Phoenix arts events for Oct. 16 and 17

The newly renovated Herberger Theatre Center in downtown Phoenix feels both more comfortable and somewhat more elegant than before. Most of the change is in the lobby and to the outside of the building. The exterior is now emblazoned with the names of the three companies resident there: Arizona Theatre Company, Actors Theatre, and Center Dance Ensemble. Today and tomorrow (Oct. 16 and 17) you can check out the first and third of those. ATC is doing Backwards in High Heels: The Ginger Rogers Musical in the larger theater, while Center Dance is opening its season in the smaller one.

For its season-opening concerts, titled New Beginnings, Center Dance will present a number of local modern and contemporary companies alongside performances by its own dancers – an annual service that avails you the opportunity to sample a variety of Valley dance troupes for the cost of one ticket and a single evening.  Also promised is a restaging of the first work Center Dance ever performed at the Herberger. Hmmm….

Conductor-composer Warren Cohen and his soprano wife Carolyn Whitaker have relocated to the New York area to be with their prodigious son, Graham, who recently became the youngest student in the pre-college division of The Juilliard School.  But Warren has not given up on Musica Nova, his ambitious grouping of orchestras in the East Valley. He’s back this weekend to conduct an intriguing program called “Compromised Voices” (Sunday, Oct. 17, 4 p.m.) at Musica Nova’s new home, the Scottsdale Center for the Arts. Anyone who values finding new gems in the more  obscure corners of symphonic repertoire will value Musica Nova.

– Ken LaFave