Oh, the Humanities!!
The annual Chicago Humanities Festival has begun! I've been to a few events already, some great, some not so great. A rundown of what I've done thus far follows.
Last week I did two cabaret programs in one evening, one on early French and German cabaret programs, the second the ASCAP cabaret program they do every year. The first was the best. I'd no idea that Erik Satie wrote cabaret music! The second was okay, but they put the best performance first, always a mistake. (By the way, that performer, Jeff Blumenkrantz, did a song that should inspire everyone participating in NaNoWriMo, called "My Book". It's about an author who, having spent his advance, asks his friends to come delete the games from his computer, take his TV away, etc., so he can concentrate on writing! It was written for a song cycle for Audra McDonald on the Seven Deadly Sins; it represents "sloth".)
Yesterday, I did three programs, a Great Books discussion of a Sanskrit legend, led by Wendy Doniger, followed by a lecture by her, both focused on masking and identity. Interesting stuff! Then last night I went to the most wonderful, amazing program, The Silver River, with composer Bright Sheng and librettist David Henry Hwang (M. Butterfly, etc.). They met at a CHF program a number of years ago, and now have collaborated on this piece, based on the Chinese story (common throughout Asia) of the cowherd and the goddess-weaver. The result was tremendously interesting. The story is that a cowherd sees the goddess-weaver (who creates the stars for the silver river - what we in the west call the Milky Way) and falls in love. It's mutual. But the Jade Emperor (of Heaven) knows that this union may destroy the universe and sends his emissary, a water buffalo, to earth, to keep an eye on things. A compromise is reached whereby the lovers may spend one day a year together, and this day is now celebrated throughout Asia.
While we didn't get a full performance of the work, we did get to hear a pipa and an erhu player with traditional music that Bright Sheng used for the opera, and saw a video of part of a performance done at the Spoleto Festival.
It's all sorts of genres working together They wanted to make the role of the goddess a non-speaking role, so originally decided to have it done by a pipa player. (A pipa is a traditional Chinese instrument similar to a lute.) But that didn't work because it was too static, so they doubled the role, having it done simultaneously by a pipa player and a dancer. Doing that, though, meant that they needed to double the role of the cowherd, and that's done with a flutist and a western-style operatic tenor. The water buffalo was almost comedic in parts, played by a stunning African-American actress. The Jade Emperor was performed by a Chinese opera performer, in Chinese. It sounds odd, but truly worked, and I'm only sorry that the Festival didn't set aside time for us to see the entire video. (Sadly, it's a working video, not commercially released.)
Today, I went to a lecture on German-Jewish filmmakers. That was not so succesful, at least in part because they didn't have a computer that could handle the speaker's Power Point program! So he did without, and was rather dry, which was too bad.
Then I went to hear about "The Stranger in Opera", featuring members and alumni of the Lyric Opera Center for American Artists. That was splendid, especially baritone Quinn Kelsey, who could probably be heard throughout the entire building, not just the recital hall. Also heard were Jonita Lattimore (soprano), Elizabeth De Shong (mezzo) and James Cornelison (tenor), all good, too.
Coincidentally, I have just finished a book about the LOCAA (Fortissimo: Backstage at the Opera with Sacred Monsters and Young Singers, which is part of a huge stack that I need to journal). I have a slight acquaintance with an assistant conductor at Lyric, who garners much praise in the book. (He played harpsichord for Friday's excellent performance of Rossini's La Cenerentola, and joined us for dinner beforehand. It's always nice when he does that, because we get the inside scoop -including very important information such as "the first act is an hour and three-quarters, so go to the bathroom first"!)
I came home and did the invitations for my annual Sunday-After-Thanksgiving open house. It's getting kind of close! Just three weeks away, so I have to get them out. A stop at the post office tomorrow for stamps is in order.
Then my kid sister called to commiserate with me about Mr. Mojo. She has been travelling a lot for work, and recently attended a board meeting of a professional organization in Charleston, SC. If I hadn't been planning to attend BC's 2007 convention there, she'd have convinced me. Her meetings (or some of them) apparently took place in the Aquarium. She really liked the way it was set up. Being chefs, they ate at a variety of restaurants, and she said the food was very good, with some very creative work being done. So everybody plan on going, okay??
Last week I did two cabaret programs in one evening, one on early French and German cabaret programs, the second the ASCAP cabaret program they do every year. The first was the best. I'd no idea that Erik Satie wrote cabaret music! The second was okay, but they put the best performance first, always a mistake. (By the way, that performer, Jeff Blumenkrantz, did a song that should inspire everyone participating in NaNoWriMo, called "My Book". It's about an author who, having spent his advance, asks his friends to come delete the games from his computer, take his TV away, etc., so he can concentrate on writing! It was written for a song cycle for Audra McDonald on the Seven Deadly Sins; it represents "sloth".)
Yesterday, I did three programs, a Great Books discussion of a Sanskrit legend, led by Wendy Doniger, followed by a lecture by her, both focused on masking and identity. Interesting stuff! Then last night I went to the most wonderful, amazing program, The Silver River, with composer Bright Sheng and librettist David Henry Hwang (M. Butterfly, etc.). They met at a CHF program a number of years ago, and now have collaborated on this piece, based on the Chinese story (common throughout Asia) of the cowherd and the goddess-weaver. The result was tremendously interesting. The story is that a cowherd sees the goddess-weaver (who creates the stars for the silver river - what we in the west call the Milky Way) and falls in love. It's mutual. But the Jade Emperor (of Heaven) knows that this union may destroy the universe and sends his emissary, a water buffalo, to earth, to keep an eye on things. A compromise is reached whereby the lovers may spend one day a year together, and this day is now celebrated throughout Asia.
While we didn't get a full performance of the work, we did get to hear a pipa and an erhu player with traditional music that Bright Sheng used for the opera, and saw a video of part of a performance done at the Spoleto Festival.
It's all sorts of genres working together They wanted to make the role of the goddess a non-speaking role, so originally decided to have it done by a pipa player. (A pipa is a traditional Chinese instrument similar to a lute.) But that didn't work because it was too static, so they doubled the role, having it done simultaneously by a pipa player and a dancer. Doing that, though, meant that they needed to double the role of the cowherd, and that's done with a flutist and a western-style operatic tenor. The water buffalo was almost comedic in parts, played by a stunning African-American actress. The Jade Emperor was performed by a Chinese opera performer, in Chinese. It sounds odd, but truly worked, and I'm only sorry that the Festival didn't set aside time for us to see the entire video. (Sadly, it's a working video, not commercially released.)
Today, I went to a lecture on German-Jewish filmmakers. That was not so succesful, at least in part because they didn't have a computer that could handle the speaker's Power Point program! So he did without, and was rather dry, which was too bad.
Then I went to hear about "The Stranger in Opera", featuring members and alumni of the Lyric Opera Center for American Artists. That was splendid, especially baritone Quinn Kelsey, who could probably be heard throughout the entire building, not just the recital hall. Also heard were Jonita Lattimore (soprano), Elizabeth De Shong (mezzo) and James Cornelison (tenor), all good, too.
Coincidentally, I have just finished a book about the LOCAA (Fortissimo: Backstage at the Opera with Sacred Monsters and Young Singers, which is part of a huge stack that I need to journal). I have a slight acquaintance with an assistant conductor at Lyric, who garners much praise in the book. (He played harpsichord for Friday's excellent performance of Rossini's La Cenerentola, and joined us for dinner beforehand. It's always nice when he does that, because we get the inside scoop -including very important information such as "the first act is an hour and three-quarters, so go to the bathroom first"!)
I came home and did the invitations for my annual Sunday-After-Thanksgiving open house. It's getting kind of close! Just three weeks away, so I have to get them out. A stop at the post office tomorrow for stamps is in order.
Then my kid sister called to commiserate with me about Mr. Mojo. She has been travelling a lot for work, and recently attended a board meeting of a professional organization in Charleston, SC. If I hadn't been planning to attend BC's 2007 convention there, she'd have convinced me. Her meetings (or some of them) apparently took place in the Aquarium. She really liked the way it was set up. Being chefs, they ate at a variety of restaurants, and she said the food was very good, with some very creative work being done. So everybody plan on going, okay??