Keillor. And on the occasion of VocalEssence’s fortieth anniversary, they’re pulling out all the stops with a bash at Orchestra Hall on September 14, hosted by Keillor and featuring premieres by composers Kitty Brazelton and Stephen Paulus. A month later, VocalEssence celebrates its ongoing mission, “to celebrate choral music beyond the warhorses,” as artistic director Brunelle describes it, with a rare performance of Hector Berlioz’ Te Deum at the Cathedral of St. Paul on October 17. 40th Birthday: Sept. 14, Orchestra Hall, 1111 Nicollet Mall, Mpls., 612-371-5656; Berlioz Te Deum: Oct. 17, Cathedral of St Paul, 239 Selby Ave., St. Paul, 612-371-5642
10) Wicked, The Orpheum Theatre
One of Broadway’s most popular shows is back, featuring the witches of the Wizard of Oz before they got acquainted with Dorothy. “The untold story of the witches of Oz” had a run a couple of years ago. If you missed it, be sure to catch it this time around. Nov. 11-Dec. 5, The Orpheum Theatre, 910 Hennepin Ave., Mpls., 612-373-5600
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