Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet wowed UCLA Live audiences in 2009 and we’re bringing this leading modern dance company back for two very special programs.

The company is known not just for its dancers’ daring, athletic movement but for its ongoing commitment– led by Artistic Director Benoit-Swan Pouffer– to seek out, commission and perform work from the most accomplished and interesting choreographers working today.

We’re pleased to present West Coast premieres of new pieces created for the company by some of the brightest stars in contemporary dance—Regina Van Berkel, Crystal Pite and Alexander Ekman. The company will also perform a work Hofesh Shechter created for Cedar Lake in 2010 and another Ekman work.

Read on for an overview of the choreographers and program Cedar Lake will expertly interpret Friday April 27 and Saturday April 28 in Royce Hall.

REGINA VAN BERKEL—Cedar Lake brings Simply Marvel from the Netherlands-based choreographer, who received her ballet training at Nederlands Dans Theater and danced from 1993 to 2000 with William Forsythe as a permanent member of his Ballett Frankfurt. Since then she has created original ballets for such companies as Pretty Ugly Ballet of Freiburg, Tanz Performance of Cologne, Nederlands Dans Theater, Göteborg Ballet and more, including commissions from Holland Dance Festival, Steps Festival and Weimar Arts Festival.

Cedar Lake performing Simply Marvel by Regina van Berkel

Simply Marvel is a contrasting work. Poetic duos and trios of dancers traverse chaotic movement and cautious transitions. The piece pairs van Berkel with her frequent collaborator Dietmar Janeck in lighting and set design. Van Berkel, as with all her work, is also the costume designer.

Cedar Lake will perform Simply Marvel on both Friday April 27 and Saturday April 28.

CRYSTAL PITE— Cedar Lake premiered the acclaimed Canadian choreographer Crystal Pite’s Ten Duets on a Theme of Rescue in 2008 (including a performance on the UCLA Live season) and now presents the West Coast debut of Pite’s newest work created for the company, Grace Engine.

Set in a narrative framework, Pite approaches the human experience as a series of movements along a timeline. The dancing contains flashes of recognizable narrative, as if the body itself is a cinematic device, capable of jump cuts, flashbacks and montage.
Pite’s home company in Vancouver, Kidd Pivot Frankfurt RM is the resident company of Kunstlerhaus Mousonturm in Frankfurt, Germany. She is a former company member of Ballet British Columbia and Ballett Frankfurt and was resident choreographer at Les Ballets Jazz de Montreal from 2001-2004.

Cedar Lake performs Grace Engine on the Friday April 27 program.

ALEXANDER EKMAN—Ekman’s approach to modern choreography layers spoken word into his creative m ix. That was the case with his 2010 work for Cedar Lake, Hubbub and also with his new piece, Tuplet. The company presents the West Coast premiere of Tuplet on Saturday April 28 and will also perform Hubbub on Friday April 27.

Swedish-born Ekman, who began his career at age 16 dancing with the Royal Swedish Ballet, is known for his clever ideas, fast-paced choreography and the abundance of humor he infuses into his work. For Tuplet, the award-winning choreographer also developed a music score created in collaboration with the dancers rhythmic impulses and using their own bodies as percussion instruments–the sound integrated with original electronic music by Mikael Karlsson. It is a swift and pulsating work for six dancers.

Ekman says he created the dance in a style specific to the agile and forceful Cedar Lake dancers.

“The dancers move fast, the creation came fast, and the overall velocity of this company shaped the power, drive and rhythm of the piece,” he says.

HOFESH SHECHTER—Saturday April 28 Cedar Lake reprises its second commissioned work from the London-based, Israeli-born rising star of dance, Hofesh Shechter. In Violet Kid Shechter continues his unique examinations of man’s struggle for harmony within a complex and sometimes horrifying universe, set to profound and precise movement and a score composed by the choreographer.

Batsheva alum and winner of the Critic’s Circle National Dance Award for Best Choreography (modern) in 2008, Hofesh Shechter is fast becoming recognized as one of the U.K.’s most exciting artists.

Shechter thrilled and challenged UCLA Live audiences earlier this year with the U.S. debut of his explosive work, Political Mother.

It’s an amazing story of stress and success and interestingly enough, what came out of it is some of the pair’s best work to date.

Heidi was reluctant to even work on the album at first.

“I didn’t want to do this record,” she admits. But when she heard a bit of her own truth in the climactic track ‘Leave Believe,’ she says, “We decided that I should be involved.”

The new twist on the creative process, the raw exposing of their romantic life for album fodder, was personally challenging but ultimately gratifying for Heidi, a much more private person than Stew, who gave and took what he needed from it too.

“Stew said Making It was like his ‘therapy’ and I told him that therapy only works if you tell the truth.” The resulting song, “Therapy Only Works If You Tell The Truth” is as bare-naked as it is straight/no chaser rock ’n’ roll.

Music magazine Blurt says of Making It: “Musically Stew and Rodewald hit a new peak, deftly mixing the psychedelic pop that’s The Negro Problem’s usual stock-in-trade with the musical sophistication acquired from writing for Broadway. Lush melodies slow-dance with quirky textures and vice versa, each musical universe merging with the other.”

LA Times/KPCC music critic Ann Powers called the album “the Shoot Out The Lights of the slacker generation,” referring to Richard and Linda Thompson’s infamous post-breakup album. Listen to Powers review from “The Madeline Brand Show” here.

Stew and Heidi talk about their history, their music and the way both their hometown of Los Angeles and working in New York has affected their creative lives in a feature article in the March issue of Los Angeles Magazine, available on newsstands now.

And, read more about the he said/she said of Stew & Heidi’s fascinating stuck-together-breakup tale in this recent no-holds barred interview with the Wall Street Journal.

Hear Stew talk about the making of Making It, and reflect on his creative approach to life in this recent interview with NPR’s Terry Gross.

This weekend, The Artist is the frontrunner to take home a slew of Oscars and Hugo is multi-nominated as well. If you loved both of those films and want more great silent film in your life, we’ve got a treat for you March 10 with Tillie’s Punctured Romance, starring Charlie Chaplin in a pre-“little tramp” persona and featuring the screen debut of stage actress Marie Dressler.

The 1914 comedy will be set to music from organist Steven Ball, who is known as one of the finest silent-film composers around.

There’s nothing like watching a silent film on the big screen with sounds from the glorious Skinner Organ reverberating live in Royce Hall’s perfect acoustics. Seriously, you’ll wish you had popcorn. (Sorry, no snacks in the hall, though).

Historians believe this film may be the first full-length comedy ever made. And, the UCLA Film and Television Archive played a key role in preserving and restoring this classic to great condition. Read more about the film in these notes from David Pendelton.

Tillie’s Punctured Romance
With its all-star cast, fizzy blend of sophistication and flat-out slapstick, Tillie’s Punctured Romance is a landmark in film history for several reasons. Besides providing Marie Dressler with her screen debut and being the first feature film for both Mabel Normand and Charlie Chaplin, it is believed to be the first feature-length comedy film ever. Expanding the comic film from its usual one or two-reel length of six reels gave filmmaker Mack Sennett a broader canvas to better display his star and the comedic innovation with which he had made his name.

Marie Dressler was one of the American stage’s most popular actresses in the early 1900s. Mack Sennett was the preeminent maker of film comedy. He asked Dressler to star. The vehicle was Tillie’s Nightmare, a 1910 Broadway comedy in which Dressler had triumphed as the title character, a country girl taken advantage of by an unscrupulous seducer. By the time the film adaptation was shot, Dressler was 45, and much of the humor in the film turns on the contrast between the girlish naivete of the character and the ungainliness of the actress’ bulky physique and unglamorous demeanor.

Sennett surrounded Dressler with a number of Keystone players, including Normand, Chester Conklin and Charley Case. Undoubtedly the most important bit of casting was the inclusion of Charlie Chaplin as the male lead. Chaplin made his first films with Keystone, having joined the studio in December 1913. In Tillie’s Punctured Romance, Chaplin does not play his now-iconic “Little Tramp”–his character is a comically villainous seducer, poles apart from the good-natured Tramp. Nevertheless, Chaplin’s command of physical comedy is much in evidence and his insouciant demeanor, bowlegged walk and twirling cane, show that key components of the Little Tramp were already in place.

The film’s reputation suffered over the years as it was available only in drastically re-cut and shortened versions. The Archive’s recreation of the originally released version cuts footage from more than a dozen sources, resulting in a print more than nine minutes longer than most complete prints previously available. Tillie’s Punctured Romance was preserved in 2004 by UCLA Film and Television Archive with funding from the Film Foundation, UK Film Council and Saving the Silents—a Save America’s Treasures project organized by the National Film Preservation Foundation , the National Endowment for the Arts and the national Parks Service, Department of the Interior.

The restored film reveals itself as an interesting hybrid. Much of the action is staged frontally on sets, as befits Dressler’s theatrical experience and Chaplin’s music-hall roots. At the same time, many scenes are shot on location, and Sennett intercuts deftly between as many as four different locations. The film’s final reel is a comic crescendo, building from a brief pie fight to mayhem caused by Tillie firing a pistol indiscriminately, culminating with a farcical chase on a pier, featuring the Keystone cops on land and sea.

Theresa Willis-Peters, our program coordinator for UCLA Live’s K-12 program Design For Sharing, encountered this extraordinary man’s purpose and spirit up close, as she readied the Hall to welcome elementary-school students from across Los Angeles.

“As the last few school groups filed into Royce Hall for Hugh Masekela’s DFS Demonstration Performance on Friday morning, I made my way backstage. Once our ushers had all 1,200 middle and high school students settled in their seats, it would be my job, as DFS Coordinator, to welcome our audience and introduce the artists. Our stage manger gave the call: two minutes to curtain. More than a minute went by, but none of the musicians came to the stage. Rather than waiting in the wings by myself, I dashed back to the dressing rooms. I was hoping to corral the band into place so we could finally start, but I stopped short when I reached the green room.

Hugh and the band had gathered in a tight circle, hands clasped, singing. This, I knew, couldn’t be interrupted.

I was immediately grateful to get to hear this simple melody, to be so close to the source of such exuberance. I slipped into the corner, where I could stay out of the way. I would have been glad to stand there all day to just listen and watch, but I didn’t have the chance. Hugh was smiling at me over his shoulder.

He reached his hand out to me, and everyone shifted slightly, making space for one more. I slipped my hand into his, and was pulled into the circle. I had no idea what was being sung, but of course it didn’t matter. They filled the room with their voices, soaring and joyful. I stepped and swayed with the group, singing along as much as I could, a smile spread wide across my face. Too soon, the song ended with a long, resonating note. We lifted our still-clasped hands high in the air and everyone bowed their heads for just a moment before letting go. Hugh looked around at his fellow bandmates, gave me a nod and headed for the stage.

It was an unexpected gift to find myself part of that lovely moment of musical communion, one of those rare experiences that can only be called magical.

But, perhaps the real gift of the day was this: Everyone in Royce Hall that morning got some share of that magic. Hugh’s performance on stage was infused with the same inclusiveness and openness that I had just been welcomed with. Hugh and his band shared their music and their energy and their personal experiences with warmth and generosity. Even from the stage, this legendary performer was able to make the hundreds of students in the audience feel as I had just felt, offering his hand to each of them, bringing them all into his circle.”

Pretty great stuff. We’re lucky to have artists like Hugh Masekela in the world. We’re privileged to bring them to the Los Angeles audience, and to young people in this city.

Want more Hugh? Read about his equally uplifting evening performance in Royce Hall later that night, in this piece from International Review of Music.

And check out Hugh’s joyous new album Jabulani.

By the way, did you know the name of The Moth is derived from an idyllic and personal memory of group’s founder George Dawes Green? He wanted to recreate, in New York, the feeling of sultry summer evenings in his native Georgia, where he and his friends would gather on a friend’s porch to share spellbinding tales. There was a hole in the screen which let in moths that were attracted to the light, and the group started calling themselves The Moths.

Come to that light in Royce Hall March 1 for a special Moth Mainstage that is shaping up to be an evening of hilarity and poignancy around the theme Rush: Stories of Ticking Clocks– featuring tales of chasing the ephemeral, battling the ravages of the endless tick tick or begging the universe for just one more second.

Rudy Rush has signed on to host the show. Rush was the youngest host of the longest-running African-American syndicated show, “Showtime at the Apollo” and has appeared with Dave Chapelle and Martin Lawrence, and on shows such as “Def Comedy Jam,” Jamie Foxx’s “Laff-A-Palooza “and “Premium Blend.” He’s been featured in his own half-hour special on Comedy Central and was the comedic force on the long-running, nationally syndicated radio show, “The Doug Banks Morning Show.”

Joining Rush are a cadre of smart, funny, thought-provoking writers and storytellers including prolific essayist and author Jenny Allen, renowned UCLA hand surgeon Kodi Azari, poker champion Annie Duke, Upright Citizen’s Brigade regular and Emmy-nominated writer for “The Ellen Degeneres Show” Brian Finkelstein, and author, journalist and screenwriter Jerry Stahl.

Jenny Allen is an award-winning essayist, Broadway and New York Theater performer and writer of poignant comedy, often featuring tales from her life as a mom and cancer survivor. She’s been published in The New Yorker, The New York Times, New York, Vogue, Esquire, More, The Huffington Post and Good Housekeeping, and in anthologies including Disquiet, Please!, In the Fullness of Time, and The Fifty Funniest American Writers.

Check out this incredibly witty, slightly explicit (fair warning!) tale from a 2010 Moth event titled Raised Eyebrows: Stories of Shocks, Scandals and Surprises. Allen comically reveals her reaction to an unsettling discovery whilst perusing her teenage daughter’s email account–left accidentally open.

A member of our own UCLA family will hit the stage for this evening of The Moth with internationally renowned plastic surgeon and Kodi Azari, MD and associate professor of orthopedic surgery and plastic surgery at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. He was one of the lead surgeons on the first double-hand transplantation, the first arm transplantation performed in the United States, and the first hand transplantation in the Western United States.

And, Azari is no stranger to The Moth setting, having appeared last June at The Moth event Night: Stories of Stars Aligned, which featured esteemed scientists, writers and artists telling on-stage stories about their personal relationship with science.

You may know her from the “World Series of Poker” circuit, Annie Duke joins us to spin yarns related to her career as a professional poker player. Through March 2012, Annie has earned more than $4.2 million in live poker tournaments. At the “World Series of Poker” alone, she has cashed on 39 occasions, made 15 final tables, and won a gold bracelet in 2004. Last year, Annie wrote and read a story “A House Divided” about her upbringing and how it lead her to a career in gambling for the moth iTunes podcast.

Comedian/writer Brian Finkelstein is a regular performer and teacher at The Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre in Los Angeles. His last one-person show, “First Day Off in a Long Time,” was selected for the HBO/US Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen and chosen “Best in Comedy” by Time Out New York. The show was later developed as a sitcom for FOX. Brian has appeared in a variety of independent films, NPR, NBC’s “Late Night with Conan O’Brien,” TBS’s “Cut to the Chase,” and Comedy Central’s “Upright Citizens Brigade.” Most recently he was an Emmy-nominated writer for “The Ellen DeGeneres Show.”

Check out Brian at a previous Moth Mainstage, performing under the theme Love Hurts: Stories about Heartbreak. He self-deprecatingly talks about the bitterness left in the wake of an unrequited romance.

An author, journalist and screenwriter, Jerry Stahl is a unique player for this performance. His raw memoir of working in porn, television and film and chronicle of drug abuse and addiction recovery, Permanent Midnight, was made into a 1999 movie starring Ben Stiller. He’s also the author of novels Perv, I, Fatty (optioned by Johnny Depp) and Pain Killers and wrote the HBO movie, “Hemingway & Gellhorn,” starring Clive Owen and Nicole Kidman, which premieres in May.

Tickets are still available, starting at $20.

So please, come closer to the flame.

On January 28, UCLA Live presents a return appearance from They Might Be Giants in an afternoon performance the whole family can enjoy. A few tickets are still available for TMBG’s Family Show at Royce Hall (doors 2 pm, showtime 3 pm). Find out more and purchase seats here.

TMBG launched into kids’ music with the 2002 release of the album No! with a tracklist of songs celebrating imagination like “Robot Parade,” “Where do they Make Balloons,” “I Am a Grocery Bag” and more.

In 2005 the Giants released the well-received Here Come the ABCs replete with zippy tracks geared toward kids who are trying learning the alphabet. The album reached No. 1 on Billboard’s Children’s Music charts, won two National Parenting Publications Awards and Amazon.com called it “the best Children’s Music album of 2005″ and the 13th best overall album of 2005.

The duo followed up that success three years later with the release of Here Come The 123s, another Giants-branded installment of musical edutainment, this one with snappy songs starring numbers. The album won a Grammy Award in 2009 for Best Musical Album for Children.

The group’s most recent kids’ album is the Grammy-nominated Here Comes Science, released in 2009 and housed with such fun science-themed ditties as “Meet the Elements,” “How Many Planets,” “Solid Liquid Gas” and many more.

“Here Comes Science is not just a great introduction to the discipline for youngsters; it’s a body-rocking listen for Generation iPod,”Wired Magazine praised the album upon its release.

They Might Be Giants brought the house down with lively performances of the energizing songs from these albums at their last sold-out UCLA Live appearance. Join the eclectic pop duo for what is sure to be another lively afternoon that will go down in confetti history.

A versatile and in-demand performer on bass, and an acclaimed composer, arranger and educator McBride will co-headline our first jazz concert of 2012, closing out the night in a dynamic trio configuration after a performance from the Ravi Coltrane Quartet Saturday Feb. 11 at 8 p.m. LINK

The bad news is, the originally scheduled performer on this event, Geri Allen & The Timeline Band, had an unfortunate conflict that required the group to bow out of this performance. If you already purchased tickets hoping to see Geri and this change bums you out, never fear, we are offering ticket refunds at the point of purchase, so feel free to exercise that option.

While it would have been a great evening with Geri on the bill, we’re more than confident that Christian will be able to fill her shoes and help fill Royce Hall with an amazing evening of jazz.

Christian is an extremely skillful and talented bassist and a consummate performer with an ingratiating and genial presence. He charmed the UCLA Live audience in September by performing with Symphonic Jazz Orchestra unveiling the world premiere of Dark Wood, a concerto for standup and electric bass written in his honor by the legendary George Duke.

Christian’s been on something of a roll of late, releasing two vastly different but wildly successful albums in 2011. The Good Feeling, nominated for a 2011 Grammy, features McBride at his swinging best with his full big band. Conversations With Christian is an eclectic piece of work featuring McBride on bass performing 13 duets with some of his best friends and mentors including George Duke, Angelique Kidjo, Chick Corea, Eddie Palmieri, Regina Carter, Russell Malone and more.
Check out this December interview with Christian on NPR’s All Things Considered to hear more from this fantastic artist and these two albums.

Meanwhile, Ravi Coltrane has a treat in store for us on this same evening. Just this past December, he hit the studio to work on his first album for Blue Note Records, which will be released later this year. His February 11 gig at UCLA Live will be one of his first opportunities to perform the new music from this album and will be a Los Angeles debut of the latest from one of the finest musicians in modern jazz.

Hope your holiday season was fulfilling and we hope to see you here in Royce Hall for this exciting jazz event!

We asked them some questions about growing up in Los Angeles, and how the city contributes to their creative lives.

Stew & Heidi treated audiences at The Hammer Museum with a brief acoustic set this past October, after a freewheeling conversation about their career, their creative process and their memories of LA.

–Do you remember the first time you performed in front of an audience? Where was it, and do you remember what it was like?
Stew: It was at a high school talent show…my band was performing a three-minute song…but it felt like we were rocking in slow motion. It was like a dream where you walk down the school hallway naked, the three minute song felt three hours long…the difference between playing in our garage and playing in front of people was like reality vs. a dream.
Heidi: Can’t say when was the first time, because I grew up in a very musical family, so we were always performing in one thing or another. During the holidays, my sisters and I would sing for everyone. And I was singing in the chorus in musicals as a young kid. Everyone in my family would perform at the drop of a hat.

–What bands/artists did you listen to in high school?
Stew: I listened to everything that was on the radio because back then even the music that I hated was kinda good.
Heidi: 70′s rock bands. On the radio in the car and also in my bedroom. In the living room with my family it was everything from classical to show tunes to everything else.

Do you remember the first concert or performing arts event you went to?
Stew: I saw The Who in 1976 at Anaheim Stadium (I think its Angel Stadium now?). The roadies took Keith Moon offstage during the quiet songs. I feel very lucky that I got to see Keith Moon live. Keith Moon would have rocked twitter.
Heidi: The Carpenters at Anaheim Convention Center.

–What was the first instrument you played, and is it the one you still play?
Stew: I came home from school one day when I was eight and there was a new piece of furniture in my living room and it was called a piano. And I was supposed to learn it. I liked writing songs on it but didn’t like learning Haydn on it.
Heidi: I learned the piano before I can remember. I thought that it was just part of life that you play the piano! I write on piano now.

–Is there an instrument you wish you knew how to play?
Stew: Trombone.
Heidi: I love the drums and wish I would’ve gotten serious about playing years ago.

–Is it hard to write music together? Do you have a system, or special way that you go about it? You’ve been writing and performing together for a long time, how has your way of working together grown and evolved?
Stew: We know each other’s strengths better than we know our own. That’s why we are a team. I know what Heidi is capable of as an artist better than she does and she’s exactly the same with me.
Heidi: It’s always a different experience. I trust Stew’s opinion and we’re so honest with each other that it saves a lot of time. I think when you’re working with someone you’re not so close with, you might not always be so honest.

–You both grew up in the Los Angeles area, but in the last 10 years you’ve lived and worked in other cities and countries. Are there things about L.A. that you miss?
Stew: I miss Mexican food and weather you don’t have to be afraid of.
Heidi: I miss listening to NPR while driving. And Mexican food of course. And family and friends.

–How has L.A. helped to shape your point of view about music and style, and the way you play and approach songwriting?
Stew: I owe my career to garages and loving mothers. I became a musician while jamming with my friends in garages all across L.A. County. In L.A. as kids
we had time, lotsa time, long afternoons and loving mothers who allowed us to make noise in their rusty paint can, lawn-mower filled, dusty old garages…and sometimes even in their living rooms.
Heidi: I think growing up in the SoCal driving culture and listening to lots of radio hits of the 60′s and 70′s has made me appreciate the perfect pop song. And my first band rehearsed in a garage in the Valley, which gave us the freedom to spend lots of time working on songs.

–We ask everybody in this feature – what are you listening to now – what’s on your iPod?
Stew: I don’t own an iPod.
Heidi: I’m currently obsessed with Sufjan Stevens.

Do you have a memory, impression, image or thought about Los Angeles? Share it with Stew and Heidi and see what others think at http://portablelaheadspace.tumblr.com/

–Meryl Friedman

That includes UCLA’s very own Bluegrass and Old Time String Band (yep, we’ve got one of those!). These talented students got into the spirit of Scruggs visit by making up new lyrics set to the Bill Monroe tune “Shady Grove.” (Scruggs was a member of Bill Monroe’s Bluegrass Boys early in his career.)

Check out the original tune at this fun clip from “The Andy Griffith Show” and then take a look at the new original lyrics the UCLA students wrote.

Turnips in the wintertime
Tulips in the spring
When I get my money made
I’ll buy you a diamond ring

If I had a moonshine still
I’d fill it up with grain
Siphon off the hundred proof
And commence to kill my brain

I’ve spent my summer cutting veins
Not mine of course nor yours
I’ve spent my summer cutting veins
Of leaves I speak of course

I went down to Charlie’s store
To pick me up some bread T
here I saw that boogey-boo
Holdin’ Little Maggie’s hand

Goin to the mountain top
Getting a point of view
But a thirdway climbing I just stopped

…

Daddy drinks his whiskey
Momma drinks her wine
Grandma prays to the Lord
While Grandpa makes moonshine

All ye good folk gather round
And hear my tale of Shady
I left my dear grove long ago
I swear tis not my baby

There’s a woody spot in Oaklandtown
Ain’t never touched by light
Where the little green leaves of the redwood trees
Keep it dark as the starry night

…

Momma said “get you a wife”
and then you’ll be a man
But I still feel just like a child
When Mary takes my hand

Stuck here sitting on the bus,
With a stinky B.O man,
The boogey-boo’s after us,
We’re going as fast as we can

And here’s a peek at the UCLA group performing the Scruggs classic “Foggy Mountain Breakdown.”

Lang’s inspiration for the work was incredibly visual, he said. He imagined Glennie and Beiser walking out on stage together, sitting as equals and playing exactly the same music, both performing on cellos, albeit each playing the music in her own inherent style and interpretation.

“They’re both so lively and so up for any challenge, I really wanted to make a piece where it wouldn’t be a melody and accompaniment,” Lang said. “They are very exciting players and really dramatic. When you think of them as performers, you imagine how fiery they look when they play. They are both really alive onstage. Just the idea of seeing them do that together, side-by-side, at exactly the same time in unison, it became a very powerful image for me.”

Lang, who grew up “across the street from Royce Hall,” seems delighted that his friends are appearing together and said he hopes the four-minute piece will serve as a very special capper to the evening.