Ballet Tucson Announces Sugar Plum Tea 2018

Jenna Johnson as “Sugar Plum Fairy”
Photo by Ed Flores

As a prelude to Ballet Tucson’s annual presentation of The Nutcracker, experience the joy of tradition this holiday season with Ballet Tucson’s 18th Annual Sugar Plum Tea on Sunday, December 2.

The Marriott University Park Hotel will be transformed into a magical wonderland of “Nutcracker” sights and sounds. Festivities will include an inspired silent auction, a holiday boutique and marketplace with unique Christmas gifts and stocking stuffers, characters from The Nutcracker, and performance of excerpts from the ballet’s Act II – “Kingdom of the Sweets” by the company’s talented dancers.

Entertainment headliners to provide live holiday music will be Jeff Haskell with Katherine Byrnes and harpist Christine Vivona.

All proceeds benefit Ballet Tucson (Tucson’s professional ballet company).

About Jeff Haskell:

Jeff Haskell began his jazz career as a scat-singing boy soprano in Philadelphia. At age 12, he sang and played saxophone professionally, adding the organ a year later. Soon thereafter, he immersed himself in jazz. The first winner of the first American Collegiate jazz festival, he soon went on to play in Europe. He received a BA in Music Education from Westchester University (PA) and a Masters in theory from the University of Arizona. While studying for a Doctorate of Musical Arts in Composition from UA, he served as the second Director of the Tucson Boys Chorus.

Jeff has earned three Emmy Awards for his work on a children’s program. He served as music director, arranger and conductor on the Las Vegas/Reno circuit for country music legend Buck Owens. He has conducted the Boston Pops, the Chicago, Seattle, San Francisco, Dallas and Baltimore Symphony Orchestras, among others. He won the Lifetime Achievement honor from the Tucson/Pima Arts Council in May of 2007. He is co-founder and musical director of the Tucson Jazz Orchestra, and as a senior faculty member in the School of Music & Dance at the University of Arizona, Jeff is the area coordinator of Jazz Studies and director of the recording studio.

About Katherine Byrnes:

Jeff Haskell & Katherine Byrnes

Katherine Byrnes is an award-winning vocalist based in Tucson, Arizona. A graduate of the University of Arizona School of Music, Katherine has toured the world singing Jazz, Broadway, Rock, and Classical genres. Her projects have taken her as far as China, all across Europe with Blue Note recording artist Amos Lee, and throughout the United States with her original band, Sweet Ghosts, a blend of Americana writing and synthesizer textures.

Raised in the Sonoran Desert, Katherine is a proud contributor to the eclectic Tucson Arts scene. She is production manager and choreographer of the Gaslight Theater, co-producer of Invisible Theater’s 2016 Sizzling Summer Sound Series, and assistant director of the Pastime Players, a program for children with special abilities to build confidence through singing, acting, and dancing. She has featured local Tucson artists as host of In Tune on Arizona Public Media (AZPM) and has guest sung with the Tucson Pops Orchestra and local luminaries Calexico.

About Christine Vivona:

Harpist Christine Vivona
Photo by Taylor Noel Photography

Dr. Christine Vivona dazzles with her masterful elegance and spectacular style. She received her Master of Music degree from The Juilliard School and her Doctorate of Music degree from the University of Arizona. She has performed with True Concord (Grammy Award Winner), Tucson Symphony Orchestra, Chandler Jazz Festival, and with legendary artists including Leonard Bernstein, Bernadette Peters, Ray Charles, Johnny Mathis, The Moody Blues, Christopher Cross, Roberta Flack, Al Jarreau, Trisha Yearwood, and Linda Ronstadt.

EVENT DETAILS:

Sunday, December 2 – 1:00 pm
Marriott University Park Hotel
880 E. Second St.
Tucson, Arizona

Reservations:
Online: www.ballettucson.org/special-events
Phone: Ballet Tucson (520.903.1445)
$75.00 per person