WHAT'S PLAYING...

Events

Dates in BLUE indicate more info below.

May
    19th - The 2008 NICKY Awards
    28th - Children's Creative and Performing Arts Academy   
  
June
    21st - Kenny Burrell Quartet - w/Mike Wofford,
    Bob Magnusson, Duncan Moore
    presented by Lyric Opera San Diego

July

August
    2nd - Mark O'Connor's Appalachia Waltz
    presented by Lyric Opera San Diego

September
    26th - Candide - presented by Lyric Opera San Diego
    Tickets not available until after July 15.  
    27th - Candide - presented by Lyric Opera San Diego
    Tickets not available until after July 15.
    28th - Candide - presented by Lyric Opera San Diego
    Tickets not available until after July 15.

October
    2nd - Candide - presented by Lyric Opera San Diego
    Tickets not available until after July 15.  
    4th - Candide - presented by Lyric Opera San Diego
    Tickets not available until after July 15.
    5th - Candide - presented by Lyric Opera San Diego
    Tickets not available until after July 15.
    18th - Gaelic Storm - presented by
    Lyric Opera San Diego

November
    14th - Daughter of the Regiment - presented by Lyric     Opera San Diego - Tickets not available until after July 15.  
    16th - Daughter of the Regiment - presented by Lyric     Opera San Diego - Tickets not available until after July 15.
    20th - Daughter of the Regiment - presented by Lyric Opera     San Diego - Tickets not available until after July 15.
    22nd - Daughter of the Regiment - presented by Lyric     Opera San Diego - Tickets not available until after July 15.  
    23rd - Daughter of the Regiment - presented by Lyric     Opera San Diego - Tickets not available until after July 15.

December

January 2009

February
    13th - Trial by Jury & Rumpelstiltskin - presented by Lyric     Opera San Diego - Tickets not available until after July 15.  
    14th - Trial by Jury & Rumpelstiltskin - presented by Lyric     Opera San Diego - Tickets not available until after July 15.
    15th - Trial by Jury & Rumpelstiltskin - presented by Lyric     Opera San Diego - Tickets not available until after July 15.  
    19th - Trial by Jury & Rumpelstiltskin - presented by Lyric     Opera San Diego - Tickets not available until after July 15.
    21st - Trial by Jury & Rumpelstiltskin - presented by Lyric     Opera San Diego - Tickets not available until after July 15.  
    22nd - Trial by Jury & Rumpelstiltskin - presented by Lyric     Opera San Diego - Tickets not available until after July 15.

March

April
    3rd - A Waltz Dream - presented by Lyric Opera
    San Diego - Tickets not available until after July 15.  
    5th - A Waltz Dream - presented by Lyric Opera
    San Diego - Tickets not available until after July 15.  
    9th - A Waltz Dream - presented by Lyric Opera
    San Diego - Tickets not available until after July 15.  
    10th - A Waltz Dream - presented by Lyric Opera
    San Diego - Tickets not available until after July 15.  
    11th - A Waltz Dream - presented by Lyric Opera
    San Diego - Tickets not available until after July 15.  
    12th - A Waltz Dream - presented by Lyric Opera
    San Diego - Tickets not available until after July 15.  
    

THE 2008 NICKY AWARDS

Monday, May 19th, 2008
Doors for show 6:30pm.
Award Ceremony is at 7:30pm SHARP.

MARK O'CONNOR'S
APPALACHIA WALTZ TRIO
with Rebecca Albers, viola and
Mike Block, cello

Saturday, August 2, 2008 (New Date)
Doors open: 7:00 pm - Performance begins: 7:30 pm



Mark O'Connor (born August 5, 1961 in Seattle, Washington) is widely considered to be the most prominent fiddler of his generation, and a prolific composer of instrumental music. As a teenager he won national championships on the guitar, mandolin as well as the fiddle. His mentors were Texas fiddler Benny Thomasson and Jazz violinist Stephane Grappelli. He has recorded solo albums for Rounder, Warner Bros. Records, Sony, and his own CD line OMAC Records. He has won two Grammy awards, one for his New Nashville Cats album and another for his Appalachian Journey album he did with Yo-Yo Ma and Edgar Meyer. He was named Musician of the Year by the Country Music Association six years in a row (from 1991-1996).

O'Connor has crossed musical genres, composing, arranging, and recording folk, classical and jazz music. His Fiddle Concerto has received over 200 performances making it one of the most performed concertos written in the last 50 years. He has composed six violin concertos, string quartets, string trios, choral works, solo unaccompanied works and a new Symphony. He has worked and recorded with a wide variety of artists, such as James Taylor, Bela Fleck, Renee Fleming, Stephane Grappelli, and Wynton Marsalis. Some of his more recent albums are or contain tributes to his musical mentors and inspirations, including Niccolo Paganini, Benny Thomasson, and Grappelli. The Appalachia Waltz Trio uses D'Addario strings. Mark O'Connor is represented by Vantage Artists Management.

For more information visit: www.markoconnor.com

Advance Tickets: $48 Gold Circle, $38 Reserved
Day of Show Ticket Price: $51 Gold Circle, $41 Reserved
   

GAELIC STORM

Saturday, October 18, 2008
Doors open - 7:00 pm Performance begins: 7:30 pm

From left to right – Steve Twigger (Coventry, England) – Vocals, Guitar, Bouzouki
Jessie Burns (Suffolk, England) – Fiddle
Ryan Lacey (Pasadena, CA) – Drums, World percussion
Patrick Murphy (Cork City, Ireland) – Vocals, Accordion, Harmonica
Pete Purvis (Merrickville, Ontario) – Highland, Uilleann, and Deger Bagpipes, Tin Whistle

Since its inception nearly ten years ago, Gaelic Storm continue to broaden the musical horizons of the Celtic music genre by creating compelling originals and fresh arrangements steeped in Irish traditional melody and acoustic instrumentation combined with their unique blend of world rhythms. The 14 new tracks on Bring Yer Wellies, capture the contagious energy of Gaelic Storm's renowned live performances. Channeling the rowdy communal feel of an Irish pub on raucous sing-alongs, driving pipe sets and spirited fiddle tunes, the band's sixth studio album was recorded in a one-month fury in April 2006 at The Zone recording studio in Austin Texas.

The new album comes on the heels of the band's first concert DVD, Live In Chicago, released in January this year. The Hi-Def DVD was taped on September 14, 2005 before a packed audience at the House of Blues Chicago. The 2-hour video showcases the trademark energetic performance and enthusiastic audience interaction that make the band a front-runner in the Celtic music genre today.

Touring aggressively and playing over 125 dates a year, Gaelic Storm routinely breaks attendance and merchandise sales records, pushing their popularity beyond the World music genre and into the mainstream music consciousness. Gaelic Storm performed on The Rock Boat 2004 along with mainstream rock bands such as Cowboy Mouth, Tonic, Sister Hazel and Gavin Degraw and set the Rock Boat CD sales record. The band was invited back to The Rock Boat in 2006 alongside acts such as Better Than Ezra and Marc Broussard. Gaelic Storm broke the attendance record previously held by Alan Jackson at the Albuquerque, NM Bio-Park and they continue to headline some of the largest Celtic and Folk festivals in the world including Festival Interceltique in Lorient, Brittany, the Pittsburgh Irish Festival, and Dublin Irish Festival. Remarkably, the band has headlined the largest U.S. Irish Festival, Milwaukee Irish Fest, for 4 straight years, and has become an exception to the festival's usual policy of not inviting artists to perform in consecutive years.

Gaelic Storm released their fifth album "How Are We Getting Home?" in August 2004 (Lost Again Records) which debuted at #3 on the Billboard World Music Charts and #10 on the Billboard Heatseekers Chart and re-entered the September 2005 World Albums Chart at #3.  Their previous four albums (Higher Octave Records/Virgin-EMI) have all charted high on the Billboard World Music Chart, including reaching the #2 position on three different occasions. Since their self-titled first album (#5 on Billboard's World Music Chart) and their appearance in the film Titanic, Gaelic Storm continues to thunder onto stages around the world.

On St. Patrick's Day, 1996, co-founders Patrick Murphy of Cork City, Ireland (vocals, piano, accordion, spoons, harmonica) and New Yorker Steve Wehmeyer (bodhran, vocals, didgeridoo) officially joined forces with Steve Twigger of Coventry, England (vocals, guitar, mandolin, bouzouki), at O'Brien's pub in Santa Monica, California. Their first performance was such a hit that the crowd refused to let them off the stage for the next act. In 1997, Gaelic Storm was catapulted out of their formative pub haunts by an appearance in the blockbuster film Titanic. Cast as the "party band" in the steerage scene, they landed the part while still drinking pints and playing weekly at O'Brien's.  After the film's release, the band was met by huge crowds on their first tour. However, they still pride themselves on remaining as accessible as ever and sharing "a pint" with fans whenever possible.

A mini-documentary about Gaelic Storm airs regularly on Cinemax, and the band has appeared numerous times on national and international TV. Perhaps the best indication of Gaelic Storm's newfound international success came when Michael Flatley (of Lord of the Dance fame) met Gaelic Storm vocalist and songwriter Patrick Murphy in Murphy's hometown, Cork City, Ireland.  "I told him he did a superb job of advancing Irish culture throughout the world, like the   Chieftains have for years," Murphy says, "and he said, 'In fairness to you, you've probably introduced Irish music to five minutes of fame with that little film clip.'"

Advance Tickets: $35 Gold Circle, $27 Reserved
Day of Show Ticket Price: $38 Gold Circle, $30 Reserved

Click HERE to view seating chart.

Click HERE for Map & Directions.

TICKETS OPTIONS

Phone - 619-239-8836

In Person at the Box Office
2891 University Avenue, Suite 1
Tues. - Fri., 12 noon - 4 pm

OR 24 HOURS A DAY ON-LINE

Click image for fast online ticket reservation with Visa/MasterCard

* All tickets, unless indicated otherwise, will have a $3 per ticket North Park Theatre Restoration Fee included in the ticket price.

Season tickets are not available on-line. For further information click here

Single show tickets will not be available
until after July 15th to allow for the season drive.

2008 SPRING MUSIC RECITAL & ART SHOW

May 28th, 6:30 pm



Presented by the Children's Creative and Performing Arts Academy

.KENNY BURRELL QUARTET
With Mike Wofford, Bob Magnusson & Duncan Moore

Saturday, June 21, 2008
Doors open: 7:00 pm
Performance begins: 7:30 pm

Kenny Burrell is one of the most respected jazz artists in the world. He has been active from 1956 to the present as a guitarist and composer in a variety of musical contexts including solo, small combo, large ensemble and symphony orchestra. He is a producer and recording artist whose extensive discography includes the critically acclaimed Guitar Forms; Ellington is Forever; and Kenny Burrell and John Coltrane. He has recorded 97 albums under his own name and several hundred with other artists. He has performed and recorded with many of the most influential musicians in jazz history including Duke Ellington, Herbie Hancock, Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Charlie Parker, Oscar Peterson, Tony Bennett, Billy Holiday, Quincy Jones, Coleman Hawkins, Sonny Rollins, Jimmy Smith, Art Blakey, Nat King Cole, Ray Charles, and Louis Armstrong.

Burrell, recipient of many awards, was named a 2005 Jazz Master by the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), a title awarded annually to a handful of living figures in recognition of their exceptional contributions to the field of jazz. He also received a 2004 Jazz Educator of the Year award from DownBeat magazine for academic achievement and excellence in jazz education. He is a recognized authority on the music of Duke Ellington and in 1978 developed the first regular college course on Ellington ever taught in the United States, at UCLA. In 1996, he was appointed director of the then new Jazz Studies Program, where he has brought to the faculty such jazz notables as George Bohanon, Billy Childs, Billy Higgins, Harold Land, Bobby Rodriguez, Anthony Wilson, and Barbara Morrison.

Born and raised in Detroit, Burrell found musical colleagues at an early age among jazz greats such as Paul Chambers, Tommy Flanagan, Frank Foster, Yusef Lateef, Betty Carter, and the brothers Hank, Thad, and Elvin Jones. While still a student at Wayne State University, he made his first major recording with Dizzy Gillespie, John Coltrane, Percy Heath and Milt Jackson.

Known for his harmonic creativity, lush tones and lyricism on the guitar, Burrell is also a prolific and highly regarded composer. His compositions have been recorded by many artists, including his "Dear Ella," performed by Dee Dee Bridgewater, which won a 1988 Grammy Award. He has received several commissions, including one which resulted in a world premiere at New York's Lincoln Center with the famous Boy's Choir of Harlem. His latest extended musical work, the "Ralph J. Bunche Suite," premiered at UCLA's Schoenberg Hall in June, 2004. The piece, commissioned by the Ralph J. Bunche Center for African American Studies at UCLA, is dedicated to the memory and legacy of that great humanitarian.

The founder of the Jazz Heritage Foundation and the Friends of Jazz at UCLA, Burrell is recognized as an international ambassador for jazz and its promotion as an art form. He is a professor in the Departments of Music and Ethnomusicology at UCLA.

Advance Tickets: $38 Gold Circle, $28 Reserved
Day of Show Ticket Price: $41 Gold Circle, $31 Reserved

The Stephen and Mary Birch North Park Theatre
2891 University Avenue, Suite 1, San Diego, CA 92104-2929 
Box Office:  619-239-8836    Administrative Office:  619-231-5714    Fax:  619-231-0662