Anya M. Wassenberg's Blog: Art & Culture Maven, page 26
November 29, 2021
Chamber Music Inspired By Nature | Juraj Kojš: Imagine
Juraj Kojš: Imagine
(Neuma Records / July 16, 2021)
Nature- and People-Inspired Chamber Music by Juraj Kojš
Stream it Buy itTraditional and contemporary modes of musical composition, and far out experimentation, all collide in imagine, by Slovakian-American (by way of Denmark) composer Juraj Kojš. Imagine is not only the name of the album, but the ethos of its works.
The first two pieces, Face Forward, Hawaii, and under the blanket of your lullabies, are composed of multiple short movements. The sounds of nature and human activity on a trip to Hawaii formed the inspiration for Face Forward.
Despite (or perhaps because of) its exuberant experimentation, the music is lively and engaging.
As Kojš puts it, “I wrote this music out of pure love for life, nature, people, and music itself. From the Hawaiian soundscape instrumentale to original poetry scores and Peter-and-the-Wolf-like storytelling, the music demanded visiting some far outposts of expression. Each piece exhibits its own multiple time structures, expanding spheres of pitch, and timbral ecosystems. Some music was scored with utmost precision, and some invited extensive decision-making from the performers. Thus, my collaborators were essential in creating this labyrinth of connected threads and pulses; a true living sonic organism: unique, sacred and real.”
Performers on the album include Eric Umble (clarinet), Adam Marks (piano), [Switch~ Ensemble], Splinter Reeds, and Kojš himself (electronics and spoken word).
Clarinetist Eric Umble is quoted in the liner notes. "Learning and recording Face Forward was an exploration embedded in the beauty, challenges, and physical limits of musical discovery. Juraj's eclectice clarinet writing floats and shimmers with ethereal lightness, sings soaring melodies as if it were a mezzo-soprano engaged in an art song, and employs percussive capabilities."
under the blankets.. is based on nine original poems along the theme of nature and earth, performed by [Switch~ Ensemble]. It takes the listener far away from the playful storytelling of Face Forward... to a ream of more volatile emotions and dramatic expanse. This is not a tale told to children, but an expression of nature's force and many moods.
For the musicians, it's an expressive tour. “The performance [of under the blanket of your lullabies] was one of those special moments that lingers in one’s memory long after the last note,” notes [Switch~ Ensemble] flutist Zach Sheets in a media release.
Dana Jessen, bassoonist of Splinter Reeds, describes the third piece on the CD. “…his whimsical Where You Are takes the listener through a programmatic tale that is neither fact nor fiction.”
The composer and others take listeners on a journey that combines spoken word and music.
Taken together, the album represents a journey into musical imagination unfettered by any particular style or form.
Imagine by Juraj Kojs
November 21, 2021
Contemporary Dance | Kathleen Rea In Five Angels On The Steps
Kathleen Rea In Five Angels On The Steps
November 19 to 21, 2021
Livestream replay available until midnight, November 22
Five Angels on the Steps is an expressive roller coaster of movement and emotions, and a riveting showcase for the talents of dancer Kathleen Rea. Choreographer Newton Moraes' piece incorporates a wide range of modes and movements, with a common thread of humanity at their core.
Kathleen Rea in Five Angels on the Steps (Photo by David Hou)The title for the piece comes from a near-death experience of Rea's. She felt like she was floating outside of her own body, with five angels in attendance. What she kept from that experience is what inspired the dance.
In the performance, the angels are ever present in the form of five large cylinders, yellow and red. It's part of a simple set, but one that the performance uses to its full extent. She uses both the cylinders and Skelly, one of those plastic teaching skeletons, to good effect as props, set pieces, and pseudo dance partners.
The piece unfolds in segments or episodes, each denoted by different accompaniment, and a different mood or theme. Accompaniment for the performance ranges from dry spoken word passages explaining intricate bits about human anatomy, to music, from contemporary and traditional Western-style classical compositions to hip hop.
Sharon DiGenova, one of Toronto's under-appreciated theatre stars, adds an innovative lighting design that actually becomes part of the dance in some passages.
The overall effect is alternately weird and wonderful, poignant and dignified, unsettling and obscure. What unites it is Rea's deeply considered performance. She conveys pure emotions and complex movement with equal facility.
Kathleen Rea in Five Angels on the Steps (Photo by David Hou)Kathleen Rea has danced with Canada's Ballet Jorgen, the National Ballet of Canada, and Tiroler Landestheater (Austria) before turning to choreography, and became director of Toronto's REAson d’etre dance production, producing dance jams, film festivals, and productions. She has choreographed over 40 dance works and been nominated for 5 DORA awards.
As a mature dancer, her movements are fluid, loaded with nuance, and illuminated by a rich dramatic facility. Her facial expressions and posture take the audience through a meditation on the whirlwind of life, from love and longing to death, and a few passages of anatomy lessons. It's a return to the stage for the noted choreographer.
Kathleen also lives with autism and a learning disability. Despite the fact that it takes her about 8 times longer than average to write, she's also a published author with a Master’s Degree in Expressive Arts.
Brazilian-Canadian choreographer Newton Moraes has created more than 50 works since his arrival in Canada in 1991, for his Newton Moraes Dance Theatre as well as an increasingly wide circle of other dancers and companies.
Angels on the Steps
Choreographer - Newton Moraes
Dancer - Kathleen Rea
Lighting Design - Sharon DiGenova
Publicity Photos - David Hou
CONTENT WARNING: “Five angels on the Steps”is only suitable for a mature audience (16 plus) due to nudity, and sexual and mature themes that are explored.
November 12, 2021
Bonnier Gallery Miami | Minyades: Richard Höglund’s Breakthrough Paintings
From a media release:
Art Basel Season at The Bonnier GalleryMinyades: Richard Höglund’s Breakthrough Paintings Excavate the Darkness
December 7, 2021 to February 28, 2022 Find out more
MIAMI - Drenched in Dragon’s Blood. Dusted with pulverized bone and marble. Scored in silverpoint.
Richard Höglund’s new series of paintings for the exhibition Minyades are dark excavations that come through to the other side of the pandemic.
“Richard Höglund’s new paintings have a lot to tell you right now,” says Jill Silverman van Coenegrachts, the renowned art writer, gallerist, and curator. She wrote Looking for Order: Painting After Covid, a powerful new essay in the catalogue for the gallery show.
"Reminding us that painting can still take us to uncharted, uncomfortable territories. Here is the radical zone of Höglund’s mid-career finally appearing, here is the type of paintings you can sink your teeth into," she writes.
Dark excavations that come through on the other side of the pandemic
Pictured above and below: detail images of the new painting Bacchanale I, by Richard Höglund (2021). Oil on linen.
Debuting at The Bonnier Gallery during Miami Art Week, the show is entitled Minyades, opens Dec. 2 through Feb. 28, and is curated by Grant Bonnier.
This story-rich show took a year for Bonnier and Höglund to painstakingly conceptualize together. The result is raising the bar for the eagerly anticipated return of Art Basel to Miami.
The public is invited to meet the artist at the opening reception at The Bonnier Gallery, on Thursday evening, December 2 at 7:00 p.m.The American artist Richard Höglund (originally from New York), created this series in France while the world was on lockdown.
He painted during dark nights of the soul in a converted tractor garage in the French countryside, where he cloistered his young family away from urban density during the pandemic.
Richard Höglund - Minyades I (studio image)The narrative of this exhibition begins with Carl Andre’s rarely seen 1990 sculpture entitled Pyramus and Thisbe.
Named after Ovid’s tragic tale, in the United States this sculpture has only been previously exhibited to the public once in New York, and once in Los Angeles. This is the first time this sculpture has been shown in the southeast.
Pyramus and Thisbe (1990). Western red cedar. ©2021 Carl Andre/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Courtesy Paula Cooper Gallery, New York.“Carl Andre has always had a singular ability to synthesize poetry into sculpture, and the work itself is a particular favorite work of mine,” says gallerist Grant Bonnier.
Initially, Bonnier sent Höglund a photo of Carl Andre’s Pyramus and Thisbe sculpture to help spark the painter’s inspiration. The photo worked: “Carl Andre’s Pyramus and Thisbe catalyzed my desire to deep-dive into the greater story of the Minyades themselves,” said Richard Höglund.
The Daughters of King Minyas refused to participate in the sacrificial Bacchanalian rituals of the cult of Dionysus. In the myth’s ending, their isolation did not save them from the outside world. They were ultimately turned into bats, shrieking into the night.
“While Höglund is recognized as a steward of the historic work by great artists, he is certainly not derivative. All of Richard Höglund’s work is distinctly him, completely his own. Audiences detect this. They feel it, they know when work is authentic,” says Grant Bonnier.
Pictured above, the artist Richard Höglund in his studio.The densely layered surfaces of these new works radiate an aura of primordial other-worldliness, meticulously underscored in silverpoint. These may actually be some of the largest silverpoint drawings ever made.
“The difficulties of taking the traditionally intimate medium of silverpoint, and using it to make such large paintings, led me to explore many other different materials in the pursuit of ideal surfaces,” says Höglund.
The artist created his own paints and grounds for these new works, using centuries-old recipes he discovered from a 15th century book by Cennini about this ancient alchemy of colors, including: concoctions of cinnabar which the ancient Romans used to tint their sails, Dragon’s Blood (a pigment that “could never bring you honor”), dark indigo, and Lapis Lazuli, among other pigments which he infused into these new paintings.
Throughout the long months of the pandemic, as the curator and the artist conjured up this exhibition via phone and on Zoom calls, they were struck by how these classic myths ring true during our present cycle of time.
“We can’t escape our condition, can we? A good painting, however, is a vessel for private, future thought,” says Richard Höglund.
“There is good in the universal and eternal qualities of art. Art is by definition not nature, but it is the epitome of human nature. Poetry has a great rapport with what I want painting to do. But painting is not like language. That’s the great advantage of painting ─ by distilling you get something potent. This elixir brings you closer to God,” says Richard Höglund.
Minyades II (detail), by Richard Höglund (2021). Oil on linen.The Bonnier Gallery will also exhibit at the Art Miami satellite fair (Nov. 30 ─ Dec. 5) with a principal focus on minimalist and conceptual works that engage with language.
The works that Grant Bonnier has curated for the Gallery’s booth at Art Miami are an unparalleled collection that is a must-see for fairgoers, featuring works by an impressive lineup of major artists including: Donald Judd, Cy Twombly, Sol LeWitt, Claes Oldenburg, Christo, John Chamberlain, Christian Marclay, Anne Chu, Claire Morgan, Maria Friberg, Kathleen Jacobs, Carl Andre, Cordy Ryman, Yucef Merhi, and Richard Höglund.
The Bonnier Gallery Presents a New Art Book PressIn addition to the exhibition catalogue, the Gallery will also publish a limited edition of 17 boxed sets for this exhibition.
They were printed exclusively in Paris by Les Ateliers Moret, one of the longest functioning etching studios in Paris. Each will feature five copper plate etchings by Höglund, representing the five new paintings in this gallery show.
Each boxed edition will be unbound, allowing buyers to frame and hang these rare prints.
November 8, 2021
New York Japan Society Announces 2022 Performance Season
From a media release:
New York Japan SocietyAnnounces 2022 Performance SeasonMore information on these shows follows and is also available at japansociety.org/arts-and-culture/performances
New York, NY: November 2021 – Japan Society, one of New York City's key artistic stages, announces the release of tickets for the first three in-person music programs as part of its 2022 season.
Following a COVID-shortened 2021, Japan Society's reputation of presenting unique and stellar music programming continues anew with a selection of in-person concerts focused on both ancient tradition and contemporary experimentation, nimbly highlighting the eclectic variety of Japanese culture.
Spring performances will include:
Shomyo: Buddhist Ritual Chant choir at St. Bartholemew's Church on February 11; A repertoire of Okinawan traditional performing arts accompanied by live music, as curated by National Theater of Okinawa Artistic Director Michihiko Kakazu at Japan Society on March 18 and March 19;The Ainu indigenous people traditional music specialist OKI, playing a mix of folk melodies and electronic fusion at Japan Society on the first week of May (exact date TBA).Shomyo: Buddhist Ritual Chant—Spiral Mandala CeremonyFriday, February 11 at 7pm at St. Bartholomew’s Church
Co-presented with the Mid-Manhattan Performing Arts Foundation at St. Bartholomew’s Church
Believed to have originated in India, shomyo is a ritual form of Buddhist chant that traveled along the Silk Road to China, eventually reaching Japan in the sixth century. The ethereal voices of Shomyo no Kai—Voices of a Thousand Years, a group of priests from two of Japan’s major Esoteric Buddhist sects (Shingon and Tendai), have enraptured audiences around the world with their ecstatic monophony. Inspired by Navajo folktales and ancient Buddhist mandalas, young, female composer Yu Kuwabara presents a new shomyo piece written in the traditional style, entitled "Spiral Mandala Ceremony." Clad in brightly-colored monastic robes, the choir’s powerful chanting transports the audience to a transcendent meditative state within the exceptional acoustics of St. Bartholomew’s Church.
Waves Across Time: Traditional Dance and Music of OkinawaFriday, March 18 at 7:30pm followed by a MetLife Meet-the-Artists Reception
Saturday, March 19 at 7:30pm followed by an artist Q&A
Commemorating the 50th anniversary of Okinawa’s return to Japan after the U.S.'s post-WWII occupation, a group of the islands' most exquisite dancers will perform a diverse repertoire of Okinawan traditional performing arts accompanied by live music. As specially selected by the young artistic director of the National Theatre Okinawa Michihiko Kakazu, the versatile artists will perform highlights from the traditional repertoire of kumiodori, a noh-inspired theater form developed during the period when the archipelago was an independent kingdom called Ryukyu (15th-19th centuries). The program also features popular folk dances (zo odori) with traditional ensemble music. From the brightly-dyed bingata costumes to the island music's iconic use of pentatonic scales, audiences are invited to relish the history and heritage of Japan's southernmost prefecture.
A similar performance from 2015:OKI: Music of the Ainu
First Week of May - Exact Date TBA
Ainu artist Oki KanoOki Kano, known professionally as OKI, is a leading musician of Ainu music—the music of Japan’s northernmost indigenous people. Born to a Japanese mother and an Ainu father, OKI has recovered and recreated traditional music on the tonkori, a stringed instrument of the Ainu people of Karafuto (a region also known as Sakhalin). The rich, reverberating twang of the tonkori strings, which are traditionally made from deer tendons, allowed Ainu shamans to communicate with spirits that control the wind, rain and other natural phenomena called kamuy. In this program, OKI performs solo pieces as well as contemporary works, performed by his internationally-known Oki Ainu Dub Band, that fuse Reggae, African and Electronica with Ainu folk melodies. OKI is featured in the film Ainu Mosir (2020), currently streaming on Netflix.
Alt Country | Seneko: '69 Camaro (Torrez Music Group / 22 October 2021)
Seneko: '69 Camaro
(Torrez Music Group / 22 October 2021) Listen/Download the Album
Country, pop rock with a retro feel, fuelled by solid musicianship - that's the appeal of '69 Camaro, the new release from Connecticut based Seneko.
Seneko is the brainchild of vocalist/songwriter Stan Olshefski. He talks about the new album, a departure from his debut acoustic EP, in a release. "I really wanted to make something fresh and have always wanted to do a guitar driven Rock record - So I did. The downtime during the pandemic gave me an opportunity to write a lot, so there was plenty to choose from."
The songs each tell a story, and the threads of Americana and alt rock weave in and out of each other musically through the title track.
No Goin' Back has a rockabilly heartbeat. Olshefski's vocals perfectly suit the song, a languid melody against a classic country train beat. Writing On The Wall goes full throttle country-rock, with a straight ahead groove and a tale of love that shouldn't have happened.
As a songwriter, he's got a talent for earworm hooks, and creating just the right mood for each song. It's Americana with a sense of polish that doesn't take away its rawness of expression.
Personnel:
Lead Vocals - Stan Olshefski; Guitars - Jon Conley; Bass and BGVs - Luis Espaillat; Drums - Paul Scholten
Tracklisting:
1) '69 Camaro - 3:39; 2) No Goin' Back - 3:50; 3) For Her Love - 4:01; 4) Crazy as She's Cute - 3:21; 5) Writing on the Wall - 4:39
Stay in touch:
Website: Senekomusic.comFacebook: http://www.facebook.com/senekomusicTwitter: https://twitter.com/senekomusicInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/senekomusic/
Spiritual Rock | Kris Heaton: My City of Gold (Independent / 31 October 2021)
Kris Heaton: My City of Gold
(Independent / 31 October 2021) Listen/Buy online
"Music needs a positive message to inspire people to realize they can overcome any obstacle. My music is hope," says Florida-based artist Kris Heaton in a release.
As the Kris Heaton Band, My City of Gold is his 10th studio album.
As a songwriter, Heaton has a nice sense of how to construct a satisfying sound in multiple genres, including the (appropriately) hymnal sound of the title track, a song about the afterlife.
You Want It is more of a straight ahead rocker with a radio friendly feel. Out on the Streets is a standout track, a ballad about the homeless that's lit up by a poignant melody on the violin. Heaton's rich tenor tells the story in a way that feels sincere and unaffected.
Kris has been recording music for 30 years, has charted nationally 5 times. He's performed across the USA, and picked up a few awards for his work, including the Miller Lite Rock to Riches Award.
Heaton plays all the instrumental tracks (other than harmonica) and sings all the vocals, including the harmony, and the one aspect about the album I'll critique is that it could use less synthy electronic and more organic instrumental sounds.
Stay in touch:
On Facebook
October 26, 2021
Toronto Hotel News: The Drake Opens The Modern Wing Next Door
The Drake Opens The Modern Wing Next DoorOpen now for bookings starting December 1, 2021
The renovation of the venerable Drake Hotel back in 2004 launched the renaissance of Queen Street West as we know it today. Sure, some people still talk about the 'authentic' hippie vibe back in the day, but no one really misses the drunks on the sidewalk and street crime, do they?
Drake Hotel, Toronto, with Modern Wing expansion (Rendering by Norm Li)In the 17 years since their grand reopening, the neighbourhood has changed, and gained a new kind of eclectic contemporary style of its own. According to a media statement, that's what inspired the push to open a brand new 5-storey Modern Wing right next door.
The details32 new guest rooms designed with artistic flair;A polished steel boxcar-inspired cantilevered rooftop suite with cityscape views;New meeting and event spaces;The ever stylish Sky Yard rooftop patio re-imagined;A new and generously proportioned reception lobby;A new and intimate lobby/street front bar to quaff cocktails.The Modern Wing and all its rooms are decorated and curated with cutting edge art.
From the release:
[N]ew layers of architecture, design, objects and art reveal an exciting design that effortlessly intersects with The Classic Wing, housed in the hotel’s historic wing.
The Drake’s in-house design and art curation teams worked with Diamond Schmitt Architects and DesignAgency, in association with John Tong and Michael Awad. Re-imagination of The Sky Yard and original Classic Wing lobby is by CompanyCompany.
The Drake was built in 1890 as Small’s Hotel, and was a busy stop for trains passengers of the nearby Canadian Pacific Railway yards. It got the name it wears to this day in 1949 with an expansion, but business fell when the railway station was closed. By the 1970s it had become a disreputable flophouse, and in the 1990s served as a gritty punk and rave bar.
The original, historic hotel, now dubbed the ‘Classic Wing,’ will still offer the stylish Drake Lounge and Dining Room, newly refurbed Sky Yard rooftop patio, Drake Underground performance venue, and neighbourhood Drake Café.
More Drake Coming Dec 1 from The Drake Hotel on Vimeo.
October 19, 2021
Vintage New Orleans | NOLA In 1956
NOLA in 1956
My father took a solo trip to New Orleans in 1956, driving from where he and my mother (with my older sister, their first, on the way) lived in Hamilton, Ontario Canada through Tennessee into Louisiana.
I came across the photo album recently and decided to scan the old BW pics as is, with no editing. Some are surprisingly clear 65 years later. All pictures taken by my Dad Heinz Wassenberg.
French Quarter, New Orleans 1956One thing I realized after looking at an album full of pictures of buildings, trees, parks, and water - with nary a human being in sight. I didn't realize that tendency was inherited. :)
Memphis On The Way
2nd Street, Memphis TN 1956
Main Street, Memphis TN 1956
Bridge over Lake Pontchartrain, LA 1956
Elysian Fields Ave, NOLA 1956
The French Quarter
Left: Courtyard Canales, 624 Royal Street, New OrleansRight: Courtyard of Maison Montegut, 729 Royal Street, New Orelans - built in 1794
Court of Two Sisters restaurant, New Orleans 1956
Lake Pontchartrain
Tennessee
Leaving NOLA on Hwy 411 through Tennessee, near Madisonville.
Entrance to Smoky Mountain National Park, 1956
October 17, 2021
Psycho-Thriller With Hip Vintage Style: Anya Taylor-Joy Stars In Last Night In Soho
Anya Taylor-Joy Stars In Last Night In Soho Opens in theatres October 29, 2021
Stylish, unsettling, and imaginative, Last Night in Soho is a psychological thriller of the old school, both in terms of visuals and storyline. What lights up the story are the performances of the three main leads, and a production design that brings the swinging 60s in London's Carnaby Street to life.
Anya Taylor-Joy in Last Night in Soho (Image courtesy of TIFF)Thomasin McKenzie plays Eloise “Ellie” Turner, an aspiring fashion designer and absolute fan of the 1960s and the mod Carnaby Street look. She applies to fashion school, where she's an outsider in the cutthroat world of fashion insider wannabes.
After she rents her own apartment to escape the fashion school bullies, she begins to connect with Sandy during her dreams. Sandy (Anya Taylor-Joy) lives back in the era she idolizes, and is everything Ellie is not. She's brash, and unafraid to go after her dream of becoming a singer.
Enter Matt Smith's (Dr. Who) agent, and it seems like both young women are on their way to stardom. Ellie dyes her hair, and begins to emulate Sandy's style and personality in her own life, with initially encouraging results.
But...everything is not as it seems, and there is a much darker side to the world of nightclubs, aspiring singers and agents than appears to the young fashionista at first. Just when you think you're watching a happy, girl-transforms-into-a-diva fantasy, the story takes a much different turn.
Thomasin McKenzie & Anya Taylor-Joy in Last Night in SohoBoth lead actresses are believable, Thomasin's naive girl who's trying to find a place in the world, and becomes embroiled in the shadowy side of life she never expected is sympathetic and relatable. Anya Taylor-Joy has a luminous kind of screen presence in a character that becomes the key to understanding the story.
Bright colours and the fab production details create a realistic 60s streetscape, and a hip soundtrack adds to its appeal, along with a stellar supporting cast that includes Terence Stamp and Diana Rigg.
Last Night In Soho
Directed by Edgar Wright
Screenplay by Edgar Wright, Krysty Wilson-Cairns
Cast: Thomasin McKenzie, Anya Taylor-Joy, Matt Smith, Rita Tushingham, Michael Ajao, Synnøve Karlsen, Pauline McLynn, Terence Stamp, Diana Rigg
Innovative New Music: Christopher Campbell - Orison (Innova Recordings / May 28, 2021)
Christopher Campbell - Orison
(Innova Recordings / May 28, 2021)
Performers: Chris Campbell, Steven Copes, Eunice Kim, Hyobi Sim, Sara Pajunen, Peter Bregman, Claire Campbell, Joe Johnson, Jacqueline Ultan, Rebecca Merblum, Ted Olsen, Grant Cutler, Todd Reynolds, Dave King
Buy ItMelodic and emotional, the music ebbs and flows in waves, with a richly textured orchestration to add vitality and aural interest. There is cinematic drama in sections, giving way to fluttering movement and joyous abandon. Some sections evoke avant-garde jazz and sonic experimentation. Constantly evolving, the piece leads the listener through a fascinating journey.
Orison was written as a sound prayer and meditation in seven parts. Composer Chris Campbell had originally conceived Orison within a “sacred space”, destined to be performed in a church or Zen centre. According to Campbell's vision, the piece would be staged with performers and visual media, with planes of sound coming from different rooms.
This album represents a linear, or concert version of that idea, recorded with a large ensemble.
Each of the seven parts is fairly short, and the sections run into one another. It's a jewel of contemporary composition, using all the elements available in a tasteful palate of sound.
Chris Campbell is a collaborator, composer, producer, and the Director of Recordings at innova recordings/ACF. Praised as “heady, possessing elements of post-Minimalism, avant-garde rock, jazz and global fusion styles that mingle and merge with dreamlike mutability”…(The New York Times) and “a surreal (or super-real?) vortex…(Gramophone), Campbell’s music is focused on ritual and sonic texture, and how sound can transform space.
In addition to his own music, Campbell has either produced or worked directly on the promotion and distribution of over 300 projects and albums (2 of them Grammy winners).
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