Beethoven Festival coming to the DSO

Posted on February 3, 2013 at 8:22 am by with Leave a Comment
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Why is it Ludwig van Beethoven, who died in 1827, still tops so many lists of the most popular classical composers?

Unlike many other composers of his time he had no patron so he was a freelancer. He wrote for himself … and for us … those who would hear his work in the future. It is passionate, bold, life-affirming and leaves audiences feeling inspired and optimistic. It is a Detroit kind of music.

Beginning February 6 and running through February 24 the Detroit Symphony Orchestra’s Beethoven Festival will immerse metro Detroit audiences in works that span his entire genre-altering career. The performances include all nine symphonies and pre-concert chamber music and lectures.

On February 6 there will be a keyboard conversation with renowned pianist Jeffrey Siegel and on February 7 a marathon performance of all 32 piano sonatas. The Piano Sonata Marathon will be performed by 33 young artists, representing a variety of educational institutions including Bowling Green State University, Central Michigan University, Interlochen, Michigan State University, Oakland University, Pioneer High School, University of Michigan and Wayne State University.

Before you walk into the concerts there are three things you need to know. Playing soft Beethoven is even harder to play than loud Beethoven. All Beethoven is hard to play. The DSO loves to play Beethoven.

“Perhaps the greatest mountains to be climbed by any conductor and orchestra are the nine symphonies by Ludwig van Beethoven,” said DSO Music Director Leonard Slatkin. “Each work shows the composer in a different light, ranging from Mozartian elegance to Wagnerian drama. Much the same can be said for the piano sonatas as well as his chamber music. It seemed the right time for all of us at the DSO to immerse ourselves in this remarkable world, and in turn, bring our audiences along for the journey.”

Here is the Beethoven Festival schedule.

Beethoven Festival Events

Date Time Location Event
February 6 7 p.m. Music Box Keyboard conversation with   Jeffrey Siegel
February 7   8 a.m.- end (all-day event) Music Box Piano Sonata Marathon
February 8 10:45 a.m. Orchestra Hall Beethoven Symphonies 3&8
7 p.m. Orchestra Hall Pre-concert presentation
8 p.m. Orchestra Hall Beethoven Symphonies 3&8
February 9 7 p.m. Orchestra Hall Pre-concert presentation
8 p.m. Orchestra Hall Beethoven Symphonies 4&5
February 10 2 p.m. Orchestra Hall Pre-concert presentation
3 p.m. Orchestra Hall Beethoven Symphonies 4&5
February 14 10:45 a.m. Orchestra Hall Beethoven Symphonies 1&6
6:30 p.m. Orchestra Hall Pre-concert presentation
7:30 p.m. Orchestra Hall Beethoven Symphonies 1&6
February 15 7 p.m. Orchestra Hall Pre-concert presentation
8 p.m. Orchestra Hall Beethoven Symphonies 2&7
 February 16 7 p.m. Orchestra Hall Pre-concert presentation
8 p.m. Orchestra Hall Beethoven Symphonies 2&7
February 21 6:30 p.m. Orchestra Hall Pre-concert presentation
7:30 p.m. Orchestra Hall Beethoven Symphony No. 9
February 22 7 p.m. Orchestra Hall Pre-concert presentation
8 p.m. Orchestra Hall Beethoven Symphony No. 9
February 23 7 p.m. Orchestra Hall Pre-concert presentation
8 p.m. Orchestra Hall Beethoven Symphony No. 9
February 24 2 p.m. Orchestra Hall Pre-concert presentation
3 p.m. Orchestra Hall Beethoven Symphony No. 9

Admission to the Jeffrey Siegel lecture is $15 for general admission and free for Soundcard holders and 37/11 members. Admission to the Piano Sonata marathon is free, no ticket required. Tickets to Beethoven Symphonies concerts begin at $15 and may be purchased at the Max M. Fisher Music Center box office (3711 Woodward Ave., Detroit), by calling (313) 576-5111 or online at dso.org.

Downtown

From Brooklyn to Detroit with love, Mix at the Max December 12

Posted on December 6, 2012 at 7:58 pm by with Leave a Comment
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Eclectic food and drink. Eclectic gifts. Electic music from a beat-boxing flutist, a cellist and bass player. It’s a high-octane mix many wouldn’t think to put together. It sounds to me like something you should see just so you can say you experienced it.

Well, new experience seekers the Detroit Symphony Orchestra has you covered with  Mix @ the Max featuring PROJECT Trio at the Max Wednesday, December 12.

The headline act PROJECT Trio comes to the Motor City from Brooklyn and has been performing together for about six years and delivers high-energy chamber music.  Not a long-hair music lover? No worries. PROJECT Trio pushes the boundaries of chamber music with a supercharged mix of classical, jazz, hip-hop and rock.

Greg Pattillo is on flute. Eric Stephenson plays the cello and Peter Seymour, the bass.  Of course each individual member is no slouch and has careers dating back to before the band formed.

Peter Seymour, CEO, manager and bass player, has acted as a regular sub to Cleveland Orchestra and has performed under Franz Welser-Möst. He was also a member of the world symphony orchestra and even won the best jazz solo performance in 1996 from Downbeat Magazine.

Flutist Greg Pattilo, known as a beat-boxing flutist, has been called “the best person in the world at what he does,” by the New York Times.  Pattilo has also worked as principal flue for Gaungzhou Symphony Orchestra.

Cellist Eric Stephenson has performed in orchestras all over the world including the IRIS orchestra in Memphis, TN, and the Colorado Music Festival in Boulder, CO.  Stephenson’s style goes from Jazz to classical to folk to rock.  And now this unique group has been brought to Detroit courtesy of the DSO.

The DSO’s website describes PROJECT Trio by saying it “is a passionate, high energy chamber music ensemble comprised of three virtuosic composer/performers from Brooklyn, NY.  Blending their classical training with an eclectic taste in musical styles, PROJECT Trio has made an impact on audiences of all ages.  Bursting onto the scene with their landmark videos, right out of the internet generation, PROJECT Trio is a musical experience defining a new level of entertainment!  PROJECT Trio is a musical experience not to be missed.”

What is music without food?  You can check out goodies provided by Cliff Bells, Gypsy Kitchen and B. Nektar Meadery.

You can search for gifts from holiday pop-up shops including The Batata Shop, Beau Bien Fine Foods, Beautiful Soup La ia dolei chocolate & confections, Motown Freedom Bakery, Native Kitchen, The Peacock Room, Pete’s Chocolate Co. and Sweet Mommas.

Melody and taste can be experienced by you for $25.00 on Wednesday December 12. The concert is at 7:00p.m. The doors open at 5:00 pm. Click here for tickets.

 

Downtown

New York Arabic Orchestra stops in Detroit this weekend

Posted on October 26, 2012 at 6:10 pm by with Leave a Comment
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The New York Arabic Orchestra is coming into town this week, but their colorful musical performance will be far from what you might expect when you think of an “orchestra.”

Invited by the Arab American National Museum, which is the only one of its kind in the country, the New York Arabic Orchestra will be playing for the gala performance at the Max M. Fisher Music Center on Saturday October 27 at 8pm. Guest vocalists for this event include classically trained lyric soprano Ghada Ghanem and Naji Youssef, a Lebanese jabali tenor in the style of Wadi Assafi. The New York Arabic Orchestra was co-founded by Bassam Saba, a world renowned multi-instrumentalist virtuoso, conductor and teacher of Arabic music; and April Centrone, the orchestra’s lead percussionist.

The New York Arabic Orchestra presents selections of classical, contemporary and popular Arabic vocal music of Lebanon, Syria and Egypt. The NYAO has performed at prestigious venues such as Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center. Contributing to the unique, intricate sounds of this orchestra’s performance are unique instruments such as the oud (Arabic lute), nay (Arabic reed flute), the qanun (Arabic zither), Arabic percussion, strings, woodwinds and chorus.

“We have the oud,” says Centrone, “It’s an 11-string lute, and it’s considered the grandfather—the first lute that gave way to the European lute and eventually the modern guitar. It’s fretless, so you need to spend time learning the different hand positions.”

The orchestra also features the nay, which is one of the oldest instruments known. “It’s a form of the flute,” Centrone says. “ You can finding drawings on the pyramid walls from more than 6,000 years ago. It’s a very simple reed instrument, but not so simple to play.”

The orchestra uses traditional violins, but players tune them GDGD. “It better accomplishes the music, the quarter-tones and the styles and forms,” says Centrone. The percussion also differs from most Western orchestral arrangements in its musicality and sensitivity. Feathery strokes grow to resounding beats in a dynamic range.

“One of the things that makes our job harder—not that it’s hard work, but it takes more time and more effort—is that we can’t just sit in front of sheet music and that’s it. You can invite Yo-Yo Ma, and he would need to spend a few months at least just getting the basics down of what is not written in the sheet music,” Centrone says. “We read western notation but what’s not written there is the ornamentation.”

While Centrone played percussion her whole life and was exposed to different kinds of music, she didn’t encounter traditional Arabic music until much later. “I always felt like I was subconsciously searching for something else. When I discovered this, I just fell in love. It felt like a home I never knew I had,” she says. Since then, she co-founded the New York Arabic Orchestra and works to promote this kind of music all over the world.

If you’re interested in attending, you can find more information at their website or at http://dso.org/

 

 

Downtown

Detroit and all that jazz

Posted on April 18, 2012 at 7:37 pm by with Leave a Comment
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“Wow! I’d know that was Detroit.” Those are the words that so many say after attending the Detroit Jazz Festival. They shouldn’t be surprised. Detroit is passionate about jazz and many of its legends either hailed from the city or played at the Detroit Jazz Festival.

This free festival brings people from around the world to Detroit Labor Day weekend. Last year 23 percent of those attending came from outside of Michigan and the festival brought millions into the city over the three days. “Hearing jazz heroes in Hart Plaza is an incredible gift,” says Chris Collins, the new artistic director of the Detroit Jazz Festival.” … and it is free to all of us.”

This float from the Parade Company was outside the DAC to showcase the Detroit Jaz Festival

We got a preview of this year’s festival the other day and the lineup is spectacular. Sonny Rollins, Wynton Marsalis Quintet, Wayne Shorter, Pat Metheny, Chick Corea and Gary Burton with strings are all part of the 2012 Detroit Jazz Festival. For a complete lineup, click here.

The only word Terence Blanchard, the festival’s artist in residence, could think of to describe this start-studded list of performers, who have collectively been nominated for and won more than 200 Grammy Awards, was … “damn.” That’s an impressive analysis from a musician who has more than 29 albums, won five Grammys and composed more than 50 film scores. He also collaborated with Spike Lee on many film compositions and got a Golden Globe nomination for the film “25th Hour.”

There will also be a “Homecoming” series this year. Prominent Detroit musicians who have gone on to national acclaim will be paired with their Detroit mentors. For example, Margitza will be paired with his first saxophone teacher, George Benson, in a saxophone quintet. There will also be a national sax competition.

To start the “jazz season” the Detroit Torino Jazz Project will be held on June 1 in collaboration with the Detroit Symphony. The event will bring in jazz greats from Detroit and Torino, Italy, (that’s Turin to some and the home of Fiat) to play with the orchestra. “Half of the musicians will be from Detroit, and half will be from Torino,” says Collins.

It’ll be great music but jazz is more than just music that passes in the night. It is music that is passed down from generation to generation. For Blanchard that pass along started when he was a kid “geeked” on playing jazz. He said he and his friends would go anywhere they could to learn more. Willy Metcalf was of his early mentors.

But the music did so much more for Blanchard. It kept him on the straight and narrow. While he took the path to learning jazz he says many of his friends took other paths and ended up in serious trouble. “Music taught me to do things because you love it, not because you get paid a lot,” he says.

That’s one reason a free Detroit Jazz Festival is so important. “You never know what kid is being transformed by just being there,” he says.

One quick reminder. The jazz festival is green. For the fourth year the DTE Energy Foundation is working with Recycle Detroit to reduce the carbon footprint. Here are some things it’s done to reduce the use of unnecessary energy and supplies:

  • The Meijer Kid Bop Stage was powered by solar energy
  • Six production golf carts were replaced with bicycles
  • Free paper programs were replaced with signage and electronic versions
  • 5,000 vehicle miles were saved through a new shuttle program sponsored by WEMU, which carried 183 people from Ann Arbor/Ypsilanti to the Detroit Jazz Festival
  • Elimination of the use of 10,000 single use water bottles by switching to five-gallon reusable coolers for crew and volunteers.
  • 500 square feet of plastic board was saved by reducing the size of menu signs for restaurants and beverage stands
  • Laminated credentials were reduced in size, cutting plastic use in half
  • Electronic artist submission process (no artist packets, CDs, etc.)
  • Mobil applications, text messaging and email notifications for surveys, programs and other festival info
  • Reduction of emissions through fuel efficient vehicles for artist transportation
  • Festival programs were printed on FSC certified recycled paper

Step two was to avoid waste by reusing materials when possible.

  • Reusable table cloths and skirts saved more than 900 pounds of plastic and packaging.
  • 50% of the 200 Detroit Jazz Festival signs were reused. Any obsolete signs were donated to Arts and Scraps for use in their children’s art programs.

Anything that could not be eliminated or reused was recycled. These steps resulted in eliminating 25% of waste.

  • Provisions were added for cardboard and glass recycling
  • The number of recycling bins were doubled
  • Volunteers gave collectible postcards to fans as incentives to encouraging recycling
  • Video boards featured guests being caught “green handed”
  • Frequent stage announcements encouraged fans to recycle
  • All  plates, utensils and cups in VIP and beverage service areas were made of compostable materials.

Here are the results.

  • 25% (almost ten tons) of the trash from the event was prevented from entering landfills
  • Two tons of materials were recycled
  • The additional reduction in waste is credited to the reduction in unnecessary waste

So when you’re at the festival get those pop cans and candy wrappers in the recycle bins and remember to get jazzed.

Downtown

Star Date 392012.6: George Takei moves at warp speed to combine theater, democracy passions

Posted on March 9, 2012 at 9:40 pm by with 1 Comment
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To hear George Takei say he had finally found a way to combine two of the things he is most passionate about is rather jarring.  A casual glance at his resume is nearly impossible. He has been involved in so many things in his career that you really need a few minutes to absorb his entire body of work.  He is a man of varied interests as well, so it would seem he must have already done his life’s work.

Which is why I say it was jarring to hear him tell me that he had finally found a way to combine his passion for telling people about the fallibility of American democracy, using his experience in a Japanese internment camp, and his passion for the theater.  Allegiance, a New American Musical, will debut in San Diego this September then travel to Broadway for what Takei hopes is a long and impactful run.

He is in Detroit this weekend for other reasons, namely to do the narration for A Sci-Fi Spectacular at the Detroit Symphony Orchestra.  Metropolitan Detroit has a large Start Trek following and he has participated in several sci-fi Star Trek conventions in the area. So coming back to a city that still supports Mr. Sulu just makes sense.

While he is here, he plans on playing tourist for a bit because this self-described city kid has spent very little time in the City of

The Horace E. Dodge Fountain at Hart Plaza designed by Isamu Noguchi

Detroit proper.  So he will be spending some of his time as a tourist … a tourist with a strong sense of what he wants to see.

“I’m a city kid and I love just to roam around the city and read its history in the facade of its buildings or on the streetscape. Isamu Noguchi, one of my favorite sculptures, has a piece there in the center of the city and I am going to check up on that,” he says.  He is also hoping to see many of the beautiful buildings of the city as well, especially since he has heard how many of them are beginning to be rehabilitated.

Yet his passions are never far from his mind. So one stop he will be making this weekend is to the Arab American History Museum to check out their exhibit Fighting for Democracy, Who is the ‘We’ in ‘We the People’?  This exhibit documents some of the history of the interment of Japanese Americans during World War II that was very popular at the Japanese American Museum … a museum he had a hand in founding.

“The travelling exhibit they are showing now is one that originated with us at the Japanese American National Museum,” he says. “That tells the other side of the story of the internment of Japanese Americans. It’s unbelievable. It’s amazing that thousands of young Japanese American men and women came from behind those barbed wire fences to put on the same uniform as that of the sentries who were guarding over us to fight for not only democracy but to get their families out from behind those barbed-wire fences … We tell that story but also the story of other struggles for  American democracy. Many of the minority groups that make up our country also fought not only discrimination and segregation, but they fought for our democracy.”

Memories of his time in camps, both in Arkansas and northern California, are seared into his memory.  Learning to recite the Pledge of Allegiance as a first-grade student only to look out the window to see barbed wire fences and a watchtower with men having their machine guns pointed into the classroom would have a profound impact on anyone.  It drove him to help bridge understanding with the Arab American community right after 9-11 by participating in peace marches and holding forums between the Arab American and Japanese American communities to share their stories.  Which has led to the Arab American National Museum sharing the story of the Japanese internment camps.

“I am always surprised by the number of people who seem otherwise well informed who tell me that they never knew such a thing happened in the United States during the Second World war,”  he says.  “It was the most egregious violation of our Constitution and that’s why Americans need to know about it.”

At 74, Takei still has seemingly boundless energy but says he is starting to find some limits.  He has started delegating a few things,like the day-to-day management of his ever-popular Facebook account (he still checks in a lot himself).  Which might lead you to wonder why he continues to push so hard to engage in his passion for the theater and for telling the stories of his people?

He was seemingly born to be in theater. He recalls his mother liked to say when she first heard his stentorian voice as he began crying at the hospital she knew she had a ham.  He fully recognizes a few good people and some lucky breaks combined with his hard work to become an actor.

The 24 minutes I spoke with Takei seemed more like 24 seconds.Before I knew it he had to rush off the phone for another interview and I hadn’t asked several critical questions like what was it like being on The Apprentice or if Donald Trump has taken him up on his lunch offer?

Despite that omission, I feel like I was on the receiving end of a great conversation.

This post also appears on our sister blog The Detroit Regional News Hub.

Midtown
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