Anya M. Wassenberg's Blog: Art & Culture Maven, page 7

News from Venice Biennale: Belmond Announces L'Observatoire, A New Train Carriage Designed by Artist JR

From a media release

News from Venice Biennale:
Belmond Announces L'Observatoire
A New Train Carriage Designed by Artist JR

Venice Simplon-Orient-Express, A Belmond Train, Europe presents L'Observatoire, a new carriage designed by artist JR

APRIL 2024 | The Venice Simplon-Orient-Express, A Belmond Train, Europe is proud to present L’Observatoire, an exclusive sleeper carriage with interiors conceptualized and designed by world-acclaimed artist JR. 

L'Observatoire, Venice Simplon-Orient-Express, A Belmond Train, Europe; credit - JR

Joining the rake in 2025, L’Observatoire is the first carriage to be designed by an artist on board the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express and will become the most spacious accommodation type onboard the train. The private carriage will feature a bedroom with double bed, an ensuite bathroom, wardrobe, reclining day bed, lounge area, library with book selection by French publisher Gallimard, and secret tearoom with a fireplace.

Art In Motion

JR's passion for the rails, sparked off as a child, largely informs the inspiration behind the creation of L’Observatoire. The artist was also influenced by the design of his personal art studio in Paris, the charm of century old crafts, astronomical observatories and the cabinets of curiosity of Renaissance Europe. 

The carriage interiors unfold through the different environments from the bedroom to the lounge area to the hidden tearoom, and guests will be encouraged to explore these worlds of incredible detail while the rounded windows and oculus skylight on the ceiling will allow them to engage with the exterior landscapes of Europe. 

Each of the spaces, designed with the utmost respect for timeless crafts, feature hidden details that JR curated to drive curiosity and instill a sense of imagination. From hidden compartments to secret messages layered in the intricate marquetry, guests can uncover the wonders of L’Observatoire as they crisscross the continent on board the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express. 

“With L’Observatoire, people can enter my imaginary world. I envisioned the carriage primarily through shapes, with curved corners and round windows, so guests have little places to daydream. Guests can now stay in an artist’s private space while being in the most iconic train in the world – experiencing this creative crossroads for the duration of a journey is very special and hasn’t been seen in this way before,” comments JR, February 2024.

He adds, “I wanted to create so many hidden details and layers that can help inspire that sense of wonder,​your inner child – whether that’s hidden compartments or secret messages that some guests will notice, and others will miss. There’s so much in this carriage that will be impossible to explore in a single trip.” February 2024.

JR in L'Observatoire, Venice Simplon-Orient-Express, A Belmond Train, Europe; credit - JRFor the Love of Trains

A passion for trains and century-old crafts attracted JR to this project onboard the legendary Venice Simplon-Orient-Express. Sparked off during his childhood, the interest in trains is evident in JR’s career from his seminal work ‘Women Are Heroes’ (2007) - which involved the installation of his instantly-recognizable pasting of eyes on the roofs and sides of trains as they travelled through the Kibera slum in Nairobi - to ‘Mind the Gap’ (2017) which saw a giant installation of 700 miniature trains depicting faces, looping in an endless circle. 

JR comments, “I have a very long story with trains – they’ve always been a canvas for me. When I was a kid, I would sit by the window and just watch the world go by. There is something about viewing the changing landscape from a bubble, as if you are travelling through different worlds. Then when I started creating art, I realised that trains were a way to make my work travel, so I started replacing Metro maps with my photography. It allows me to send my work into the unknown like a message in a bottle.” February 2024.

Custodians Of Craftsmanship

The Venice Simplon-Orient-Express is formed by 17 carriages, built in the 1920s and 1930s. At that time, the most acclaimed designers and exponents of the Art Deco movement, like René Prou and René Lalique (who created the train’s iconic ‘tulip lamp’ and the glass panelling of the Côte d’Azur restaurant car), were commissioned to decorate these historic carriages. Almost a century later, the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express chooses leading artist JR to infuse new life into one of its original carriages, Sleeping Car 3553, through a meticulous restoration of the interiors. 

L'Observatoire, Venice Simplon-Orient-Express, A Belmond Train, Europe; credit - JR

A task for a true visionary, JR used artisanal century-old techniques to preserve the train’s look and feel. At the same time, he was able to create something powerfully immersive, an artwork in motion that invites guests to embrace observation, curiosity, adventure and listening - all core tenets of the artist’s universe. 

“I would never have dared to imagine this collaboration, because the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express is such a historic train. Working with artisans and discovering motifs that respect the era [in which the train carriages were built] was not a constraint, because I was interested in making this a timeless artwork – as if I was an artist from the 1920s. The fundamental craft is timeless,” comments JR, February 2024.

Gary Franklin, Vice Presidents Trains & Cruises at Belmond also says, “The team and I are thrilled to be working with JR, who shares with us a real passion for the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express. L’Observatoire is a testament to our company’s prominent role in reinventing the railway experience as we perpetuate the art of slow luxury across our growing portfolio.”

In celebration of Biennale Arte, Belmond will give the public the unique opportunity to peek inside this historic carriage in Venice between April 17-22, 2024. L’Observatoire will be on display in Venice where guests can peer through several viewpoints located on the carriage windows in order to discover JR's design as it unfolds through the different environments.From April 20-22, it will be on display at Riva Dei Sette Martiri and open from 10:00AM-6:00PM.

L’Observatoire will join the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express in 2025. To register interest in experiencing a journey onboard this new carriage, please click here .

The Blyth Festival Celebrates 50 Years In 2024

From a media release

The Blyth Festival Celebrates 50 Years In 2024

Ticket Information Here

On June 12, 2024 the Blyth Festival will open its 50th season of all Canadian plays. Running both indoors and outdoors, from June 12th to September 7th, in the cherished Blyth Memorial Community Hall and on the newly built outdoor Harvest Stage. A Homecoming season.

Image courtesy of Blyth Festival

Artistic Director Gil Garratt says, “This is a season of celebration: 50 years since its founding, the Blyth Festival is boldly mounting five brand new World Premieres, and offering one technicolor look back at the inspiration for it all.

Back in 1975, Blyth’s founders dreamed of building a theatre that would put local stories, Canadian stories, centre stage. Fifty years later, that dream burns brighter than ever. All of the plays in the 2024 season were created and developed right here, in Huron County, and tell the stories, fictional and historic, of lives lived in this community. These are your stories, your neighbour’s stories, your family’s stories, the stories of your town, your farm, your county, and your country. This is really a season of homecomings.”

50 Years of 100% Original Canadian Plays

Having welcomed more than a million patrons through the doors, the Blyth Festival has grown into a hub of Canadian playwriting, boasting more than 150+ world premieres.

Outdoors on the Harvest StageThe Farm Show: Then and Now by Theatre Passe Muraille with additions by the 2024 Company June 12 – Aug 4

Arguably the most influential play in Canadian theatre history, The Farm Show was originally produced in a barn just fifteen minutes outside of Blyth, and was directly responsible for the founding of the Festival. This gentle adaptation brings you the original in all its glory, and shines a light on its singular legacy in our community. Come see the show that inspired the very dream of the Blyth Festival.

Premiere
Onion Skins and Peach Fuzz: The Farmerettes by Alison Lawrence Aug 14 – Sept 7

Inspired by the book by Bonnie Sitter and Shirleyan English

This nostalgic play dramatizes the incredible stories of Canada’s Farmerettes; young women all over the country who left the big cities to work as farm labourers on Canadian farms as part of the war effort during WW2. Many of these young women learned a lot more than how to dig potatoes, pull carrots, and muck a stall; they learned essential truths about who they were, who they wanted to be, and what true and lasting friendships looked like. A play about coming of age as young women in a time of change.

Indoors at Memorial HallPremiere
Saving Graceland by Gil Garratt June 19 – Aug 3

It’s 2019 in Clinton, ON. Newly retired and ready for adventure, Gord and Orillia have been Elvis fans since they were teenagers. In twenty-five years, they’ve never missed their annual pilgrimage to the Collingwood Elvis Festival. Just as they’re readying to embrace nothing but Presley and the CPP, their young grandchild arrives unexpectedly on the doorstep, upending their future plans in ways they never dreamed. A love-me-tender family drama about the King and kincare.

Premiere
The Golden Anniversaries by Mark Crawford July 4 – Aug 4

From the author of The New Canadian Curling Club and The Birds and the Bees comes a new play about love and laughs in the golden years. For as long as they have been married, Glen and Sandy Golden have been celebrating their wedding anniversary by coming to the same cottage on the lake for an annual weekend of quiet romance. And this year marks a major milestone: 50 years of wedded bliss. Well…mostly bliss…er…there was that one time…oh, don’t get me started! Join the Goldens for a night of he-said, she-said, remember-whens, what-happens-now, and a long-term love for the ages.

Premiere
Resort to Murder by Birgitte Solem July 24 – Aug 31

A laugh-a-minute murder mystery. When Brett and Viv inherit an old family mansion on Lake Huron, they dream of starting a country resort, but the couple have very different visions of what a tourist destination should be. For Viv: a spa, and quiet retreat. For Brett: a murder mystery-themed escape room…obviously. Just a few nights before they welcome their first guests, Brett and Viv gather their reluctant staff in the attic for a trial run. When a sudden storm rolls in off the lake, the lights go out, and the doors lock, their light-hearted game suddenly turns into an electrifying night of murderous confessions, and twists and turns that will leave you breathless. Enjoy your stay!

Premiere
The Trials of Maggie Pollock by Beverley Cooper July 31 – Aug 29

Seer? Swindler? Sorcerer? The true story of the last woman in Canada to be convicted of witchcraft…and who just so happened to have been born in Blyth! Arrested on her home farm just outside of town, held in the historic Gaol near Lake Huron, and tried in Goderich court, her case went all the way to the Supreme Court of Ontario. Long after the arrival of the telephone, the motor-car, and the electric light bulb, Maggie Pollock faced off against official superstition in Canada’s courts.

Season Details

The 2024 season will run June through September, 2024. 

Tickets available by phone and online; more information here .

The will be a number of events and activities planned over the course of the season to celebrate the 50th anniversary milestone. Check the website for updates.

Bonanza Weekend will run Aug. 2-4, 2024 and will also include a number of special events to celebrate the 50th season.

Glenfiddich Announces New Brunswick Artist Julie Forgues As Recipient Of Glenfiddich Artists in Residence Program For 2024

From a media release

Glenfiddich Announces New Brunswick Artist Julie Forgues
As Recipient Of Glenfiddich Artists in Residence Program For 2024

TORONTO, ON: Glenfiddich, the world’s most awarded single malt scotch whisky, proudly names Julie Forgues of Moncton, New Brunswick as the 2024 recipient of the Glenfiddich Artists in Residence Program for Canada. The prestigious residency consists of a three-month all-expenses paid residency at the Glenfiddich Distillery in Dufftown, Scotland. Forgues is the 19th Canadian recipient of the annual Glenfiddich Artists in Residence program.

Andy Fairgrieve, Glenfiddich Artists in Residence Program Co-ordinator, Julie Forgues, 2024 Glenfiddich Artists in Residence winner, Dave Dyment, Glenfiddich Artists in Residence Consultant, and Derek Liddington, 2023 Artists in Residence winner.
Julie Forgues obtained her Bachelor’s degree in Visual Arts at the Université de Moncton, New Brunswick, in 1995, followed by her MFA in Studio Arts – Photography at Concordia University in Montreal, Quebec. She joined the faculty of Université de Moncton in 2000 as Professor of Photography in the Department of Visual Arts and took position as Head of the department in 2016. She has participated in several artist residency programs internationally, including in China, Iceland, Ireland, Japan, and the Arctic Circle. She considers her photographic research as an intermediate between a space and a place.

“In the past few years, I have been working on photographic research about how a space can be transformed into a place but can also fluctuate between both states,” articulates Forgues in her proposal. 

“These in-betweens in landscapes are fluctuating states that I then render into photographic images. At every site I have photographed, I think of what was there, what is there now and what will be there in the future: spaces that are now places, but mostly places-spaces that are in limbo-ing states. My work therefore makes this process of fluctuation visible.”

During her residency at the Glenfiddich distillery, Julie plans to explore spaces and places created by the Glenfiddich craftsmen in and around the historic distillery landscape with photographic image. The project will reflect and pay homage to the people and community of the distillery incorporating the use of cast-off liquids, malt, and other natural elements found at the distillery.

“Julie’s focus on space and place is wholly pertinent to the Glenfiddich Residency, which is itself all about a particular place, the Valley of the Deer. A space made into a place by the founder William Grant in 1887,” comments Andy Fairgrieve, Glenfiddich Artists in Residence Program Co-ordinator. “I am sure the residency will be a rewarding experience for Julie and I am looking forward to seeing how she engages with the locality this summer.”

Glenfiddich Artists in Residence Program

The Glenfiddich Artists in Residence Program is recognized and celebrated in global art communities as one of the world’s most prestigious of artist residencies, receiving hundreds of applications annually. The program transports winning artists from across the globe to the historic Dufftown setting, deep in the Scottish Highlands, to foster the creation of original work directly influenced by the Glenfiddich Distillery grounds, its processes, and its rich environment. Year after year, the artist pieces created during the residency are of unique tone, ambience and medium, and are displayed at the distillery for ongoing years.

“The Glenfiddich Artist in Residency program continues to capture the imagination of artists across the country,” comments Dave Dyment, Glenfiddich Artists in Residence Consultant & artist. “This year we had a record number of high-quality applications, and anyone from the shortlist would’ve made a great selection. Julie’s proposal to examine how culture shapes geography will resonate nicely with the opportunities at the residency. It reminds me of a quote from Scottish writer Alasdair Gray: ‘If a city hasn't been used by an artist, not even the inhabitants live there imaginatively’.” 

The 2024 residency marks the 23rd anniversary of the global Glenfiddich Artist in Residence program and the 19th anniversary of the program in Canada.

“Glenfiddich in Canada is honoured to support the Canadian arts community through the Glenfiddich Artists in Residence Program,” adds Claire May, Senior Brand Manager, Glenfiddich in Canada. “We are excited to award Julie this year’s residency and look forward to viewing the body of work she creates.”

Applications for the 2025 Artists in Residency program are scheduled to open in December 2024.For more information about the Artist in Residence program, please visit THIS LINK . 

Exhibit A: Investigating Crime And Footwear Opening At The Bata Shoe Museum Toronto April 18 2024

With material from a media release:

Exhibit A: Investigating Crime And Footwear
Opening At The Bata Shoe Museum
April 18, 2024

More Info & Tickets Here

Curated by Dr. Alison Matthews David, Professor at the School of Fashion, Toronto Metropolitan University, and Elizabeth Semmelhack, Director and Senior Curator, Bata Shoe Museum, this exhibit looks at the links between footwear and crime investigation.

Forensic shoeprints for criminal analysis - image by Zalman952 (CC by-SA 4.0 Deed)

There are few items more revealing of social history than the clothes we wear, and, I think, shoes in particular. They've been linked to the idea of criminality by cultural associations and myths, as well as by forensic science in the modern era. 

The show includes such gems as the shoes worn by Henry Edward Vickers, aka Flannel Foot, in the 1930s in the UK. He'd wrap his shoes in flannel so as to avoid scrutiny from the growing field of forensics of the era. However, he tended to leave strips of the fabric at the crime scene. 

Exhibit A: Investigating Crime and Footwear examines both the development of footwear forensics as a means of solving crime, and the social constructions of criminality from the nineteenth century to today. It also considers how clothing and footwear play roles in cultural ideas of criminality, informed by assumptions and bias. 

It will take visitors on a journey to sleuth out the central but complex role of footwear in crime, policing, the judiciary system and our cultural ideas of criminality. 

Special Events

FREE Community Weekend on April 20 and 21 with free admission all weekend to celebrate the opening.Dramatic Soles: A Beginner Playwriting Workshops welcomes new and emerging playwrights to explore the writing process as inspired by footwear and crime with Canadian Playwright Steven Elliott Jackson on April 27. Participants will learn play constructing, formatting, character construction, plot development, and theme devices that make great plays.

Global Orchestral | Tree Adams' New Symphony: Elements 4

With material from a media release

Global Orchestral
Tree Adams' New Symphony: Elements 4

A Symphonic look at climate change through the lens of air, earth, fire and water

Conducted by Tree Adams with a 75-piece orchestra at Budapest Scoring Featuring Mark Robertson concertmaster/1st chair violinist, Ölveti Mátyás solo cellist, Bassekou Kouyate solo Ngoni and Chris Bleth solo Duduk

Stream It From Your Favourite Service Here

Composer Tree Adams is perhaps best known for his work in film and TV, including scores for The 100, Belushi, Legends, NCIS New Orleans and NCIS Hawai’i, Lethal Weapon, Redemption Road, Californication and Swelter, among others.

Tree is also well known as a producer who's worked with Cyril Neville, Taj Mahal, and many other artists.

His latest work, a symphony, is an ambitious culture-crossing project.  It was recorded with a 75-piece orchestra at Budapest Scoring, with soloists play instruments ranging from cello to ngoni, a West African stringed instrument.

The new music could be described as neo-romantic in style, with a cinematic sense of drama. It illuminates the theme through musical storytelling.

Tree Adams

Tree comes from a musical background where classical music played an important role. His grandfather, violinist Seymour Solomon, co-founded Vanguard Records with brother Maynard Solomon, a musicologist and author. Tree's father is jazz drummer Chicken Hirsh. 

Classical music is, for Tree, a return to his roots. In the album notes, he says he was inspired by a trip to the Biennale in Venice in 2023, where he saw the work of architects and engineers working on green tech.

 “Their work gave me a new feeling of hope and a belief in the resilience of humankind. I was inspired to capture this feeling (along with the wonder, the mystery, the tension and the horror of climate change) musically in a large work with international scope like a symphony and then I began to search for a construct that might fit the traditional 4 movement format. Later that week my wife and I walked past a church where they were performing the 4 seasons and we had the idea why not approach the climate change issue through the lens of the roiling 4 elements and our struggle to innovate and survive. Hence the title “Elements 4.””

The work's four movements correspond to the four elements:  Air on “Venti Allegro” in the sonata form, Fire “Fuoco Adante” in large ternary ABA form, Earth “Terra” with drum interlude and world minuet, and Water “Acqua Rondo Finale” in the rondo form, molto allegro. 

In a release, he comments, “I was listening to a lot of Mahler and Stravinsky around the time that I wrote the symphony. Perhaps Mahler’s 9th and Stravinsky’s Firebird Suite had the most influence on me in the process.” 

While he has written a great deal of work that encompasses both orchestral and world music elements, this is the first where he tells his own story. 

The symphony was recorded in Budapest with the symphony. Bassekou Kouyate (ngoni) recorded his parts in Mali, Africa, and Chris Bleth‘s feature solo on the Duduk was recorded in Arizona. 

A portion of the proceeds from the album will go towards Earth Percent, a charity connecting musicians with environmental and climate justice organizations.

The Symphony has won several awards so far:

Debussy International Music Competition: Grand Prize Winner 2024 S1Debussy International Music Competition: Absolute First Prize Winner Orchestra 2024 S1World Classical Music Awards Diamond Prize in the Composition and Sonata categoriesWorld Classical Music Awards "Visionary Innovation Special Award"

From Neuma Records: New Chamber Music

Neuma Records: New Chamber Music
Galan Trio - Kinesis, Vol. 2
Ewart Asplund Ricks Trio - Emphatic Now
Hanna Hurwitz / Colin Stokes / Daniel Pesca - The Night Shall Break

Buy Galan Trio Buy Ewart Asplund Ricks Trio Buy Hanna Hurwitz / Colin Stokes / Daniel Pesca

Three recent releases on the Neuma Records label offer a glimpse at current chamber music. 

Galan Trio: Kinesis, Vol. 2 (February 16, 2024)

Based in Athens, Greece, the Galan Trio (Petros Bouras on piano, Babis Karasavvidison violin, and Marina Kolovou on the cello) bridge the gap between the Mediterranean and the US via ten works for piano trio. The composers are based in various geographical regions of the United States. The first volume was highly acclaimed, and this is the follow-up.

This two-disc set includes works from the Midwest (CD1), South Central (CD2) regions of the US. 

CD1, Midwest, is a showcase of drama and expressivity. Of particular note is the atmospheric Before the Gradual Throne of Night by Daniel Powers. The darkly emootional piece relies heavily on a minimalist kind of interplay between the instruments. I also loved Alex Lubst's Elusive, with its lovely use of the piano's dark end, and the sympathetic voice of the cello.

CD2, South Central, opened with the rhythmic intensity of Larry Alan SMith's Piano Trio No. 1. Dominic Dousa's Three Sketches on the Artwork of Tom Lee are quite melodic, even contrapuntal in style where the paintings take us to a meeting between a Franciscan monk and Native Americans. The CD ends with the virtuosic Persian Dances by Brian Bondari, peppered with a sense of humour. 

Ewart Asplund Ricks Trio: Emphatic (January 19, 2024)

The Ewart Asplund Ricks Trio, and Emphatic, the album, is essentially the result of one long jam session. It took place between Douglas R. Ewart (woodwinds, didgeridoo, percussion, voice, texts), Christian Asplund (viola and piano), and Steven Ricks (trombone and electronics) during Ewart's 2022 residency at Brigham Young University. 

The album is the result of their musical encounter, in eight tracks that take their names from Ewart's poems (either the title, lines taken from them, or words suggested by them).

The approach varies from track to track.In Isness of Love and Water Song, Ewart's spontaneous spoken work talks about social concerns, themes that permeate much of his work. “Is love something we find or something we cultivate, or is it manifold?” he asks. The unusual combination of instruments blends into a unique, yet seamless sonic stew. Each adds its own character, from the fluidity of the flute to the humming digeridoo and staccato of percussion. 

Ewart, central to all the tracks, explores the limits of expression in each.

   

Hanna Hurwitz - Colin Stokes - Daniel Pesca: The Night Shall Break (February 16, 2024) 

Hanna Hurwitz, violin, leads this effort, with the help of Colin Stokes, cello, and Daniel Pesca, piano. Hurwitz has a reputation for championing new works, both on her own and as a member of Grossman Ensemble and Ensemble Dal Niente.On this release, however, she wanted to delve into the music of about a century ago, looking to unearth neglected jewels. 

 “I wanted to highlight my orientation toward collaboration through the presentation of intimate chamber works composed in the 1920s and 30s. This album is the first to showcase my performance of full-length works from past eras. I believe that staying active in both new and old music strengthens my overall musical approach and interpretation.” 

The release includes works by Florence Price, Rebecca Clarke, Carlos Chávez, Olivier Messiaen, and Bohuslav Martinů.

Price's Romantic lyricism is tinged with drama in her Fantasie No. 1 for Violin and Piano. The work is challenging for both instruments, weaving elements of Americana and European classical idioms together to create her unique orchestral voice. 

Clarke's Piano Trio is dark and cinematic in scope, covering a wide emotional gamut from spritely to ethereal to moody.Chávez' rhythmic Sonatina for Violin and Piano ranges from moments of delicate beauty to powerful and frenetic, whizzing through four movements in less than seven minutes. Messiaen's Thème et Variations pour Violon et Piano is among the lesser known of the French composer's works, but is characteristically haunting and atmospheric. 

Bohuslav Martinů's Duo No. 1 for Violin and Cello, H. 157, reflects the uncertainties and turbulence of the era in a mode that approaches dissonance, although not absorbed in it entirely. 

It's an interesting musical walk through a fraught era of history between the European wars.

Inventive Expression In New Music | Kamala Sankaram: Crescent

Inventive Expression In New Music
Kamala Sankaram: Crescent
(Neuma Records / January 19, 2024)

Buy It Here From Neuma Records

Crescent is the first solo album from composer and performer Kamala Sankaram. The album takes as its theme the impact of human technologies on the natural world. 

Sonically, it interweaves sounds of steam engines, helicopters, and electromagnetic static with field recordings from across New York State in both composed and improvised settings, along with vocals, percussion, and electronics. The result is a seamless and expressive flow. 

The song cycle Crescent is a showcase for Sankaram’s expressive singing and use of extended technique. As a vocalist, her voice has a bright quality, with a warm tone. 

The individual songs are evocative and atmospheric. A Brief History of Progress begins simply, with vocals, adding percussion, then layer after layer, ending in a kind of electronic cacophony. 

Poetry and spoken word alternate with singing, with and without effects. She creates a wide variety of textures that work not only as sound, but to add drama, pathos, and take listeners on an emotional journey. 

Kamala works with an idiosyncratic sensibility that, in Heat Map, turns a recitation of the rising temperatures, year by year, into high drama (as it should be), and the chemical composition of polyethylene into a compellingly urgent beat.

5 Rasas was originally commissioned by Works and Process at the Guggenheim as accompaniment to choreography by Preeti Vasudevan. The piece is structured around the five different rasas, or emotional states, of Indian classical art. Kamala builds the piece with chance operations, field recordings, and found sounds. To the mix, she adds electronic noise from WWII-era short wave radio.

The string quartet plays a theme that was originally composed as a theme for Iphigenia in the Shakespeare Theatre Company production of Ellen McLaughlin’s Oresteia. 

Personnel: 

Kamala Sankaram – voice, electronics, field recordings, compositions; Brian Shankar Adler – percussion (tabla, bombo legüero and found objects); Drew Fleming – voice (tracks 2, 4, & 7)For 5 Rasas: Kamala Sankaram – voice, electronics; Andie Tanning – violin; Ludovica Burtone – violin; Joanna Mattrey – viola; Mariel Roberts – cello

Pop/Jazz/Art Music Culture Clash | MC Maguire - Dystophilia (Neuma Records/January 19, 2024)

From Neuma Records:
Pop/Jazz/Art Music Culture Clash
MC Maguire - Dystophilia
(Neuma Records/January 19, 2024)

Buy From Neuma Records

Toronto-based composer/producer MC Maguire has a quirky sensibility that's captured in two large works for orchestra and CPU on his recent release Dystophilia on the Neuma label.

Dystophilia is defined, according to the liner notes, as "a fascination with the rate of social decline". It seems appropriate that the pieces are a kind of densely layered sonic assemblage that is both kinetic and seamless in its flow. 

Yummy World begins with a riff on Justin Bieber's Yummy, as seen through a lens that blends contemporary jazz and art music, and then... put through a blender. 

He adds elements of cinematic music, circus (or perhaps it's video game) music, maybe a bit of prog rock, and more. The album notes tell us he binged on films noirs during the pandemic, and it's easy to hear their influence. 

It's inventive, and dare I say, entertaining.

Yummy World (excerpt):

Another Lucid Dream, the second track, takes Juice Wrlds' song Lucid Dream, interweaving it with elements of hard metal and 16th century Renaissance music, and other flotsam and jetsam.

The piece has an airy feel, passages with high strings singing over chord changes. Beginning as orchestral music, the electronic elements gradually insert themselves into the increasingly complex texture of the wwork.

It's music that should satisfy your intellect as well as your senses.

Another Lucid Dream:

New York Artist Roberto Juarez: Crossing Five Decades At The C. Parker Gallery Till April 15, 2024

From a media release

Roberto Juarez: Crossing Five Decades
Works Created Between 1983 and 2023
On view through April 15
At the C. Parker Gallery

Check It Out [HERE]

The work of celebrated New York artist Roberto Juarez will be on display at the C. Parker Gallery in Greenwich, CT until April 15, 2024.

Falo, by Roberto Juarez (1999), mixed media on linen

Juarez's story is the stuff of New York art world legends, and he still makes the city his home.

In 1981, Juarez was one of the first artists of Latinx descent to break into the NYC art scene during that pivotal era that changed the culture, alongside other young artists of colour from that era who broke down barriers – and he continues to have a prominent career today.

One of his paintings was selected for the cover of the Whitney Biennial Catalog in 1987.

“This is the first time an exhibition chronicles five distinct eras of artmaking by Roberto Juarez,” says Tiffany Benincasa, the owner and curator of C. Parker Gallery. “We are honoured to present this group of exquisite paintings, illuminating his position in the canon of art history in the New York art world, for our tenth anniversary season.”

The gallery is located at 409 Greenwich Avenue, near Manhattan (just a 40-minute train ride from Grand Central Terminal, where one of Juarez’s public commission murals majestically holds court in the Station Manager’s Office, pictured below).  

A Field of Wild Flowers, public commission mural by Roberto Juarez (1997). Located in the public waiting area of the Station Manager's Office at Grand Central Terminal. Photo by Rob Wilson.New York Grand Central Terminal Public Commission

Juarez’s artistic trajectory could only have happened in New York. In 1981, the East Village underground arts icon Ellen Stewart offered Juarez an artist studio in an abandoned garage owned by the La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club.

The space, on First Street between Bowery and Second Avenue, had no electricity and was offered to Juarez rent-free. Renowned costume designer Gabriel Berry lent Juarez an extension cord from her studio to his, to provide light and heating.

A 1985 poster designed by Roberto Juarez for his gallery show at La Galleria at La MaMa

That same year, Juarez was showcased in the New York/New Wave group show curated by Diego Cortez, who united the downtown scene for this history-making exhibition.

Cortez selected 35 works by Juarez for the 1981 New York/New Wave show, granting him an entire wall across from a wall of works by Basquiat (some of these original 1981 works by Juarez have been selected for an exhibition during the Venice Biennale this year).  

During the decades that followed, Juarez’s milestones include:  

A Guggenheim Fellowship in Painting . . . the American Academy of Arts and Letters Award . . . the Rome Prize Fellowship from the American Academy in Rome . . . one of his paintings was selected for the book jacket cover of the Whitney Biennale Catalog in 1987 . . . he was chosen for a public commission mural installation in Grand Central Station in 1997 (new.mta.info/agency/arts-design/colle...) . . . and several art in public places commissions, including Miami International Airport.

Works by Juarez are in the collections of major museums, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art (NY), Los Angeles County Museum of Art (CA), the Brooklyn Museum, El Museo del Barrio (NY), Perez Art Museum Miami, and the Denver Art Museum, among others.

Museums that have exhibited the work of Roberto Juarez include: Museum of Modern Art (NY); Whitney Museum of Art/Whitney Biennial (NY); Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LA); Brooklyn Museum; Peggy Guggenheim Collection (Venice); MoMA PS1 (NY); the China National Academy of Painting; Stamford Museum (CT); El Museo del Barrio (NY); McNay Art Museum (TX); Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art (CO); Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art (KS); Portland Museum of Art (ME); Center for the Fine Arts Miami; Fort Lauderdale Museum of Art; Austin Museum (TX); and Museum of Contemporary Art North Miami, among others. 

The Miami Flower Fence as a work-in-progress, photo taken at the artist's studio prior to installation at the airport.Miami International Airport Public Commission M.I.A. Flower Fence, by Roberto Juarez (2011). Installation photo taken at the Miami International Airport. The Art in Public Places mural by Juarez juxtaposes botanical-style renderings of Florida wildflowers with patchwork designs of Florida’s Miccosukee Tribe of Indians.

Juarez frequently employs painterly floral motifs, often inspired by the traditions of Hispanic and non-Western painting. 

“Roberto Juarez is somebody I had long thought combined a sense of an engagement with the poetic, an engagement with the provocative,” said Edward J. Sullivan, Professor of Art History at NYU.

“A use of colour which brings to mind not only images but emotions, in a way that is very convincing – also allowing us to enter into a certain subconscious emotional territory.”

“Roberto Juarez is somebody I had long thought combined a sense of an engagement with the poetic, an engagement with the provocative, a use of colour which brings to mind not only images but emotions, in a way that is very convincing – also allowing us to enter into a certain subconscious emotional territory,” adds Sullivan.

Pine Branches with Lichen (Grey Eye), by Roberto Juarez (2023), mixed media on canvas 

Edward J. Sullivan curated one of Juarez’s solo museum exhibitions that included the artist’s Pater series (pictured below, one of the Pater works in the current gallery show).

Sullivan has worked for more than thirty years in the field of Latin American and Caribbean art, and has influenced many artists and curators. 

Pater Painting, by Roberto Juarez (2017), mixed media on canvas. This work was also exhibited at the Boulder Museum, in the exhibition curated by Edward J. Sullivan, the NYU Professor of Art History who influenced many artists and curators. 

The Pater works were produced over a number of years during which Juarez was dealing with the death of his father.

Read more about the artist and this series at the review by Clayton Kirking, former Chief of Art Information Resources for the New York Public Library at this link.

Captured in Time

Juarez’s mother was from Puerto Rico, and his father was from Mexico. He was born in 1952 in Chicago.

Juarez has a BFA from San Francisco Art Institute (1975), and Graduate Studies at the University of California at Los Angeles (1978).

Portrait of Juarez (1989) by Jack Pierson.

Juarez and his circle of artist friends were often captured in time by well-known photographers/artists of the era.

Portrait of Roberto Juarez (1985) by David Seidner, for Interview Magazine. 

Jazz Meets Choral | Hamilton's Musicata Chamber Choir Offers The Joy Of Blue March 3 2024

Hamilton's Musicata Chamber Choir
The Joy Of Blue
March 3, 2024

Get Tickets [HERE].

Hamilton's Musicata Chamber Choir will be presenting a concert infused with jazz and classical music. The choir will be joined by a jazz quartet for Will Todd's Mass in Blue. 

Also featured will be Tierra de Ensueño by Canadian composer Javier Vasquez, among other pieces.

Founded in 1982 as the John Laing Singers by noted conductor John Laing, Musicata is a 28-voice chamber choir. Current Music Director Roger Bergs has developed a reputation for adventurous programming. 

Musicata Chamber Choir (Photo courtesy of the ensemble)The Jazz Quartet

The quartet consists of pianist Chris Pruden, saxophonist Daniel Rubinoff, bassist Andrew Downing, and drummer Mack Longpré. Pruden, Rubinoff, and Downing have performed with the choir on previous occasions, while Longpré is making his début with Musicata.

Pianist and keyboardist Chris Pruden has performed widely across North America, Europe, and China. He is a regular contributor and performer with a wider range of ensembles, including Juno-nominated Tara Kannangara group, Language Arts, Zinnia, RELAY, Future Machines, and others, and his music practice incorporates contemporary classical, folk, rock, and electronic music along with jazz.

Along with performing and recording as a bassist, Andrew Downing is also a composer and band leader. He plays the cello along with bass, and performs as a classical chamber musician along with a range of genres that include global and roots music. His music projects include performing and leading his chamber jazz ensemble Meodeon to accompany silent film screenings.

Daniel Rubinoff is a seasoned soloist and chamber musician who has performed widely across North America and in France. He is also a recording artist with several of his own well received releases. A former adjunct Professor of Saxophone at York University, as a student he won the ARCT Gold Medal from the Royal Conservatory for the highest score in the orchestral instrumental category

Drummer Mack Longpré holds a Bachelor of Jazz Performance from the University of Toronto. He's performed with several ensembles, including the Tara Kannangara Group, ZINNIA, and Future Machines, among others, and is also a recording artist with several albums in his discography.

Image courtesy of Musicata
The MusicWill Todd – Mass in Blue

British composer Will Todd's Mass in Blue resets the Latin Mass with grooves and blues harmonies. The arrangement includes sections of piano solos and interactions between the soloists and the choir.

The piece was originally commissioned in 2003 by Hertfordshire Chorus. Todd wrote it for his wife, soprano Bethany Halliday, as a piece for soprano soloist and SATB choir, incorporating the standard jazz quartet of piano, bass, drum kit, and alto sax.

Musically, the work fuses jazz, pure blues, and classical choral idioms. It has quickly become a popular work in the choral repertoire, with a full band and orchestral versions also available.  

Javier Vazquez - Tierra de Ensueño 

Jay (Javier) Vazquez is a vocalist/multi-instrumentalist/composer/arranger. He began his musical career in his native Mexico, including studies at the National University of Mexico. Along with his own performances, he's the Musical Director and Booking Agent for JV Music company.

His piece also incorporates a jazz quartet within a choir, seamlessly weaving bluesy melodies and choral idioms together. 

Here's a taste of his piece, which premiered in Toronto in 2017: