Tuesday, February 26, 2008

New York Philharmonic's historical concert in North Korea (yes, you read that right)

This is an eye-opening article on the recent concert in North Korea by the NYP, led by Lorin Maazel (one of Leonard Bernstein's symphonic "grandsons", if you will). No, Kimmy-boy wasn't there, but his entrouage was. Pay attention to the descriptions of what journalists faced in Jong-Il-land covering this story. Video is provided, so don't miss this!

Monday, February 25, 2008

The last few months...

Instead of posting several times on my recent excursions into Arts-World, I thought I'd give a brief run down of the past few months and then trot off into Oscar-World. And finish off with a very important announcement...

1. The deal with the Charlotte Symphony:

The CSO concerts I went to in November-January didn't have as much pizazz as I had hoped. The basics of Romanticism music have been in the spotlight, with not much else. A lot of Stravinsky, Berlioz and even more Mozart (he's Classic, not Romantic, but I digress...). No particular favorites of my own, with the exception of one Schubert piece, "The Unfinished Symphony" No. 8 (cleverly integrated into the plot line of Spielberg's Minority Report, I might add).

To be honest, this season is enjoyable and satisfactory, but looking at next season's line-up (which I shall reveal next post!), it seems that 2007-2008 may purposely be a mild season for the visiting conductors. For anyone that didn't know, Christoph Perick will be stepping down as CSO music director in 2009 (and he wasn't here all that long, either). So, a smorgasbord of conductors from around the USA are essentially auditioning from now until then, to replace Perick. So far, of all of them, William Eddins stood out as a refreshing alternative to button-down conducting. When a respected conductor and pianist tells his audience out loud, in a good natured way, that he hates playing Beethoven and rehearses for concertos by listening to NPR while practicing the piano...that's sweet! I say that if the CSO wants to pull in the younger generation and get them started on this stuff (while boosting sales, at least), a jazzier approach to PR might do some good.

If you want to read up on the past year's news for the CSO, go here. Otherwise, trust me, I plan to keep anyone updated who cares to know. ;)

2. The Operas

Opera Carolina hasn't had any misses this season as yet. I missed seeing Romeo et Juliette in October as I was traveling at the time, but Aida earlier this month was wonderful. Yet once again, the set was minimal and the lighting uncreative, but watching the camel, horse, donkey, et al., in the Triumphal Entry scene was something you don't always see with opera! Aida is known for being so "large" an opera, with huge, cumbersome sets and elaborate scene changes (not to mention the tradition of live animals onstage), that see it performed is rare. And while my favorite opera the company has produced to date was 2004's Tosca, this Aida wasn't bad. I can be hard to please, yes.

CPCC's production of Puccini's La Boheme in January was certainly a treat, if not for the fact that one of my co-workers, Julie Landman, designed and painted the sets. ;) The actors are mostly volunteers or traditional day students with good voices and emoting, and the orchestra is small, but tuned and expressive. Nonetheless, I will admit that sometimes the group effort put into these small but lovely shows at CPCC often surpass the grandeur of the Belk Theater, if anything on an aesthetic scale. What was especially impressive was the manner in which a large convertible backdrop for an artist's Parisian upper loft apartment could be quickly manipulated to become an Art Nouveau/Toulouse Lautrec-ish restaurant. Compare this to the spare (read: boring?) designs that Opera Carolina uses and one is reminded of why community theaters continue to thrive even in the shadow of more significant opera houses and companies.

3. The Oscars

I'll keep it short and sweet: I don't believe I can comment accurately on the Best Picture, because I didn't see No Country For Old Men. I was rooting for Atonement (question: if a film does so well, why nominate it and then give it nothing?). Neither did I see La Vie En Rose (arrghghghg!)...but I plan to eventually after seeing Cotillard's rendition of Edith Piaf, if only briefly on the telecast.

I did see There Will Be Blood and I'm pleased beyond measure that Daniel Day-Lewis deservedly won in the Best Actor category. But seriously...did anyone notice, as I did, the remnants of his Method acting during his acceptance speech? Was I misinterpreting?What was up with him calling his wife, Rebecca Miller, "Mrs. Plainview"? Or saying, "I wish my son, H.W., played by [forget the kid's name], were here to also accept...yada"??? I nearly expected him to start off on that unique accent he used in the film. Weird. Dashing, but he's a funny one.

One last thing...early in the evening, Alexandra Byrne finally got her due for costumes for Elizabeth: The Golden Age. She was nominated for Branagh's Hamlet (the very expensive Shakespeare adaptation that was overlooked, sadly) and her military-inspired creations for that film gave me flights of fancy as a young girl that I still carry around in my head (that film meant a lot to me, ask me sometime). But again, it's the aesthetics on trial here for the Costume category.

4. The Very Last Thing
...For those of you who live in Gastonia and love the Gap store, you are officially Gap-less: it's presence is no more in the Westfield mall. Now we have to go either to Gaffney or Southpark or Carolina Place, some ways away. Oh well.

More to come...stay classy and sassy, my little Arts-monkeys! ;-P

Friday, February 22, 2008

Don't worry, I'm comin' back!

I haven't posted in quite some time, yet I've seen and done plenty of Arts-related things in the past few months (two operas, a few symphonies, with other little things thrown in for good measure). So, I'm writing to say that, in the next few weeks, expect my reviews to come forth.

I've been thinking that I might also simply start posting other stuff here as well, as I miss writing and may not keep it all entirely devoted to the arts. Anyhow, that's the story. ;-)

Em