Cocktails at a favorite pre- and post-concert haunt, Jade Bar
It was my blog’s second birthday yesterday! I wanted to take this chance to send out a big THANK YOU to everyone who’s been reading and engaging in fascinating discussion. I’m so grateful that my blog has survived strong for two years with people continuing to read regularly. I know my blog hasn’t gotten that much love lately (grad school’s not been so fun these days) but there are more exciting things coming up. So go out there and enjoy an evening at the theater and talk about it!
My last night at the theater was Mark Morris’ L’Allegro in Berkeley a few weekends ago with the Mark Morris Dance Group. Morris combines the rarely seen combination of classy Handel music with irreverent, earthy yet ethereal modern dance. Still peppered with Morris’ irreverent genius and wit, I didn’t find it to be my favorite Morris masterpiece. There were sections taken literally from the lyrics and one too many stagnant moments to hold my attention throughout. But that movement where the men vacillate between violent face slapping and dainty hand holding and quirky tooshie-slapping, ingeniously set to the music, was one of the liveliest things I’d ever seen on stage. It was a movement that encapsulated Morris’ humor, intelligence, outside-the-box thinking, and pitch-perfect musicality, all in one, and it was a much needed shot of adrenaline to the concert viewing experience. And as much as I hate to admit it, that’s the one movement that will stay with me the longest about this piece.
There’s an unlikely addition to the star-studded lineup for the Oregon Ballet Theatre’s spectacular Dance United concert tonight. In addition to the well-known New York City Ballet, San Francisco Ballet, Joffrey Ballet, and the National Ballet of Canada, there is the Boris and Natasha Dance Troupe (under Linda Austin Dance), a group made up of five non-dancer modern dancers. One member, Peter Ames Carlin (a journalist when he’s not a modern dancer), writes hilariously about taking class with the best dancers in the world who move in ways “that God himself might not have imagined humans being capable of performing”. He calls their group, “A breath of weird air. The high art version of rodeo clowns.” Click here for his article.
In this economy, recession is hitting the arts hard. Oregon Ballet Theatre has issued a national call for help, with the entire dance community pitching in. With the threat of closing down if funds aren’t raised, they are putting on DANCE UNITED, a benefit performance to raise enough funds that will allow them to stay open if they reach their goal by the end of this month. Keep track of their fundraising progress, here.
Dancers from all over North America are flying in to dance in a special one-night-only benefit performance, including San Francisco Ballet’s own Sarah Van Patten and Damian Smith in Christopher Wheeldon’s mesmerizing After the Rain pas de deux. Other companies flying in to help include New York City Ballet (Megan Fairchild and Daniel Ulbricht in Balanchine’s Tarantella), Joffrey Ballet, Pacific Northwest Ballet, Boston Ballet, National Ballet of Canada, Oregon Ballet Theatre, and lots more. It’s going be a star-studded night and one heck of a performance. The performance is on June 12 at 7:30 PM. Click here for tickets.
I get the sense that OBT’s struggles represent a much larger fear in the arts community of the very near future, and the fear is palpable with no certainty at how large the impact is going to be.
OBT is hardly the only company to be struggling. Sacramento Ballet has been struggling since last year where mid-season, the company was forced to close down for the rest of the season. The dancers themselves have picked up on a grassroots campaign called “Save Our Sacramento Ballet” to raise enough funds for the company. They’ve smartly partnered with neighborhood business, from everything to ice cream shops to performing as living sculptures in art galleries to a benefit performance at the Mondavi Center, to collaborate in a huge fundraising effort to keep their company open. Their fundraising efforts seemed to have paid off at least partially – the current status of the company is that they will be performing the “Nutcracker” and other programs at their normal venue at the Community Center next year, with performances at other venues. They will also continue their popular in-studio “Ballet and Beer” programs as well.
The great thing is to see support from fellow dance companies all over the continent pitch in to help – the message seems to hit close to home in the tightly knit dance community. The immediate impact are the artists themselves who lose jobs which is dire in itself, and additionally the long term effect will be on whole communities and future generations growing up without arts education and experience. Today, it’s Portland and Sacramento – tomorrow, what will it be? San Francisco, New York, Chicago?
Click here to donate to the Oregon Ballet Theatre. Click here to support Sacramento Ballet.
Check out a video of the efforts that the Sacramento Ballet dancers have been doing in the community to keep their company alive.
In the past week or so, I’ve gotten hopelessly addicted to the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition that’s currently being live streamed over the internet. It’s every classical music/pianist dream (and new media person (Doug, I’m looking at you)) come true. Not only are all the performances live streamed as it happens, but the rehearsals are shown as well. It’s thrilling to get a glimpse of rehearsals, everything from the Van Cliburn finalist’s one-on-one rehearsal with conductor James Conlon going over the details of the piece, to the casual attire of the performers in glasses, to hearing unscripted and honest moments in the struggle between soloist and orchestra in coming together as one cohesive whole. It also has the added excitement of following your favorite performers in a reality-show setting sort of way with the excitement of a competition and the emotion-grabbing storyline of watching your favorites succeed or fail at every elimination. Perhaps a combination of American Idol and the Bachelor, if you will. In addition, it really gives a sense of how much work goes into putting a piece together and increases appreciation for the art form itself in addition to demystifying it. Isn’t this the goal of classical music these days in the MTV generation? And I’m amazed with the Takacs Quartet and James Conlon – they have the impossible task of putting together rehearsals and flawless performances with 6-12 different pianists in a unique competition setting.
This live stream is also for the newbie as well. They have an extensive “commentary” option where, as you’re watching, you can turn on comments that describe the piece you’re listening to. They point out the theme, the second theme, counterpoint, and the return back to the first theme with a different mood, or expansion on a theme. The points are concise and easy to understand and really relevant. I found it helpful for unfamiliar pieces. The level of options available in the live stream and archives are astounding.
It’s this sort of widely available accessibility that will draw fans in and get people excited about the art form and get classical music to shed its elitist shroud of better-than-thou obscurity. Like sports that I see everywhere, the Van Cliburn competition not only has it available to view online including archives of each performance (rehearsal footage was taken down, boo!) but quite a number of heateddiscussions on blogs that post everything from smart and funny reviews (another one here) to who danced on the dance floor, who performed with a broken toe, and what a competitor ate for dinner. It reminds me of the paparazzi that stalk celebrities, sports or not, like no other, and generates buzz for these performers as people. The classical music world could use a little bit of this.
Extending the sports metaphor further, my coworker suggested that I hold a “fantasy Cliburn” like they do for March Madness.
Granted, accessibility isn’t everything – point proven by the fact that I’m still not a baseball or football fan (although I have been known to attend an occasional Giants game). It also opens the door for criticism in the face of such transparency. On one hand, it’s exciting to see people so passionate about the art form. Yet commentors were brutal in discussing a tense moment between conductor James Conlon and Haochen Zhang, the youngest competitor in the Van Cliburn finals. Zhang was trying to convey to the conductor that someone thought the orchestra was too loud sometimes, and Conlon replied that the orchestra is an important factor too, and sometimes more important than the piano. (I do hope this isn’t the reason why the rehearsals aren’t currently being archived, because commentors talked endlessly about it). Conlon was a target of public criticism for his words because people thought he was being condescending to a musician so young. I disagree – I hardly doubt that Zhang is the only young soloist who works with an experienced conductor who hasn’t been guided in the same way and neither parties acted any less than with honorable professionalism. It was an honest moment and the tension between conductor and soloist SHOULD be there, as an equal meeting of two minds who come together to form a cohesive piece of music that requires both parts. Naturally, Zhang is worried about his status as a valid competitor and being heard, and Conlon is concerned about the work as a beautiful piece of music. Compromise and give-and-take and careful thought should be a natural part of the rehearsal process, and for me, it was a wonderful example of watching two very good musicians collaborating together.
And what better moments to watch the rehearsals than to watch an orchestra interact with a blind soloist who can’t see cues and downbeats? As Tsujii worked against both a sight and a language barrier, it was simply astounding to watch him pick up subtle cues such as breathing (!!!) and to pick up as the orchestra started to play without being told where he was.
This transparency will only serve the public and the music community in the long run. Controversy and discussion is a good thing for classical music. It gets people engaged and turned on, and it makes people listen more closely. For me, I was definitely watching for the balance between orchestra and piano in Zhang’s piece, and it was absolutely sublime.
As for my favorites – I haven’t listened to everything, but I’ve come to realize that this is not a competition about who’s the best piano player, but it’s a competition of the musician with a unique point of view, or as the judges kept on saying, a pianist who has “something to say”. My favorites are Tsujii’s preliminary round (esp the Chopin etudes) and his Chopin concerto (his Rachmaninoff concerto tomorrow is going to be very exciting), Zhang’s semifinal recital (especially the Chopin preludes) and Mariangela Vacatello’s Beethoven concerto. Di Wu’s Rach 3 tomorrow will be something to look forward to as well, in addition to Tsujii’s final round recital.
If you haven’t caught the competition so far, plug your computer into your largest speakers (as I am now) and listen. You’re listening to the future of music, and it’s an amazing and rare glimpse into the world of classical music. The competition goes until tomorrow, and the winners will be announced tomorrow.
Click here to watch and be amazed and form an opinion and share your opinion with others. Who are your favorites??
Just for the fun of it… here’s a clip of Tsujii’s semifinal recital of Beethoven’s monumental “Hammerklavier”. I’m a bit torn about this performance (I’m referring to the full piece, not this clip). He’s not the most refined player almost the point of distraction, but there an intangible quality that’s extremely moving and unforgettable. I hope this video clip captures some of that. Opinions?
UPDATE: I am so thrilled with the conclusion! No one captured my heart as much as Tsujii and Zhang, as much as I admired Vacatello’s spunky bright sound and Yeol Eum Son’s sparkly brilliance that never quite reached crystal clarity for me. I really hope this means that we’ll see way more of Tsujii and Zhang in the future. Tsujii also won the Best Performance of a New Work, which I’m assuming is referring to his Musto piece (he was the only performer to perform it in its dreamy haziness), and I’m definitely going to go back and listen to Yeol Eum Son’s chamber music piece. I also agree with Bozhanov’s marvelous Franck chamber music piece that he did with the Takacs Quartet, both for his bold choice in picking this difficult piece as well as its masterful delivery.
For those of you looking to donate to the Van Cliburn foundation, it’s too bad that you can only donate $75 or more. It’s a shame that the foundation is missing out on smaller donations. You can support the foundation however by buying recital CD’s and DVD’s that are available for purchase (recitals only, no concertos or chamber music available). Click here for the Cliburn store. Hopefully this will be enough to keep this webcast free in future competitions! What a fun journey it’s been.
Sometimes, the audience becomes an unwitting additional character in a show. At Patti Lupone’s one-woman show at the Mondavi Center on Saturday night titled “Coulda, Woulda, Shoulda”, the show itself was amazing. Backed by pianist Joseph Talken playing with witty ease, Lupone was her larger-than-life self, showcasing her performing skills in a series of showtunes and personal anecdotes of her journey through career highs and lows – mass cattle calls (auditions with non unionized actors where hundreds of people show up to audition), her accidental entrance to Juilliard, or so she says, and through several Tony awards. She delivers with spot-on comedic timing and a flair for the dramatic. And that voice! Not the most refined, it’s not even her power to bring down the house that’s the most impressive, but her ability to hold your attention with breathless anticipation. This one-woman show is a perfect vehicle for her persona as the quintessential performer.
I couldn’t help but to feel that it was a bit unfortunate that the audience was filled with people who didn’t seem to know a lot about Broadway. This show was put on in honor of Chancellor Larry and Rosalie Vanderhoef, who is retiring soon after an illustrious career. Chandellor Vanderhoef did a lot in promoting the arts in this community, even in just building the magnificent Mondavi Center which brings in a lot of art in itself. From our orchestra seats, the audience was packed with people who looked like administrators, many of them with nametags from a previous event, in what looked like in honor of the chancellor. Everyone in the audience seemed to know each other, and my friend and I were apparently in the middle of about 10 different conversations with people in front of us talking through us to speak to the people behind us. The only exception that I could see was the front row of starry-eyed young men hanging on her every word.
With Lupone’s show, it was too bad that when she pointed the mike towards the audience to sing along, she was met with dead silence. Being a cabaret-style show that depends on casual audience interaction, this part sadly fell flat, through no fault of her own. But she geared up and utilized everything she had (including a perfeclty handled impromptu moment where she almost fell through a trap door in the wall) to whip up audience enthusiasm. She was able to get the audience palpably excited even if no one recognized the showtunes. And by the end with a rousing medley of Sondheim songs including the powerhouse “Being Alive”, it was obvious that she had a theater full of her newest fans.
A word on Chancellor Vanderhoef and the wonderful Mondavi Center. If he brought in the Mondavi Center, that alone is enough to convince me that he is a great man with an uncanny unique vision for the arts. As an example of the great programming here, I have seen Ballet Preljocaj, Yo-Yo Ma, the San Francisco Symphony with Mason Bates and Yuja Wang, and Patti Lupone in the span about a month. Next year, this center is bringing in the infamous and hilarious Ballet Trockadero and Morphoses, Christopher Wheeldon’s company. Even with the recession and an increase in more “conservative” financially dependable programs such as classical music concerts, how fabulous and risky is that programming? Love!
When the bigger dance companies close for the season – all the Bay area dance companies seemed to close within weeks of each other – I find the summer to be a great time to explore smaller, local companies. I just came back from a nice evening at the Northern California Dance Conservatory. Titled “Mergence 2009″, it was marketed as an evening of art inspiring art – a night of original choreography as well as fine art inspired by said choreography. Hosted by the conservatory as well as JointheArts.com, a cultural arts advocate organization that aims to bridge the arts together, it was an evening of food, wine and art with a local emphasis. The reception before the performance was a lively, classy event that set the celebratory mood.
The performance part of the evening was a diverse program of eight modern dance pieces ranging from the silly to the sublime. The only recognizable choreographer on the program was Bay area’s Tina Kay Bohnstedt from Diablo Ballet. Her “Being Individual” set to the music of Philip Glass’s Concerto for Violin and Orchestra was an exercise in shifting geometric shapes and group interactions backed by the pulsating music, with two group dances flanking a gentle central pas de deux. Intellectually engaging and a strong start to the evening, there was tension in vacillating between an air of caution and complete freedom that was difficult to tell if this was intentional or not. Choreographer and artistic director Jen Bradford’s “Writing on the Body of a Queen”, backed by the music of Gary Pozner, Dustin O’Halloran, L’Arpeggiata and Christina Pluhar, started out as a fun romp with an ease that flowed effortlessly. The central pas de deux fluctuated softly and quickly between surrender (a trust fall) and control (a man’s hand at the woman’s throat) like the fluttering of an eyelash, and in its twists and turns, the effect was captivating and absorbing and my favorite moment of the evening.
In moments, the evening can’t resist straying into the arena of cliche, reminiscent of ballet school recitals I grew up with. I found the most successful pieces to be the ones that embodied simplicity and showcased the dancers, rather than the pieces that aimed to teach the audience something or tried to be too ambitious. The dancers moved with incredible fluidity. Their technique may not equal professional companies, but it’s a rare quality to find a group of people that can simply move.
Original choreography is risky and commendable, and I’m so impressed that local companies are putting originality at a premium even in this economy. The effect is well worth it.
More performances are scheduled for this weekend. Click here for more information.
Now, what if I told you that he’s blind, since birth? He’s never read a note in his life (in the traditional sense, at least), and he has never seen the piano. Does that change your opinion of his playing?
Funny how the mind works. Bias is an invisible, elusive thing. I was flipping through some of the videos of the world famous Van Cliburn International Piano Competition which is amazingly live streamed across the internet. It’s incredibly addicting because the level of playing is so high and the intensity is palpable even through the internet. At a brief initial glance however, a lot of the competitors sounded the same to me. A huge part of this is no doubt due to the fact that I’m not listening live, but with the existing conditions, they all sounded really well studied, guarded, careful and precise. However, my ears perked up when I heard Nobuyuki Tsujii, the performer in the video above. He had the advantage of a fantastic beginning to the Chopin etudes, but his unique artistry stood out immediately. There was a warm flash to his playing layered with a well of sensitivity, a refreshing raw unfinished edge but real heart. A quick search on the Van Cliburn website led to his biography and information that he has been blind since birth. After acquiring that knowledge, I began to find his playing absolutely heartbreaking, even down to his practiced and awkwardly endearing bows. From my point of view, he isn’t technically the best player in the competition, yet I can’t help but to root for him.
Why is it that as audience members, we pore over artists’ biographies in the program? Their personal lives shouldn’t matter in the audience’s opinion of the artist and his or her art. Or does it, or more importantly, should it?
A friend of mine thinks it’s irrelevant that he’s blind, and pointed out that it would be more impressive if he played that way and he was deaf. True. He’s advanced to the semi finals, by the way. His semifinal chamber performance with the Takacs Quartet will be tomorrow afternoon if you want to tune in. I’m sending him the best of luck all the way over here from California.
I also listened to Stephen Beus who unfortunately didn’t advance to semi finals, but I liked the elegance in his playing.
Be sure to check out the live stream of the competition online, here. So worth it.
Who are your favorites, and who else should I check out? There are simply too many to listen to.
Recently I ran into two eye-catching ads at a local Bart station, one for the Smuin Ballet and another for Company C Contemporary Ballet. Company C Contemporary Ballet’s season seems to be over, but the Smuin Ballet’s spring season recently started up so be sure to check them out and report back! (Yes, that’s an order.)
Other upcoming events – San Francisco Symphony’s last Davies After Hours for the year is on May 22, with DJ/composer Mason Bates and SFS resident conductor Benjamin Schwartz team up to present Mercury Lounge: Mercury Soul comes to Davies. Click here to find out more about it. I can’t make it this time, but I’ll be catching the concert on Thursday. Mason Bates first caught my attention with his work played by the Youtube Symphony, where they previewed an excerpt of The B-Sides. I always cringe a bit when I hear about electronica merging with classical music (it’s done so poorly way too often), but his piece really surprised me, and I’m looking forward to hearing more. Bates’ The B-Sides will premiere at the SF Symphony preceding Davies After Hours, conducted by Michael Tilson Thomas.
Also remember to check out their amazing summer schedule, titled Summer & the Symphony. It’s always a little more casual, breezier, and a great opportunity to try something new. My picks are James Gaffigan’s “my classic Mozart” program and “my classic Russian composers” with the amazing Orion Weiss, who was one of the best things I heard last year. And he’s playing the Rach 2, which I prefer over the serious suicide-by-drowning Rach 3. Rach 2 is the still serious yet discretely sensitive and passionate younger brother (sister? Not sure why I picked the male gender over female, but Rachmaninoff is so masculine) of Rach 3. Anyways. Look out for Jeremy Denk and Chris Botti as well.
Check out the video below for a preview of Mason Bates’ The B-Sides, performing with the Youtube Symphony, with the earnestly charming composer himself in the midst of the action.
It’s so difficult to imagine San Francisco Ballet without Tina LeBlanc. I remember her since my college days, when I would drag my dormmates to see performances so we could get the group discount. To me, she is a very big part of San Francisco Ballet; she’s always been there since I became a regular fan of the company. Again, it’s really really hard to imagine San Francisco Ballet without her.
She symbolizes a lot of what the company stands for, and it’s amazing how early the direction of the company was set on its course for its standards of excellence by hiring dancers such as LeBlanc when she joined the company 17 years ago. Her technical speed and precision is solid and astounding, yet it’s her artistry that shines. Steps are never steps, but an emotion, an idea, a character, or a phrase. Her technical control is breathtaking. Her whole being radiates, and in her final performance, her heart was on her sleeve at every precious moment.
To talk of anything specific about her final performance seems narrow-minded, because her persona is so much bigger than this one night. Her final farewell performance was a worthy tribute, with excerpts from four modern repertory pieces, interspersed with video clips of her past work as well as interviews with people who know her well. The versatility of the video clips of her past work was truly impressive, and it made me sad that I had missed her in Square Dance and Giselle. The four excerpts she performed highlighted her versatility and her strengths. She flew through Balanchine’s Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux with lightning precision and a joyful lightness, partnered by guest artist and former SF Ballet principal, Gonzalo Garcia who never looked better or happier to be on this stage. She flies through the steps with confident spontaneity, looking like she was born to dance this piece. She shows us another side of her personality with Lar Lubovitch’s “Funny Valentine” from …smile with my heart, danced with guest artist Griff Braun, reaching her way through the dark passions of this piece with fluidity and wholehearted commitment. The simplicity of Tomasson’s Adagio from Sonata showcased LeBlanc’s transparency and lyricism, mirrored sensitively, impeccably by partner Ruben Martin. And the pas de deux and finale from Balanchine’s Theme and Variations was a celebration for LeBlanc as its reigning queen, and Davit Karapetyan by her side with quiet boldness.
It was an incredible night. Every moment onstage sparkled, packed with consideration, thought, and emotion. The audience savored every single moment. She received a touching send-off with curtain calls from her frequent partners and fellow dancers, and the audience roared when her two adorable sons came to give her flowers. Helgi Tomasson presented his star ballerina to the world one more time. It’s an understatement to say that she will be missed.
She’s shined in so many roles in my mind, yet my personal favorite remains her role in Rodeo. There was something so hilarious and heartbreaking and yet something so relateable in that moment she comes out in the yellow dress. It’s such a still moment, yet it spoke volumes.
Here is a list of reviews for San Francisco Ballet’s productions of Jewels this year, which is a heavily googled topic right now. It’s also been heavily reviewed, even in the NY Times. It’s also an excuse to post another beautiful photo from the production.
It’s interesting to note that each review was written from a different point of comparison. Alastair Macaulay from the NY Times writes from the perspective of the original production, in comparing the leads in “Diamonds” to the original dancer cast in the role, Suzanne Farrell. Rachel Howard of the San Francisco Chronicle compares this production to SFB’s past productions in 2002-03. I often wonder what biases I carry into seeing a production even before the curtain even goes up – I could feel myself comparing it to the DVD of Jewels that the Paris Opera Ballet did that I love. I realize that this is incredibly unfair… or is it? Can anyone come into a new production with completely fresh new eyes to give it a fair chance to form opinions?
But who doesn’t come in with baggage and biases? I’ve been thinking about dance criticism thanks to the lively discussion on dance critic Claudia LaRocco’s blog (click here to see it), where she asked everyone to answer “What is dance criticism?”. Is it even possible to watch something with an unbiased attitude to give a production the “generosity of consideration” that every show should receive? I’m not sure that it is, or at least not to the extent that we would like.
Despite bias, there’s no doubt that San Francisco Ballet’s Jewels is a gift to the city and a piece that’s worth seeing again and again.
