Hayato Sumino

Saturday, April 4, 2026 at 8pm

Global View Series Sponsor
Worah Family Foundation

This performance will include a 15-minte intermission.

JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH (1685–1750) 

Chromatic Fantasia and Fugue in D minor, BWV 903

HAYATO SUMINO (b. 1995) 

New Birth (2022)

Recollection (2022)

Three Nocturnes - Pre Rain / After Dawn / Once in a Blue Moon (2023/2024)

FRÉDÉRIC CHOPIN (1810–1849) 

Nocturne in C minor, Op. 48 No. 1 (1841)

Scherzo No. 1 in B minor, Op. 20 (c. 1835)

-INTERMISSION-

HAYATO SUMINO (b. 1995) 

Big Cat Waltz (2020)

GEORGE GERSHWIN (1898–1937) 

An American in Paris (1928)

[arr. Hayato Sumino] 

MAURICE RAVEL (1875–1937) 

Boléro, M. 81 (1928–29) 

[arr. Hayato Sumino]

JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH (1685–1750) 

Chromatic Fantasia and Fugue in D minor, BWV 903 

Few keyboard works by Bach so vividly suggest the presence of the improviser as the Chromatic Fantasia and Fugue in D minor, composed before 1717. The Fantasia unfolds with extraordinary freedom: volatile in gesture, harmonically daring, and resistant to the symmetrical habits of high Baroque writing. At moments, it seems almost to speak, turning aside from figuration into passages that resemble heightened declamation or operatic recitative.

The Fugue, by contrast, channels that expressive instability into discipline and propulsion. Cast in three voices and firmly grounded in D minor, it is built on a long chromatic subject whose force gathers steadily as the work proceeds. The result is music of mounting gravity and inevitability. Revered already in the 18th century, the piece circulated so widely in manuscript that more copies of it survive than of any other individual work by Bach.

HAYATO SUMINO (b. 1995) 

New Birth (2022)

For Hayato Sumino, Frédéric Chopin is not merely a composer to interpret, but an artistic ideal: a musician whose craftsmanship is exacting, yet whose phrases seem to arise in the moment, as if improvised. Sumino has spoken of wanting not only to play Chopin well, but to learn from his aesthetic itself—its refinement, spontaneity, and sense of inevitability. It was with Chopin’s music still vivid in his imagination after the 2021 International Chopin Competition that Sumino composed New Birth and Recollection, two original works shaped by that encounter.

New Birth takes as one of its points of departure the streaming, arpeggiated world of Chopin’s Étude in C major, Op. 10, No. 1. But this is not transcription or paraphrase in any ordinary sense. Rather, Sumino uses Chopin’s keyboard language as a generative impulse—as a way of releasing his own virtuosic and imaginative response. The title suggests emergence, renewal, and transformation: music born from inheritance, yet not bound by it. What begins in homage becomes something newly made, with Chopin’s brilliance refracted through Sumino’s own fluent, contemporary voice.

Recollection (2022)

If New Birth turns outward in brilliance and motion, Recollection inhabits a more inward space: reflective, lyrical, and memory-charged. Sumino has described the piece as incorporating a melody from Chopin’s Ballade No. 2 in F major, preserved as a kind of souvenir from a journey to Warsaw, where he followed in the composer’s footsteps. As with New Birth, Chopin is not treated here as a distant monument, but as a living presence—something remembered, absorbed, and quietly reimagined.

The title is exact. Recollection does not simply quote the past; it listens back to it. Memory, in this piece, is neither fixed nor documentary. It returns in fragments, in atmosphere, in melodic traces that seem to hover between recognition and reinvention. The result is music of intimate retrospection: a personal response to place, lineage, and artistic kinship, where Chopin’s shadow remains visible, but the speaking voice is unmistakably Sumino’s own.

Three Nocturnes: Pre Rain / After Dawn / Once in a Blue Moon (2023/2024) 

For Hayato Sumino, composition begins not with abstraction but with touch: at the keyboard, through improvisation. As he has described it, a piece often grows from spontaneous ideas recorded in the moment, later shaped by selecting, connecting, and refining the most compelling material.

His Three Nocturnes—Pre Rain, After Dawn, and Once in a Blue Moon—were first released on his debut album Human Universe (2024). Together, they form a kind of nocturnal triptych, each rooted in a particular place, atmosphere, and passing hour encountered in travel. Pre Rain arose in South Korea in winter, in weather suspended between snowfall and rain. After Dawn was inspired by sunrise in his hometown in Japan, glimpsed while jet-lagged and awake at an unusual hour. Once in a Blue Moon was improvised in the rural south of France.

Each piece preserves something of its original landscape: temperature, light, solitude, and mood. The result is music that feels both personal and cinematic, translating fleeting impressions into sound, suspended between memory and story.

FRÉDÉRIC CHOPIN (1810–1849) 

Nocturne in C minor, Op. 48 No. 1 (1841) 

Chopin’s nocturnes reveal perhaps the most inward and singing side of his art. Yet within their often intimate scale lies an astonishing breadth of expression. The late Nocturne in C minor, Op. 48, No. 1 is among the most powerful of the set: a work of concentrated drama, noble rhetoric, and deep emotional layering.

Its opening is grave and arresting, and from that stillness the music rises gradually toward one of the darkest and most commanding climaxes in the entire nocturne repertory—almost orchestral in its scope. What follows is equally striking: not a triumphant release, but a retreat into a coda of unusual inwardness. The piece becomes, in miniature, a study in contrast, restraint, and the eloquence of afterthought.

Scherzo No. 1 in B minor, Op. 20 (c. 1835) 

Chopin’s four scherzos take a genre once associated with wit and lightness and transform it into something far more turbulent and grand. The Scherzo No. 1 in B minor, written some four years after his arrival in Paris, is among the boldest of them—compressed in form, yet immense in gesture and emotional range.

It begins almost in provocation, with commanding chords and rushing passagework that seem to announce themselves as a challenge. Yet Chopin places within this storm a moment of striking tenderness: a gently unfolding melody drawn from the Polish Christmas carol Lulajże Jezuniu. Heard in this context, the quotation becomes more than contrast; it is a remembrance of home—intimate and deeply affecting—set against the work’s larger drama.

-INTERMISSION-

HAYATO SUMINO (b. 1995) 

Big Cat Waltz (2020) 

Sumino’s Big Cat Waltz is at once affectionate, elegant, and mischievous—a miniature portrait gallery in motion. Written, as he shared, for his beloved cats, the piece was sparked in particular by one resident feline: outwardly placid, somewhat stout, yet unexpectedly agile.

Known online as “Cateen,” Sumino nods here both to Chopin and to the Viennese waltz tradition, though always with a sly smile. The buoyant triple meter, quicksilver changes of direction, and springing melodic leaps all suggest the cat’s peculiar blend of poise, unpredictability, and athletic grace. Beneath its charm lies a deftly stylized musical joke—a valse-scherzo in spirit, if not in title.

GEORGE GERSHWIN (1898–1937) 

An American in Paris (1928) 

[arr. Hayato Sumino] 

Gershwin described An American in Paris as the impression of an American visitor wandering the city, hearing its street sounds, and absorbing its atmosphere. He spoke of it after returning from Europe in 1928, by which time he was already firmly established on both Broadway and the London stage through works such as Funny Face, Rosalie, and Oh, Kay! Yet for all his success, he continued to pursue artistic expansion, seeking out major European composers including Milhaud, Poulenc, Prokofiev, Stravinsky, and Ravel—who famously declined to teach him, asking why Gershwin should risk becoming a second-rate Ravel when he was already a first-rate Gershwin.

It was during this visit that Gershwin began An American in Paris, which he characterized as “really a rhapsodic ballet,” freely written and among the most modern music he had yet attempted. Like his earlier orchestral works, it resists a fixed storyline. Its program is atmospheric rather than literal: a sequence of impressions, urban energies, and passing moods.

Gershwin’s rhythmic vitality, improvisatory instinct, and synthesis of musical languages have been especially meaningful to Hayato Sumino, who has arranged An American in Paris, I Got Rhythm, and Rhapsody in Blue. In an interview with NHK Radio, Sumino reflected on Gershwin’s influence in bringing genres together—a creative impulse he recognizes in his own work as well.

MAURICE RAVEL (1875–1937) 

Boléro, M. 81 (1928–29) 

[arr. Hayato Sumino] 

Ravel’s famously dry verdict on Boléro was that it was his only masterpiece—and that, unfortunately, it contained no music. The remark was characteristic: witty, provocative, and not entirely untrue to the work’s premise. Originally conceived as a ballet for Ida Rubinstein, Boléro is built from radically limited means: one rhythmic pattern, one melody, and two alternating sections, sustained across a vast crescendo driven not by thematic development but by changes in instrumental color.

In 1929, Ravel made a version for two pianos, and it is from that lineage that Hayato Sumino’s reimagining proceeds. Here, he further alters the instrument’s resonance by incorporating felt, dampening the strings in a manner that recalls aspects of John Cage’s prepared-piano practice.

Ravel himself cautioned early listeners not to search the piece for conventional expressive argument. He called it an experiment in an extremely narrow and deliberate direction, its themes impersonal and its character tied to a staged vision of urban modernity—a street scene, with a factory visible in the background. In that sense, Boléro belongs to the mechanized pulse of the early 20th century, not unlike Honegger’s Pacific 231. Its repetitions generate tension without transformation, fascination without release. That very quality has made it one of the most recognizable—and most argued-over—works in the orchestral canon.

“Something truly unforgettable was created by Hayato Sumino when he made his debut on the piano world’s biggest stage” (Classic FM).

Taking the concert world by storm, pianist and composer Hayato Sumino breathes new life into the term virtuoso. His dynamism and creativity are the building blocks of his astonishing online presence—boasting over 1.5 million YouTube followers and 240 million views, and still growing—and his passion and spontaneity draw fans to the concert hall, where he regularly sells out shows and captivates audiences across North America, Europe, and Asia, with lines out the door for his autograph.

Sumino’s unique style blends classical virtuoso tradition with an arranger’s ear and breathtaking improvisational skills, allowing him to share classical masterworks, jazz, and his original works with audiences around the globe. His global appeal is evidenced by his recent history-making wins of top honors in two categories in Germany’s most important classical music awards, the Opus Klassik Awards: Live Performance of the Year (Soloist) and Young Talent of the Year for his debut album on the Sony Classical label, Human Universe.

Released last fall, the record includes repertoire by Bach, Fauré, Purcell, Sakamoto, and Hans Zimmer, as well as Sumino’s own compositions and arrangements. His second Sony Classical album, Chopin Orbit, was released in January 2026 and reached No. 1 on the Apple Classical Top 100 chart.

The 2025–26 season marks Sumino’s busiest yet in North America and began with sold-out recitals at his Carnegie Hall debut, as well as appearances in Chicago; Stanford and Fresno, California; and with Canada’s National Arts Centre Orchestra in Ottawa. Spring 2026 sees a return to Carnegie Hall as soloist with The Philadelphia Orchestra, along with recitals throughout California, Massachusetts, and Vancouver. He made his Hollywood Bowl debut last summer to great acclaim, performing his signature version of Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue with the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

Overseas, he recently toured Japan with the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Marin Alsop and will soon give recitals in Italy, Austria, Germany, Switzerland, and Japan. Throughout the season, he performs on some of the world’s most prestigious stages, including the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, the Berlin Philharmonie, and the Vienna Konzerthaus.

Continuing a long series of accolades for his fresh and innovative approach to music, Sumino was awarded the 2025 Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival Leonard Bernstein Award. He was also featured on Forbes Japan’s “30 Under 30” list in 2023, which recognizes “young entrepreneurs, leaders, and trailblazers” who are spearheading “the transformation of industries and finding innovative ways to navigate new business realities.” In 2018, he won the Grand Prix at the PTNA Piano Competition, and in 2020, while completing his master of engineering degree, he received the University of Tokyo’s President’s Award for exceptional achievements in both music and academics.

Recent seasons have seen Sumino collaborating with the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra on an 11-concert sold-out tour of Japan conducted by Marin Alsop; appearing at the Ravinia Festival with Alsop and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra; and debuting in many of Europe’s renowned concert halls, including the Berlin Philharmonie and Munich’s Prinzregententheater. An extensive sold-out 24-recital tour of Japan culminated in a celebration of his July 14 birthday at Budokan in Tokyo, where he performed for more than 13,000 fans. His 2024 Royal Albert Hall debut of Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra created a media frenzy. In November 2025, his performance at K-Arena in Japan achieved a Guinness World Record for the most tickets sold for an indoor piano recital, with more than 18,000 in attendance.

Hayato Sumino is an exclusive Sony Classical recording artist, an Artist Ambassador for Apple Music Classical, a Steinway Artist, and a CASIO Ambassador, and he continues to forge his own path in the arts, equally comfortable across a wide range of genres and repertoire.

Bob Romney, Chairman
Community Leader

Gary Fabian, Treasurer
Chief Financial Officer
Kind Lending

William Parker, Secretary
Professor Emeritus Physics and Astronomy
University of California, Irvine

DIRECTORS

Eugene Choi
Betty Martinez Franco
Harason Horowitz
Terry Jones
Mike Kerr
Jennifer Klein
Dr. Tiffany Ana López
Bonnie Lubock
James Mai
Sherry L. K. Main
Jerry Mandel, Ph.D.
Christopher Ramsey
Richard and Cheryll Ruszat
Kathleen Treseder, Ph.D.
Stuart Winston
Anu Worah

HONORARY

Larry Agran
Mayor, City of Irvine
 
Howard Gillman, Ph.D.
Chancellor
University of California, Irvine

Public Partners
City of Irvine and UC Irvine

Official Health Care Partner
UCI Health

Corporate Sponsor
Haskell & White LLP

$50, 000+

Tom and Mayumi Adams

Paul and Bonnie Lubock

Thomas Rogers and Sally Anderson

Worah Family Foundation

$25, 000-$49, 999

Gerrit and Amy Cole Foundation

The Hiland Foundation

Bill and Carolyn Klein

The Richard and Elizabeth Steele Fund

Judy and Wes Whitmore

$10, 000 -$24,999

Gregory Bates and Joann Leatherby

Clifford and Jennifer Cheng

Eugene and Carol Choi

Paul and Anne Devore

Farhang Foundation

David and Trudi Gartley

Mike Gordon

Haskell & White LLP

Harason Horowitz

Mark Chapin Johnson Foundation

Terry and Judy Jones

Mike Kerr and Jenny Backhaus

Liza Krassner

Jerry and Whitney Mandel

Goran Matijasevic

Dot and Rick Nelson

Mary Watson-Bruce

William and Janice Parker Family Fund

William and Pat Podlich

Robert E. Romney

Richard and Cheryll Ruszat – Montessori Schools of Irvine

Al Spector and Tatjana Soli

Greg Zaret

Charlie and Ling Zhang

$5, 000 - $9, 999

Stephen and Mary Auerbach

Robert and Lillyan Cendejas

Rohit Deshpande and Anita Watumull

Gary Fabian and Deb Solon

Chuck and Janet Henze

Eleanor Jaffy and Andrew Vollero

Jack and Joy Kayajanian

Robert Kazer and Jill Richter

Ken and Chantelle Labowe - Labowe Family Foundation

Josh Martin, Emerald Real Estate Partners, and Tom Politowski

James McGaugh

Natalie Miles

Tom Newmeyer

Andrei Olenicoff Memorial Foundation

James and Lynn Payne

Christopher and Lynne Ramsey

Salwa Rizkalla

Adreana Souleles

Craig and Kirsten Springer

Alexander and Sachiyo Stimpson

Ms. Renee Walter

Brian and Beth West

$2,500 - $4, 999

Terri Beber and Terry McDonald

Ellen Breitman and Brien Amspoker

Terry Causey

Albert and Anne Encinias

Arlene and Steven Fienberg

Douglas and Kathleen Forde

Greg and Sumie Haase

Michael and Charisse Lyseight

Patricia M. McIntyre Foundation Fund at the Chicago Community Foundation

Mark J. Nielsen

Marcia Novegrod

Arthur Ong and Ginger Sun

Bill and Joyce Perrone

Ron and Jan Redmond

Bob and Jo Anne Simon

Eric and Donna Stovner

Kurt and Ellen Youngs

Robert Zasa and Judy Amiano

$1,000 -$2,499

Beth and Michael Adler

Charlotte W. and Richard D. Alexander Charitable Foundation

Scott and Katherine Arbuckle

Diane and Dennis Baker

James Carter

Alice and Dennis Creighton

Brad Crosley

Gail Doe

Jeanne Egasse and Boyd Philpot

Francis and Ruby Foo

David and Judy Fukuda

Stanford Gertler

Gary Good and Jackie Charnley

Roger and Patt Grable

Geeta and Sanjiv Grover

Loren Hansen and Lorraine Caukin

Karen Kewell Jacoby

Dr. Elliott Kornhauser and Mr. Joe Baker

Rachel Levin

Lutz Moeckel

Janis and Dave Murray

James Pick and Rosalyn Laudati

Jill M. Prentice

Diana Putz

Joel B. Rothman

Debbie and Frank Rugani

Phil and Joy Ruggiero

Arkady and Ella Serebryannik

Sally Anne and Don Sheridan

Walter and Masami Stahr

Robert and Veronica Start

CarolAnn Tassios

$500 -$999

Dana and Angelika Aswad

John W. Ballantyne

Michelle Bentcliff and Ann Litke

Judy Bloomingdale

Wayne and Nancy Broadhag

Robert Cassidy

Esther Cervantes and Steve Rivero

Denise B. Chilcote

Michael and Melanie Cooper

Joan Donahue

Ann Donat

Nancy Eisenberg

Christine Fluor and Walter Scacchi

Margaret Gates, with gratitude for your education commitment

S. Glass Family

Gleicher / Chen Family Foundation

Marcus Hickerson

Melvin and Hazel Hoshiko

Kathleen Koch

Sally Kurnick

Holly Larsen

John LaRue

John Long and Tamara Taylor

Han Dinh and Martin Le

Patti Martinez

Dr. & Mrs. John Middlebrooks

Susan M. Mason

Kenneth Niedziela

Rey O'Day

Mike Peak

Arnold and Nancy Raymon

Bebe and Otto Reyer

Karen Rook

Kent Sentinella

Joe Simrell

Mr. & Mrs. Raymond Sutton

Dr. Anthony Vasek

Fred and Patricia Viele

Emily Crean Vogler

Chuck and Marilyn Wright

$250 - $499

The Aber Group Inc

Mark Achong

Fredric and Lisa Albert

Mike Baginski and Kim Ling

Mrs. Kaui Balderston

Pat and Kate

George and Linda Bauer

Ms. Suzanne M. Becker

Bruce Beckman

Sally Bender

William and Annette Blaney

Ms. Nancy Braden

Peter and Kari Bretschger

Mr. Jelle Brons

David and Lisa Butler

Robert and Valerie Carter

Michael Casey

Luisa Cano

Eileen and Henry Cohen

Anahid Crecelius

Mike Davis

Myrtle Deakins

Mary Susan Denley

Don and Debra Drysdale

Kent and Irene Dunlap

Doug Elliott

Kelly YuehChun Feng

Joanne Fernbach

Ilone and Darin Gibson

Aimee Gromfin

Mr. & Mrs. Mark Hollingsworth

Haylee Homs

Harason Horowitz and Mark Chapin Johnson

Korey Jorgensen

Jessica Kaltman

Judy Kaufman

Kerry Krisher

Bruce Larson

Michael Lawler

Vicki and Richard Lee

Edward Luedke

Ramon Lugo

Capt. Kevin M. Mac Donnell

Dr. Frank and Mrs. Linda Meyskens

William D. Miller and Florence E. Miller

Daniel Morrison

Mr. Ramon Munoz

Ms. Maryellen Musgrave

Susan O'Brien

Cyrus Parker-Jeannette

Jorge Perez Valdes

Mr. and Mrs. Rivadeneyra

Josh and Carolyn Roberts

Dr. Stephen Rochford

Gary and Melanie Singer Charitable Fund

Kris and Geraldine Shah

Kim Smith

Dorothy J. Solinger

Tina Sommers-Bernhardt

Michael and Marilyn Staffieri

Daniel and Jeanne Stokols

Ingrid Strayer

Sullivan Family

Kim Tang

Cindy Tyan

Alvin Umeda

Jeanne Villacorte

Beth Waterman

Nella Webster

Carl and Deborah Weinert

Mark and Lou-Ann Weltman

Hemantha and Sophie Wickramasinghe

Jim and Sandra Williams

Dexter and Gisele Winzey

Gary and Cathy Wyatt

Kelley Yasbek

Andy and Wendy Yurcho

$100-$249

Brian and Gloria Abrams

Susan Adleman

Hoku and Kalani Aichele

Lillian Aranda

Theresa Battel

Rosanne and William Beam

Melissa Beck and Daniel Pugh

Chris Blank and Josie Badeaux

Paul Blank

Carol Boot-Storie

Kerry and Paul Boulian

Mr. and Mrs. J. Boyer

William and Lindsay Brennan

Mr. Steven Brenneis

Gary and Wendy Bryan

Dawn Burdick

Mr. & Mr. Christopher Cabrera

Peggy Campbell

Patrick J. Chambers

Chara Orthodontics

Grace Chen

Jeff Corp

David Coscia and Mark Armstrong

Donna Cox

Vivian Daniel

Charles Davison

Matt and Jane Delorenzo

RJ, Rita, and Timmy De Rama

Rhea Dorn

Ernest Duarte

Ron and May Duff

Eduardo and Elise Espinosa

Jim and Diane Ewing

Aviva and Fred Forster

Ms. Ellen Fujikawa

Eileen Garbutt

Charles Gates

Mr. John Gibbs

Ian and Kari Gibson

Ben and Sandie Goelman

Michael and Kristina Golden

Kevin and Candice Gomez

Anna Gonosova

Ms. Judith Guffey

Patricia Hansen

Gayle and Phil Harp

Jennifer Hart

Fred and Cheryl Heinecke

Edwin Henderson

Richard and Jacqueline Heyendal

Julie Hill

Peter Holden and Angela Howley-Holden

Holmes Family

Rita B Hopper

Dr. Dena Hulbert

W. Itoga & Sons

Gary Jackson and Linda Globerman Jackson

Laurie Jacobs

Judy Jones

Audrey Kapelinski

John Keating

Angela Kraus

Arlene Kato and Mike Kurihara

Kyle and Cherrill Kawakami

Kenneth Keller

Lynne Koffler

Colin and Joan Koransky

Karen Kotake

Mr. Richard Krey

Jennifer and Robert Langer

Lorna Larson-Paugh

Robert and Karen Lechich

Paul E. Len

Cheryl and James Lewis

Amy Li

Anne Llewellyn

Willard and Bettina Loomis

Mr. Robert Lopez

Lorena Mague

Dr. Sari Mahon

Ms. Amira Mansour

Christine A. Marx

Robert Mashihara

Thomas and Glynett Mcteer

Erica Morikawa

Dr. and Mrs. John Mull

Elaine and Cameron Mummery

Tasha and Owen Naccarato

Richard Nakai and Cindy Wederich

Virginia Olson

Lisa Osako

Judy Oswald

Hon. Julie Owen

Lauren and Richard Packard

Tom and Diane Pardue

Gerald Parham

Thomas and Davida Parham

Ms. Julie Patterson

Karin S. Paul

Dr. Dolly Platt

Brian Paegel and Jeremy Pyle

Lois Rake

Paul Ramey

Elaine Ramsay

Brad Rawlins

Kenneth Reinhard and Julia Reinhard Lupton

Anita and Bruce Reisman

Dennis and Marie Richman

In Memory of Irene DeNoia

Paul Schmidhauser and Cindy Hughes

Paul and Kristen Schmidt

Jack and Katharine Schoellerman

Jill Sekiguchi, DDS

Michael Sheffield

George Sidorakis

Tom Slickelman

John L. Smith and Mary Anne Anthony-Smith

Karen R. Speros

Jack and Molly Spiegel

D. Stroebel

James and Nadine Turner

Joanne Vargas

Linda Venezia

Kathy Vickers and Jeremy Freimund

Elliot Vogelfanger

Michele and Irwin Walot

David and Renee Warren

Bruce and Susie White

Steven and Elizabeth White

Roxanne Wong

Henry and Yen Yang Wu

Susan Yee

$150+

Mark Achong
Nancy and Wayne Broadhag
Hoku and Mark Aichele
Mrs. Kaui Balderston
Gregory Bates and Joann Leatherby
Melissa Beck and Daniel Pugh
Paul Blank
Christopher Blank and Josie Badeaux
Laura Brandlin
David Coscia and Mark Armstrong
Charles and Maureen Davison
Susan Lindquist de la Parra
RJ, Rita, and Timmy De Rama
Mark and Kathi Denny
John Elwood
Eduardo and Elsie Espinosa
James Evans
Ian and Kari Gibson
Kevin and Candice Gomez
Roger and Patt Grable
Judith Guffey
Patricia Hansen
Gayle and Phil Harp
Arlene and Mike Kato
Kyle and Cherrill Kawakami
Kathleen Koch
Duane and Kathie Mauzey
Janis and Dave Murray
Hon. Julie A. C. Owen
Julie Patterson
Christopher and Lynne Ramsey
Brad and Susie Rawlins
Jill Sekiguchi
Tom Slickelman
T. Sommers-Bernhardt
Michael and Marilyn Staffieri
Cindy Thomas
Fred and Patricia Viele
David and Renee Warren
Roxanne Wong
Andrew and Wendy Yurcho

$10 monthly

Mr. and Mrs. J. Boyer
Vivian Daniel
Karen Kotake
Traci Shirachi and Cory Chhiap

$75 month

As a partner in the annual National Choreographers Initiative, Irvine Barclay Theatre is also pleased to acknowledge all those who support this important contribution to American dance.

National Choreographers Initiative 2026
Molly Lynch, Artistic Director

Honorary Producer 

Bobbi Cox

Joanne and Dennis Keith

Barbara Roberts

Michelle Rohé

Richard and Elizabeth Steele Endowment Fund

Choreographer Sponsor

Terry Causey

Sophie and Larry Cripe

Judi Gorski

Diane Silber

Dancer Sponsor

Ellen Breitman and Brien Amspoker

James Carter

Croul Family Foundation

Janet and Henry Eggers

Mary and Andrew Franklin

Artistic Sponsor

Alan Andrews and Molly Lynch

Betsy Andrews and Alex Moad

Diane Diefenderfer and David Hanlon

Gale Edelberg and Bob Butnik

Gillian Finley and Robert Labaree

Carol Hamilton

Nancy and Ned Kriz

Dr. Rosalyn Laudati and Dr. James Pick

Kathryn Lynch and Robert McDonnell

Rachelle Menaker and Eddie Schuller

Marica Pendjer and John Miller

Andrew Rose

Sally Anne and Don Sheridan

Paula Tomei and David Emmes

Lynn Weiser and Mike Tompkins

Patron Sponsor

Dr. Michael Bear

Stacie Brandt

Laurie and Bart Brown

Gail and Denis Kalscheur

David Carmichael

Joseph Herron and Dana Klein

Chuck Johnston

Margi and John Murray

Diana Putz

Kim Smith

Jenny Szabo

Karen and Gary Thorne

Barbara and Jack Tingley

Dance Shoe Sponsor

Diane and Dennis Baker

Darci Bodin

Bronny Daniels

Roberta Fox

Sharon McNalley

Ivar Roth, Concierge Podiatry & Spa

Katy and Jack Schoellerman

Ann and Richard Sim

Linda and Steve Weitz

Dance Partner

Ellen Fujikawa

Mike Kerr and Jenny Backhaus

Maurice and Alexandra Mandel

Edward McPherson

Rita Mitchell

Mitsuhiko and Reiko Nakano

Dr. Janice Gudde Plastino

Rosalind Russell

Joseph Sheridan

Dan & Jeanne Stokols

Robert Strang

Mary Vensel White

Update as of 7/14/26

DONATE TODAY

Please consider making a donation to support the work of the National Choreographers Initiative. We need your contributions to support the dancers and choreographers involved in the project. Be an angel to the arts-dance! Thank you!

Send your donation to: NCI 3334 E. Coast Hwy #276, Corona del Mar CA 92625