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Austin360 blogs > Austin Arts: Seeing Things > Archives > 2010 > February
February 2010
Big Medium art gallery/artist studios garage sale Saturday
The art group responsible for the East Austin Studio Tour, the Texas Biennial, and which operates an art gallery and 16 artist studios is having a collective rummage sale Saturday.
Up for sale are only-at-an-art studio finds such as artwork, art supplies and building materials are up for grabs along with the usual garage sale paraphernalia.
9: a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday
Big Medium Studios, 5305 Bolm Rd. #12
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‘Architecture at the Umlauf’ series 4.0
The fourth series of popular lectures by local designers and architects at the Umlauf Sclupture Garden & Museum kicks off its fourth season next week.
Appropriately, Robert Steinboomer of Steinboomer & Associates, who along Larry Speck, designed the Umlauf’s media/lecture room and chapel, known as the Roberta Crenshaw Building, starts the series March 4.
‘Front Porches to High Rises: Horned Lizards and Architecture’ is the title of Steinboomer’s talk.
The event starts at 7 p.m. Admission is $5.
See the Umlauf events calendar for the remainder of the ‘Architecture at the Umlauf’ roster of speakers.
Images of the Umlauf’s Crenshaw Building courtesy Steinboomer & Associates.
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This weekend, fresh music abounds
Live Music Capital of the World? We got your fresh music right here. This weekend offers several opportunities to catch fresh approaches to the classical canon and also new composed music.
Friday night conductor Kristjan JärvI and his Absolute Ensemble play ‘Absolute Bach Reinvented’ at Hogg Memorial Auditorium.
The program features a 16-piece ensemble playing pieces that riff on Bach’s Inventions by members of the band.
To Jarvi, Bach is like water. ‘Like water is essential for life on this planet, Bach is essential to musicians,’ the Estonian-born conductor says by phone last week from New York.
Jarvi’s boundary-shredding musical MO eschews dumb-downed crossover antics, the typical model used to popularize classical music. If anything, he wants to return classical music back to its origins when a score was considered a little less sacrosanct and musicians and conductors felt empowered to improvise.
Read our story here.
Also this weekend, Friday through Sunday, Austin’s irrepressible New Music Co-op presents ‘Invisible Landscapes’ three different programs featuring the music of guest composer Michael Pisaro and percussionist Greg Stuart.
Featured on Friday is Pisaro’s piece ‘A Wave and Waves’ for 100 percussion instruments, played by Stuart accompanied by an eight-channel surround sound system. Saturday’s show features two major commission pieces, ‘Red River 7’ by Radu Malfatti and Pisaro’s ‘Ascending Series (7) (evaporation).’ Sunday’s free concert features more by Pisaro as well as new works by Co-op composers Brent Fariss and William Bridges.
Shows are at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday. Ceremony Hall, 4100 Red River St. $12-$15 (free on Sunday). www.newmusic.coop
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Chinati Foundation director announces retirement
Attention all fans of Marfa, Texas and its arts scene and Donald Judd africiandos: Marianne Stockebrand, founding director of the Chinati Foundation, has announced her plans to retire.
The Chinati Foundation is 340-acre 32-building former US Army Fort D.A. Russell. During his lifetime Judd transformed the site into a laboratory for his ideas about the permanent installation of contemporary. Now, the Chinati feautures monumental outdoor concrete works by Judd and 100 aluminum works by Judd housed in two converted artillery sheds. Former army barracks house one large-scale work in colored fluorescent light by Dan Flavin and a building in downtown Marfa display 23 sculptures by John Chamberlain. Other artists represented at the Chinati include Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen; Ilya Kabakov, Carl Andre and John Wesley.
Stockebrand, who was Judd’s companion in the years before his death, was appointed by the artist in 1993 to be the director of the non-profit Chinati:
From the Chinati comes this statement:
The Board of Directors of The Chinati Foundation, in Marfa, Texas, has announced that its director, Dr. Marianne Stockebrand, has expressed her intention to retire as soon as a successor can be found. Stockebrand, who was appointed to the position in 1993 by the museum’s founder, the artist Donald Judd, and who has been responsible for its development since his death in the following year, plans to continue residing in Marfa and will assume the title of Director Emeritus. The search for a new director will begin immediately.
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Weekend Arts Pix
‘Ellington’s Sacred Concert’
Last year, it was beyond standing room only as crowds filled the aisles when Austin Chamber Music Center hooked up with Huston-Tillotson University choirs and other performers in a rousing performance of Duke Ellington’s ‘Sacred Concert.’ Now the choirs, jazz orchestra, soloists and accompanying tap dancers will reprise Ellington’s mighty oratorio, sprawling collections of songs and suites that blend gospel music with jazz, classical music, spirituals, blues and choral music. 3 p.m. Sunday. King Seabrook Chapel on the Huston-Tillotson campus at East Seventh and Chicon streets. Free. Seating is first-come, first-served. www.austinchambermusic.org
‘Albert Herring’
University of Texas’ Butler Opera Center presents Benjamin Britten’s comic chamber opera based on a short story by Guy de Maupassant. ‘Albert Herring’ tells the story of a small English village looking for nominations for its coveted annual title of Queen of the May. When villagers can find no young women pure enough to be worthy of the title, they select Albert Herring, a socially awkward wallflower. The production also marks the debut of James Lowe, the Butler Opera Center’s new conductor. This weekend’s performances will also be webcast live. 7:30 p.m. Friday and Sunday. McCullough Theatre, UT campus, $10-$20. www.music.utexas.edu
‘Smoking Lesson’
Award-winning director Marcus McQuirter presents Julia Jordan’s unnerving play about three 15-year-old girls who spend time underneath a bridge on the Mississippi River remembering their friend who mysteriously and violently died there seven years earlier. 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, 2 p.m. Sundays through March 7. Rio Grande Campus Gallery Theater, 1212 Rio Grande St. $5-$10. 512-223-3240.
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Consider artists, architects at work on public projects
AIA Austin Emerging Professionals and Art Alliance Austin are co-sponsoring a casual exhibit and informal discussion on the convergence of art and architecture. It’s a prelude to the Austin Arts Week and Art City Austin events coming up in April.
The free event, ‘A Conversation About Art & Architecture’ is from 6 to 8 p.m. Thursday. It’s open to the public. Members of Austin’s art and architecture communities are encouraged to attend.
The work of artists Bridget Quinn, Jared Theis, Joseph Philips and the Sodalitas collective is all up for discussion. The talk will be lead by Salvador Castillo.
It all goes down in an empty retail space near City Hall at 233 W. Second St.
The evening will also present the opportunity to stike up dieas for the international Temporary Outdoor Gallery Space — aka TOGS — Ideas Competition. The project, now in its third year, challenges designers to come up an radical new alternative to the typical art fair tent.
The ‘Fort,’ from ‘July Transplants’ project. Organized by Bridget Quinn. Photo by Stephanie Becker.
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‘Toxic Assets’ examines psyche of ecnomoic downturn
Just how has the current economic crisis affected those whose profession is to understand the economy?
What if it drives an economics professor to obsessively pick up litter around his neighborhood creating thus awkward relationships with his family, neighbors and colleagues?
That’s the premise of ‘Toxic Assets,’ the latest one-man play by Austin theater artist/monologuist, ordained minister, business consultant and economics professor Steven Tomlinson.
Tomlinson (whose thoughtful, acclaimed solo shows include “Managed Care,” “Curb Appeal,” and ‘American Fiesta’) will present a workshop version of his new show March 11 and 12 at the Off Center. The gig is benefit for the upcoming Fusebox Festival of performance art. Tomlinson is on the board of the non-profit Fusebox.
“As an artist, I’m trying to make sense of the disconnect between what we worry about (huge forces like markets and the environment) and what we can actually accomplish as individuals,” says Tomlinson. “These little things we do, picking up trash, making time to help one person get back on track, are they worth doing, even if they can’t save us?”
8 p.m. March 11 and 12 <.br> Off Center, 2211 Hidalgo Tickets: Thurs is pay-what-you-can; Friday it’s sliding scale $15-$50
Buy tickets here.
Photo by Austin American-Statesman.
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Recent arts coverage
Consumed: ‘Desire’ exhibit at UT’s Blanton Museum spreads from the universal to the particular | At AMOA, ‘American Letterpress: The Art of Hatch Show Print’
Follow @artsinaustin on Twitter
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‘Quiet Imprint’ explores Vietnamese American recollections of the Vietnam War
Four years ago, choreographer Thang Dao won the Audience Choice award at Ballet Austin’s first biennial ‘New American Talent/Dance’ project.
Now, the New York-based Dao returns to Austin with ‘Quiet Imprint,’ a new work based on personal narratives the choreographer gathered from the central Texas Vietnamese community.
‘Quiet Imprint’ gets its world premiere March 6 and 7 by Ballet Austin II, the apprentice company.
7 p.m. March 6, 2 p.m. March
AustinVentures StudioTheater, Butler Dance Education Center, 501 W. Third St.
$15
www.balletaustin.org
Dao’s dance depicts the arduous journey experienced by the countless displaced Vietnamese men and women who lived through the Vietnam War, especially those who ended up in Austin.
Dao’s grounded his work in an open dialogue with the Vietnamese elders, documenting their journey of exile and then connecting them with the dancers. Thus, folk dance movements and individual stories were directly shared. Dao worked with Women’s Alliance Vietnam’s Education (WAVE) to reach out to Austin’s Vietnamese community.
Also, ‘Quiet Imprint’ was inspired by legendary Vietnamese singer Khanh Ly’s soulful performances of the country’s beloved songwriter, Trinh Cong Son’s music. In a rare appearance, Ly will perform live with Ballet Austin II.
Here’s video interview with Thang Dao, produced by Ballet Austin:
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Review: ‘Black Grace’
Unison, the portions of a dance piece where dancers move in perfect synchronicity, can be a powerful choreographic tool.
This is not news to legions of choreographers, but perhaps no company harnesses unison’s power better than Black Grace. The New Zealand-based company, at UT’s Bass Concert Hall Saturday, pushes unison to another level. The dancers inject such intensity into dancing together they achieve oxymoronic status—they are so unified they seem to move with more than unison.
The company’s choreography, by artistic director and company founder Neil Ieremia, invites such unity through sophisticated, sustained simplicity. “Deep Far” employed cyclical repetition to entrancing effect. Four dancers—Tupua Tigafua, David Williams, Abby Crowther, and Zoe Watkins—seamlessly slid around and across a circle. The piece’s layered repetition made the closing moment astonishing. The four dancers interlaced their bodies. Each couple locked their legs together and opened their chests and arms to the soft, still sound of a storm’s first drops. It seemed as though the repeated movement allowed the dancers to open their bodies, not just their mouths, to the falling rain.
Ieremia functioned as the show’s emcee, explaining from center stage how he combines Pacific Islander culture with modern dance to create Black Grace’s repertory. The informative interludes likely made the program more accessible for an audience unfamiliar with Pacific Islander culture. Ieremia’s tone, which bordered on stand-up comedy, undercut some of his more potent political statements.
The collection of six pieces displayed Black Grace’s range of cultural hybridity. Lausae (Tapulu Tele) depicted the Samoan tattooing tradition. Men spread themselves across three large stones as other dancers mimed the wiping of blood: a depiction of the intense, full-bodied tattooing process. Screams and the sounds of tapping echoed from the accompanying score.
Such obvious references (at least obvious after Ieremia’s introduction) could be too simple, but they build into a large theatrical and kinetic vision. For much of the piece, the dancers fly across the stage—a choreographic pattern repeated to even more excitement in “Gathering Clouds,” which Ieremia choreographed in response to an economist racist publications about Pacific Islander in New Zealand.
The giant rocks in “Lausaue,” New Zealand’s famous river stones, were one of several stunning design choices. The lighting design for all the pieces (uncredited in the program) shaped large group dancing. At the end of “Pati Pati,” the ensemble moved slowly. Light carved shapes across the dancers’ bare shoulders. Then, the dancers turned toward each other, their repeated reaches skyward seemingly drawing bright yellow light into the center of the circle. As the dancers strode backwards into the wings, the light expanded. This company leaves a trace of light behind them wherever they appear.
Clare Croft is an American-Statesman freelance arts critic.
Photo by Neil Ieremia.
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Tomorrow’s ‘Teleportal Readings 2’ postponned
With ‘Snowmageddon II’ bearing down us, the folks at Monofonus Press have postponned ‘Teleportal Readings 2,’ their Tuesday night event planned for the courtyard at the San Jose Hotel.
From the Monfonus peeps comes this message:
“As you may have heard, we have a major cold front headed our way. It’s supposed to be raining (possibly snowing) and in the 30s tomorrow, which is good neither for our AV equipment nor our audience. It’s a bummer, but we don’t want you freezing. We’ll update you with the new date,”
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Coming soon to any number of media/arts platforms near you
It’s a live comic book! It’s radio drama! It’s a mobile app! It’s real comic book!
It’s all of the above! And more.
Jason Neulander started ‘The Intergalactic Nemesis’ as a coffeehouse theater experiment in 1996. Wouldn’t it be cool to stage a retro-inspired spoof of pulp radio drama? It was and Neulander continued to develop ‘Nemesis’ into a multi-part live radio play that toured the country.
Now, Neulander — former leader of Salvage Vanguard Theater — has taken ‘Nemesis’ to the next level, developing into a franchise of sorts in a project spans everything from literacy programs at local schools to an actual comic book to an app for mobile phones.
Oh, yeah and the live stage version of ‘The Intergalactic Nemesis’ has been tweaked. Come Labor Day weekend, the new stage version projects the comic book artwork panel-by-panel while three actors perform the voices, Foley artist Buzz Moran creates the sound effects and Graham Reynolds plays the piano score. The show will be staged at the Long Center.
An announcement to the media last week at the Long Center introduced the project. Neulander’s production is sponsored by a group of investors including Marc Seriff, co- founder of America Online, as well as entrepreneur Scott Reichardt and realtor Cord Shiflett.
From the project’s site, comes the basic ‘Nemesis’ story: The year is 1933. The Pulitzer-winning reporter Molly Sloan and her intrepid assistant Timmy Mendez have stumbled across a series of murders foiled by a mysterious librarian from Flagstaff named Ben Wilcott. Together, the three heroes trek across Europe, North Africa and beyond to thwart world-famous mesmerist Mysterion the Magnificent and what turns out to be an invasion of sludge-monsters from the planet Zygon.
Another facet of the project is an actual comic book with illustrations by Tim Doyle and color art by Paul Hanley and Lee Duhig. The first of seven issues has already hit the stands. Look for the series to be featured on www.austin360.com/arts.
‘Nemesis’ is also partnering with the Library Foundation to distribute copies of the comic books to local libraries. And portions of the live show will be presented in three West Austin elementary schools.
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Bang! Free music tonight
Forget the violin and the piano: In the new millennium, percussion has become the favored solo instrument of young composers.
Tonight, in a free concert, University of Texas-based percussion ensemble Line Upon Line spearheads ‘Clutch: New Music by UT Composers,’ a program of new percussion-based music by student and faculty composers. Included on the program are ‘Echoes of Veiled Light’ by Zack Stanton and a new piece by Steve Snowden.
The free concert is at 7:30 p.m. Recital Studio 2.608. Music Building, UT campus.
If you can’t make the concert, it will be Webcast live from www.music.utexas.edu.
Photo by www.c2wphotography.com.
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Review: ‘A Brief Narrative of An Extraordinary Birth of Rabbits’
Where do we really come from? Is our imagination as procreative as, say, actual human procreation?
Those seem to be the questions which attempt to poke out from underneath the dark carnival of ‘A Brief Narrative of An Extraordinary Birth of Rabbits,’ C. Denby Swanson’s bumpy, imperfect new play getting its premiere at Salvage Vanguard Theater under the direction of Jenny Larson.
Swanson takes as her source material the odd but true tale of an early 18th-century English woman who claimed to have given birth to several rabbits or parts of rabbits. Some notable physicians of the time, including the King’s surgeon, confirmed the woman’s reports though she later recanted that her claims were a hoax, causing a terrific upheavel in the then-nascent medical profession.
Against a backdrop of striped sideshow tents, Swanson’s take on this tale involves a woman, Mare (an energetic, expressive Robin Grace Thompson), who has agreed to be artificially inseminated so that her sister, Kitty, (Halena Kays) may have a much-desired child. But Mare gives instead birth to rabbits — 24 of them.
Enter a stork who is a doctor or maybe it’s the other way around (the compelling and kinetic Josh Meyer). Add a trio of puppet German doctors (created by Connor Hopkins and played Hopkins and Matt Hislope) and a man who may or may not be dog (Shaun Patrick Tubbs).
Only the stork’s monologues tame the pace of the rapidly shifting and sometimes chaotic scenes.
But for all the absurdity, for all the manic theatrics and dark crazy artifice that flashes bright at time — and despite some uniformly good acting — Swanson’s script never quite scoops all bits together.
‘A Brief Narrative of An Extraordinary Birth of Rabbits’ continues 8 p.m. Thursdays-Saturdays through March 6 at Salvage Vanguard. www.salvagevanguard.org.
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And the People’s Choice winner is…
James Tisdale’s other-worldly sculpture ‘Squirrelly’ has been voted as the 2009 People’s Choice selection to join the permanent collection at Austin City Hall.
Tisdale’s sculpture was one of more than 100 artworks on view at Austin City Hall last year as part of the annual People’s Gallery Exhibition that features work by Austin-area artists. Each year visitors to City Hall vote for their favorite artwork.
The announcement was made tonight at the opening of the 2010 People’s Gallery Exhibition, the newest iteration of the public art program.
Vincent E. Kitch, Cultural Arts Program Manager for the city of Austin, said ‘Squirrelly’ proved so popular with visitors that they left nuts and other objects at the sculpture’s base. Those items will be incorporated into the artwork, Kitsch said.
Photo courtesy Cultural Arts Program,
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Review: ‘The Atheist’
People will do some pretty twisted things to get famous.
The lengths one man goes to in pursuit of fame—burning down the trailer he grew up in and making public a secret sex tape featuring his girlfriend, to name just a few—are at the heart of Hyde Park Theatre’s production of “The Atheist,” a dark comedy by Irish-born playwright Ronan Noone.
“The Atheist” is a one-person show about Augustine Early (Joey Hood), who, as a young man growing up in a trailer park, realized early on that he had a talent for deception and a craving for fame.
As a journalist always in pursuit of the big story, Early will do just about anything for a good headline. (A good headline, by the way, must be “Two hundred point font. Times Roman. BOLD.”)
Early has abandoned his faith in God, his faith in everything, really. He is pompous and cynical. He is also manipulative, cocky, and misogynist. Just in case it’s not quite clear yet, this character is totally, utterly unlikeable.
And yet Joey Hood, in a charismatic and confident performance, makes Early watchable and compelling. His ease on stage and spot-on comic timing keeps the audience interested in the hilariously absurd and often vile things coming from his mouth. Hood’s energy and commitment never waver. He keeps the audience on the hook, waiting to see whether this character is worthy of redemption or is a totally lost soul. (You’ll have to see it to find out.)
The production, directed by Ken Webster, is clean and sharp. Early tells his story to a video camera while a live feed of his image gets projected behind him, creating the feeling of a reality-TV confessional.
In its final moments, the show’s critique of the relentless quest for fame becomes clear. It might make you think twice before picking up that copy of US Weekly for the latest celebrity scandal. After all, who knows what the writer had to do to get that story.
‘The Atheist’ continues through March 13, Thursdays - Saturdays at 8 p.m. at Hyde Park Theatre, 511 W. 43rd Street. Tickets $17-$19, Thursday nights are pay-what-you-can. www.hydeparktheatre.org
Claire Canavan is an American-Statesman freelance arts critic.
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People’s Gallery Exhibition 2010 opens
What to do with an architecturally interesting city hall? Fill it full of art of course.
Several years ago, the city of Austin’s Cultural Arts Division started the People’s Gallery Exhibition, a year-long juried show in Austin City Hall. Artwork in all media is considered by artists from the greater Austin area.
This year some 350 artists submitted more than 1,300 entries for consideration in the new exhibit. The three judges in the selection panel for the 2010 exhibition were: Sean Gaulagher, artist and co-founder of Cantanker Magazine; Andrea Mellard, assistant curator, Austin Museum of Art; and Risa Puleo, assistant curator, Blanton Museum of Art.
The opening reception is 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 19. Austin City Hall is at 301 W. Second St.
The event will also feature the unveiling of the “2009 People’s Choice” selection by public vote from the previous exhibit. The artwork was selected among top voted works and will be added to the City Hall permanent art collection.
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Austin’s Miro Quartet leading Naxos online chart
The Miro Quartet — the string quartet in residence at the University of Texas’ Butler School of Music — is topping the charts right now.
That is, the foursome’s latest release is running in the number one spot on NaxosDirect, an online music distribution site run by the classical music label.
‘The Miro Quartet Live’ is actually co-released on the Longhorn label, UT’s all-but-invisible record label. The Miro plays Dvorak’s String Quartet in F Major “American,” and the world premiere recording of “Credo” by Kevin Puts. a work commissioned for the Miro Quartet by Chamber Music Monterey Bay.
The CD was recorded live in UT’s Bates Recital Hall.
The Miro Quartet next plays in Austin May 9 with cellist Lynn Harrell.
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Pecha Kucha? (It’s show-and-tell)
The premise of Pecha Kucha might be a little precious, though the event itself is engaging.
After designers and architects in Tokyo began gathering for informal but concisely timed presentations a few years ago — hence the name Pecha Kucha, a Japanese term for the sound of ‘chit chat’ — designers and architects around the world started doing the same, limiting each presenter to just 20 slides and only 20 seconds per slide and always starting promptly at 8:20 p.m. local time. (Otherwise recorded as 20:20 according to the international 24-hour clock.)
Trendy conceptualism and clever names aside, Pecha Kucha is a good old fashioned show-and-tell, a slide-illustrated lecture that gives creative professionals of all types a chance to reveal what they’re working on.
Or think of Pecha Kucha as the classic Chautauqua educational lectures started more than a century ago only now presented at warp speed for today’s limited-attention audience.
A Pecha Kucha Austin group formed a while back and on Thursday its hosting another event.
Among others on the line-up are filmmaker Sam Douglas (‘Citizen Architect,’ a film about architect Samuel Mockbee), book designer Jace Graf, architect Chris Krager, textile artist Magda Sayeg, and playwright and economics professor Steven Tomlinson.
Doors open at 7:30 p.m.; presentations start at 8:20 p.m. — or 20:29. The event is in unoccupied retail space in the CSC development at 416 W. Cesar Chavez St. Free. www.pecha-kucha.org/night/austin
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Anton Nel & Bion Tsang take to the KLRU airwaves
Pianist Anton Nel and cellist Bion Tsang are the last Austin artists to be featured on the KLRU TV arts series, In Context.
The pair will be taping a performance for later broadcast Feb. 22. The taping performance is free, but you’ll need to RSVP. Do that here.
The duo, who have been long time collaborators, is also celebrating the release of their newest live CD featuring Brahms Sonatas for Cello and Four Hungarian Dances. For the KLRU taping the Nel and Tsang will play some of their favorites by Brahms, Boccherini, Grieg, Rachmaninov and Shostakovich.
Also, forthcoming from In Context is an episode on ‘Truth & Beauty: The Bach Project,’ the lively — and live music filled — new three-part work from Ballet Austin that premiered this past weekend.
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Recent arts coverage
Consumed: ‘Desire’ exhibit at UT’s Blanton Museum spreads from the universal to the particular | In a solo exhibit, Kia Nelli makes beautiful ersatz nature | UT and Long Center to share Broadway shows come 2010-2011 season
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UT and Long Center to share Broadway shows
Touring Broadway shows will be spread between Austin’s two major venues next season as the University of Texas’ Texas Performing Arts and the Long Center announced Monday that the two organizations have formed a new alliance with Broadway Across America, the national tour promoter and producer.
Though the 2010-2011 Broadway Across America season has not been announced, the Long Center will host one of the five touring productions next season. The other four will play at UT’s Bass Concert, the long-time home for touring Broadway shows in Austin. In the last 25 years, Bass has presented over 100 Broadway productions including blockbusters like ‘Wicked,’ the three-week run of which last summer landed the venue on the number even spot of Pollstar’s list top 100 Worldwide Theatre Venues for the first three quarters of 2009.
Kathy Panoff, executive director of Texas Performing Arts said that the cooperative agreement also comes as a result of “my more strategic goals for Texas Performing Arts.”
“If I’m going to provide programming that’s in better alignment with the academic and research mission of the university, it will result in us making more choices in about the Broadway shows we present,” she said. “We’ll choose Broadway title that are a better fit with the academic mission (of the university).”
With an annual budget of $10 million, TPA stands to lose maybe $100,000 to $150,000 in income by foresaking one Broadway show per season. But Panoff said that the difference would be made up as the TPA moves to being “more of a donor-focused organization.”
(With this arrangement) we can take a leadership role as a community partner and fulfill our role as an academic partner within the university,” she said.
The Long Center opened in 2008 and is the permanent home to Austin Lyric Opera, Austin Symphony Orchestra and Ballet Austin. It also presents touring shows.
“Co-operating with other Austin performing arts organizations is central to the mission of the Long Center,” said Cliff Redd, executive director, “The partnership with Texas Performing Arts and Broadway Across America makes total sense both organizationally and from a customer service point of view.”
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Review: Ballet Austin’s ‘Truth & Beauty: The Bach Project’
Choreographers can’t resist the lure of J.S. Bach’s stately, luscious music.
Ballet Austin artistic director Stephen Mills added himself to dance history’s long list of baroque smitten choreographers when Ballet Austin’s ‘Truth & Beauty: The Bach Project’ opened Friday at the Long Center’s Dell Hall.
With clever approaches to familiar classical music and a wealth of excellent musicians in the pit, Mills and Ballet Austin have pulled off another artistic success.
Creating three new pieces that compose a full evening program is a huge artistic risk. It means one choreographer had to have three new concepts, work with three sets of music, and rehearse three casts. But Mills did it, and he did it quite well. It will be interesting to see whether the company keeps all three works in repertory and how each work will stand on its own. As a program, these three ballets were meant for each other.
“Truth and Beauty” rose to the challenge of Bach’s “Orchestral Suite #2.” The company captured the music’s tone as the company’s men and women, dressed in long, full purple skirts, entered as one. Their steps were deliberate, and they held their chests and chins high. The regal posture resonated with the elevated, almost sacred music.
In smaller group portions, the dancers ably shifted their approach. Jaime Lynn Witts and Frank Shott made a fantastic pair—sprightly royals dancing to Naomi Seidman’s flute, one of six excellent musicians from the Austin Chamber Music Center.
The fantastic live music continued in the program’s second piece, “Angel of My Nature,” as Michelle Schumann stroked the piano through a collage of Bach and Mills’ favorite go-to composer Phillip Glass. The choreography closely matched individual notes: a dancer quickly whipped her leg to a quick trill or jumped in perfect timing with one of Glass’s deep rumbles. In a mid-piece trio, Beth Terwilleger, Paul Michael Bloodgood and David Van Ligon most fruitfully explored the choreography and music’s parallel paths.
Perhaps the program’s biggest risk was asking local new music phenom Graham Reynolds to compos a work inspired by Bach—Reynolds chose “Suite in A minor.” The result “Bounce” might be the program’s most ingenious element, even though the piece’s performances and choreography have not quite fully merged yet.
Reynold’s brass explosions were a welcome shift from the program’s more somber works. The music also gave the dancers a chance to race across the stage, although only Jaime Lynn Witts exhibited a full appetite for the kind of space eating dancing the choreography and music demanded.
‘Truth & Beauty: The Bach Project’ continues 8 p.m. tonight and 3 p.m. Sunday at the Long Center. www.balletaustin.org
Clare Croft is an American-Statesman freelance arts critic.
Photo by Tony Spielberg for Ballet Austin.
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Review: ‘Arrhythmia’
What is love?
Writer Zell Miller III ponders that question in “Arrhythmia,” his newest piece of hip-hop performance theater now getting its debut at Vortex.
In Miller’s hands, love is a many-faceted thing, the source of questions more than answers — the lens through which bigger questions of identity, politics, history and the fundamental roles of men and women are examined.
But mostly, love is the catalyst for Miller — whose interdisciplinary theater works include the award-winning “My Child, My Child, My Alien Child” — to spin a compelling web of lyrical, image-packed verse that intrigues.
Against a spray-painted backdrop of brilliantly-hued graffiti art by Nathan Nordstrom, four actors (Sean Tate, Aaron Sanders, Toni Ringgold and Ebony Stewart) use gesture and movement in complement to the rhythm-based poetry. Like an intricate musical composition voices overlap, phrases repeat or echo back and forth. The performers break off in couples, flirt, argue and try to negotiate the give-and-take.
Miller packs plenty into the two 30-minute intensely-presented music-laced acts. There’s a little Civil Rights history, a discussion of the death and storied reputation of rapper Tupac Shakur, lots of negotiating the unsteady path of male-female relationships. Even the “I Love Lucy” show is tapped, its upbeat theme song and goof laugh track bursting in as the characters spin Miller’s rapid-fire poetry.
So what is the secret of love? Miller seems to suggest it’s the ability to use language as true communication. “Anger and jealousy makes us illiterate,” the characters say.
“What is the essence of poetry? There is no answer, only stories.”
And with “Arrhythmia,” Miller hands us plenty of stories.
‘Arrhythmia’
8 p.m. Thursdays-Saturdays through Feb. 20
Vortex Theatre, 2307 Manor Road
www.vortexrep.org
Photo: Left to right — Toni Ringgold, Aaron Sanders, Ebony Stewart, Sean Tate. Photo courtesy Uprise Productions/Vortex
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‘Project Forklift’ sold-out for this weekend
Performances of ‘Project Forklift’ — new short modern dances for non-dancers by Austin choreographers — are sold-out for this weekend, show producers Forklift Danceworks have announced.
Forklift Danceworks founder and choreographer Allison Orr — created evocative modern dances for such nondancers as firefighters, Elvis impersonators and most recently, City of Austin sanitation workers — challenged for her dancemaking peers to work outside their realm.
‘Project Forklift’ continues next weekend with performances at 8 p.m. Feb. 19-20 and 2 p.m. Feb. 21. www.forkliftdanceworks.org. Get your tickets now if you don’t want to miss out.
Read more about the performance here.
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Review: Austin Shakespeare’s ‘Mary Stuart’
Spin, image control and bitter party rivalries may be part of our current political climate, but it turns out we’ve got nothing on the drama-heavy Tudors.
The legendary political rivalry between the Queen of Scotland, Mary Stuart, and England’s Queen Elizabeth is at the heart of Austin Shakespeare’s mostly satisfying production of “Mary Stuart.” Directed by Ann Ciccolella, the show is the regional premiere of Peter Oswald’s dynamic new translation of Friedrich Schiller’s historical drama.
The beautiful and much-beloved Mary Stuart (Helen Merino) is sentenced to death for the supposed crime of plotting to assassinate her cousin Queen Elizabeth of England (Pamela Christian), who now holds the power to decide Mary’s fate. But with Elizabeth worried about her grasp on power and reluctant to take responsibility for the decision, trusted advisors (some loyal, some not) offer her conflicting advice.
Figuring out where true loyalties lie is part of the fun. Who is telling the truth? Who is in love with whom? Who’s right? Who’s wrong? The drama culminates in a fictional confrontation between the two rivals where they are forced to face the reality of the other.
The highlights of “Mary Stuart” are the superb performances of the two female leads. Merino plays Mary Stuart with vibrant intelligence and heart. As Queen Elizabeth, Christian is all effortless royalty and biting humor. She creates a nuanced portrait of a queen hesitant to lead, struggling to be a “female king.” Among her entourage of advisors, Dirk Van Allen stands out as the refreshingly down to earth Earl of Shrewsbury.
At times the energy of the (very long) show seems to drag and the staging occasionally becomes stagnant. But overall, the fascinating portrayal of female power and the poetry of Oswald’s fresh translation make “Mary Stuart” a worthwhile re-imagining of a conflict between two compelling historical figures.
‘Mary Stuart’ continues 8 p.m. Thursdays - Saturdays at 8 p.m. and 3 p.m. Sundays through Feb. 28. Rollins Studio Theater, Long Center. $23-$35, with $15 student tickets. www.thelongcenter.org
Claire Canavan is an American-Statesman freelance critic.
Photo by Kimberley Mead.
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Woodcuts blocks only — hold the prints
Canadian artist Lisa Brown loves the woodcut print medium. But hold the printmaking process. Brown makes the woodcut blocks only.
Using 100-year-old salvaged Douglas fir, Brown creates Pop Art-inspired images. Her latest works celebrate icons of American popular music.
A solo exhibit of her work opens Saturday at Yard Dog Gallery, 1710 S. Congress Ave. The opening is 7 to 9 p.m.
Brown, who will be at Saturday’s opening, says of her practice:
“I have been making woodcuts for over 20 years since I saw the woodcuts from the printmaking department at art college. I was in the drawing department and am self-taught at woodcut. I don’t make prints, but prefer to paint the woodcut blocks themselves.”
“I am interested in expressing appearance, character, warmth and feeling with the greatest economy of line.”
“I collect photographic references that I think will translate beautifully into woodcut and there are so many of them I never use the same reference twice. The finished woodcut blocks are three times removed from the photographic reference in that I first sketch the image, then I carve the drawing, then paint the carving.”
Image: ‘Honey, Why Are You So Sweet (Dolly Parton)’
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New paintings by Denny McCoy at D. Berman Gallery
Never mind the cold and rain. Opening tonight at D. Berman Gallery is ‘Release,’ colorful new paintings by Austin artist Denny McCoy.
The opening is from 6 to 8 p.m. tonight. The exhibit continues through March 27.
And in a nice change of pace from the usual artist’s gallery talk, next week award-winning Austin classical guitarist Steve Kostelnik well give a mini-concert, a musical response to McCoy’s paintings. The mini-concert is at 1 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 20. It’s free.
Says McCoy of his vibrant, new palette and new body of work:
‘Many artists describe their work as an exploration that may reference a particular subject matter or idea, created in a way that reflects a thoughtful and studied approach. I try to work at not knowing what I’m doing. During many years of painting I have gained a certain pattern of understanding and judgment that is at odds with my hope of exploring unseen areas. It is the letting go of this accumulated knowledge and decision making process that I find necessary to be in that place where I am most capable of not knowing what I’m doing. To separate myself from my experience is foolish, but to see it as not relevant to making future judgments is required.’
‘Answers to Hard Questions,’ Denny McCoy. Photo courtesy D. Berman Gallery
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‘Peer Gynt’ in a new translation
St. Edward’s University tackles Henrik Ibesen’s monumental theatrical travelogue exploring one hapless man’s journey of self-discovery from impetuous boyhood to penitent old age.
Spun like the best of the great Nordic fairy tales, “Peer Gynt,” a five-act play in verse. charts the life and fantastical round-the-world voyage of Gynt as he alternately races, stumbles, fights, meanders and crashes around the globe and back again.
Ev Lunning Jr. directs this new translation by Minnesota poet laureate Robert Bly — a cautionary tale at its most epic.
‘Peer Gynt runs’ Feb. 11- 21 at the Mary Moody Northen Theatre, St. Edward’s University, 3001 S. Congress Ave. Performances are Thursday - Saturday evenings at 7:30 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. Tickets $12-$18.
Sheila Gordon as Asa and Jacob Trussell as Peer Gynt. Photo by Bret Broookshire.
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‘Project Forklift’ throws down a dance challenge
Allison Orr has a challenge for her dancemaking peers.
The award-winning Austin choreographer, who under the umbrella of her company Forklift Danceworks has created evocative modern dances for such nondancers as firefighters, Elvis impersonators and most recently, City of Austin sanitation workers and their trucks, asked five choreographers to do the same: Make dances for people and the everyday moves they do on the job or during the course of their day.
Hence massage therapists, cooks, waiters and a police officer will be just some of the performers in “Project Forklift,” which opens this weekend for five performances at the Off Center.
Read the rest of the story here.
‘Project Forklift’
8 p.m. Feb. 12-20, 2 p.m. Feb. 21
Off Center, 2211 Hidalgo St.
$12-$20
www.forkliftdanceworks.org
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Ellington’s ‘Sacred Concert’ reprised Feb. 28
Last year, it was beyond standing room only when Austin Chamber Music Center hooked up with Huston-Tillotson University choirs and other performers in a rousing performance of Duke Ellington’s ‘Sacred Concert.’
People filled the aisles and even stood out in the hall of HTU’s King Seabrook Chapel last year as the choirs, jazz orchestra, soloists and an accompanying tap dancer made Ellington’s oratorio mighty.
Now, ACMC and Huston-Tillotson is reprising the concert at 3 p.m. Feb. 28, once again in King Seabrook Chapel on the HTU campus at E. Seventh St. and Chicon.
The concert is free. Seating is first-come, first-served. Early arrival is advisable if you want a space.
Ellington wrote three massiive works he called ‘Sacred Concerts, sprawling collections of songs and suites that blend gospel music with jazz, classical music, spirituals, blues, choral music and even dance and oratory. They were performed in cathedrals and churches during the last decade of his life, including 1973 in London’s Westminster Abbey.
Read more about last year’s joint performance with ACMC and HTU.
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Recent arts coverage
Tapping Bach, an edgy contemporary painting to make a new ballet | Project Forklift continues to explore dance by non-dancers: Video included
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Review: Golden Hornet Project: Symphony VI
If alt classical music presenters Golden Hornet Project accomplished nothing else Saturday night at two sold-out concerts at Austin Ventures Studio Theatre, the group made clear that their raison d’etre is relevant: Audiences are hungry for new composed music - or new classical music. And if you offer it in an accessible manner, they’ll be there to listen.
And listen eagerly and appreciatively the audience did as GHP co-artistic directors Graham Reynolds and Peter Stopschinski debuted their respective sixth symphonies, each written for string orchestra.
To add a little context to their alt classical genre-less starting point, Reynolds and Stopschinski added ‘Popcorn Superhet Receiver’ to finish the program, a two-movement symphonic work by Jonny Greenwood, BBC composer-in-residence and leadman of alt rock band Radiohead.
And the audience got it — the alt classical context, the sense of occasion of new music being debuted, the energetic yet unassuming vibe that both Austin composers project.
And the audience loved it: the energy in the room was palpable.
At times, though, that rawboned energy got the best of the orchestra, leaving spots in all three pieces in messy, if breathless, disarray. Conductor Ludek Drizhal did his best to corral the energy and maintain focus with each piece’s singular, and volatile, musicality.
Reynolds’ ‘The Difference Engine’ was triple concerto in five movements for violin (Leah Zeger), cello (Jonathan Dexter) and Reynolds on piano. Reynolds’ packed ‘Difference’ with his signature musical devices: plaintive melodies, charging rhythms, percussive splashes that were realized in Reynolds playing the piano strings with mallets and a few hyper-virtuosic solos (this time mostly for violin). Reynolds maintains something of a narrative thread through even his most varied works, a thread for the listener to make their way through even some of the most rapid-fire musical routes.
Stopschinski’s ‘Rough Night With Happy Ending’ traded on lots of harmonic and rhythmic complexities to terrific effect. Dark yet melodic colorations strode on top; a little rough scratching and other instrumental noise-making percolated throughout. Toying even further, Stopschinksi placed the violin section on both sides of the orchestra to simulate an echo. It was Surround Sound, the non-electronic version if you will. Though a mash-up of many things, ‘Rough Night’ made all its experiments rewarding.
Greenwood’s ‘Popcorn’ also aims to imitate electronic sound with unplugged instruments, riffing on the whooshing white noise that radio emits as a signal scoots up and down the dial. But at Friday’s first show, not all of the discrete glissandos and slow explorations of almost atonal clusters manifested as clearly as they could have which left Greenwood’s piece bereft of its clarity.
It’s a challenge of brand new compositions — the energy they demand. But it’s a challenge Austin musicians and audiences are clearly eager to take on.
Photo: Peter Stopschinski (foreground) with conductor Ludek Drizhal. Photo by Callie Richmond.
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Review: ‘John & Jen’
Penfold Theatre distinguished itself last year, surprising Austin theater-goers with ‘The Last Five Years,’ a one-act, two character musical. The production garnered Penfold, and Michael McKelvey, the show’s director, rave reviews and several nominations from the Austin Critics’ Table.
Now, McKelvey and Penfold bring us ‘John & Jen’ another modern chamber musical at the Hideout Theatre.
With music by Andrew Lippa and lyrics Tom Greenwald ‘John & Jen’ charts the story of two siblings growing up against the shifting American political landscape as the conservative 1950s gives way to the liberal, volatile 1960s.
Backed by a trio of piano, cello and percussion (in the tiny Hideout the musicians were shoehorned backstage revealed only partially through a gap in the stage set wall), Andrew Cannata and Sarah Gay had enormous tasks in shouldering the entire two-act sung-through musical. They also had to convincingly play their characters as children, teens and adults which they did with composure.
Jen leaves her younger brother along to survive in their stifling, repressive household when heads to college and the hippy lifestyle. John later heads to Vietnam. In Act Two, Jen is single mother struggling to raise a son, not uncoincendentally named for her brother.
If the plot of this two-actor three-character rapidly moving show is rather sentimental and predictable, McKelvey’s production nevertheless remains sharp and compelling.
Perhaps that’s because McKelvey know what makes the intimate chamber musical mode work to its best: a combination of energy and straightforwardness.
Simple staging and lighting enhanced but didn’t interfere with the rapidly changing moods of a story that veritably rockets through the years.
Cannata’s fairly relaxed tenor has good tone and when he hit the open phrases, he unleashed a Broadway-style boom - impressive, but almost overwhelming for this small-scaled show. Gay has the more emotionally complex and challenging role to sing which she mostly handled with grace.
Small is good when it comes to musicals, despite the typical penchant for the spectacle. And in the hands of a good director, small proves surprising and convincing.
‘John & Jen’
8 p.m. Thursdays-Saturdays and 5 p.m. Sundays, through Feb. 21
The Hideout Theatre, 617 Congress Ave.
$10-$20
www.penfoldtheatre.org
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Arrivederci Petrobelli Altarpiece, hello ‘Desire’
It took art historians 200 years — and a good measure of serendipity — to put reconstruct the Petrobelli Altarpiece after the gorgeous 16th-century massive canvas by Renaissance master artist Paolo Veronese was chopped apart in 1788 when the Northern Italian church it was created for was destroyed.
And Sunday is the last day we’ll have to see the Petrobelli Altarpiece at UT’s Blanton Museum of Art. Actually it’s the last chance we’ll ever have to see the reconstructed monumental painting.
On a visit to the Blanton in 2006, British scholar Xavier Salomon realized that a small Veronese painting of St. Michael from the Blanton’s Suida-Manning Collection was actually a missing piece of the Petrobelli Altarpiece.
Salomon’s discovery led to the unique reconstruction of the fragments of the Petrobelli Altarpiece.
And when the exhibit closes Sunday, the fragments will go back to their respective homes at the Dulwich Picture Gallery in London and the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa, Ontario, which also hosted the exhibit, and to the National Gallery of Scotland.
So this is the last chance, ever, you’ll see the Petrobelli Altarpiece as a whole. Get to the Blanton!
And read the full art history mystery story here.
While you’re at the Blanton this weekend you can also catch the first weekend of ‘Desire’ the intriguing new exhibit featuring more than 50 works in all media from the likes of Bill Viola, Glenn Ligon, Mairly Minter, Isaac Juilien and many others. ‘Desire’ examines desire in its myriad creative manifestations.
On Saturday at 2 p.m., join Ligon and Minter in the Blanton auditorium for a talk moderated by ‘Desire’ curator, Annette DiMeo Carlozzi.
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Two new symphonies, with a little help from Radiohead, make their debut
It’s not easy for a genre-blurring musician in a genre-focused music industry. When it’s simpler for the music biz to sell its cultural product in neat categories, any music that bridges or blurs those market-described categories often gets left behind.
Graham Reynolds and Peter Stopschinski know that all too well. The pair of genre-defying Austin composers, well-known to arts audiences for their myriad collaborations with theater and dance productions, will debut their respective sixth symphonies on Saturday at Austin Ventures Studio Theater inside Ballet Austin’s downtown headquarters.
Read the rest of the story here.
Preview the music:
- Graham Reynolds: ‘The Difference Engine’, Movement 2: Ada
- Peter Stopschinski: ‘Rough Night with Happy Ending’, Movement 4
Photo by Ralph Berrera/Austin American-Statesman.
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Weekend Arts Pix
Today through Sunday
‘Arrhythmia.’<br>
Hip-hop theater artist Zell Miller III debuts his latest performance piece. Through music, slam-style poetry, hip-hop movements, ‘Arrhythmia’ examines love, in all of its ugliness and splendor and political overtones. 8 p.m. Thursdays-Sundays through Feb. 20. Vortex, 2803 Manor Road. $10-$30 sliding scale. 478-5282, www.vortexrep.org.
Friday and Saturday
‘Meg.Anne.Maud.’
Performance artist Meg Sullivan transforms the Off Center theater into a mapped imaginary landscape where the audience will be invited to think about how archives evoke remembrances of things past and how our favorite book characters — for Sullivan it’s Lucy Maud Montgomery and Anne of Green Gables — inhabit our imaginations. 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Off Center, 2211 Hidalgo St. $7. www.rudemechs.com.
Saturday
‘Black History Month Concert.’
Celebrating works by African American composers, this annual event at UT’s Butler School of Music features traditional spirituals along side works by jazz greats such as Duke Ellington, and classical composers and arrangers Eugene Hancock, Dorothy Rudd Moore, and Moses Hogan. Ensembles and soloists from Huston-Tillotson and UT will perform under the direction of Jeff Hellmer. The concert this year is accepting donations at the door for Haiti relief efforts. 7:30 p.m. Saturday. Bates Recital Hall, Music Building, UT campus.. www.music.utexas.edu.
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Michael Dell’s $100 million purchase of Magnum Photos archive to live at UT — for five years
The University of Texas’ Ransom Center will be home for five years to nearly 200,000 original press photographs taken by the legendary staff of Magnum Photos, the long-standing international agency, the university announced Tuesday.
The Magnum Photos archive was purchased last year by MSD Capital, the $10 billion private investment firm for the family of Michael Dell.
Officials from MSD Capital and Magnum Photos would not disclose the purchase price of the private sale. But UT officials said that the Ransom Center insured the collection for $100 million.
The Magnum collection contains photographs dating from the 1930s through the 1990s and includes images of major world events, celebrities and startlingly candid shots by famed photographers such as Henri Cartier-Bresson, Robert Capa, Elliott Erwitt, Leonard Freed and Bruce Davidson.
As part of the arrangement, the Ransom Center has agreed to catalog and preserve the entire photo archive as well as host exhibitions and public programs. The Ransom Center will also make digital scans of every image. However, the cost to UT and the Ransom Center for the Magnum archive’s care and cataloging has not been determined, said Ransom Center spokeswoman Jen Tisdale.
Magnum and its photographers retain the copyright and licensing rights to the images. Dell’s MSD Capital will retain ownership of the photographs.
A spokesman for MSD Capital said that both the investment firm and Magnum Photos are making financial contributions to the Ransom Center to support the care and archiving of the collection, but he would not disclose the amount of those donations.
Cataloging, digitizing and publicly exhibiting an archive ultimately adds to its value.
The agreement between the Ransom Center, Magnum Photos and MSD Capital comes as the university is facing budget cuts including the controversial move to shut down the Cactus Cafe and cancel the UT informal classes program.
With the purchase of the Magnum archive, Dell himself joins an exclusive club of high-tech titans who have purchased important photography collections. In 1995, Microsoft founder and billionaire Bill Gates, through his privately owned digital stock photo company Corbis Corp., purchased the Bettmann Archive, a collection of some 19 million prints assembled by German collector Otto Bettman.
And this is not the first time that MSD Capital and its members have gotten involved in the art market.
Co-managing partners Glenn R. Fuhrman and John C. Phelan both collect contemporary art.
Fuhrman’s Flag Art Foundation in New York — which presents exhibits of contemporary art — co-produced a recent exhibit at Austin’s Lora Reynolds Gallery that featured the work of Noriko Ambe.
The Flag Foundation’s next exhibit for its Chelsea gallery? ‘Size Does Matter,’ a show curated by basketball legend Shaquille O’Neal.
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Review: Tim Miller’s ‘Lay of the Land’
When solo performer Tim Miller takes the stage, it seems like he can’t breathe. When Miller shifts into his performance persona, he always seems to be gasping for air.
The acting choice alternates between producing a sense of anxiety or exasperation as Miller’s streaming delivery goes on a journey through his take on what it means—and more importantly—how it feels to be queer in the US.
In Miller’s newest piece “Lay of the Land,” Saturday at Vortex, Miller targets his exasperation toward the ongoing battle over same-sex marriage. As is always true with Miller’s shows, the mix of comedy, pain and exuberant politics produces an unsettling mixture of empathy and indictment. “Lay of the Land” asks the now perhaps old, but still true feminist question: how do personal stories become political? And how do political decisions affect individual people trying to love each other and live together?
“Lay of the Land” focuses most directly on Miller’s experience in one the Californian same-sex couples able to marry during five months in the summer of 2008. But the show’s structure allows Miller to cover a huge swath of topics. “Lay of the Land” follows Miller’s participation in November 15 protests following the California Prop 8 anti-gay marriage vote.
Popping in and out of his role as activist in the street, Miller recalls vignettes from his life as a queer man. Perhaps the most intense recounts a harrowing moment as Miller’s father stood over his nine-year-old son, preparing to do an emergency tracheotomy on the kitchen table to remove chuck steak stuck in Miller’s throat
In one of many examples of the play’s web like writing, Miller relates the moment to his childhood hatred of baseball games—he saw the stadium as a tool for fathers to masculinize their gay sons—and Miller uses the steak as launching pad to discuss the queer issues, as he says, stuck in the throat of the nation. The many-tentacled writing can be dizzying to follow, but it’s fascinating in its scope.
Reflecting “Lay of the Land’s” title, Miller offers a stunningly broad view of the place of queer Americans in the national landscape. From an ode to Iowa — the state Miller calls the freest of the free after its 2009 unanimous State Supreme Court ruling allowing same-sex marriage—to his queer ode to state university mascots, Miller surveys the variety of American positions on gay and lesbian issues in even the most unlikely of places. After seeing “Lay of the Land,” no audience member will ever look at the University of Wisconsin’s hyper-muscular Bucky the Badger the same way again.
“Lay of the Land” is unabashedly political. Whether one agrees or disagrees with Miller’s positions, it would be nearly impossible to remain conscious through this show and not rethink gay rights in the US. And it would be impossible to sleep while Miller gasps and entertains.
Kudos to the Vortex for their long-time commitment to bringing this important artist back to Austin again and again.
Clare Croft is an American-Statesman freelance critic.
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Magnum photos to reside at UT
The University of Texas’s Ransom Center will be home for five years to some 200,000 original press photographs taken by the legendary photographers of Magnum Photos, the long-standing international photo agency.
The Magnum archive — which was purchased last year by MSD Capital, the private investment firm for the family of Michael S. Dell — will be housed at the Ransom Center for five years for exhibition and study. It is the first time the Magnum archive will be available to the public.
The collection contains photographs dating from the 1930s and include images of major world events, celebrities and starling candid images by photographers such as Henri Cartier-Bresson, Robert Capa, Elliott Erwitt, Leonard Freed and Bruce Davidson among many others.
Magnum, founded in 1947, is owned and managed cooperatively by its member photographers. Magnum continues to provide photographs to the media, publishers and advertising agencies.
The New York Times reported that the Ransom Center had insured the collection for more than $100 million.
As part of its agreement with Magnum and MSD Capital, the Ransom Center has agreed to catalog and preserve the entire photo archive. The Ransom Center will also make digital scans of every image.
The Magnum archive joins other important photography collections at UT including the Gernsheim Collection which includes the world first photograph made by Joseph Nicephore Niepce in 1826.
Photo: Bob Adelman. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. during his “I Have A Dream” speech, 1963. Copyright: Bob Adelman/Magnum Photos
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Q-and-A with Anne Akiko Meyers, violinist
Violinist Anne Akiko Meyers burst onto the international concert stage when she was just 11 years old. Now, the California native is a sought after soloist with a busy schedule of concerts around the globe.
Meyers is also a new member of the faculty at the University of Texas Butler School of Music.
On Sunday, she gives her first recital since moving to Austin, with Anton Nel at the piano at UT’s Bates Recital Hall at 4 p.m. See www.music.utexas.edu for ticket information.
A-AS: How did you select the program you’ll be playing?
Anne Akiko Meyers: I programmed Schnittke, Beethoven, Vernon Duke, Gershwin and this amazing premiere by Jakub Ciupinski with several things in mind. I love how Schnittke took classical themes and sacred music such as ‘Silent Night’ and put such an ironical twist on it. Usually music like that can be so overdone but when you hear his music, he spins everything very subtlety on it’s head and ends up making a very dramatic original statement. That originalality is uncanny and very brilliant. There is also a seasonal thread through the program with me visiting spring in the Beethoven ‘Spring’ Sonata, summer with the Gershwin, autumn via Vernon Duke and winter with the Schnittke. The premiere by Jakub Ciupinski is with electronics. This is a first for me, exploring the rich tapestries of a musical universe using a recording to accompany the solo violin.
AA-S: You started your career at a preciously young age. What kind of career advice do you give your college-age students at UT?
Meyers: Yes, I began my career at a very young age and relished every bit of it! Everybody’s development is very different and most my students have no desire to be soloists. Being a soloist must start at a very young age and by the time one is in college, that choice should have been made much earlier in one’s life. I think it is very important to be honest with one’s abilities in order to focus on learning and making the most of one’s talents and capabilities. This way, the path is clear to make plans with one’s life and hopefully make an impact with the environment around you.
AA-S: You’re new to town. What are some your favorite places in Austin?
Meyers: Being that I travel so much, my favorite place to be in Austin is at home. I love being able to sleep in my own bed, crawl to the kitchen and serve myself loads of ice cream. Other places I love visiting are Mount Bonnell, Zilker Park, the shops and restaurants at the Domain, Whole Foods and the Milk and Honey Spa. I seem to spend a lot of time on Research Blvd. as well!
Anne Akiko Meyers
When: 4 p.m. Sunday
Where: Bates Recital Hall, Music Building, UT campus
Tickets: $10-$20
Information: 471-5401, www.music.utexas.edu
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Arthouse goes viral with a micro-giving campaign
In a clever move perfectly in sync with not only our recessionary economy but also our Twitter-happy Internet-based times, Arthouse, the Congress Avenue contemporary arts center, has launched a micro-giving campaign that’s being worked entirely via Twitter and email.
The ‘I Heart Arthouse’ campaign launched today seeking $5 donations from 2,000 people. Appeals are being sent via social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook and by email lists.
Arthouse is currently in the midst of a major $6.6 million renovation to its downtown Austin home. More than $5 million has already been raised. Arthouse is set to re-open in late October.
Through Arthouse has big dollar donors, it also has a large audience of younger art patrons as well as artists themselves who love the free exhibits and programs Arthouse offers. Hence the month-long micro-giving campaign makes sense. No costly direct mail campaigns or expensive special events. Just a virtual passing-of-the-hat asking for a modest sum.
And that’s smart.
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Recent arts coverage
Austin’s alt-classical auteurs unleash their sixth symphonies | Austin Lyric Opera stages Chabrier’s ‘The Star’ | Q-and-A with Anne Akiko Meyers, violinistFollow @artsinaustin on Twitter
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Blanton Museum re-organizes management staff
After seven months on the job, new Blanton Museum of Art director Ned Rifkin has re-organized some of the senior staff.
Said Rifkin: “When I arrived, the Blanton had vacancies in a few important areas: museum education, Latin American art, and then, most recently, administration. My decision to create two deputy director positions to be filled by current talented and qualified staff members was an obvious move.”
Here’s a run down from a release sent over the weekend:
- Annette DiMeo Carlozzi, curator of American and contemporary art and also director of curatorial affairs, will become the Deputy Director for Art and Programs, and will oversee curatorial, education and collection management areas of the museum.
- Simone Wicha, director of development, will become Deputy Director for External Affairs and Operations, supervising fundraising, membership, communications, admissions, the cafe and museum store, as well as other financial and operational aspects of the museum.
- Jonathan Bober, who for more than 20 years served as both curator of prints and drawings and also curator of European paintings, will now focus primarily on works of European art, including works on paper. Multiple curators, according to their specific expertise and research areas, will now oversee works on paper.
- Ursula Davila-Villa, interim curator of Latin American art will be promoted to associate curator of Latin American Art.
- Sue Ellen Jeffers, registrar will become manager of collections, overseeing all art handling and preparation within the museum. Meredith Sutton, associate registrar, will become the registrar.
Carlozzi’s promotion means that the Blanton will soon be seeking a curator in the area of modern and contemporary art once they get the go-ahead from UT administration.
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Review: Austin Lyric Opera’s ‘The Star’
Combine a zany plot propelled by wacky characters, charming music laced with witty dialogue and a mad world made into a visually arresting mod funhouse and you have the utterly entertaining production of Emmanuel Chabrier’s ‘The Star,’ now getting a turn by Austin Lyric Opera at the Long Center.
Only now recognized for its brilliant goofiness after a century in obscurity, Chabrier’s 1877 opera bouffe is a sparkling confection — a bon bon for the opera connoisseur in this impressive, inventively-designed production by New York City Opera and Glimmerglass Opera.
And yet, with its mix of dialogue and singing — and thanks to some very clever direction by Alain Gauthier and droll dance moves by choreographer Jeff Michael Rebudal - this version of ‘The Star’ is also pure delight for any opera novice or musical theater aficianando.
Superbly conducted by Richard Buckley, who brilliantly extracted the lyrical wittiness in Chabrier’s exquisite score, ‘The Star’ is an opera bouffe that gently satirizes opera itself.
In this comic confection, King Ouf the First (tenor Jean-Paul Fouchecourt) scours his kingdom to find a subject to impale — a public execution, after all, being Ouf’s favorite birthday celebration. But unluckily, Ouf chooses a young peddler Lazuli (mezzo-soprano Deborah Domanski), whose star, the king’s astrologer, Siroco (basso buffo Kevin Glavin), reveals, is linked to Ouf’s.
And the problem? If Lazuli dies the king will die a day later — and Siroco 15 minutes after that. To complicate things, Lazuli falls in love with Ouf’s fiancée, Princess Laoula (soprano Nili Riemer)
After that, well, the plot spins comically out-of-control.
As Ouf, Fouchecourt is a remarkably gifted comic actor and sang with terrific lyricism. Domanski did well in the classic trouser role, all gangly moves capped by a sweet tone. Riemer impressed as Laoula. But it was the ensemble together in comic play that impressed the most.
So did the crazy yet stylish sets and costumes. Set designer Andrew Lieberman and costumer Constance Hoffman created a world where characters clad in saturated hues stood out against bright white surfaces and curving funhouse mirrors. Costume silhouettes are part period Toulouse-Lautrec, part animated Beatles movie, “Yellow Submarine.” Characters rode goofily adorned scooters on and off the stage. Ouf’s throne is giant, inflatable and yellow.
Special props have to go to the chorus who not only sang well but managing the abundant comic choreography with aplomb.
For a relatively young regional company, Austin Lyric Opera has made many a sophisticated gestures itself in its almost 25 years through tackling challenging contemporary repertoire, staging productions in non-traditional venue and premiering new operas.
Now, ALO demonstrates its sophistication again by joining the strata of international opera presenters who are smartly resurrecting forgotten jewels of the repertoire.
‘The Star’ continues at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 3 and 5 and 3 p.m. Feb. 7 at the Long Center. $29-$133. www.austinlyricopera.org
