Anya M. Wassenberg's Blog: Art & Culture Maven, page 18

The Return Of The Minimoog Model D

From a media release

The Return Of The Minimoog Model D

Get One Here

Asheville, NC, November 2022 — Originally released in 1970, the Minimoog Model D changed the face of modern music and has served as the archetype for all synthesizers that followed.

The all-analog instrument gained acclaim for combining the colossal sound of the 1960s Moog modular synthesizers with the accessibility of pre-wired modules, meaning that it could be played instantly and intuitively with no patch cables required. 

A groundbreaking innovation, the Minimoog was quickly embraced by a diverse roster of performers, such as Herbie Hancock, Kraftwerk, Jan Hammer, Sun Ra, Giorgio Moroder, Parliament Funkadelic, Pink Floyd, and Gary Numan—all shaping unique sounds and forging new genres with the instrument.

More than a half-century since its invention, Minimoog Model D is back in production at the Moog factory in Asheville, North Carolina. An exceptional sonic tool and one of the most beloved and iconic synthesizers ever designed, it returns to inspire the next generation of electronic musicians. 

A Timeless Recreation

Built to last a lifetime, each new Minimoog Model D delivers the revered quality, undefinable feel, and authentic sound of a pristine vintage Moog.

The coveted sound engine and audio signal path remain identical to the Model D that Bob Moog and his team engineered in the 1970s. This latest edition of the instrument also includes the series of popular functional modifications from the 2016 production run that expanded this storied synthesizer’s capabilities. These modifications include a dedicated analog LFO with triangle and square waveshapes, a premium Fatar keybed with velocity and after pressure available via top panel CV jacks with onboard trimpots, MIDI integration, improved pitch wheel calibration, and a mixer feedback modification which allows the Minimoog Model D to overdrive and scream with the turn of a knob. ​

Plus, for the first time in its history, the Minimoog Model D now features a spring-loaded pitch wheel that returns to center upon release. This enhancement—a popular artist request—allows for improved playability and wild performance flourishes. This newest edition also includes updates to the MIDI functionality, allowing for improved modern studio integration.

The three-oscillator, monophonic, analog synthesizer is securely housed in a locally sourced Appalachian cherry cabinet with a legacy-inspired walnut stain and hand-finished aluminum chassis. Sounding as vibrant and deep as ever, its legendary low-pass ladder filter, powerful oscillators, and rich saturating mixer retain the exact component placement and through-hole design of a 1970s-era Minimoog Model D.

A Sound for the Ages: Model D’s Five Decades of Influence

A stage and studio staple for 52 years and counting, the Minimoog Model D is a key piece of music history that continues to inspire artists of all genres, cultures, and ages around the world.

Electrifying funk and disco during the 1970s, enabling new wave in the 1980s, anchoring the sonics of techno and hip-hop in the 1990s, and transcending genres since the turn of the new millennium, the sounds of the synthesizer are now as ubiquitous in music as the human voice.

The Minimoog Model D specifically has been used by some of the most innovative musicians of our time. Bernie Worrell used the instrument as a foundation of Parliament Funkadelic’s futuristic sound. 

Kraftwerk employed Model D on the pioneering concept album Autobahn, defining an entirely new genre of electronic music. Gary Numan replaced his live band’s guitars with Minimoogs, creating the prototype for industrial music. The classic sound of the Minimoog Model D can be heard on Bob Marley’s Catch a Fire, David Bowie’s Low, and Dr. Dre’s The Chronic, to name a few. ​

Model D’s distinct tone can also be heard in recordings and live performances from influential artists like Devo, Chaka Kahn, Frank Zappa, Giorgio Moroder, Nine Inch Nails, Kate Bush, Ozzy Ozbourne, Pink Floyd, Portishead, Rush, Jan Hammer, Phil Collins, Beastie Boys, Radiohead, Herbie Hancock, Sun Ra, and Paul McCartney.

Few instruments have been as impactful to the world of music as Minimoog Model D. Now available to a new generation of creatives, the legacy of this celebrated synthesizer and its inventor, Dr. Bob Moog, live on.
Hand-Built to Last a Lifetime

At the Moog Factory in Asheville, North Carolina, every Minimoog Model D synthesizer is built by hand to its original factory specifications.

Placing the utmost importance on high-quality materials, all components are carefully sourced and crafted to capture the indescribable feeling of the original Minimoog Model D. Each unit that travels through Moog’s production floor sees identical component placement and through-hole design of the beloved 1970s Minimoog Model D in a hand-finished aluminum chassis, secured to a handcrafted Appalachian hardwood cabinet.

“This attention to detail in materials and build allows us to connect directly to the legacy and character of this legendary instrument. The Minimoog Model D is more than just a collection of circuits in a box—it’s a true musical instrument that is a joy to program and play. Bob [Moog] always recognized the importance of an instrument’s feel, and we’ve gone to great lengths to honor his practices through the re-introduction and manufacture of this beautiful synthesizer.” -Steve Dunnington, VP of Product Development at Moog Music

Video: The Will Gregory Moog Ensemble Performs with 10 Minimoogs

In collaboration with Moog Music, the Will Gregory Moog Ensemble presents “Archimedes Screw,” a live performance from 10 musicians—each using their own Model D to add layers of sound to the composition as it builds.

From the onset of the video, the stage is set: a mix of vintage and modern Minimoogs line the chancel of The Mount Without, a historic chapel in Bristol, UK. The acoustics of the space provide a warm depth to the sound of Minimoogs produced from every era they have been manufactured.

Utilizing MIDI integration for the 2016 and 2022 reissues, and MIDI-to-CV converters for the vintage units involved in this performance, the Moog Ensemble highlights the modern features alongside the classic sound. According to the group’s musical director and composer, Will Gregory, the instrument’s enhancements expand Model D’s realm of sonic possibility.

“The MIDI aspect of these instruments enables us to open polyrhythmic possibilities between the 10 parts that would be beyond humans to reproduce otherwise. Our hands become free for sound sculpting as we perform by manipulating the filter, resonance, modulation, and envelope controls in pairs. Both these aspects are very important to how I see the Moog Ensemble breaking new ground in live performance and simultaneously giving a more expressive and warm creation.”

“Archimedes Screw” demonstrates Model D’s timeless sound, playability, and relevance as a powerful musical tool for live performance. The Moog Ensemble manifesto, Gregory shares in an interview with Moog, is very much about live performance as a living breathing unit of musicians listening and responding together.

The Will Gregory Moog Ensemble
Will Gregory discusses his connection with the instrument and shares more details on how the ensemble composed this piece from a technical perspective on Moog’s website here.

Goldfrapp’s Will Gregory is one of the UK’s leading advocates of using synthesizers and electronic instruments to create new sounds and reinvent old ones. Leading and performing with the Moog Ensemble since 2005, Gregory and its rotating contributors—which includes Adrian Utley of Portishead—perform a mixture of specially composed music, transcriptions of classical works, and their own versions of music from popular culture and film scores. 

“Archimedes Screw” will be featured on the debut Will Gregory Moog Ensemble album, coming out via Mute Records in 2023.  

The Minimoog Model D App

You can explore the sound and workflow of the classic Model D from your iOS or macOS device with Moog Music’s official Minimoog Model D app.

The Minimoog Model D App is a mobile transmutation of the world’s first portable synthesizer, the Minimoog Model D. Optimized for both iOS and macOS, anyone with an Apple device can jump in and play with over 160 included presets or begin exploring electronic sound design to craft their own unique style.

You can download the app here  
Hand-built by employee-owners with care inside Moog’s single factory in downtown Asheville, North Carolina, the first production run of the latest Minimoog Model D reissue is now shipping to Moog dealers and distributors within the US and internationally. 
Moog Music is the world’s leading producer of theremins and analog synthesizers. The employee-owned company and its customers carry on the legacy of its founder, electronic musical instrument pioneer Dr. Bob Moog. All of Moog’s instruments are assembled by hand in its factory in downtown Asheville, North Carolina. 
All images courtesy of Moog Music.
Bernie Worrell of Parliament Funkadelic on a Moog (it really heats up around 1:45...):
 

Experimental Electronic | Anıl Çamcı: Dekagon (June 24, 2022 / Innova Recordings)

Experimental Electronic
Anıl Çamcı: Dekagon
(June 24, 2022 / Innova Recordings)

Buy/Sample It Here

Dekagon is ten works, the result of ten years of electronic experimentation from Anıl Çamcı. Each piece uses a different synthesis tool or technique, including classic tech as well as bespoke designs. 

The sounds range from machine language blips to shimmering waves to delightfully kinetic threads of bubbly motion. Forty performances with a Eurorack modular synthesizer, over a two-year period, went into creating the piece titled A Now Unknown.

Yonder in Bedlam was composed using a Moog synthesizer. The piece is (perhaps ironically) space-edged and futuristic. The sounds are electronic, but the music often takes organic shapes, and has orchestral underpinnings. 

There is both drama and humour to be found among the blips and white noise. Temas, using live improvisations with a stochastic synthesizer Çamcı designed himself, has an alien kind of tone, machine-like in mood. Birdfish, in contrast, could be featured on the soundtrack to a space opera. 

Dekalog is features in Çamcı’s book “The Cognitive Continuum of Electronic Music,” which was published by Bloomsbury in 2022 as part of their Music and Sound Studies series. 

Composer, multimedia artist, and professor of Performing Arts Technology at the University of Michigan, Anıl Çamcı's work has been featured at international symposia, including the NYC Electroacoustic Music Festival, and the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression.

Jazz Community | Lewis Jordan and Music At Large: Critical Mass (Innova Recordings / May 27, 2022)

Jazz Community
Lewis Jordan and Music At Large: Critical Mass
(Innova Recordings / May 27, 2022)

Composers: Lewis Jordan; Performers: Lewis Jordan, Bruce Ackley, Sandi Poindexter, Ollen Erich Hunt, Jimmy Biala, Genny Lim, Tureeda Mikell

Buy/Sample It Here

People coming together and celebrating - that's the impetus behind Critical Mass by saxophonist/composer/performer Lewis Jordan and his artist friends. Jordan adds poetry to his expressive alto and baritone sax, accompanies by violin, soprano and tenor sax, bass and percussion. 

In Axiology/Demonstration, Jordan's spoken word fits into the melodic slot above a jazzy contrapuntal mix dominated by percussive and rhythmic sax. He meditates on love, music and life. There are occasional outbreaks of sax virtuosity over a busy rhythm section.

Each track offers a fresh approach. Call and Response sounds like a nod to big band jazz, albeit with a slightly off kilter modern edge. In Ask Yourself, sombre vocals by Sandi Poindexter offer a plaintive melody against spare bass and percussion.

Jordan takes the familiar and adds a personal and contemporary touch - a flash of dissonance here, a passage of noise in the midst of melody. His nicely inventive solo in Rights and Rites is a highlight of the album.

As a poet, his message is uplifting. From Build a Bridge,

If they block the highway
We'll take the low way
We're still coming...

Whether you listen for the message or for his stylish brand of sax-driven jazz, it's an album with replay value.

New Classical | Danny Holt: Piano Music of Mike Garson (Innova Recordings / Apr 22, 2022)

New Classical
Danny Holt: Piano Music of Mike Garson
(Innova Recordings / Apr 22, 2022)

Buy/Sample It Here

Mike Garson's music entranced composer Danny Holt on first listen. Garson is probably best known for his work with David Bowie. Starting in 1972, he appeared on several of Bowie's albums, and toured extensively with him, including in the US. The performer and composer became friends, and Garson helped to produce Holt's first album, Fast Jump.

This represents the first recording dedicated to Garson's solo piano works. Garson's technique uses first take improvisations composed in real-time, and both share a taste for music with a feeling of immediacy and edge. 

Many of the pieces are tributes of one sort or another, from the sweeping Homage to Chopin & Godowsky with its swirling virtuosity, to his own Tribute to David Bowie. In the latter, he's inspired more by the late artist's towering presence in the world of music than Bowie's art-pop. Similarly, a Tribute to Keith Emerson has an edgy contemporary flavour, as opposed to the more bombastic mode the late keyboard whiz preferred. 

Two Nocturnes are sublimely lovely, with a gorgeous flow. His Nowtudes are an amusing riff on the classic études format.

Holt's playing is and warm, drawing the expression out of the music in a variety of moods. If his intention was to showcase his musical friend's talents and range, then the job has been accomplished with polish.

Mike Garson: "Tremolando" performed by Danny Holt (Video recorded and edited by Danny Holt in Death Valley National Park, CA)

Contemporary Cello | Laura Sewell: Threescore (March 25, 2022 / Innova Recordings)

Contemporary Cello
Laura Sewell: Threescore
(March 25, 2022 / Innova Recordings)

Composers: Paul Schoenfield, David Evan Thomas, Stephen Paulus

Buy/Sample At The Link

Cellist and Minnesota native Laura Sewell founded the award-winning Lark Quartet, a top prize winner in the Banff International String Quartet Competition. The quartet performed extensively all over the world. Later, she was the cellist of the Artaria String Quartet from 2007-2016.

As a soloist and chamber musician, she's premiered works by many notable contemporary composers, and that's the impetus behind this latest release. It features chamber music from Minnesota composers that was commissioned by the Sewell family.

Pianist Ivan Konev joins her for Six British Folksongs by Paul Schoenfield, a piece inpsired by Sewell's time in London studying with iconic cellist Jacqueline duPré. The traditional tunes tell a story in a piece that's melodic and evocative, without ever giving you exactly what's expected. Sewell is joined by pianist Ora Itkin for Paulus' compositions, and the dazzling virtuosity of Gypsy Laddie is one of the release's highlights. 

Stephen Paulus is featured in two compositions. His works are very contemporary in scope and eclectic in melodic approach. There's a sense of drama and emotion in the neo-baroque Banchetto Musicale. His Benediction is meditative and peaceful.

Sonja Thompson accompanies her on piano for the work of David Evans Thomas, titled From the Land of Song. The piece commemorates a family tragedy, it is said, and it's the most conventional in approach displayed by the three composers. Sparkling piano lines contrast with nimble cello work in a style you might call neo-romanticism.

It's a fine collection that showcases the range of contemporary cello performance.

Visual Arts Palm Beach | The Season Kicks Off With New Works by Mira Lehr November 15 2022 Through January 14 2023

From a media release

The Season in Palm Beach County
Kicks Off with the World Premiere of New Works by Mira Lehr
November 15, 2022 to January 14, 2023 
at the Rosenbaum Contemporary

The new season of art kicks off in Palm Beach County with Mira Lehr: Arc of Nature. The show features bold and colorful works by Mira Lehr that have never been exhibited before, spanning 2,000 square feet, the entire front gallery space of Rosenbaum Contemporary (on view November 15, 2022 through January 14, 2023).  

Fragrant Bloom, by Mira Lehr (2022). Burned & dyed Japanese paper, acrylic ink, burnt fuses on canvas (64” x 68”).These paintings by Lehr can be seen during the peak months of the season, including the week of Art Basel Miami Beach. Lehr’s paintings continue to be acquired by leading museums, institutions, and collectors ‒ including the acquisition this year by The Metropolitan Museum of Art New York of three of Lehr’s works.

The momentum of Lehr’s trajectory continues to soar, and this year during Miami Art Week and Art Basel Miami Beach, Mira Lehr has been selected for three concurrent exhibitions – in addition to this solo show at Rosenbaum Contemporary, her work has also been selected for a major exhibition at the Jewish Museum of Florida-FIU in South Beach titled Environmental Art: Fragile Beauty (on view Nov. 27, 2022 - April 1, 2023), and for The Miami Creative Movement show at the Center for Visual Communication in Wynwood (on view Nov. 19, 2022 - March 15, 2023).  

Being & Not Being, by Mira Lehr (2022). Burned & dyed Japanese paper, acrylic paint on Canvas (62” x 48”).Lehr’s work continues to be acquired by major museums, leading institutions and collectors - including the recent acquisition this year by The Metropolitan Museum of Art New York of three of Lehr's works. 

“These new works by Mira Lehr are characterized by an overarching sense of experimentation,” said Howard Rosenbaum, the Director of Rosenbaum Contemporary.

“These paintings are inspired by tropical climates, and new techniques are resplendent here with patterned gunpowder and stark white paint drips. Lehr is always honing in on the main tenets of her work: optimism vs. pessimism with regards to climate change, and the battle of nature vs. man-made. Lehr's new works invoke a sense of wonder for our disappearing natural world,” adds Rosenbaum. 

Orchid Tango, by Mira Lehr (2022). Burned & Dyed Japanese Paper, acrylic ink, burnt fuses on canvas (36” x 48”).“Both creation and destruction are forces of nature,” comments Mira Lehr. “In my artmaking, I use burning, the medium of fire, by incorporating lit fuses and igniting gunpowder across my canvases. We seem to be living through a very tenuous cycle now in our history on this planet. Nobody knows what the future holds. The flames I use in my art, the fire, is the perfect medium for this time we live in,” adds Lehr. 

Rosenbaum Contemporary was founded by Marvin and Howard Rosenbaum in 1979, who have since been joined by Lara Rosenbaum. The gallery features Postwar, Modern and Contemporary masters presented through a nationally recognized museum-level exhibition program. Rosenbaum Contemporary is located at 150 Yamato Road in Boca Raton (the exhibition is viewable during gallery hours: Tuesday-Saturday, 10:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.)

In this exhibition Mira Lehr: Arc of Nature, her new works abound with cyclical imagery as the artist continues to sound her clarion call to protect the planet from climate change. Through her vibrant usage of colours and inventive media, she depicts the power of nature and the Earth in both utopian and dystopian portrayals. 

Spring Has Sprung, by Mira Lehr (2022). Burned & dyed Japanese paper, acrylic paint, acrylic ink, burnt fuses on Canvas (71” x 108”).

The title of this new show at Rosenbaum Contemporary gallery comes from the new 420-page book by the same name, published by Skira Editore – Mira Lehr: Arc of Nature | The Complete Monograph – with essays by Eleanor Heartney, Joseph Treaster, Irving Sandler, and Thom Collins. 

The art critic and curator Elanor Heartney writes in the book, “Lehr has traveled far from her early days as an aspiring Abstract Expressionist. Yet in certain ways, there is a remarkable continuity throughout the course of her evolution. She finds herself again moving into the unknown, a place she finds at once inspiring, a little terrifying, and deeply satisfying.” 

“Lehr’s artmaking thoughtfully melds the principles of modernist abstraction with the lyrical beauty of the natural world,” adds Heartney. 

“Her work offers a reminder that art is an ever-changing organism whose past is never really past and whose future exists in embryonic form in the present.”  

The comprehensive book chronicles Lehr’s artistic impact, from the 1950s through the first two decades of the 21st century. Some of the paintings included in the show at Rosenbaum Contemporary can also be found in the monograph published by Skira Editore. 

In Eleanor Heartney’s essay in the book, she notes:

“In the first two decades of the 21st century, the news has been relentlessly grim. In recent years, Mira Lehr has added a new chapter to her distinguished oeuvre. Her recent works are consistent with modernist concerns that have long defined her aesthetic. But Lehr’s new works also exhibit a new urgency about the state of our world. "

"She leavens her message with a seductive beauty that is designed to inspire contemplation about what is at stake to save the natural environment. Her attitude reflects that of her mentor, Buckminster Fuller, when he said, ‘When I am working on a problem, I never think about beauty but when I have finished, if the solution is not beautiful, I know it is wrong.’”

Portrait by Nick Garcia, of the eco-feminist artist Mira Lehr
About the Artist Mira Lehr

Mira Lehr’s solo and group exhibitions number more than 300. She is a graduate of Vassar College (1956). She is the subject of a new, 420-page international monograph by the leading art book publisher Skira Editore.

Lehr has been collected by major institutions across the U.S., including The Metropolitan Museum of Art New York, the Smithsonian Museum of American Art (Washington), the Getty Museum Research Center (L.A.), Boca Raton Museum of Art, the Perez Art Museum Miami, the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center (NY), the Margulies Collection, Mennello Museum of American Art, MOCA North Miami, the Jewish Museum of Florida-FIU, and the Orlando Museum of Art.

Lehr is known for igniting and exploding fuses to create lines of fire across her paintings. In the 1950s, Lehr studied and worked in New York as an artist where she met some of America’s most prominent masters, including Joan Mitchell, Lee Krasner, and Helen Frankenthaler. 

Lehr studied with James Brooks, Ludwig Sander, Robert Motherwell, and within the Hans Hofmann circle. She was selected in 1969 by Buckminster Fuller as one of only two artists, to participate in his World Game Project about sustainability and his groundbreaking “Spaceship Earth” concept (which preceded the world's very first Earth Day). 

Mira Lehr's work is included in the Leonard Lauder Corporate Collection in New York. Her work is in the private collections of Elie and Marion Wiesel, Jane and Morley Safer, and Judy Pfaff, among others. 

Thirty of her paintings were commissioned for the collection of Mount Sinai Hospital. Her work can be seen in American Embassies around the world and is permanently on view in the Sloan Kettering Memorial Center. 

Lehr is recognized as “the Godmother of Miami’s art scene” because in 1961 she co-founded one of the country’s first co-ops for women artists. It was called Continuum, and flourished in Miami for more than 30 years.

Her nature-based work encompasses painting, sculpture, and video. She uses nontraditional media such as gunpowder, fire, fuses, Japanese paper, dyes, and welded steel. 

Watch the recent panel discussion for Women’s History Month, featuring some of Miami’s art world leaders celebrating Mira Lehr’s leadership championing the role of women in art here. 

Hofesh Shechter Company’s Visceral Double Bill – Double Murder – October 27–29 In Toronto

From a media release

Harbourfront Centre Launches 2022-23 Torque Season with
Hofesh Shechter Company’s Visceral Double Bill
Double Murder – October 27–29, 2022

Internationally lauded UK-based company presents immersive double bill that offers a startling study of contrasts, examining societal violence and compassionate hope

Tickets & More Information Here

TORONTO, ON – Harbourfront Centre opens its international contemporary dance series, Torque, with the Ontario premiere of Hofesh Shechter Company’s hypnotic and high-energy double bill Double Murder, on stage October 27–29, 2022 at 7:30pm at Fleck Dance Theatre. 

Hofesh Shechter Company's Double Murder (Photo by Todd MacDonald)

Created by internationally celebrated choreographer and composer Hofesh Shechter, Double Murder is a thrilling exploration of the chaotic and oppressive forces in our modern times. 

The performance features two distinctly contrasting works that explore societal schisms and human kinship: Clowns is a sarcastic and playful nod to our ever-growing indifference to violence. At the same time, The Fix presents a tender, fragile antidote to the omnipresent forces of aggression that press on us daily. 

Set to Shechter’s sweepingly cinematic, percussive score, Double Murder exposes painful truths and deep emotions.

“We are delighted to open our 2022-23 Torque season with the Harbourfront Centre debut of the inimitable UK-based Hofesh Shechter Company,” says Nathalie Bonjour, Director, Performing Arts at Harbourfront Centre. 

Hofesh Shechter Company's Double Murder (Photo by Todd MacDonald)

“Renowned for their intense energy and intricate choreography, the Company brings us on an adventure of unbridled discovery, from the urgent movement and pulsing power of Clowns to the gentle lines and connecting moments of The Fix. Audiences are in for an unforgettable experience!”

Opening the evening is Clowns, which premiered in 2016 at Nederlands Dans Theater 1 in The Hague, and was later produced as a 2018 dance film for the BBC. Pulsing with “anarchy and tongue-in-cheek showmanship” (The Stage), Clowns is a macabre comedy of murder and desire, which unleashes a whirlwind of boisterous, dynamic energy, testing how far we are willing to go in the name of entertainment.

As a healing balm to the murderous power of Clowns, Shechter’s newest creation, The Fix – which premiered in London in September 2021 – brings a tender sentimentality to the stage with gentler sounds and meditative choreography. Lauded by The Observer as “heartwarming and beautiful, an antidote to the suffering of the world,” The Fix delivers compassion, shielding us from the white noise and aggression of our daily lives. Violence, tenderness and hope are all laid bare through Shechter’s achingly beautiful and cinematic lens.

Hofesh Shechter Company's Double Murder (Photo by Todd MacDonald)A distinctive choreographic style...

Influenced by a collection of sources, including Israeli folk dance, clubbing culture, rock performance and installation art and film, Shechter’s distinctive choreographic style has been described as a “combination of dance-maker and rock star, but with film-director sensibilities” (The Times). 

The Israeli-born contemporary choreographer and composer has created dozens of works through his eponymous dance company, which launched in 2008. His works have been performed at leading festivals and on major international stages from Rio to Sydney, Shanghai to New York, winning him a passionate worldwide following.

Shechter has also worked as a choreographer in theatre, television and opera, most notably with the Metropolitan Opera, the Royal Opera House, the Paris Opera Ballet and Bartlett Sher’s Fiddler On The Roof on Broadway (2015), for which he was nominated for a Tony Award. In 2018, Shechter was awarded an honorary OBE (Order of the British Empire) for Services to Dance, and he currently serves as Artist-in-Residence of Gauthier Dance in Stuttgart, Germany  and as an associate artist of Sadler’s Wells Theatre.

As part of the Torque contemporary dance series, Harbourfront Centre will host a Torque Q&A immediately following the performance on October 28, 2022.

An Open Letter From Artist Bonnie Lautenberg | Lady Liberty: Tears Of Roe

An Open Letter From Artist Bonnie Lautenberg
Lady Liberty: Tears Of Roe

On the eve of midterm elections in the United States, artist Bonnie Lautenberg, recently appointed by the President to the White House Advisory Committee on the Arts, has written a letter to the nation.

Bonnie Lautenberg, Tears of Roe

To My Fellow Americans,

We are at a crucial turning point now ― just weeks away from the mid-term elections. When the Supreme Court overturned Roe vs. Wade, I responded by creating this new artwork Lady Liberty: Tears of Roe to express my disgust that women no longer have the right to decide what to do with their bodies.

Then I decided to use this artwork to encourage people to fight back, and to vote for candidates who will champion our freedoms. 

Images of tears have long been used by artists and poets to evoke a heartfelt response, and the word woe is defined as a misfortune causing great sadness.

I had taken a photograph of the Statue of Liberty, and I instinctively added tears running down her cheeks and the word “Roe” to her crown, symbolizing the cruel distress forced upon millions of Americans when the Supreme Court took away women’s right to choose. 

We all have the power to make a difference during the midterms. Each of us have our individual strengths and talents.  

What can you do to combat the egregious Supreme Court decision? Plenty! Look into your heart and recall all that you have been through. Connect with your own personal power. 

In an emergency – and this is an emergency – there are solutions that can be discovered within the moment.

This is the time for all of us to work together to uncover the solution that is not lost, but is at our fingertips: the power of voting. I have been doing my part by donating fine art prints of this new artwork to pro-choice fundraising events.

I hope that grandmothers, mothers, daughters and granddaughters look upon Tears of Roe as a reminder of the freedom of choice women had for fifty years. 

Make no mistake: this is a threat to our democracy. The same people who stole our right to choose will eventually try to steal our other hard-won rights too. Join me in finding creative ways we can make a difference for these mid-term elections. 

Let’s all do our part to ensure the will of the majority is restored, so that Lady Liberty’s tears of woe won’t be in vain. The freedom to choose, which fifty years ago was fought so hard for, can be rightfully honored.

Bonnie Lautenberg About the artist Bonnie Lautenberg

Bonnie Lautenberg is an artist, photographer, and writer, and she is the widow of the late Senator Frank Lautenberg (one of the longest serving Senators in the United States).

In 2022, she was appointed to the President’s Advisory Committee on the Arts. Her new book about the late Senator Frank Lautenberg’s life, including her photography, will be released by Rutgers University Press next year.

More than thirty of Lautenberg’s works have been selected by the Jewish Museum Florida-FIU for a new solo exhibition featuring her images of women championing freedom, during Art Basel Miami Beach which attracts 70,000 art lovers from around the world, read more about this museum show here. 

Her artwork is in several private and museum collections, including: The Smithsonian National Museum of African American History & Culture; the Boca Raton Museum of Art; the Collection of Norman and Irma Braman; The New York Historical Society Museum; the Broad Museum in Los Angeles; The Newark Museum of Art; Portland Museum of Art; and Stillman College Art Gallery in Alabama, among others.

Her series How They Changed Our Lives: Senators As Working People is in the Library of Congress. She is based in New York and Palm Beach.

Brian Field: Passions For Our Tortured Planet | A Way For Classical Pianists To Get Involved

With material from a release

Brian Field: Passions For Our Tortured Planet
A Way For Classical Pianists To Get Involved

Find Out More HereHelp Raise Awareness & Join Now

New York City based composer Brian Field has written a work for classical piano, a meditation on the horrific destruction of the natural world. 

Image of Drought by Jose Antonio Alba (CC0C/Pixabay)

He writes,

“To bring further awareness to this danger that — in the end — will impact all citizens of this earth, I have composed “Three Passions for our Tortured Planet” for solo piano which focuses on three areas of climate change. 

“This work is a by-product of pianist Ann DuHamel’s seminal Prayers for a Feverish Planet project, inspiring composers from around the world to support climate change awareness. It is my hope that my work as part of this will play a role in continuing to bring further awareness and dialog around climate change, and our need to act quickly.”

“Three Passions for our Tortured Planet” for solo piano focuses on three areas of climate change. James has built up a network of pianists from around the world who support this message through live and online performances.

He's looking for more (and more) pianists to join his project. Here's a list of who has participated so far. You can learn more about this project at its official website. 

“Three Passions for our Tortured Planet” was awarded first prize in the Vivaldi International Music Competition.

Upcoming Performances

10/30/22 — Beyza Yazgan — 4:00 pm, Blue Gallery, The Blue Building, 222 E 46th St, New York, NY 10017, USA11/5/22 — Minyoung Rho — 7:30pm, at Longmire Recital Hall, 222 S. Copeland St, Tallahassee, FL, USA11/5/22 — Paul J. Dab — 7:30pm, Lakeside Presbyterian Church, 201 Eucalyptus Dr., San Francisco, CA 94132, USA11/6/22 — Paul J. Dab — 3:00pm, Good Shepherd Episcopal Church, 1300 Fifth Ave., Belmont, CA 94002, USA11/23/22 — Sherri Lun — 1:10pm, New Malden United Reformed Church, Malden Rd, New Malden, United Kingdom11/26/22 —  Aline Boyd — 7:00 pm, Shepherd of the Desert Lutheran Church, 9590 E Shea Blvd, Scottsdale, AZ, USA

Pianist Kay Kyung Eun Kim performs the work on July 27, 2022

Three Singles & A New Album | Zach Churchill: Greater Than (Independent / October 28, 2022)

Three Singles & A New Album
Zach Churchill: Greater Than
(Independent / October 28, 2022)

Stream Zach On Spotify

Melodic pop with infectious grooves and searingly honest lyrics. That's what's in store with the upcoming album from Zach Churchill.

Los Angeles-based Zach Churchill's new album is set to drop at the end of October. He's released three singles leading up to the full-length album.

He writes from a place of having taken many twists and turns in his journey to get to today. Surrender, the first single released in July 2022, deals with the realities of addiction, but with an underlying hope.

Musically, the mood is alt-rock/pop with strong rhythms and interesting chord changes that (properly) highlight his melodic and expressive vocals. It has a hypnotic groove that builds to an emotional release.

Hover, released in August, is a classic keyboard driven ballad, lit up by Zach's fluid vocals. Mood-wise, it ventures into classic rock territory, with vocalist Jessica Vines in a melodic duet.

Surrender is the latest single, released September 23.

There's no one in my bed
And it's no fun in my head...

It's a sad love song set to a bouncy rhythm on acoustic guitar, with a lovely churchy organ in the background.

Traveling The Camino de Santiago, an ancient European pilgrim route leading to the tomb of St. James in northwest Spain, inspired him. “I was surrounded by people who were on the pilgrimage for spiritual reasons, this great family,” he recalls in a release. “With the right attitude, every day of my life can be an adventure like The Camino.”

The theme of the album is about facing your darkest days with hope. “The failed relationships, the loss of people, the search for identity,” he concludes. “It’s all real and it’s my story.”

Look for it on October 28, 2022.

Personnel: Vocals/Guitar - Zach Churchill; Drums - Tom Rasulo; Bass - Chris Cunningham; Lead Guitar - Ross Sellers  

Tracklist: 1. Surrender, 2. Greater Than, 3. Living in L.A., 4. Reach You, 5. Love & Terror, 6. I Can't Stand Myself, 7. Hover, 8. Sonoyta, 9. How To Live, 10. Then We Can Think About Dying

Stay In Touch:

Website: http://www.zachchurchillmusic.com/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/zachchurchillmusicTwitter: https://twitter.com/zchurchillmusicInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/zachchurchillmusic/Zach Churchill · Surrender