8.26.2009
8.25.2009
SALON XXVI
'Twas a smallish salon, but airtight. We spent the entire evening in Sidney and Young-Kee's perfect little ballroom.
Amelia Lukas, flute/alto flute
Syrinx (1913, Debussy)
Couleurs du Vent (Kaija Sarriaho)
Larry Zbikowski, guitar
J.S. Bach, Prelude from Prelude, Fugue, and Allegro (BWV 998)
Heitor Villa-Lobos, Prelude 2 and 1 from Cinq Preludes (1940)
Agustín Barrios Mangoré, Las Abejas (1921)
Nahee Park
slide presentation on
Experimental Astrophysics
in Antarctica
and finally
"The Story of Scrivener and His Aislyn"
a short stop-motion animation film by
Evan Curtis
Amelia Lukas, flute/alto flute
Syrinx (1913, Debussy)
Couleurs du Vent (Kaija Sarriaho)
Larry Zbikowski, guitar
J.S. Bach, Prelude from Prelude, Fugue, and Allegro (BWV 998)
Heitor Villa-Lobos, Prelude 2 and 1 from Cinq Preludes (1940)
Agustín Barrios Mangoré, Las Abejas (1921)
Nahee Park
slide presentation on
Experimental Astrophysics
in Antarctica
and finally
"The Story of Scrivener and His Aislyn"
a short stop-motion animation film by
Evan Curtis
Rehearsals aplenty
Everybody's multitasking these days. Vicky, doing what Vicky does best -- reducing a piano to total helplessness.
And Fearless Leader Number One setting up the recording equipment for a rehearsal tape of usw.
Kevin, our protector, is back in town. We have air filters humming in the performance space. I just spent an entire day shopping for costumes (bootlessly -- there were none to be found) and am about to begin another. We're one day away from the Pierrot premiere, four days from usw, and thirteen from Vesalii Icones. Come and get it, Chicago!
- majel.
And Fearless Leader Number One setting up the recording equipment for a rehearsal tape of usw.
Kevin, our protector, is back in town. We have air filters humming in the performance space. I just spent an entire day shopping for costumes (bootlessly -- there were none to be found) and am about to begin another. We're one day away from the Pierrot premiere, four days from usw, and thirteen from Vesalii Icones. Come and get it, Chicago!
- majel.
8.21.2009
USW rehearsal
Some pictures from yesterday's rehearsal. Below, the ensemble with Nick DeMaison, conductor. Note the enormous super hub cap dangling perilously from PVC pipe scaffolding (far left). This thing is hella loud when you bang on it with a hammer.
And a consultation with the composer, Lewis Nielson.
-majel.
And a consultation with the composer, Lewis Nielson.
-majel.
8.20.2009
And away we go ...
After an unofficial kick-off party at the warehouse last night (er, very early this morning ...) the cast, crew and production teams for Pierrot Lunaire and Lewis Nielson's USW are in Chicago, and officially off and running. Apart from one minor snafu (the employees at Laguardia apparently played a fateful game of toss-and-drop with Emily Dufour's cello so that it arrived at Midway not only devalued but essentially unusable; thus, three days after her marriage to our violinist, Christopher Otto, Emily found herself devising the best way to sue the New York Laguardia airport) everyone is well and feeling fine. We even stumbled through (a version of) Pierrot before the party -- the other Pierrot, the one Schoenberg scribbled down during a week of indigestion and insomnia, then buried in the back of his desk drawer.
In a moment of calm-before-the-storm, Nick DeMaison, Music Director of Opera Cabal:
And yours truly in what I suppose one would call a head-slapping moment?
Photos by Kevin Simmons. Stay tuned for more.
-majel.
In a moment of calm-before-the-storm, Nick DeMaison, Music Director of Opera Cabal:
And yours truly in what I suppose one would call a head-slapping moment?
Photos by Kevin Simmons. Stay tuned for more.
-majel.
8.10.2009
SALON XXV
Bringing up the rear as far as this post is concerned since, holy cow, this salon was weeks ago...
A quick highlights-only version (dare I say, twitter-friendly version ... shudder). July 25 we were graced with an unexpected visit from two recent Obie grads, Sam Goodman, and Teddy Rankin-Parker, two of the more interesting boyz I've crossed paths with this summer. Sam and Teddy live with a few other young folks in a former Lithuanian community center out on Archer (very west Bridgeport & très, très cool) and specialize in performance that falls squarely outside the box.
For his brief set at the salon, Teddy grabbed his cello and chatted easily with the audience while tuning up (so easily, so tunefully ... had the performance already begun?) that we hardly noticed he'd been picking the strings the whole time like a guitar. Did this cello have a bow? And then, of all unforeseen things, this Teddy tilts back his head and starts crooning (what, a cellist bursting into song? but yes!) something à la Adam Sandler. Then suddenly it's all over and we're listening to a Bach cello suite. But then this too breaks down into repeated phrases, an improvisation on Bach's already very improvisatory little tune, and then, in a sudden fit of inspiration, Teddy turns to his pal, Sam (who's sitting in the front row wearing what I can only describe as an old-school wrestling singlet get-up) and says, "Sam, come play the piano." Sam without hesitation tip-toes over to the piano and starts playing, and he and Teddy finish off with some piano-cello joint improv. It was a sight to behold.
I also want to mention that I -- proudly, yes -- debuted my Little Tikes Crocodile Piano and sang a little ditty from Gilbert & Sullivan's Ruddigore. My partner in crime, Nick DeMaison, performed Orwellian oratory on his trusty accordion.
More to come August 22nd (the next salon).
-majel
A quick highlights-only version (dare I say, twitter-friendly version ... shudder). July 25 we were graced with an unexpected visit from two recent Obie grads, Sam Goodman, and Teddy Rankin-Parker, two of the more interesting boyz I've crossed paths with this summer. Sam and Teddy live with a few other young folks in a former Lithuanian community center out on Archer (very west Bridgeport & très, très cool) and specialize in performance that falls squarely outside the box.
For his brief set at the salon, Teddy grabbed his cello and chatted easily with the audience while tuning up (so easily, so tunefully ... had the performance already begun?) that we hardly noticed he'd been picking the strings the whole time like a guitar. Did this cello have a bow? And then, of all unforeseen things, this Teddy tilts back his head and starts crooning (what, a cellist bursting into song? but yes!) something à la Adam Sandler. Then suddenly it's all over and we're listening to a Bach cello suite. But then this too breaks down into repeated phrases, an improvisation on Bach's already very improvisatory little tune, and then, in a sudden fit of inspiration, Teddy turns to his pal, Sam (who's sitting in the front row wearing what I can only describe as an old-school wrestling singlet get-up) and says, "Sam, come play the piano." Sam without hesitation tip-toes over to the piano and starts playing, and he and Teddy finish off with some piano-cello joint improv. It was a sight to behold.
I also want to mention that I -- proudly, yes -- debuted my Little Tikes Crocodile Piano and sang a little ditty from Gilbert & Sullivan's Ruddigore. My partner in crime, Nick DeMaison, performed Orwellian oratory on his trusty accordion.
More to come August 22nd (the next salon).
-majel
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