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Vail Valley: Vilar reopens with diverse duo

Kris Sabel
Vail, CO Colorado
Special to the Vail DailyVail Valley music: Singer, songwriter and pianist Vienna Teng and percussionist Alex Wong use a variety of instruments during their live performances
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VAIL VALLEY, Colorado –The first of this month marked the beginning of the new season at the Vilar Center in Colorado’s Vail Valley. While we present fewer performances at this time of year, there is still a great deal of activity at the Beaver Creek theater.

On Monday we had nearly 1,000 students at the center to see “Peter and The Wolf,” the first performance in our 09-10 STARS educational program. Each season approximately 5,000 local students come to the Vilar Center during their class time to experience a variety of performing arts opportunities that tie into work they are doing in the classroom. In addition to the curriculum based tie-ins, this program also teaches these young people the etiquette and experience of going to see live theater and hopefully instills in them a lifelong love of the arts. The STARS program presents the best in performing arts for young audiences from companies from all over the world and has been an ongoing part of our mission since the Vilar Center opened.

Through the generosity of our donors we are able to provide this at no cost to the students or the schools. Our lead underwriters for this program are Pat and Peter Frechette with additional funding from Vail Resorts and several community sponsors.



The theater is dark for the next three weeks for maintenance and renovation. We will replace the stage’s floor covering with a new, state-of-the-art material that is more durable.

We also will expand the orchestra pit to make room for larger orchestras for opera and dance performances, add more seats for our big name concerts and provide safer access stairs from the stage to the audience. We are also in the process of replacing all of the black stage drapes.

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These are just a few of the projects that will be happening along with cleaning, painting and maintaining all of the stage, sound and lighting equipment. Major funding for these projects comes from the Beaver Creek Metro District.

We resume our fall performances on Oct. 24 with singer, songwriter and pianist Vienna Teng and percussionist Alex Wong in a very special and intimate performance. Their first studio collaboration, “Inland Territory,” was released in April.

In live performance, using an array of instruments, looping pedals and other effects, the duo veers from intimate to epic and back again, showcasing their love for folk, pop, classical, jazz, country and even atonal, modern music. Check them out on our Web site (www.vilarpac.org) to see just how incredible this concert is going to be.

In November, we have performances with singer/songwriter/folk troubadour Ellis Paul on the 12th, rock favorites The Black Crowes on the 14th, Australian pop stars The Ten Tenors on the 19th, the Vail Performing Arts Academy’s annual musical revue “You Can’t Stop the Beat” on the 21st and 22nd, and the annual Warren Miller Ski Film on the 27th and 28th.

In addition to these shows we also have a number of events with local nonprofit organizations, the Vail Valley Medical Center and the Vail Valley Charitable Fund’s annual calendar unveiling.

Tickets for all of these events are on sale now. Of course the biggest question on everyone’s mind is ‘when will the full winter schedule be announced and go on sale?’

We are still working to finalize the schedule before we go to print and plan to make a formal announcement on Oct. 16. As always, we encourage you to stay tuned to our Web site throughout the winter as we always strive to bring the best artists to the theater, so we’ll continue to add to the lineup as we go.

Tickets will go on sale to the public on Nov. 2 with priority ticketing for our donors happening over the next three weeks. Tune back in to the Vail Daily next week to learn more about the lineup, and we look forward to seeing you at the theater throughout the fall and into next winter.


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