Showing posts with label The Delaware Contemporary. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The Delaware Contemporary. Show all posts

Saturday, December 9, 2023

CTC Rocks this "Wicked Little Town" with Revival of Hedwig & the Angry Inch

By Hannah Leposa, guest blogger
Theater fan Hannah Leposa is excited to be living in Wilmington where there is a lively theatre community and high quality performances.


Hedwig and her Angry Inch band. Photo by Joe del Tufo/Moonloop Photography.
City Theater Company
's Hedwig and the Angry Inch follows Hedwig and her stage show as she tells the story of her botched sex change operation, leaving the titular Angry Inch behind. We also follow her journey from an angry woman to self acceptance and loving herself for who she is. The show is a cult classic, written by John Cameron Mitchell with music and lyrics by Stephen Trask.

Hedwig, portrayed by Diva Baby, was emotional and a little over-the-top, which is expected from the character as a drag queen headliner. Her portrayal of Hedwig's breakdown was raw and captivating and a 180 turn from the levity she brought to the opening. I did not expect to be laughing as hard as I did during this show, but Diva Baby’s delivery of the cheeky jokes in the first half of the show were impeccable. Her performance of Wig in a Box was a standout of the night as it allowed the line between actress and character to blur. The song, which started out vulnerable, ended with a silly audience sing-a-long directed by Hedwig, who had more notes for the audience than they sang.

Hedwig is joined on stage by her rock band, The Angry Inch. The musicians were part of the show, as they are in costume and on stage interacting with Hedwig and her husband/backup singer Yitzhak for the entire show. The performance was truly like a rock concert at times. CTC did provide earplugs for those whose ears are more sensitive to loud music.

Hedwig's husband Yitzhak, played by Mackenzie Brockmeyer, is the final cast member of the production. Her portrayal of the quiet Yitzhak surprised me, as I caught myself watching her on more than one occasion. She beautifully portrayed the emotions of Yitzhak and I could imagine exactly what her character was thinking without her having to say a word. Her voice shined in The Long Grift and her reveal at the end was beautifully executed.

City Theater Company is celebrating its 30th season and is reviving Hedwig for the second time, having previously staged the show in 2004 and 2005. Despite CTC having produced this show before, the interpretation of the show felt fresh. 

The wigs were beautiful — if not temperamental — but being a true performer, Diva Baby worked that into the show so beautifully that I barely realized it wasn't scripted. The costumes and makeup mirrored Hedwig's dissolution of her image of her life, starting grand, and fun and dissolving into nothing more than a holey shirt and shorts.

Set in the early 2000s, the intimate cabaret-style seating at The Delaware Contemporary made the perfect venue for this performance, making it feel more like an authentic stage show. When I first saw the set, I was apprehensive, as I usually feel screens as set pieces are not used well and they detract from what is happening on stage. That was not the case for Hedwig. The images and videos shown added so much, the show would have been great without them, but they added just enough to elevate the actors' performances. The drawings by Echo Chappelle made the already great performance of The Origin Of Love superb, and the videos used during Hedwig’s breakdown heightened the emotion and intensified Diva’s portrayal of Hedwig’s emotional state.

The remaining performances of Hedwig and The Angry Inch are December 10 at 2pm and December 13-16 at 8pm. All shows are at The Delaware Contemporary.The show runs around 90 minutes with no intermission. 

Tickets are $45 and can be purchased at tickets available now at city-theater.org.

Wednesday, July 5, 2023

The Delaware Contemporary Announces 2023-2024 Artist-In-Residence Program

The content of this post comes from a Delaware Contemporary press release...

The Delaware Contemporary (TDC) is pleased to announce four accepted artists for its 2023-2024 Artist-In-Residence program (ARC 24) — Noel Cross, Cony Madariaga, Nasir Young, and Zifeng Zang. These artists were selected for a fully funded residency program; they will occupy a shared studio, receive one-to-one mentorship, and participate in professional development programming.

The Delaware Contemporary focuses on assisting career growth of new and emerging artists with an emphasis on providing the ARC Residency Program to Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) in the Great Arc region of Delaware. TDC is driven to provide equitable access to career development for underserved populations and strive to diversify the nonprofit and museum industries through this opportunity. To ensure equity, the selection process works with a unique set of arts professionals. The ARC 24 jurors include Studios@ artist and former Artist-in-Residence, Stephanie Boateng, and Vox Populi member artist and arts educator Natalie Hijinx.

As part of the program, ARC 24 residents will engage with their fellow residents, the community of Studios@ artists, TDC staff, and public outreach projects. Residents will work toward a cumulative exhibition in The Delaware Contemporary's main galleries in Summer 2024.

Noel Cross is a contemporary painter and photographer from New Jersey. As a young artist, Cross attended Studio Incamminati Atelier in Philadelphia. She then went on to receive her BA from Rutgers University before completing her MFA at the University of Delaware. Her most recent works are grounded in research exploring American commodity culture, the investigation of collective cultural memory and challenging learned assumptions. The work honors the tradition of painting as an enduring cultural practice while exploring the curiosity of play. As pictorial competition redefines our contemporary visual experience, the work invites you to be fascinated by the act of looking.

Constanza Madariaga, also known as Cony Madariaga, is a Delaware-based artist born in Santiago, Chile. She has been in love with art since she was a child, and creating has been her therapy and safe space to express herself throughout her lifetime. Being able to have access to art classes in middle school and high school allowed her to explore different mediums and techniques. Although she did not continue her formal education in Arts, she has always gravitated towards it, and always made a space in her life to be able to create. In 2019, she had her first exhibition, since then she has participated in a number of exhibitions in Delaware and surrounding cities including the 2023 Artist Fellowship through the Delaware Division of the Arts.

Nasir Young received his BFA from Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. In 2020, he was awarded The Raymond D. & Estelle Rubens Travel Scholarship to go to London. Young was awarded an illuminate arts grant in 2021 and 2022, and he was the second place winner of the Philadelphia Sketch Club's 158th exhibition of small oils. In 2022, he was a Da Vinci Art Alliance Resident. Nasir’s primary source of imagery is the everyday scenes of urban inner city life. He has had multiple group shows in Philadelphia and online exhibitions.

Zifeng Zang is an accomplished artist with a wealth of education and experience in the field. Her love for art began at a young age which grew as she received formal education, including earning dual BFA degrees from Jilin University in China and West Chester University of Pennsylvania. Her career experience includes serving as a senior graphic designer and brand manager at 4A Advertising Agencies and tech giants in China, where she honed her skills in creating imagery characters and advertisement scripts using digital tools. Despite this, she always felt drawn to the traditional art of painting. This led her to pursue further education in the field and to study painting in the US, where she is now focused on developing her favorite abstract style, infused with her personal experiences and unique perspective.

For more details, visit DEContemporary.org.

Saturday, December 11, 2021

City Theater Company Jumps Into New Season and a New Home — All at "ONCE"!

By Mike Logothetis
Mike Logothetis grew up in North Wilmington, performing in school and local theater productions. He lives in Newark, but you can find him wherever the arts are good.

City Theater Company launches season with ONCE. Photo by Joe del Tufo. 
To open its 2021-2022 season, City Theater Company (CTC) begins a new residency at The Delaware Contemporary (TDC) on the Wilmington Riverfront. CTC Artistic Director Kerry Kristine McElrone is “excited to bring the communal, immediate, accessible experience of art in live action to The Delaware Contemporary’s patrons, and to introduce City Theater Company’s audiences to all that they have to offer.”

McElrone added: “Our approach to theater and improv considers the art form of live performance to be a creative collaboration between players, directors, designers, writers, and the audience.”

It should be noted that CTC has been entertaining audiences virtually during the pandemic with online content but is eager to get back to live performances (and audiences) starting with the musical Once. The 2012 Tony Award
winner for Best Musical is based on the Irish musical film and features actors playing their own instruments onstage. The musical features 12 performers/musicians and a child actor.

The space inside TDC is intimate and three rows on each side flank a central performance area with a larger stage at one end and a small musicians’ area at the other. In this way, the audience is sometimes being directed to follow back-and-forth dialog like an attendee at a tennis match. (It’s not that extreme, but noticeable during certain dialogs.) But the space also allows musicians to sit in all corners of the room,
 providing a true unamplified “surround sound.” A large bank of TV screens looms over the stage end and provides clever multimedia effects for the show.

However, the acoustics are tricky and only the full ensemble numbers properly fill the room. While pleasant, the solos and intimate duets could stand to be a bit louder to properly resonate with the audience. Some of the dialog got swallowed up by the room on Opening Night, but the performers portrayed the emotions and plot devices well enough to move the narrative forward.

If you’re not familiar with the story, an Irish busker/”Hoover repairman” meets a plucky Czech woman in Dublin and their passion for music 
 and each other  takes them to wonderfully sonic places. You don’t need to understand much of the accented dialog to enjoy the incredible music Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová composed for the original 2007 film written by John Carney — no, not our current Delaware Governor. ;)

And it’s the music that shines in this production. Righteous Jolly is listed as “Guy” in the program but is “The Man” whenever he’s featured. Jolly has the musical chops to deliver glorious melodies and guitar accompaniments plus the charisma to have the audience root for him. His wounded and vulnerable Guy has an inner drive to better himself by spending as much time as possible with new acquaintance “Girl.” Girl is portrayed in a lovingly restrained way by Julia Natoli, whose talented vocals and piano-playing act as the perfect complement to Jolly’s Guy. He’s sociable but shy, while she’s quiet but direct. Together, they are a power couple of sorts in their world. The two enjoy a whirlwind relationship that never quite gets to where both think it could. They drag their family and friends along for the ride while the audience gets to gleefully watch it all unfold.

Guy and Girl soar to new heights in duets like “When Your Mind’s Made Up” and “If You Want Me” which included an inventive dream-quality choreography. But the show highlight is the Oscar-winning song “Falling Slowly.” Simply put, this is one of the most hauntingly beautiful pieces of music to come out of Hollywood or Broadway (or Ireland/Czech Republic) in the past 25-40 years. Jolly and Natoli nail it. (Song co-writer Irglová once said: “This song was written from a perspective of hope, and hope at the end of the day connects us all, no matter how different we are.”)

But this is not a morbid or depressing show. At its heart, Once shows the joy of making music together here and now, regardless of its potentially fleeting nature. The cast includes fantastic local musicians who turn out to be pretty solid actors. Aidan McDonald (“Billy”) and Emma Romeo Moyer (“Bank Manager”) were lively whenever in the spotlight. Moyer’s off-key “Abandoned in Bandon” was a hoot! The ensemble numbers “Gold” and “Ej Pada Pada” were delightful. And not all of the Guy/Girl songs are about unrequited love as “Broken Hearted Hoover Fixer Sucker Guy” happily refutes.

Director/Music Director Joe Trainor put together wonderful musical arrangements for his cast. Some of the stage blocking was clunky, but as the company better grows into its new space I think cooperated movement will improve. Credit should be given to McElrone for taking on such an ambitious project to restart CTC live productions in a new performance space after the pandemic. While there are some minor issues to iron out, Once is a worthwhile return of CTC to a Wilmington community looking for earnest live theater.

Once will run for seven performances through next Saturday (December 10-18). Curtain is at 8:00pm, save for the lone Sunday matinee (2:00pm, December 12). The show lasts just under 2.5 hours, which includes one 15-minute intermission. City Theater Company’s new home is at The Delaware Contemporary located at 200 South Madison, Wilmington, DE 19801. Tickets ($30-40) can be purchased at the CTC box office or online. Special ticket pricing is available for military personnel, and students. Please call the box office at 302.220.8285 or visit city-theater.org for details.

City Theater plans, on average, two big shows each season 
 which runs from December to late spring. These shows typically run two or three weekends. Up next spring is Blues in My Soul by Delaware playwright David Robson.

Tuesday, January 19, 2021

A Number of New Artist Opportunities Opening at The Delaware Contemporary

The content of this post comes from a release from The Delaware Contemporary...

The Delaware Contemporary today announced a number of exhibit and engagement opportunities for local and regional artists.  The Contemporary is dedicated to supporting the careers of emerging and established artists through exhibition opportunities and professional development. Active onsite artist studios, complemented with a vibrant and rotating exhibition program, push artists to reexamine and expand the boundaries of their practice. The organization invites and encourages artists of all stages to apply! 

Click the links below for application forms and further info...

The Gallery Shop
  • APPLICATION DEADLINE: Friday, January 29, 2021
  • SHOP SEASON: March 1 - August 27, 2021
  • APPLICATION FEE: $10.00
Starting March 1, The Gallery Shop will display a new collection of featured artists with a curated selection of art and craft alongside new exhibitions in our gallery space. Seeking a fresh selection of products as we continue to promote contemporary craft and to support local and regional artists. Submit your work to be considered for this eclectic assortment of contemporary art, crafts, and handmade products. ALL forms of art are encouraged. If your work is sellable for Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, or birthdays, the Spring/Summer season is for you!

Submission Requirements:
  • Submit the following information as a single document (.DOC, .PDF) to lhoward@decontemporary.org with the email subject line "Gallery Shop Submission":
  • Short Bio: Brief summary of your artist resume
  • Product description and pricing
  • 5-10 images to showcase variety of artwork attached to submission email Optional: Artist digital links (Instagram, Etsy, artist website, Facebook, etc.)
  • Pay submission fee and include the order receipt number in the body of the submission email.
Call for Exhibit Entries - Natural Movement: Unapologetic Conversations of Hair & Nonconformity
  • APPLICATION DEADLINE: February 15, 2021
  • APPLICATION FEE: $25
The Contemporary is accepting submissions for a group exhibition based around the central ideas of hair and the CROWN Act, a law that prohibits race-based hair discrimination; namely the denial of employment, recreational, and educational opportunities because of hair texture or protective hairstyles. How has rhetoric and politics alienated people of color? How does public discourse about hair and micro-aggressions play out in opportunities of advancement? How can contemporary artists and museums move this dialogue forward? 

Summer 2021 Exhibition Opportunity
  • APPLICATION DEADLINE: February 15, 2021
What does it mean to assimilate within accepted cultural norms? How is conformity questioned in contemporary society and what does it mean to “fit in”? The Delaware Contemporary seeks applicants to showcase works that engage in conversations about identity, acceptance, and conformity or non-conformity. Submissions may consider concepts such as religion, ethnicity, culture, gender, and race. Artists are encouraged to discuss any range of these topics as appropriate to them and their work. Artworks submitted may be any media, but must be prepared for museum exhibition.

2021 Artist-in-Residence
  • APPLICATION DEADLINE: February 15, 2021
The Contemporary's redesigned Residency Program extends to all types and forms of creative producers for a 12-month residency. Residents will have the opportunity to fully engage with the community and produce a comprehensive body of work for exhibition and documentation. In support of the museum’s ongoing efforts to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion in our community as well as the organization, The Contemporary has placed emphasis on providing the Residency Program to Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) and is driven to provide equitable access to career development and capacity-building opportunities for underserved populations and strives to contribute to diversifying the nonprofit and museum industries.

THE STUDIOS @
  • Applications are now open
Join the community of creative individuals at The Studios @ The Delaware Contemporary! Currently, The Contemporary has two vacant studios available. The 26 artist studio spaces are a place where proactivity, public engagement, diversity of ideas, perspectives, and artistic practice are honored, respected, and achieved.

Tuesday, September 10, 2019

Call for Artists: The Delaware Contemporary


Take advantage of this great opportunity to showcase your work in front of collectors in an art museum setting and join the emerging, established, and community artists supporting The Delaware Contemporary

Last year, The Contemporary received over 350 pieces of artwork by incredibly talented artists from all over the world. Help them exceed that number for SABA V!

Each donation must be a 6" x 6" (15cm) square piece of wall art. No other sizes or free-standing sculpture will be accepted. Please sign only on the back of the work for anonymous exhibition. Artists may enter works in any 2-D or 3-D medium. Charcoal or pastel must be fixed. Smaller works on paper may be mounted to a 6" x 6" cardstock or board. Clay or metal work thicker than 1/4" must have holes to accommodate pins/nails. There is no limit to the number of works an artist may enter. All entries that meet the specifications will be accepted, however The Delaware Contemporary reserves the right to jury-out work. Entries will not be returned, but artists retain copyrights. There is no entry fee.

Monday, March 25, 2019

Artist Roderick Hidalgo: Torch of INspiration

Content of this post originated from the blog by Jill Althouse-Wood of inWilmDE.com...

When you are driving to interview an artist and the only thing you know about him is that his latest series of work is entirely black, as in… black layered on black, black poured over black, and black dotted with more black, you end up mind-diving through all the clichés. Is this guy Emo? Goth? New York City slick? Commander of the Night’s Watch? Darth frickIN’ Vader? Meeting Roderick Hidalgo in person defied all these preconceived notions. If I had to describe him in a word, it would be exuberant. 

Gummies on Parade by Rick Hidalgo.
Photo by Joe del Tufo/Moonloop Photography.
Hidalgo greeted me at the door of his Hockessin studio/gallery space dressed in — you guessed it –– black. To be fair, I had dressed in black, too –– a trick I was employing to put my subject at ease. But I didn’t need to put Rick Hidalgo at ease; he was already in his bliss. I arrived on the day that his work was being photographed. It was a celebration of completed works which lined the walls, but huge worktables in the center of the space charged the gallery with that edgy chaos of works-in-progress. Looking more closely at these densely layered relief paintings in the photographer’s queue, I felt grateful that I was writing about these pieces and not trying to photograph them. How could a camera capture all that is going on in this wall art without the usual delineating crutches of color and tone?

Many of the pieces are heavy in relief. That sculptural quality will help viewers of the photographs get a sampling of the work, but you need to see these painting/sculpture hybrids in person to have the full experience. I wanted to reach out and run my fingers over the terrain of them. Some areas are slick, transitioning to rougher textures, while other of the works are subtler and more nuanced in their layering. Hidalgo uses different mediums and often collages objects onto canvases. One series of small square canvases features clear cubes adhered to the surfaces. Another work is a collage made up entirely of toy army men sprayed black. And then there was a piece that I can only describe as a black breast with a mirrored finish. Think what you like. Hidalgo forgoes interpretation and invites viewers to come to the pieces with his or her own varied life experience. The army man piece has created associations for war vets and peaceniks alike but for different reasons. And for some, the connection creates a map back to their childhood.

Hidalgo’s work wasn’t always so narrow of palette. Perusing his online gallery, I saw examples of early encaustics and poured lacquer paintings where bright color bloomed and spilled into hypnotic galaxies of pattern. He told me that he was honing his craft, learning techniques and getting a handle on his materials. Seeing the progression from his earlier pieces, it was easy to believe that his current work is a rejection of color and all that came before.

Hidalgo denies this. “I’ve been developing this language over fifteen years,” he said as we survey the line of finished pieces before us. His wasn’t some deep descent into the shadow realm as much as a “coming full circle,” an embrace of all that came before. I considered this for a moment, and he was right. In painting, black is a coming together of all pigments, not the rejection of them.

“This is the work I have been gearing up for. I have found my voice.”

He isn’t using that voice for his art alone. Hidalgo transcends the scope of a singular artist by promoting other local talent. See him as a tastemaker or a rule-breaker, but either way, his vision is on the rise in Wilmington. Besides his Hockessin gallery where he hosts bi-monthly exhibits of local and international artists, Hidalgo has been curating shows in the corporate galleries of Capital One in Wilmington. And he is gearing up to present a group exhibition next month at The Delaware Contemporary that will act as a complement to “Blackout,” the solo show of his latest works. The group show,“The Fire Theft,” will showcase eleven local artists as they riff on the myth that tells the story of how the earth got fire (and color).

Curious, I had to look up the myth. According to the story, there was a time when the world was cold, barren, and bleak. In this devastating landscape, there existed one fabulously plumed bird with a rainbow of tailfeathers. This special bird was tasked with flying to the sun to steal some of its fire to bring back to the desolate earth. The bird was successful, but upon returning with the flaming torch, he scorched the whole landscape and all of its inhabitants. But fire brings new life, and from this blackened environment, bright flowers blossomed, and creatures started sprouting scales and feathers in every hue. However, the bird was too charred by the journey for his original jeweled plumage to return. He remained black and charred, sacrificing his own color in the process of bringing light and color to the earth.

Does that sound like a metaphor for a certain artist’s journey? Perhaps. But forget all the clichés about sacrificial lambs or tortured artists where Roderick Hidalgo is concerned. Dude is one joyful black bird who is bringing the torch of INspiration to Wilmington.

For more information on Roderick Hidalgo or RH Gallery in Hockessin, check out his website or Facebook page. “Blackout” works by Roderick Hidalgo and “The Fire Theft” Group Exhibition, curated by Roderick Hidalgo, RH Gallery will be on display at The Delaware Contemporary, 200 South Madison Street; Wilmington, April 5-26, 2019 with an opening reception: Friday, April 5, 2019 from 5-9pm during Art Loop Wilmington.

Wednesday, April 4, 2018

Wilmington 1968: New Website Empowers Community Reflection

This post content comes from a press release from the Delaware Art Museum...

Twenty area organizations collaborated to launch the Wilmington 1968 website, a tool for community reflection. Via www.wilmington1968.org, Delawareans can access community resources that teach about the local Civil Rights Movement through words and pictures, and address present-day racial and social justice issues. Additionally, the community can share memories of their own to contribute to cross-generational conversations about this historic event. These oral histories will be archived for future generations. The Wilmington 1968 website will also serve as a hub for information about related exhibitions, performances, events, and forums. It will be available to the community through January 2019.

Following the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Wilmington high school students converged on Rodney Square. Subsequent to these protests, looting and fires prompted a request for the National Guard to restore peace. Although other American cities experienced the same level of uprising after April 4, 1968, Wilmington, Delaware experienced the longest peace-time occupation in modern times. Wilmington remained under martial law for nine and a half months. This extensive patrol of Wilmington by the National Guard drastically changed the city from the inside out. Residents went about their days and nights watched, restricted, angry, and fearful. Numerous businesses along Market Street closed.

If it is true that we are destined to repeat the lessons we haven't learned, today's youth are adamant that we will not get left back. Youth-led movements such as #NeverAgain-nationwide protests stemming from the latest school shootings-are taking center stage in our social consciousness and awaking a new generation of activists. 


In 2017, Simone Austin (2017 Alfred Appel, Jr. Curatorial Fellow with the Delaware Art Museum; current graduate student, University of Delaware, History Department), was instrumental in bringing this shared history to the forefront as the primary contemporary researcher on these events for the Delaware Art Museum's summer exhibition series. 

The community-wide reflection beginning this spring will bring "both answers and questions," says Austin. "People of my generation and those who are not from Wilmington will start to understand what happened, why Wilmington looks the way it does today, and why people have certain perceptions of the City of Wilmington and of Delaware. I also think in terms of questions because the work that I've done is not the end. There are so many stories that just aren't found in traditional sources and I'm hoping that more people will come forward and share their experiences."

The Wilmington 1968 partners see the upcoming events, performances, and forums as ways to constructively process the physical and emotional toll on our city stemming the uprising and its aftermath. Our community needs to know that we, representatives of the arts & culture community, are not oblivious and unaffected by this quest for healing, and support all Wilmingtonians as they contribute to these necessary cross-generational conversations about race and reconciliation.
Drawing inspiration from the protest art of the 1960s, Squatch Creative — the design firm that created the Wilmington 1968 website — blends technology and art to empower activism. Marcus Price, the site designer, shared, "While creating the aesthetic for the Wilmington 1968 remembrance, I wanted to do justice to the people who lived through this experience. It's different than creating a website for a product or a brand. It was an entire movement and people. I wanted to be sure that I honored that and the spirit involved." 

Partner Organizations in Wilmington 1968 project:

Saturday, March 17, 2018

Two Harpsichords, Two Guest Artists, One Premiere & "Catch 1"

By Christine Facciolo

Mélomanie’s concerts just keep getting better and better. Not that this innovative ensemble — that looks both to the past and to the future — ever delivers anything short of sheer excellence. But Sunday’s concert at The Delaware Contemporary knocked it out of the park with a World Premiere, the graphic notation of Polish composer Roman Haubenstock-Ramati, two guest artists as well as some delightful selections from the Baroque era.

The ensemble opened the concert with an extremely well-polished and impeccably precise rendering of the Chaconne from Marin Marais’ Suite 1 in C major (from Pieces en trio 1692).


Mélomanie performs with guest artists Matthew Bengtson & Chris Braddock.
Photo by Tim Bayard.
Harpsichordist Tracy Richardson then joined composer Christopher Braddock on the octave mandolin for a performance of Pluck, a piece that Braddock wrote in 2009 — a time when Braddock said he had far less personal responsibilities.

Braddock explained that he chose the instrument because it produces some of the low-end heft of the guitar along with the fiddle-like bounce of the mandolin, making it the perfect vehicle for Pluck with its idiomatic folk-style writing.

It was most interesting and entertaining to hear Richardson and the harpsichord take to the folk medium like second nature.

The highlight of the first half of the program, though, was Haubenstock-Ramati’s Catch 1 (1968) for two harpsichords adapted in Caught (2018) by Mark Hagerty. It’s doubtful that many in the audience ever heard anything by this composer since discs documenting his work are quite rare.

Haubenstock-Ramati’s aim was to move musicians far beyond what he perceived to their comfort zone of conventional notation. Yet the question of how to interpret his pictorial images remains. Hagerty’s realization features notated passages and snippet that can be freely selected and varied by the interpreters — in this case, Richardson and guest artist Matthew Bengtson — in response to the graphic notation.

It’s doubtful that anyone in the audience had ever heard music like this before. The experience would have been complete had there not been a technological glitch that prevented concertgoers from seeing the actual notation. Nevertheless, this was truly “music for the moment,” as Hagerty urged audience member to listen without regard to what came before or what was to follow.

Following intermission, Bengtson offered two selections from Pieces de Clavecin by Armand-Louis Couperin, cousin of the more famous Francois. Armand-Louis’ work is generally not considered as sophisticated as Louis’ but it is attractive and full of personality. Bengtson interpreted “L’Afflige” and “L’Intrepide” with sensitivity and intelligence. He was particularly successful in keeping Couperin’s rhythms flexible without distorting them and without sacrificing spontaneity.

Bengtson then rejoined Richardson for a vivid, imaginative performance of the Duetto I in C major for two harpsichords by Christoph Schaffrath, an important harpsichordist and composer in the court of Frederick the Great. Both were impressive in their execution of these demanding keyboard parts.

The concert concluded with the World Premiere of Braddock’s Hooks & Crooks, which the composer explained was written during a series of family vacations at various locales. Scored for flute, violin, viola da gamba and guitar, the work showed Braddock to be a flexible, eclectic composer with a sense of humor. The ensemble played with customary vitality and color as the music faded like a summer memory.

See www.melomanie.org

Wednesday, August 23, 2017

Calling All Artists: The Delaware Contemporary Wants YOU to Participate

The Delaware Contemporary is hosting two exciting 6x6 events featuring artwork from artists of all ages and stages in their creative evolution!

We are excited to host this "community-centric art project" again this year! Sign up now to have your work on display at The Delaware Contemporary 
Friday, October 6 through Sunday, October 8, 2017
FREE to participate, FREE to attend! 
Registration ends Wednesday, August 30.


Small Art, Big Auction
The Delaware Contemporary will host the reprisal of SABA on Saturday, November 11, 2017 to present small works of art donated by emerging, mid-career and seasoned artists as well as students, youth and local celebrities! Help support The Delaware Contemporary by donating your work today! 
Art entries due by Monday, October 30, 2017.


Friday, May 12, 2017

"&" -- The 2017 University of Delaware MFA Graduate Thesis Exhibition

By Amy Henderson
Amy Henderson is a local artist and owner of Rebel Cow Marketing, LLC. 

Untitled, 2017 by Molly Walker. Photo by Morgan Hamilton.
Each year, the University of Delaware graduates 10 students from their esteemed Master of Fine Arts program, and The Delaware Contemporary is currently showing their thesis work.  I was fortunate enough to enjoy a guided tour of this exciting exhibition by Morgan Hamilton, Curatorial Fellow at The Delaware Contemporary.

Untitled, 2017 by Molly Walker. Photo by Morgan Hamilton.
Encompassing both Dupont Galleries, this large collection of works immediately engages the senses.  From a special projection room featuring a digital video by Eddy Rhenals-Narvaez to Abby Daleki's fabric sculpture with accompanying sound, this impressive show offers painting, sculpture, video, and even a water feature.  There is something for everyone, including a wall-sized video exhibit of the north pole of Saturn juxtaposed with scenes from Earth (created by Juan Pablo Cardenas).  Don't miss this experience!  Congratulations, Class of 2017!

The exhibition runs May 5 through June 11, 2017 at The Delaware Contemporary, 200 S. Madison Street in Wilmington.  Admission is free.  Suggested donations are: $10 for adults and $5 for children under 18. 

See www.decontemporary.org.





Monday, January 30, 2017

Calls for Musicians & Visual Artists: Ladybug Festival & The Delaware Contemporary

Info compiled from Ladybug Festival & The Delaware Contemporary notices...

The Ladybug Festival Call for Artists

The annual summertime celebration of female arts and artists (this year expanded to a two-day festival) presented by Gable Music Ventures, has opened its call for artist submissions. The 2017 Ladybug Festival will take place in downtown Wilmington, Delaware on July 20 and 21. Artists interested in being considered for a performance spot should visit the Ladybug Festival website and submit an application!

The Delaware Contemporary Open Call for Artists

Submit your application online by February 22, 2017 to exhibit work in The Delaware Contemporary's 2017 Contemporary Gala Art Auction! The Contemporary Gala is an exciting and elegant evening of music, auctions and unconventional entertainment. Proceeds from the event support our exhibitions and education programs. Artists will have their work featured in our Constance S. & Robert J. Hennessy Project Space gallery for an audience of art enthusiasts and collectors. Contributing artists can opt to receive 50% of the sale price or donate the entire amount to The Delaware Contemporary.

Saturday, October 15, 2016

Mélomanie Opens Wilmington Series at The Delaware Contemporary

By Christine Facciolo

Mélomanie opened its 2016-17 Wilmington concert series at The Delaware Contemporary on Sunday, October 9 with a program that was both demanding and fascinatingly varied.

The program started off with a delightful rendering of Telemann’s Paris Quartet 3 in G Major. A description of the performance can be found in the titles of the movements themselves: Gracieusement, Vite, Gai. Gracious and spirited are exactly the qualities this music requires 
— and what the ensemble delivered.

Flutist Kimberly Reighley played a magical Baroque flute, rich in tone with spot-on intonation. She blended perfectly with Christof Richter’s violin, making their intertwining lines an endless source of listening pleasure. Gambist Donna Fournier supplied a judicious bass line: prominent where needed yet merging seamlessly with Tracy Richardson’s sublimely supportive harpsichord.

In a rare treat, Richardson soloed in a World Premiere of Michael Stambaugh’s Suite for Harpsichord. Stambaugh is a rising young (b.1990) Philadelphia-based composer whose unfettered imagination shows that an 18th Century instrument has just as much to say in the 21st Century.

The work — written during the summer — unfolds in four short movements (a fifth is being reworked): The Machine Comes to Life, A Mischievous Prelude, A Light Dance and Invention. Opening with a blizzard of notes and fluctuant harmonies and rhythms, the piece is a whimsical mélange of jazz, rock, heavy metal and funk which, oddly enough, did not seem so far removed from the 17th Century. One audience member thought it quasi-programmatic, as it followed the path of a machine from its “birth” to its taking on human characteristics and capabilities 
 a notion that surprised and intrigued the composer.

The playing was often difficult and taxing, but Richardson was superb and her efforts were appreciatively received by the audience.

The history of Western music is littered with tales of lost masterpieces and what-might-have-beens. Philipp Heinrich Erlebach (1657-1714) became one of those unfortunates when in 1736 when all but 70 of his 1000 compositions were destroyed in a fire at the court library at Rudolstadt.

The Sonata 5 in E Minor is just one of six sonatas to survive. As was common for the time, it was scored for violin, viola da gamba and basso continuo. But Erlebach’s sonatas differ from those of his contemporaries in that he gives the viola da gamba a genuinely independent part. In addition, Erlebach aims for a mixture of German, Italian and French styles: the dance movements being mainly Italian while German polyphony dominates the opening and closing movements.

Violinist Richter and gambist Fournier exhibited a deep appreciation for the strong character of this sonata, and their performance offered a pleasing and effective balance in their dialogues.

The concert closed with the Promenades for Flute, Violin and Harpsichord by Czech composer Bohuslav Martinu. Written between 1937 and 1944, the piece reflects the composer’s reaction to the horrors of World War II. The work opens calmly enough with a Bach-like allegro and air but then morphs into a sinister scherzo and a bitter, edgy finale. Reighley is impressive, playing with the precision and pristine quality she’s noted for, yet somehow managing to deliver a strident tone the music demanded.

See www.melomanie.org.

Tuesday, February 16, 2016

Mélomanie Delivered Musical Treats for Wilmington Valentines

Mélomanie performed at The Delaware Contemporary on Feb. 14.
By Christine Facciolo
Music lovers who braved Sunday’s frigid temps got treated to a concert of sweet musical morsels from Mélomanie.

The program was an eclectic one, featuring the works of the definitely Baroque Telemann, the stylistically fluid Ibert and neo-Baroque contemporary Kile Smith.

The program featured a reprise performance of Smith’s The Nobility of Women, which was commissioned by 
Mélomanie and premiered in 2012. Mélomanie Co-Artistic Director Tracy Richardson commented that the ensemble gave Smith the choice of an additional instrument to be played by a guest artist. He chose the oboe — an instrument not uncoincidentally played by his daughter, Priscilla Herreid. Herreid reprised her role as guest soloist for this concert.

Smith’s composition proves that musical styles never really disappear, they just go out of fashion until inspiration or musical necessity spark their resurrection. Smith took his cue for this eight-movement work from the name of the 16th Century dance manual Nobilita di Dame by Fabritia Caroso. Each movement bears the name of a Baroque dance form: Allemande, Sarabande, Musette, Ciaccona.

The work is a pretty staid affair until Richardson breaks out with a dazzling harpsichord solo in the third movement. Herreid did herself proud, soloing in the Sarabande, which features a delicate italianate melody of great beauty. The Ciaccona served as a fitting finale, packed with interesting flourishes.

Smith’s work paired quite nicely with Telemann’s Quartet in G Major from the “Tafelmusik” collection. “Tafelmusik” — literally meaning table music — is a mid-16th Century term for music played at banquets. 
Mélomanie imbued the piece with a vigor and flourish that would compel anyone to put down their fork and defer to the music.

The program also featured the Two Interludes for flute, violin and harpsichord by 20th Century French composer, Jacques Ibert. The first interlude was slow and stately, in triple meter, reminiscent of a Baroque sarabande. The second was fast with swirls of color and a Spanish flavor thanks to inflections of the Phrygian mode. Both pieces were rich in tone yet balanced a perfection union of lushness of Impressionism and the clarity of Classicism. Flutist Kimberly Reighley, violinist Christof Richter and harpsichordist Richardson strike the perfect balance between lushness and clarity of tone and texture.

Rounding out the program were selections by two all-but-forgotten French composers: Louis-Antoine Dornel, a contemporary of J.S. Bach and Benoit Guilemant, an 18th Century flutist.

Herreid once again showed her mastery of the Baroque oboe — a notoriously difficult beast to tame — in the former’s Sonata n G Major, which featured a lively interplay between soloist and bass.

Cellist Douglas McNames and gambist Donna Fournier — this time on cello collaborated on a lively performance of the latter’s melodic Sonata No. 4 in C Major, Op. 3.

Thursday, February 4, 2016

All I Wanna Do Is Have Some...Delaware Fun-A-Day!

Who isn't in the mood for some fun, especially in the midst of a DelMarVa winter? Delaware Fun-A-Day has your winter-blues remedy Friday, February 5, 2016 from 5:00-9:00pm at The Delaware Contemporary (formerly The Delaware Center for the Contemporary Arts [DCCA]). It promises to be an evening to fill you with art, music, food, comedy and — of course — plenty of F-U-N!

In the past few years, The Delaware Contemporary has successfully positioned itself as the go-to place for all manner of art "events" and cool happenings. It seems the perfect setting for a project like this.

Delaware Fun-A-Day is a multimedia, all-ages, all-inclusive, non-juried art project, which is actually part of a nationwide project. The fifth annual artistic exhibition was launched by local organizers and entries have grown each year. The event is modeled after Philadelphia's Art Clash Collective, which debuted 11 years ago.

The idea is simple: Make something each day in January (with a self-determined theme) and present it in a show during February's Art Loop. Past projects have run the gamut from sculpture to painting to photography to poetry to knitting to song to beading. The Fun-A-Day crew reports a record number of participants this year — with the youngest participant in First Grade.

Friday will deliver the exhibits of 100+ Delaware artists — drone photography, mythical creatures, dogs of Delaware, mandalas, timed abstract paintings, fairies doing yoga, cross-stitched labyrinths and more — but also music by DJ Skinny White; improv comedy from City Theater Company's Fearless Improv (shows at 6:00pm & 8:00pm); and plenty of nosh from the Contemporary's new caterer/food truck partners Plum Bistro by The Plum Pit. The Contemporary's current gallery exhibitions will also be open: Lynda Schmid's Listening to Horses, Amy Stevens' Letting Go and a joint exhibition by studio artists Dan Jackson and Ken Mabrey. In-house artists' studios will also be open for tours.

See you for the FUN! See www.delawarefunaday.com.