Irreverence in a classical setting

Making beautiful music requires two contradictory talents: the ability to play by the rules and the ability to break them. Only through years of practice can a classical musician acquire the technical skills that allows him or her to read the lines and also between them.

Friday’s Delaware Chamber Music Festival concert opened with a refreshing view of how to create a line of best fit between the tightly woven classical writing of composers Felix Mendelssohn and Maurice Ravel to see the jazz, folk and rock influences that permeate good music. After all, what is good music but a display of willful disregard for the rules while communicating within the limits of the composers design?

Barbara Govatos invited three fellow musicians who can deviate and conform: Julie Nishimura, John B. Hedges, and Douglas Mapp. Julie Nishimura, a tiny powerhouse in classical music, had no problem letting her quirky side rule while playing the piano for Four on the floor for violin, cello, bass and piano by Libby Larsen. She leaned left and right, feet swinging on the pedals and she put her whole body into the “slam-‘em-home” walking bass which provided the platform for the other musicians: Barbara on violin, Douglas Mapp on bass and Clancy Newman on the cello.

Clancy Newman played his own composition called Song without words for solo cello in which he played wild rock themes, jazz and blues while using his refined cello technique to touch the gentlest harmonics and also to jab the bow so hard it made an almost drum-like clicking.

A respite was given with David Bromberg’s acoustic guitar accompaniments of Barbara Govatos’ surprisingly good Irish fiddle performances of two ballads: Ashokan Farewell and Amazing Grace. Every now and then she betrayed her training by pulling off a perfect classical trill just after a country shindig slide up to a melody note.

Although I loved John B Hedges piano improvisation when he played his own version of “22-20”, playing soft enough to let us hear David Bromberg’s vocals and guitar, I did not enjoy the Devilwhere for violin, electric guitar and contrabass which he wrote to commemorate the 25^th anniversary of the Delaware Chamber Music Festival. It was so complex that it took Jim Tisdall to handle the electrified acoustic guitar part. Doug Mapp put his all into the wild bass string-snapping, but the overall effect was more bumpy than fun.

The crew of Nishimura, Govatos, and Newman finished the evening with the fastest rendition of Felix Mendelssohn’s Trio in c minor, opus 66 I have ever heard. Their point seemed to be that even within the strictures of the romantic era style, there is verve and jazz. The message worked much more successfully in the second movement of the Sonata for piano and violin by Maurice Ravel. For this piece, Nishimura was able to zing the syncopated notes just on the edge of the margins left by Ravel and Govatos had no problem moving with that. I feel sure Ravel would have given this piece a standing ovation – two irreverent American musicians using their skilled sophistication to bring a message of wonder about how all styles of music have coinciding arcs.

See www.dcmf.org.

Urinetown: Talented Young Actors at the DuPont Theatre

For the third year in a row, Delaware All-State Theatre is producing, in partnership with the DuPont Theatre, a full-scale musical theater show starring some of the area’s most talented and ambitions children. Urinetown, with a cast of 46, opens today, June 18, with performances Saturday and Sunday.

Talking with director/producer Jeffrey Santoro, I learned about the rigorous audition process for the young actors. Hundreds of kids showed up for the audition, with first round held behind closed doors, but the callbacks were held in the open theater. Santoro wanted to create an audition atmosphere similar to what is found in the professional theater: the actors could see their competition, and bring their auditions to the highest level possible. Some of the kids from past productions-Les Misérables and West Side Story- have gone on to professional theater. He estimated that eighty percent of the actors go on to participate in theater at the collegiate level.

The program is completely free, unlike some other children’s musical and theatrical programs in the area. The actors participate in workshops with well-known theatre professionals and have the unique experience of rehearsing and performing on stage with a professional orchestra at the state-of-the-art DuPont Theater.

Let’s support our young actors and future stars by checking out this great show!
For tickets, visit http://www.duponttheatre.com/ or call (302) 656-4401.

Dorothy & Herbert Vogel, Art Collectors Extroadinare

By Lauren McAloon

Lauren is the summer intern for Arts in Media & City Theater Company. She will be a senior at UD this fall.

I enjoy art, however I think there is a difference between appreciating art and understanding it. Art enthusiasts, Dorothy and Herbert Vogel did both. The couple was married in 1962 and purchased their first work of art together in 1963. As Dorothy worked at the Brooklyn Public Library, Herbert was employed at the Post Office. They spent one salary on their living and the other on their art. The Delaware Art Museum is opening the Dorothy and Herbert Vogel Collection: 50 Works for the First State on June 19, 2010. It will be on view until August 29, 2010.

This inspiring couple studied art and art history in school and naturally, became art collectors. Over the years they have collected over 4,000 works! Apparently they house their art in their one bedroom apartment wherever they can. (There’s actually a documentary about them Herb and Dorothy that tells their awesome story!) They teamed up with the National Gallery of Art with the support of the National Endowment for the Arts and the Institute of Museum of Library Services to launch Fifty Works for Fifty States. The Delaware Art Museum received the Vogel Collection and is very honored by the gift. The Collection focuses on contemporary art and it received drawings, paintings, sculptures and collages by 23 artists.

As I walked through the Collection that was expertly introduced and explicated by Margaret Winslow a few pieces of art stood out. There was a piece of cardboard with a large red geometric shape by Judy Rifka. I thought it was awesome that the artist used a piece of cardboard as a canvas. The bright red geometric shape really popped out from the cardboard. The words “abstract expressionism”, “minimalism”, “post minimalism” were used in the explanations of these pieces. Even if I don’t exactly understand what all of these art eras depicted, I know that they were very important.

I am a fan of Andy Warhol and his pop art. Stating that, I thought that the “new imagery” of the 1970s was pretty cool. Most of the artists and pieces that were in that section of the collection used everyday symbols in paintings and left the viewer to interpret the painting. There was one painting that was very odd. I liked it; it looked so interesting, and if you were looking correctly you can see a distorted candle. This artist used a special technique that was very cool looking. I also really liked a piece by Robert Barry. If you took a quick glimpse at the work of art you couldn’t tell what was so special about it. However, if you got closer, you see a hand drawn rectangle and words along side of the lines. Barry rarely used nouns, he let the viewer engage and interpret the words. I thought it was fun to try and think about why he placed the words where he did. A set of words on one line were “quiet”, “private”, “lasting”, “ask”, “toward”, “guess”, “evaluate”, “torment” and more. This work of art may have been my favorite.

I can’t paint, draw or quite frankly even cut a piece of paper in the right direction, but I really appreciate and value art. I think I have that in common with the Vogels. I love that this Collection brings artists to the surface that might have been overlooked in their prime. It’s a great support outlet for Contemporary Art. The Vogels gave thought to all of the collections for each individual institution. I’m sure the Delaware Art Museum knows how lucky they are and is very proud to have the Collection.

Artist, Richard Tuttle, gave the Vogels drawings from his loose-leaf notebook. Watercolors on loose-leaf notebook paper as daily exercises...maybe I should give it a try.

You can check out The Dorothy and Herbert Vogel Collection: Fifty Works for the First State starting on June 19 at the Delaware Art Museum. There’s also a special event: An artist panel, An Afternoon with the Vogels, on Saturday, 6/19 @ 11a.m.-2p.m., free with paid admission.

See http://www.delart.org/.