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[00:00:00]
Kimberly Schofield: From Illinois Soul, this is Dialogue. I'm Kimberly Schofield. Dialogue is an exchange about culture straight from the soul. The Krannert Center for the Performing Arts has announced its 2026-2027 season featuring musical performances from artists around the world, dance groups from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, and international organizations, artists in residence, and so much more. I spoke with Krannert's director Mike Ross about the season and its theme, Celebrate Community.

[00:00:34]
Mike Ross: Celebrate Community is not just a local thing, but a global thing. When we think about the arts, the party will kick off with this incredibly fabulously zany marching band called [Mgapatsa]. They are just so much fun. And additional musicians will include the fabulous Chicago-based group Funka Daisy, which for decades has been bringing joy to their audiences every single time. They're just a beautiful mix of sort of Bollywood and all kinds of world music fusion. And Auntie Ballas and Doctor Nativo, they're musicians and groups and there will be puppetry involved. And of course, as always, food and beverage, come as you are, or dress to the nines, whatever you feel like doing. But it's a moment hopefully where people will, you know, take that step to step away from daily life and choose to be together in the same place, to gather and to be reminded of how much goodness there is to celebrate.

[00:01:54]
Kimberly Schofield: What can we expect to see this

[00:01:56]
Mike Ross: season? Well, in addition to the things that people may be more familiar with, including of course classical music and modern dance, jazz — and we can talk about it, all those things too. But a couple of things come to mind in response to that question. One is the fabulous cirque company Circus Mechanics with their program Tilt. Another one that comes to mind, that's off the beaten path, so to speak, is this incredible illusionist, mentalist, magician type who took the Edinburgh Festival by storm a few years ago. His name is Scott Sylvan.

[00:02:44]
Scott Sylvan: Hey, I'm Scott Sylvan and my hobby is reading minds. I know it's a little strange, but I'm here with my new show, The Lost Things. Now I have heard a little bit of a rumor though that you're [meant to be] a little bit of a sketchy.

[00:02:57]
Mike Ross: He astonishes every single time, but he has been working on a new project, The Lost Things. It's one of those experiences that I hope will be a moment for our time, so to speak — you know, an opportunity to step away from some of the chaoticness of the world and have time to reflect and also just be entertained and, you know, surprised in a beautiful way.

One really fun project that we are collaborating with the Champaign-Urbana Symphony on is a performance entitled One Piece Music Symphony. One Piece is a reference to the iconic Japanese anime series. The creators of One Piece have designed a live performance experience for audiences to come and hear the music of One Piece being performed by a live orchestra with iconic imagery from the series being projected.

Another beautiful collaboration, this one with the University of Illinois School of Music Wind Symphony, is a collaboration with the fabulous Broadway star Renée Elise Goldsberry from Hamilton.

[00:04:29]
Renée Elise Goldsberry: [Romanticize what might have been if I hadn't.]

[00:04:36]
Mike Ross: She has developed a beautiful collaborative project that will take the audiences on a spiritual journey through gospel, rock, Broadway tunes — just a really beautiful mix of musical styles and influences.

[00:05:09]
Kimberly Schofield: For a full list of performances for the Krannert season, including Step Afrika!, a tribute to Zakir Hussain, and an evening with another Broadway star, Tony and Grammy Award winner Audra McDonald, visit [krannertcenter.com]. Krannert Center for the Performing Arts is a financial supporter of Illinois Public Media. That's all for this week's show. Our producer is Reginald Hardwick. Our editor is Curtis Beasley. Our theme was composed by Lamont Holden. Dialogue and Illinois Soul are part of Illinois Public Media, a service of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. I'm Kimberly Schofield. Thanks for listening.