Carolina Performing Arts recently released its spring season finale rundown, including a variety of events from an interview series to dance performances.
With dates scattered from April through June, the virtual spring season finale events will feature artists with fruitful performance histories with CPA, some of whom are UNC graduates.
Christina Rodriguez, CPA’s associate director of marketing and communications, said there is a wide variety of artists and performance types in store, all of which strongly reflect the nature of CPA’s events throughout the semester.
“Each segment of events has become a sort of microcosm of what a typical season at CPA might look like,” Rodriguez said. “And by that, I mean there's a diversity of disciplines and artists. There is work that I would say is grounded in the roots of Carolina Performing Arts and what it has presented over time.”
In the event lineup, Tift Merritt, a musician and graduate of the University, will be hosting a live streamed interview series called “The Spark with Tift Merritt.” CPA launched a revival of this preexisting series this past September and is continuing the project for the spring finale.
“Tift has interviewed artists from all walks of life and from all different disciplines,” Rodriguez said. “In April, she will be interviewing dancer Michelle Dorrance, who is also a local. I think that the conversation is going to be really rich, exciting and warm. Tift is a wonderful interviewer, and she really brings those things out in the people that she interviews.”
Chris Pendergrass, the artistic planning manager at CPA, is excited for CPA’s final events of the semester to bring artistic performances back to the community in a digital environment. He said every featured artist has their own unique experiences and challenges with performing virtually.
Clara Yang, a professional classical pianist and associate professor of music at the University, is scheduled to perform alongside jazz pianist Aaron Diehl on June 4.
Yang and CPA have done a few major projects together in the past. Most notably in 2016, CPA commissioned a piano concerto written by world-renowned Chinese composer Chen Yi for Yang to perform with the China Philharmonic Orchestra in Beijing — the number one orchestra in China.
