A Score to Settle

Check out A Score to Settle, a concert / monologue with harpist Rita Costanzi.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SvT_hfL8RAg&feature=plcp

Voice Afire heartily approves. Rita has done it the right way, i.e. with professional theater people, director Arthur Masella and writer Kico Gonzalez-Risso.


UPCOMING PERFORMANCES OF A SCORE TO SETTLE:

November 8, 2012
The Actors' Guild, NYC
November 15, 2012
Boston Conservatory
November 18, 2012
The Arts and Letters Club, Toronto


Comments?

New York Musical Theatre Festival

Last week here in New York I had the good fortune to attend Requiem for a Lost Girl, a musical theatre piece with music by my friend Marcel Bergmann. Last January Marcel and I collaborated with Marcel's partner Elizabeth and visual artist Ronald Hurwitz on a production of my own multi-media piece The Art of Love for 2 pianos and actor at Merkin Hall. Requiem was a part of the
2012 New York Musical Theatre Festival.

So what was Requiem for a Lost Girl - originally produced in Calgary - about? A publicity blurb: "Exploring themes of of poverty, mental illness and addiction, this strikingly original chamber musical unfolds as a memorial service for a young woman. Requiem was created and is performed in partnership with a chorus of men, women and children who know the experience of homelessness..."

On the face of it, not too promising? Too depressing? Wrong! I was entertained and enthralled for 90 + minutes, not least by Marcel's music (He also served as conductor and keyboard player at the NY performance). A few particulars I would like to single out:

• Marcel suited his music to the material. Sometimes gritty, sometimes poignant, sometimes rhythmic and driving, it always had a certain disciplined simplicity. 
• There were 2 keyboards used in the chamber ensemble, a grand piano and a synthesizer. Marcel exploited the possibilities of this combination.
• There was a choir, used at just the right moments.

So how does one get a production into the Festival and what does the Festival do for the production?

• One submits a score and $75 and hopes for the best. There are many submissions.
• The Festival "smooths out the bumps" of producing in NYC but doesn't actually financially support its productions.

Here are some useful links:

• http://www.nymf.org/
• Project Guide and FAQ http://www.nymf.org/Page.222.Next+Link+Project+FAQ

Give it a try. Do let me know if this blog has been useful.

Paris Theatre / for Young and Old

If you want to know whats happening in Paris, check out "L'officiel des spectacles", available at Paris news stands or at www.offi.fr/enfants (for the youth theatre).

While we were there, just a couple of weeks ago, we saw a wonderful show for ages 3 and up and another for adults. Both were great. And we were astonished at just how many live theatre offerings there were for children.

Something remarkable: the show for children 3 and up was not only quite sophisticated but also ran for an hour without a break! The young children in the audience remained attentive throughout the show. Does the average French child have a longer attention span than the average North American child? Or is it that North American presenters, eternally eyeing the box office, play down to children?


La Femme du Boulanger by Marcel Pagnol was the adult show we attended. Two hours without a break! Same question about North American adults. Maybe the French are just more highly evolved or maybe it's the government subsidies?

Regarding musical presentations in Paris: Mozart, Brahms, and the usual suspects were everywhere.
Contemporary wise, New York has Paris beat to hell. Maybe it's the lack of government subsidies?

Au Lapin Rouge / At the Agile Rabbit

In June in Paris we attended that most venerable of Parisian cabarets, Au Lapin Rouge, in the heart of Montmartre.

The evening started as if we were in our neighborhood pub, but with a table of rowdy singers occupying a table at the center of the room. The order of the evening was French songs of all types, sing-alongs to begin with. As the evening wore on, we were treated to various soloists, one with a guitar, one with an accordion, all superb. There were perhaps 10 performers in a rather smallish room, seating maybe 35 people, not including the performers, cheek to jowl. At $20 a head and a minimum of one drink each, how did they do this every night? Government subsidies?

Or is this like New York, where performers pay or play for nothing, just to have a famous venue included in their resumes? Likely it's government subsidies. There are also a plethora of book shops in Paris, the result of government price controls on electronic versions of books and government subsidies for book shop start-ups. Result - real class. Perhaps capitalism and culture, even at the cabaret level, don't mix very well.

I highly recommend an evening at Au Lapin Rouge next time you are in Paris.

Pit Stop Players and Political Correctness

On Monday I heard the Pit Stop Players at the Demenna Center http://www.oslmusic.org/dimenna-center-welcome . This is a new place with a number of halls.  "Conveniently located in midtown Manhattan at 450 West 37th St. The DiMenna Center for Classical Music provides state-of-the-art rehearsal and recording space for musicians and ensembles ranging in size from soloist to full orchestra and chorus."

Led by Joshua Rosenblum the Pit Stop Players are a group of moonlighting Broadway musicians. The New York Times said "Led by conductor-composer Joshua Rosenblum, the ensemble is comprised of some of New York’s top free-lance musicians, commonly regarded as the best instrumentalists in the world. With its unique mission, exciting repertoire, and broad appeal, the Pit Stop Players have already taken their place at the cutting edge of New York’s cultural landscape."

I have the good fortune to be have been asked to compose a piece for the Pit Stop Players, to be performed in late October, just before the US election. So what am I working on? It's a piece called Hard Right, for chamber orchestra and "politician". I propose to write music for a right wing campaign speech, using some of the outrageous statements made by the US Republican presidential candidates.

Please, someone dissuade me! Compositionally speaking, I must have some sort of death wish. Classical music circles definitely cannot abide anything in the least bit controversial, unless it happened 200 years ago, or more.

Case in point, a piece of mine called Tales of the Netsilik for narrator and orchestra and based on tales of the Inuit. Samples: http://pwusk.powweb.com/voiceafire/mp3/Tales_SunMoon07.mp3 and http://pwusk.powweb.com/voiceafire/mp3/Tales_Animals10.mp3
Seemed innocent enough to me. Wrong! Turns out it cannot be played in the United States. A text that finds value in the religious system and values of a non-Christian culture is a no-no. The very poems I used, unbeknownst to me at the time, had been used in a program to educate US children about the values of other cultures. When  the good Christian people here found out about what their children were being taught, horrified, they closed down the whole thing.

It's enough to make the blood boil. Perhaps boiling blood = inspiration. I think I'll continue working on Hard Right. Maybe make it into a whole cabaret show.

What do you think? Bigotry can be inspirational. Perhaps there are some things actually worth fighting for - or against.

Finnish Accordion Fantastico

This past Thursday I heard the extraordinary Finnish accordion player-composer Veli Kujala at the Scandanavia House 58 Park Ave. Playing solo, Veli played an assortment of pieces, old and new, on the first half. The second half was devoted to his own music, in this case a theatrical piece complete with electronics and light changes and 1/4 tones. Yes, although his button accordion appears more or less normal, it will play 1/4 tones - something that Veli exploited to great effect.

Tango Dreams, my own piece for accordion and string trio, peaked Veli's interest. I'm sending it off to Finland where Veli teaches at the Sibelius Academy. I'll also include the parts for Serenity for accordion and clarinet. Thanks to the support of Joseph Petric in Toronto, I seem to have written a considerable amount for accordion, including my arrangement of all 6 movements of Ravel's Tombeau de Couperin for accordion, violin, cello, and oboe as well as a raft of tango arrangements for accordion with string trio and baritone for my show, Close Embrace.

Here's Tango Dreams as a ballet: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oSo7rE-eebQ&list=PLE776D037B4FA83C9&index=1&feature=plpp_video

And some of Close Embrace (an accordion spectacular):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZHxJizagFD0&list=PLF385A950519C1948&index=1&feature=plpp_video

And a couple of MP3's from Tombeau de Couperin, as played by Quarteto Gelato:
http://pwusk.powweb.com/voiceafire/mp3/Tomb1Pre.mp3
http://pwusk.powweb.com/voiceafire/mp3/Tomb6Toc.mp3


Accordionists of the world, where are you? Ask me for these pieces. I would be happy to send them.

By the way, The Scandanavia House is a nice hall, about 200 seats, a fair sized stage, and lighting possibilities. Although it specializes in Scandanavian music, there are other types of music presented here. Rental?

Accordionists! Email me! rayluedeke@gmail.com