The Mondavi Center invites audiences “to rejoice in the familiar (and) to join us in something new” in a 2014-15 season that features the U.S. premiere of iTMOi (In the Mind of Igor), a new dance theater work by Akram Khan, imagining the composer Stravinsky's state of mind as he created The Rite of Spring.

Other highlights include the pianists Lang Lang and Jeremy Denk, recipient of a MacArthur “genius” grant; first visits by the London Symphony and the Seoul Philharmonic; the return of old friends Itzhak Perlman and the Alexander String Quartet; such legendary figures as jazz patriarch Delfeayo Marsalis, ballet dancer Wendy Whalen and South African trumpeter Hugh Masekela; other well known names like Dr. John and David Sedaris; and the more esoteric talents of Inuit throat singer and multimedia artist Tanya Tagaq.

In academic collaboration with the Department of Music, the Mondavi Center will present the Music & Words Festival. "Great meaning can be inferred from the delivery and choice of words, be it in writing, a speech or a song," the season brochure states. "The confluence of music and words is a logical connection" — and a subject to be explored in depth, Jan. 29-31.

The Music & Words program includes concerts by the UC Davis Symphony Ocrhestra and the Empyrean Ensemble, as well as So Percussion.

The program also includes a free presentation by Professor Bob Ostertag (cinema and technocultural studies) of Sooner or Later, based on the sampled audio of a boy in El Salvador in the process of burying his father. High Performance Magazine describes the work as an “audio microscope" of the words spoken by the boy during this emotional experience.

The season of 88 programs by 60 artists/ensembles runs September through May. See the season brochure.

Various subscription ticket packages are now available. Most series contain three to four events and the choose-your-own package is a minimum of five events. Series subscribers receive discounts of 20 percent off regular ticket prices and an additional 15 percent off ticket purchases throughout the season. UC Davis faculty and staff receive an additional discount of 10 percent. Students, as always, receive a 50 percent discount.

“The Mondavi Center’s season builds on our 12-year tradition of finding the best and brightest artists and speakers, both emerging and established, in music, dance and theater,” said Don Roth, executive director. “In their pursuit of excellence, these performers and thinkers reflect a spirit of inquiry and discovery we find all around us on the UC Davis campus. These artists find here not only two extraordinary performance spaces — Jackson Hall and the Vanderhoef Studio Theatre — but remarkable and extraordinarily responsive audiences.”

Subscription purchases

Subscriptions can be purchased online; by telephone, (530) 754-2787 or (866) 754-2787; or in person (the box office is open from noon to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday).

One-on-one assistance with subscription orders will be offered during an open house, 9 a.m. to noon Saturday, May 3, in the Yocha Dehe Grand Lobby.

The deadline for renewals is May 31. Single tickets are due to go on sale Aug. 15.

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