Collaboration Brings Hancher and Orchestra Iowa Together for Exciting New Project

The University of Iowa’s Hancher and Orchestra Iowa are pleased to announce an exciting artistic collaboration between the two organizations and artist Tomáš Kubínek, who identifies himself as a “Certified Lunatic and Master of the Impossible.”

An Evening at The Symphony with Dr. Prof. Tomáš Kubínek, created by Orchestra Iowa and Tomáš Kubínek, will be presented by the University of Iowa’s Hancher and will premiere in November 2010. Following performances in Cedar Rapids, Iowa City, Decorah, and Mason City, Kubínek will perform the work with the Omaha Symphony and then hopes to tour orchestras around the world.

The program, a new creation for 82 musicians and one “Certified Lunatic,” is bombastic, beautiful, heartfelt, and hilarious – a profoundly entertaining evening of grand music, madcap brilliance, absurd invention, and old-world charm with enormous audience appeal satisfying symphonic newcomers and seasoned aficionados alike. An Evening at The Symphony with Dr. Prof. Tomáš Kubínek, started as a dream for Tomáš Kubínek, the artist at the center of the project. Kubínek, who has worked with Hancher in the past, envisioned a collaboration with an orchestra. When he approached Hancher executive director Chuck Swanson with the idea, Swanson immediately thought of Orchestra Iowa.

“We knew without a doubt that Tomáš and Maestro Hankewich would hit it off and have a wonderful relationship,” Swanson said. “We’re thrilled to be able to facilitate this collaboration and to see the new work come to fruition. We’re equally thrilled to have ensured that this project is seen in several Iowa communities before Tomáš takes the performance to orchestras far and wide.”

Kubínek and Orchestra Iowa Music Director Timothy Hankewich have been working on this project for more than a year, crafting this one-of-a-kind symphonic and comedic production.

"For me this work with an orchestra is a joyous step into a grander, more powerful theatrical context,” says Tomáš Kubínek. “The amazing music we are using and the sheer power of the orchestra coupled with my own skills, humor, and love of the absurd will reach people on a very deep level and leave them elated and grinning from ear to ear. The beauty of being able to collaborate on this project with Hancher and to perform live onstage with Orchestra Iowa is very inspiring to me. I can guarantee that people will remember this performance fondly for a very long time."
Maestro Hankewich is delighted to be collaborating with both Hancher and Kubínek.
“I can't thank Chuck Swanson enough for introducing me to Tomáš ,” says Maestro Timothy Hankewich. “We are kindred spirits with a shared love of laughter and are developing something special that will have far-reaching implications. Not only is this unique program being created right here in our area, but it is something that will be shared throughout the state and beyond. The fact that other orchestras and presenting organizations are watching closely with the intent of including this creation as part of their future offerings means that Hancher and Orchestra Iowa will be recognized for their ground breaking work wherever Tomáš performs-- nationally and internationally.”


Tomáš Kubínek
Kubínek’s internationally acclaimed solo performances play to packed theaters around the world. A collision of theatre and old-time music-hall, his exuberant one-man show is equal parts comic brilliance, virtuosic vaudeville, and irresistible charm.

In the past year Tomáš Kubínek has been the headline performer at the First International Congress of Fools organized by Slava Polunin (of Slava’s Snowshow fame) in Moscow, has played to capacity crowds on a 16-city tour of Italy (learning his full show in Italian for the tour) and has just returned from a sold-out run at London’s prestigious Royal Festival Hall Purcell Theater as the featured solo-artist of the London International Mime Festival.

He has appeared in over 30 countries on five continents and has been seen by millions of people in standing-room-only appearances at theatres, opera houses, international festivals of theatre and humor, in television specials, and on Broadway.
http://www.kubinek.com/symphony/symphony.html


University of Iowa’s Hancher
As the major arts presenting program of The University of Iowa, Hancher has brought the finest in world culture to Iowa City for more than 35 years, presenting the greatest artists and companies while forging a pioneering path in the creation of new works. Along the way, Hancher has become one of the world’s leading presenters of the performing arts. The New York Times calls Hancher a “forward-looking arts sponsor,” and the British publication International Arts Manager identified Hancher as one of the top university-based Arts Centers in the United States.

To date, Hancher has commissioned more than 90 new pieces from choreographers like Paul Taylor and Twyla Tharp, and composers such as Joan Tower and John Corigliano. This visionary activity is one of the primary reasons Hancher has received substantial funding from the National Endowment for the Arts and from the Wallace Foundation, among other funders.

Hancher first collaborated with Tomáš Kubínek in the Spring of 2006 on a state-wide residency program known as “Spot – The Hancher Family Arts Adventure” which features performances, workshops, and community outreach projects throughout Iowa and was funded by the Wallace Foundation and the University of Iowa. Due to the success of that collaboration and Hancher’s commitment to the creation of new work Mr. Kubínek sought – and easily garnered – Hancher’s support for this new symphony project.
www.hancher.uiowa.edu


Orchestra Iowa
Founded in April 1921, Orchestra Iowa is one of the oldest symphony orchestras in continuous operation west of the Mississippi River. Its 82 professional musicians perform more than 120 public performances throughout Eastern Iowa each year, many of which can be heard on Iowa Public Radio and seen on Iowa Public Television.
www.orchestraiowa.org

Tickets will be available through each organizations 2010-2011 series.