theoroi.com

Get ready for an electrifying Strauss extravaganza! No one performs the Strauss heroines like American soprano Deborah Voigt. With a soaring voice, she reaches into the soul of her character—in Salome, the richest dramatic creation in all of opera. The seductive Dance of the Seven Veils flows right into the opera’s shocking final scene. Then, from Strauss’ great contemporary, Gustav Mahler, we hear the otherworldly serenity of his final symphony. With these concerts, we celebrate our final Classical season performances in Orchestra Hall.

TU Dance at Cowles Center – Event Details

tessa — Mon, 14 May 2012 17:25:00 +0000

TU Dance

Saturday, May 19, 2012
The Cowles Center, Minneapolis, 528 Hennepin Avenue • Minneapolis

Buffet Dinner/Social: 6:30pm, Wondrous Azian Kitchen

Performance: 8pm

Discussion immediately following the performance, The Cowles Center

Artist Bios:
Uri Sands and Toni Pierce Sands are TU Dance. Founded in 2004 by Toni and Uri, the Minnesota-based company reaches across dance styles, drawing on the broad range of dance traditions from contemporary ballet to modern and traditional forms. Their work is a blend of high physicality and fine technique. Both have performed with the Alvin Ailey Dance company and have garnered many accolades and awards, including a McKnight fellowship, an artist of the year from the Star Tribune, and one of the 25 to watch by Dance Magazine.

Learn more about TU Dance at tudance.org

TU Dance was featured on MN Originals (Twin Cities Public Television) on 5/13/12. Watch the video below.

http://www.mnoriginal.org/episode/mn-original-show-108/tu-dance/

Why settle for ballet when you can have James Sewell

Reece — Sun, 22 Apr 2012 23:16:38 +0000

Comparing James Sewell’s ballet to traditional ballet is similar to comparing a Skrillex show to your nephew’s piano recital. The James Sewell ballet featuring the Parker Quartet was layered with innovative and enchanting choreography.

As an audience member my connection to the performance was enhanced by the pairing of the live music from the Parker Quartet and the ballet. It is truly astonishing to witness the performers on stage synchronize each step to the alluring notes of the Parker Quartet. In an interview with Barry Kempton, the Artistic and Executive Director of the Schubert Club, Sewell commented on Beethoven’s seminal Opus 131 and the gravity of attempting to mesh the Quartet with the ballet, “But I was intimidated by it [Opus 131]. I didn’t know if I could ever choreograph it but I wanted to try … there are musicologists who consider it one of Beethoven’s most important works.”

Beyond a doubt, James Sewell comprised a ballet that had the audience memorized, applauding, and laughing. Yes, that is not a typo, laughing. The elaborate human structures and the beautifully time movements were all breath taking, but the infusion of humor was a stroke of genius. It reminded me of watching nature where one can witness a breath taking landscape, and the next moment be chuckling at a critter unknowingly conducting a humorous act. Often the humor arouse through a combination of the Parker Quartet plucking strings while the performers struck a humorous poses. These humorous skits during the performance portrayed the character of the performers and allow the audience to relax and remember that ballets are supposed to be fun.

Upon my arrival to the elegant Cowles Center I was expecting to witness a ballet and instead I was treated to a night of live music, innovative choreography, and a memorable performance.

James Sewell Ballet with Parker String Quartet at The Cowles Center – Event Details

tessa — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 16:31:49 +0000

James Sewell Ballet with the Parker Quartet – co-presented by The Schubert Club

Friday, April 13, 2012, The Cowles Center, Minneapolis, 528 Hennepin Avenue • Minneapolis

Performance: 8pm

Discussion with James Sewell & Reception immediately following the performance, James Sewell Ballet Rehearsal Space, The Cowles Center

About James Sewell Ballet

James Sewell Ballet was founded in New York City by James Sewell and Sally Rouse and brought to Minnesota in 1992. Combining their expertise, vision and chutzpah they envisioned a close-knit company of dance artists willing to both challenge their physical limits and expand their notions about ballet. Nearly two decades later, critically acclaimed JSB performances move and delight audiences across the country. The embodiment of the original vision is a professional company of eight dances performing innovative work that explore the technical boundaries of ballet.

Based in the Twin Cities, James Sewell Ballet studios are located at Hennepin Center for the Arts in Downtown Minneapolis. Annual spring and fall JSB performances are currently presented at The O’Shaughnessy on the campus of Saint Catherine’s University in Saint Paul. JSB’s annual cutting edge “Ballet Works” program featuring new works is presented in collaboration with the Southern Theatre in Minneapolis.

James Sewell Ballet on MN Originals

About the Parker String Quartet

Hailed by The New York Times as “something extraordinary,” the Grammy Award-winning Parker Quartet has rapidly distinguished itself as one of the preeminent ensembles of its generation. The quartet began its professional touring career in 2002 and garnered international acclaim in 2005, winning the Concert Artists Guild Competition as well as the Grand Prix and Mozart Prize at the Bordeaux International String Quartet Competition in France. In 2009, Chamber Music America awarded the quartet the prestigious biennial Cleveland Quartet Award for the 2009-2011 seasons.

The Parker Quartet has been profiled in Time Out NY, The Boston Globe, Chamber Music Magazine, and on Musical America.com for their pioneering performances for audiences in non-traditional venues. In addition to concerts in bars and clubs nationwide, the ensemble was the first String Quartet-in-Residence at Barbès Bar and Performance Space in Brooklyn, New York, in 2007. The residency embraced a series of collaborative concerts with artists of various genres including jazz, folk, and world music. This season, the quartet also collaborated with slam poets through the organization With Our Words. Their collaboration included pianist Seth Knopp and baritone William Sharp in a program that interwove poetry and music to illuminate both mediums.

The Parker Quartet served as Quartet-in-Residence with the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra from 2008 through 2010 and were the first-ever Artists-in-Residence with Minnesota Public Radio for the 2009-2010 season. This year, they will be in residence at the University of Minnesota, working throughout the year with chamber music students. They will also be teaching instrumental lessons at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, MN.

History of The Cowles Center

MPR article: February 2006: Is this the year for the Shubert Theater?

Moving the Shubert Theater As Seen on Discovery Channel, MegaMovers from iDream.tv on Vimeo.

Barry Kempton, Artistic Director of the Schubert Club talks with James Sewell

(from schubert.org/jsballet)

Barry Kempton: What is it about Beethoven’s Opus 131 string quartet which made you want to choreograph to it?

James Sewell: The piece has had a personal resonance for me for years going way back to early childhood memories. My parents played recordings of it at home and I distinctly remember latching on to it then. I remember the Guarneri Quartet came to Minneapolis and I heard them play it live. But I was also intimidated by it. I didn’t know if I could ever choreograph to it but I wanted to try and I read several different books to learn more about the piece. There are musicologists who consider it one of Beethoven’s most important works. Structurally, it’s wonderful, from its beginning to the last movement.

BK: What is your approach to this piece choreographically?

JS: To me Opus 131 is like the evolution of a society. It starts sublimely and in innocence. In the middle, with the scherzo, it’s like a children’s game. Further in, where I have the pas de deux, it’s deeply romantic. The last section, in music as well as in movement, starts breaking all the rules but finally in the end finds its own sense of resolution.

BK: What are you pairing it with in the performances and why?

JS: I’ve paired the Beethoven with a piece based on Argentine tango. The Beethoven is strong musically, forty minutes of the most wonderful chamber music. Although there are a few comic elements within the Beethoven, it’s a weighty piece. The tango is a fun way to provide contrast. The evening is like a meal consisting of the Beethoven as a main course complimented nicely with the tango as a dessert. Another way in which the two halves are contrasting is that the tango allows for improvisation. Beethoven is on the other hand quite tightly set. I think of them as complimentary opposites and that requires the dancers to push themselves, to be in the moment and to test different aspects of what they are capable of.

BK: Say something about performing with live music; how is it different from performing with recorded music?

JS: The Beethoven string quartet is a piece that I wasn’t sure we’d ever be able to perform to live. Thanks again to the Schubert Club for bringing the Parker Quartet to the stage with us. The piece requires a group that has played together a long time and knows the work well. When you perform with live music it is more exciting for both the audience and the performers, it’s not always exactly the same and it keeps the performance vital and alive

Kim Illustrates Grace Under Pressure

Reece — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 05:10:11 +0000

The SPCO rose to the occasion Thursday night as they delivered a performance worthy of a standing ovation. The drama prior to the start of the performance was enough to make any soap opera appear tranquil. Christopher Tetzlaff was beckoned back to Germany for a family emergency and Soovin Kim was called upon to fill the void of conductor and soloist. If that wasn’t enough drama for the soap connoisseurs, the second piece performed was Enesco Octet, which would make any standup violinist think twice before plunging head long into the lead role. As the lights dimmed, the audience braced themselves for what could be a train wreck, or a brilliant showcase of talent.

Immediately, the entire audience apprehended the latter of the two circumstances was on the verge of transpiring given the beaming smiles emitting from the SPCO musicians and the vigorous hand shake exchanged between Soovin Kim and concertmaster Steven Copes. Soovin Kim throughout the performance spell bound the audience with his ability to touch the softest string to pull you to the brink of your seat and then strike a note so violently that you grasped your arm rest for stability.

Soovin Kim composed a brilliant performance and even more impressively illustrated his extraordinary talent.

………………………………………………………………….

After the performance the Theoroi group discussed the performance of Soovin Kim and SPCO over a few tasty beverages and a mouth full of spring rolls at Roat Osha. Jeff Kim had novelty idea of holding the SPCO in a more radical venue with the goal of attracting a younger audience (Jeff Kim’s review: http://jefflin.net/post/19824096737/kim-steps-up-for-the-saint-paul-chamber-orchestra). Jeff’s concept of a more radical venue would have eliminated my only two discomforts that I experienced at the Temple of Israel. First was the lack of beverage and second the cramped seating. Now imagine the SPCO at the fine line café or the brick, where it is acceptable to tote around a PBR tallboy and stand stage side.

And why stop there, the possibilities are endless. Why does the SPCO have to be on stage sitting in a perfect semi circle? Why not have them standing, while Steven Copes prowls the stage as he rips into each devastating rift. To be honest, the way Steven Copes was swiveling around in his chair during the Haydn symphony, I thought he may bound out of his chair and kick over this music stand. How awesome would that be … food for thought, but I think Jeff is on to something here.

SPCO at Temple of Israel – Event Details

tessa — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 20:49:03 +0000

Thursday, March 22, 2012

The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, Temple of Israel, Minneapolis

In an unprecedented collaboration between the Minnesota Orchestra, the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra and The Schubert Club, violinist Christian Tetzlaff will be concertizing in the Twin Cities for a two-week period in March 2012. This residency celebrates the differences between the three musical organizations, and highlights the versatile artistry of Christian Tetzlaff, who excels in many genres. He will play a massive Szymanowski concerto with the Minnesota Orchestra under the direction of Osmo Vänskä; he will lead the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra as conductor, soloist and in chamber music; and he will play a solo violin recital for The Schubert Club.

PROGRAM CHANGE: Due to a family emergency, Christian Tetzlaff had to fly home to be with his wife and children. Violinist Soovin Kim will take his place on the two Mozart works and the Enesco octet, and SPCO Concertmaster Steven Copes will lead the Haydn symphony.

March 22 Theoroi Event Details:

6:30pm Pre-Concert Discussion

Jacob’s Room, Temple of Israel (to the right of the reception desk when you enter the building)

-Greeting by Barry Kempton, Schubert Club Artistic & Executive Director

-Discussion with Rob Hubbard, arts writer for Pioneer Press

7:30pm Performance
Temple of Israel

Post-Concert Social
Roat Osha (.4 miles away, parking available)

Directions and Parking Info for Temple of Israel, 2324 Emerson Avenue South, Minneapolis, MN 55405

Helpful information to review prior to the performance:

In the News

-Interview with Christian Tetzlaff, Star Tribune, March 10

-Interview with Christian Tetzlaff, Pioneer Press, March 12

-Twin Cities arts groups show new spirit of cooperation, March 13

-Violinist Christian Tetzlaff cancels Twin Cities performances, Pioneer Press, March 17

About the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra (SPCO)

organization website

The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra (SPCO), based in Saint Paul, Minnesota, is the United States’ only full-time professional chamber orchestra. Beginning with the 2004 – 05 season, the SPCO adopted a new artistic model by eliminating the position of Music Director and creating positions for several Artistic Partners, prominent established musicians. Under this model the musicians of the SPCO are given a much higher degree of artistic control.

Soovin Kim, violin

artist website

American violinist Soovin Kim is an exciting young player who has built on the early successes of his prize-winning years to emerge as a mature artist equally gifted in concerto, recital, and chamber music repertoire. Mr. Kim began the 2008-2009 season touring Europe with pianist Mitsuko Uchida performing Messiaen’s Quatuor pour la fin du temps to rave reviews. Highlighted among his concerto appearances will be his Russian debut performing the Sibelius concerto with the Moscow Symphony Orchestra conducted by Ignat Solzhenitsyn, coupled with a special recital performance at the American Embassy. The opening of the season also saw the release of Mr. Kim’s new recording on Azica Records of Chausson’s Concert for violin, piano, and string quartet and Fauré’s Sonata in A Major, op.13. This has been followed by concerto, chamber music, and recital performances in some of the world’s most prominent venues – Carnegie Hall, the Concertgebouw, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Lincoln Center, Royce Hall, Herbst Theatre, and Strathmore Hall among them. Soovin Kim’s Chausson and Fauré recording with Azica Records was a collaboration with pianist Jeremy Denk and the Jupiter String Quartet.

Mr. Kim’s recording of Niccolò Paganini’s demanding 24 Caprices for solo violin was released in February 2006, rose to Billboard’s Classical Chart, and was named Classic FM magazine’s Instrumental Disc of the Month. Mr. Kim also recorded Schubert’s cello quintet with Janos Starker and Arensky’s cello quartet with Lynn Harrell, both released by Delos International, and duo works by Schubert, Bartok, and Strauss with Jeremy Denk for Koch/Discover. Mr. Kim is recognized for his commitment to fresh interpretations of standard repertoire.

In recent seasons he has played the Mendelssohn concerto with the Kitchener-Waterloo (Canada), Cincinnati Chamber, and National Philharmonic orchestras; Mozart with the Baltimore and Nashville symphonies; Sibelius with the Moscow and Vermont symphonies; Brahms with the Annapolis symphony and the Seoul Philharmonic; and Vivaldi’s Four Seasons with the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia and other ensembles without conductor. Mr. Kim and Mr. Denk have performed the Brahms sonatas in Seoul and Rome, and the Charles Ives sonatas in Philadelphia and at Bard College. Mr. Kim has also given recitals of the Bach solo sonatas and partitas in New York, Philadelphia, Seoul, and at the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival.

Along with his love of the classic works, Soovin Kim is passionate about commissioning new works. Mr. Kim is the first violinist of the Johannes Quartet which is touring this season with the venerable Guarneri Quartet performing newly-commissioned works by Esa-Pekka Salonen, Derek Bermel, and William Bolcom. Mr. Kim’s Korea-based piano quartet, M.I.K., recorded four commissioned works by Korean composers for its first album for Stomp/EMI. He also arranged for and performed the premiere of Canadian composer R. Murray Schafer’s string trio in 2007.

Soovin Kim won first prize at the Paganini International Competition when he was only 20 years old. He was later named the recipient of the Henryk Szeryng Career Award, an Avery Fisher Career Grant, and a Borletti-Buitoni Trust Award. Subsequently he went on to perform with the Philadelphia Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, Indianapolis Symphony, Orchestra of St. Luke’s, Stuttgart Radio Symphony, Salzburg Mozarteum Orchestra, and the Accademia di Santa Cecilia Orchestra. He has given solo recitals at Weill Hall in New York, Terrace Theater in Washington D.C., Ravinia, Tokyo’s Casals Hall, and the Seoul Arts Center. Mr. Kim devotes a considerable amount of time to teaching at Stony Brook University and is also on the faculty of Bard College. He is a graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music where he studied with Jaime Laredo and Victor Danchenko, and he also studied with David Cerone and Donald Weilerstein at the Cleveland Institute of Music. Mr. Kim maintains a close relationship with the Marlboro Festival and regularly spends summers there. Soovin Kim plays on the 1709 “ex-Kempner” Stradivarius which is on loan to him

Steven Copes, concertmaster/violin

artist website

A native of Los Angeles, violinist Steven Copes leads a diverse and enthusiastic musical life as soloist, chamber musician and orchestral leader.

He joined the SPCO as concertmaster in 1998 and has led the orchestra from the chair in several highly acclaimed, eclectic programs, and performed concertos by Berg, Brahms, Hindemith, Kirchner, Lutoslawski, Mozart, Prokofiev, and Weill. A zealous advocate of the music of today, he gave the world premiere of George Tsontakis’ Grammy-nominated Violin Concerto No. 2 (2003), which won the 2005 Grawemeyer award, and has been recorded for KOCH Records. Copes was co-founder of the Alpenglow Chamber Music Festival in Colorado, and is a member of Accordo, a new chamber group in the Twin Cities. He has also performed at festivals and concert series such as Boston Chamber Music Society, Bridgehampton, Caramoor, Chamber Music Northwest, La Jolla Summerfest, Mainly Mozart, Mozaic, Norfolk, Seattle Chamber Music Society, Skaneateles, and the Styriarte Festival in Graz, among others.

A frequent guest concertmaster, Copes has toured extensively in Europe and Asia with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra and the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, and has performed in the same capacity with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the San Francisco Symphony, the London Philharmonic, the Pittsburgh Symphony, and the Baltimore Symphony. He holds degrees from The Curtis Institute and Juilliard.

Program and notes from thespco.org

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart- Rondo in C for Violin and Orchestra

Mozart’s dissatisfaction with his hometown of Salzburg had reached a boiling point by 1780, and it was with great relief that he received a commission from Munich to compose Idomeneo. The opera’s premiere in January 1781 was a resounding success, and Mozart lingered in Munich until March, when he was called back to meet his Salzburg employer, Archbishop Colloredo, in Vienna. The following months with the Salzburg retinue brought back all the frustrations of home and Mozart finally summoned the courage to resign. By June, he was on his own, working as a freelancer in Vienna and launching the miraculous decade of composition that capped his all-too-short life.

One of Mozart’s last concerts as an employee of the Salzburg court took place in Vienna on April 8 and featured three new compositions. Besides an aria for the court castrato and a sonata for keyboard and violin (composed, according to Mozart, the previous night—in an hour!), Mozart offered a Rondo for violin and orchestra, probably as a new finale to some other composer’s concerto. The violinist debuting the two works was Antonio Brunetti, a man whom Mozart never liked, although the quick filigree in the Rondo’s solo line suggests that Brunetti was at least an agile player, however unbearable he was socially. The mostly docile Rondo saves a few surprises, such as the brief C-minor melody with pizzicato accompaniment and the quiet conclusion in the soloist’s highest range, accompanied by just the winds.

Georges Enesco - String Octet

George Enescu was born in a small Romanian town that has since been renamed in his honor. Although he trained in Austria and France and spent much of his adult life abroad, he remained a towering figure in his home country for most of his life, until the rise of the Communist party forced his exile in 1946. Throughout his professional life, he split his time between Paris—where he was known by the French rendering of his name, Georges Enesco—and Romania. Paris was his base of operations for a successful career as a violinist and conductor. In Romania, he spent summers composing in the countryside, and he also founded a symphony orchestra and the national opera company. Enescu only published thirty-three works in his lifetime, although he left sketches for hundreds more.

Enescu was a child prodigy who began playing violin at age four and composing at age five. At seven, he enrolled at a conservatory in Vienna, and at fourteen he set off for the Paris Conservatoire. He studied with Massenet and Fauré, and formed an especially close relationship with his counterpoint instructor, André Gédalge. Enescu graduated in 1899; the next year, just shy of nineteen, he completed his first great composition, the Octet for Strings, which he dedicated to Gédalge. Enescu was able to publish the work by 1905, but the first performance did not take place until an all-Enescu recital in Paris in 1909.

Enescu’s Octet was an ambitious undertaking. He treated the scoring, a combination of two string quartets, more like a small orchestra, and his forty-minute work took on symphonic dimensions. He developed a structure in which the four linked movements combined to represent a single, oversized sonata form, as in a symphony’s first movement. Thus Enescu’s first movement doubled as an exposition, the second and third movements as the development, and the fourth the recapitulation, blending material from the earlier movements. In another sense, the four movements fulfill independent functions, with the second—Très fougueux (“very fiery”)—acting as the scherzo, and the Lentement section serving as the slow movement. The final movement, reached after a tense tremolo passage, is a refracted waltz full of thematic superimpositions and driving rhythms.

The work overflows with melodies, sometimes presented starkly against a held bass pedal as in the opening, and more often interwoven in intricate counterpoint. One more outsized aspect of the Octet is its range, which requires the second cello to retune its lowest string down to a B. Yet for all the grandiose elements of the Octet, the individual part-writing bears the imprint of a string player who truly understood how to blend and balance each voice. As might be expected from a young composer, some of Enescu’s Viennese and Parisian influences do not sound fully digested, but the exotic Romanian touches ensure that the Octet is never derivative. If there is a single work to which it deserves comparison, it would have to be Mendelssohn’s String Octet, composed at age sixteen and equally audacious in its formal scope and exuberant range of sounds.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - Adagio in E for Violin and Orchestra

Between 1773 and 1775, Mozart wrote five youthful and cheery violin concertos, works he probably performed himself with the Salzburg court orchestra. After a new Italian concertmaster, Antonio Brunetti, joined that ensemble in 1776, he added Mozart’s concertos to his repertoire. Brunetti complained, though, that the slow movement of the Concerto No. 5 in A Major was “too artificial,” so Mozart substituted a new Adagio in E Major.

Mozart’s feelings about Brunetti are plain in later letters—he called him “a thoroughly ill-bred fellow” and “a disgrace to his master, to himself, and to the whole orchestra”—but he did not betray any such feelings in the brief Adagio. Except for the use of flutes instead of oboes (probably dictated by the particular occasion Mozart wrote for), the movement is a natural extension of the elegant A-major concerto. The orchestra states the theme first, and then the violin enters with a singing melody. The tune plays with expressive melodic detours that stretch the home-key terrain, adding fluidity and providing fodder for further elaboration. A brief developmental episode in B minor introduces some light drama, but the violin quickly leads the way back to a sunny recap.

Franz Joseph Haydn - Symphony No. 86

Haydn joined the Esterhazy court in 1761 and became Kapellmeister in 1765. His patron, Prince Nikolaus Esterhazy, was an avid musician and a true supporter of the arts, but he also kept his Kapellmeister on a tight leash. Haydn initially had very little freedom to spread his music outside of the court, and he spent as many as ten months of each year sequestered at the prince’s isolated summer palace, producing dozens of opera performances and other entertainment. In 1779, he finally negotiated a new contract that gave him more leeway to compose and publish independently, and soon his music was attracting followers throughout Europe.

One foreign admirer was a young French count, Claude-François-Marie Rigolet, who commissioned six symphonies that Haydn composed in 1785 and 1786. These “Paris” Symphonies earned Haydn the handsome sum of twenty-five louis d’or each, plus additional fees for publication. (By comparison, Mozart earned only five louis d’or for his Paris Symphony from 1778.) Haydn took advantage of the large orchestra employed for the Concert de la Loge olympique performances, and created grand and robust symphonies that captivated the French audiences.

Haydn composed the Symphony No. 86, the fifth of the “Paris” set, in 1786. It featured the largest instrumentation of all the “Paris” symphonies, with a flute, pairs of oboes, bassoons, horns and trumpets, timpani, and strings. As in most of Haydn’s later symphonies, the first movement begins with a broad introduction, building suspense before the body of the movement enters in a faster tempo. The Allegro spiritoso makes an unusual entrance: instead of establishing the home key of D major, the first measure lands on an unstable dominant chord that resolves to E minor. It takes four quiet and disarming measures for the harmony to cycle around to its proper resting point, but then the bright home key is hammered unequivocally with a three-note tapping figure from the entire ensemble at forte and fortissimo dynamics.

The slow movement has the unusual marking of Capriccio, a heading usually reserved for quick and fanciful compositions. The movement seems deadly serious at times, but incongruous forte chords, pregnant pauses and the unbending repetitions of the bare motive of a rising triad all suggest a mood more of play-acting than actual drama. As can be expected from Haydn, the Menuet rolls out several surprises and unlikely harmonies. The contrasting trio has a tone of pastoral innocence, reinforced by melodies from the oboes and bassoon. The Allegro con spirito finale, like the opening movement, uses repeated notes to drive home the thematic interconnections.

Recital: Susan Graham and Malcolm Martineau

Tess — Sat, 25 Feb 2012 19:20:37 +0000

Last month, I attended a recital presented by the Schubert Club: Susan Graham, mezzo soprano and Malcolm Martineau, piano. Although I knew who Susan Graham was and have heard some of the more famous mezzo opera arias, I had never attended a recital. I was expecting to hear some opera, perhaps Carmen, after all, Susan Graham is a famous opera singer. I found out that there is an unspoken rule in the musical world about performing opera arias in recitals, it is frowned upon. A recital is songs and you should sing songs, was explained to us after by David Evan Thomas.

Susan Graham started the recital by singing songs about “good” girls (the Virgin Mary, Ophelia) and some German songs based on Goethe’s Wilhelm Meister. The second half of the recital was songs about “bad” girls (Lady McBeth etc). The music got progressively more modern as the show went on with some jazz and humor thrown in. I enjoyed hearing the “classical” voice type being used in a variety of ways. Even though I wasn’t familiar with all of the selections or could understand the words, Susan Graham’s performance was dazzling. In closing, I would recommend checking out a recital; it may not be what you expect but it will keep you interested.

Susan Graham and the Super Bowl Halftime Show

Joe — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 16:14:58 +0000

I’m always bothered when people say they “like all music, except rap and country”, because it would be easier for them to say “I like Top 40 hits”, and would save them the time they’d need to say they also don’t like jazz, classical, or opera.

I genuinely like all music. Although my dial is more often tuned to 89.3 than 99.5, I appreciate classical and opera. My ear and background is not sophisticated enough to break down the minutia of a performer’s style and abilities, I’m also unable to translate foreign languages as I only speak a modicum of Spanish and Italian, almost zero French, and after 28 years, I barely have a grasp of English. These shortcomings don’t prevent me from enjoying the genre, though, just as you don’t need formal training in the culinary arts to appreciate an amazing meal.

As I sat down for Susan Graham’s recital at the Ordway last month, at first I planned to read the provided translations as she performed. Quickly, though, I was overwhelmed by her ability, and I set my program down. This was when I thought of the Super Bowl.

Super Bowl XXXVIII was an exciting last minute victory for the Patriots over the Panthers, who won on a last-second field goal, but the most discussed event of the game was a half-second of Janet Jackson’s partially exposed nipple during the halftime show. To minimize potential controversy, the following year an act was booked that had a very low chance of revealing a nipple: Paul McCartney.

McCartney’s halftime show was him, a guitar, and a microphone. He played for ten minutes, and it was one of the best acts to ever grace the Super Bowl. It was great because it was a no-frills show from a performer at the pinnacle of their genre, their talent on raw and unadulterated display.

This was the case with Susan Graham performing at the Ordway. She took the stage with her accompanist, the charmingly expressive Malcom Martineau, and a microphone. And for two hours, I was blown away by her talent. Even if I didn’t know the full context of the pieces she chose, or the exact lines she was singing, or even how to articulate or define her characteristics that make her a world-renowned performer, I was still simply in awe of her talent and grace on stage.

That’s the mark of an amazing talent – that with the most basic tools, they can still dazzle and evoke emotions from even the most uninitiated audience. And that, I believe, is a compliment of the highest order to Ms. Graham.

Guthrie Theater – “The Birds” Event Details

tessa — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 21:00:19 +0000

Saturday, February 25, 2012

Guthrie Theater – The Birds

Guthrie Theater, Minneapolis

Download PDF Play Book

5:30 pm: Welcome, Level 1, Guthrie staff will greet group and direct upstairs for pre-show speakers

5:45 – 7:15 pm: Classroom 3, Level 8

5:45-6:30 pm: Scott W. Edwards, Sound Designer

Guthrie More than 80 productions since 1997. Theater Seattle Rep; San Jose Rep; Children’s Theatre: more than 40 productions; Jungle Theater: more than 15 productions; Penumbra Theatre: eight productions; Mixed Blood; Illusion Theater; Arizona Theatre Company; Ballet of the Dolls (founding member); Theater Mu; Eye of the Storm Theatre; Teatro Latino; Minnesota Opera. Other Production manager/live sound engineer for “A Prairie Home Companion.” Awards San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle Award for The Kite Runner at San Jose Rep; StarTribuneOutstanding Sound Designer for Pride and Prejudice and The Pirates of Penzance; Helen Hayes Award nomination for You Can’t Take It With You at Arena Stage [Guthrie credits: H.M.S. Pinafore, God of Carnage, Arsenic and Old Lace, The Winter’s Tale, A Christmas Carol (15 productions since 1996), A Streetcar Named Desire, Circle Mirror Transformation, M. Butterfly, Macbeth, Faith Healer, The Importance of Being Earnest, When We Are Married, Caroline, or Change, The Two Gentlemen of Verona, Shadowlands, Little House on the Prairie, The Secret Fall of Constance Wilde, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Jane Eyre, Peer Gynt, 1776, The Merchant of Venice, The Glass Menagerie, Lost in Yonkers, The Real Thing, The Great Gatsby, Hamlet, Intimate Apparel, The Constant Wife, His Girl Friday, She Loves Me, As You Like It, Oedipus, Death of a Salesman, The Pirates of Penzance, Crowns, Othello, The Comedy of Errors, Resurrection Blues, All My Sons, The Canterbury Tales, Antony and Cleopatra, Merrily We Roll Along, Amadeus, Once in a Lifetime, In the Blood, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Blood Wedding, Twelfth Night, To Fool the Eye, Hedda Gabler, The Plough and the Stars, The Darker Face of the Earth, Lake Hollywood, Misalliance, Mr. Peters’ Connections, Ah, Wilderness!, The School for Scandal, Sweeney Todd, Summer and Smoke, Julius Caesar, The Magic Fire, Gross Indecency, The Venetian Twins, A Month in the Country, Thunder Knocking on the Door, The Playboy of the Western World, Racing Demon, You Can’t Take It With You, Fences, The Price, “A Midsummer Night’s Celebration,” 2006 Guthrie Gala; Tours: Death of a Salesman (Dublin Theatre Festival), Ah, Wilderness!; music recording engineer: Dream on Monkey Mountain.]

6:30-7:15pm: Amanda Friou, Assistant Director to The Birds

Theater Assistant Director: Off- Broadway: Second Stage: The Blue Flower (Will Pomerantz, Director) Regional: La Jolla Playhouse: American Night The Ballad of Juan Jose (Jo Bonney, Director), Becoming Chaplin (Warren Carlyle, Director/Choreographer);American Repertory Theatre: The Blue Flower (Will Pomerantz, Director). Director: Off-Off Broadway: HERE: No Such Cold Thing; Ars Nova: Hinterland; Wonderland Collective: Pimp; Barrow Group: Leaf Pile and the Two Brother; Gallery Players: Violating Uncle Piggy; The Secret Theatre: Christmas Carol, The Guillotine. Teaching: Barrington Stage Company (Director of Education), Stagedoor Manor, Wingspan Arts. Awards: Drama League Directors Project Fall Fellow. Education: Macalester College

7:15pm: General Admission Seating in Dowling Studio, Level 9 (doors open at 7)

7:30pm: Curtain time for THE BIRDS, run time TBD

Post-Show: Escort to Kitchak Lounge, Level 2, Bar / Snacks / Mingle