<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><rss version="2.0" xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/" xmlns:wfw="http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" xmlns:sy="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/syndication/" xmlns:slash="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/slash/" > <channel> <title>Michelle Cann Archives - Cultural Attaché</title> <atom:link href="https://culturalattache.co/tag/michelle-cann/feed/" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" /> <link>https://culturalattache.co/tag/michelle-cann/</link> <description>The Guide to Arts and Culture events in and around Los Angeles</description> <lastBuildDate>Sat, 05 Nov 2022 00:22:58 +0000</lastBuildDate> <language>en-US</language> <sy:updatePeriod> hourly </sy:updatePeriod> <sy:updateFrequency> 1 </sy:updateFrequency> <generator>https://wordpress.org/?v=6.7.2</generator> <item> <title>Michelle Cann Found Her Soul Sister…</title> <link>https://culturalattache.co/2022/11/04/michelle-cann-found-her-soul-sister/</link> <comments>https://culturalattache.co/2022/11/04/michelle-cann-found-her-soul-sister/#respond</comments> <dc:creator><![CDATA[Craig Byrd]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Sat, 05 Nov 2022 00:09:29 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[Classical: Metronome]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Featured]]></category> <category><![CDATA[What's Hot]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Betty Jackson King]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Classical Music]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Florence Price]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Helen Hagan]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Irene Britton Smith]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Los Angeles Philharmonic]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Margaret Bonds]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Marian Anderson]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Michael-Thomas Foumai]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Michelle Cann]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Rock My Soul Festival]]></category> <category><![CDATA[The Dream Unfinished]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">https://culturalattache.co/?p=17319</guid> <description><![CDATA[<p>"Florence Price was an inspiration to me because she wrote what was part of her and inside of her. Her music is her soul." </p> <p>The post <a href="https://culturalattache.co/2022/11/04/michelle-cann-found-her-soul-sister/">Michelle Cann Found Her Soul Sister…</a> appeared first on <a href="https://culturalattache.co">Cultural Attaché</a>.</p> ]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<div class="wp-block-image"> <figure class="alignleft size-medium"><img fetchpriority="high" decoding="async" width="300" height="169" src="https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Florence-Price-Courtesy-FlorencePrice.com_-300x169.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-17322" srcset="https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Florence-Price-Courtesy-FlorencePrice.com_-300x169.jpg 300w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Florence-Price-Courtesy-FlorencePrice.com_-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Florence-Price-Courtesy-FlorencePrice.com_-768x432.jpg 768w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Florence-Price-Courtesy-FlorencePrice.com_-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Florence-Price-Courtesy-FlorencePrice.com_-696x392.jpg 696w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Florence-Price-Courtesy-FlorencePrice.com_-1068x601.jpg 1068w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Florence-Price-Courtesy-FlorencePrice.com_-747x420.jpg 747w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Florence-Price-Courtesy-FlorencePrice.com_.jpg 1920w" sizes="(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Florence Price (Courtesy FlorencePrice.com)</figcaption></figure></div> <p>Pianist Michelle Cann didn’t necessarily know what she was going to find when she was approached in the spring of 2016 about playing Florence Price’s music. What she discovered, beyond a composition that excited her, was a composer who felt like a kindred spirit.</p> <p>This weekend Cann is going to play several of Price’s works with the Los Angeles Philharmonic. The concerts are part of the <em><a href="https://culturalattache.co/2022/11/02/soprano-julia-bullock-wants-to-rock-your-soul/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Rock My Soul Festival</a></em>. </p> <p><a href="https://www.laphil.com/events/performances/1792/2022-11-05/a-musical-portrait-price-and-bonds" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Saturday and Sunday’s performances</a> will celebrate the relationship between Price and another Black female composer of the era, Margaret Bonds.</p> <p>Much of the music being performed is not part of the standard repertoire – even of works by these two women. Cann will be giving the world premiere performances of <em>A Piece for Solo Piano and Orchestra after Florence Price’s “Fantasie négre No. 1.”</em></p> <p>Last week I spoke with Cann about Price, other forgotten Black women composers and how Price has become her “soul sister.” What follows are excerpts from our conversation that have been edited for length and clarity.</p> <p>Last October <a href="https://www.classicfm.com/discover-music/black-composers-who-made-classical-music-history/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Classic FM</a> published a list of the ten Black composers who changed the course of classical music history. Florence Price and Margaret Bonds were the only two women on that list. Given the discoveries that were made of their work, what are your thoughts or what is your awareness about other Black women who might have composed music whose works have remained relatively undiscovered or worse, lost forever?</p> <div class="wp-block-image"> <figure class="alignleft size-medium"><img decoding="async" width="300" height="169" src="https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Margaret-Bonds-Courtesy-Hildegard-Publishing-1-300x169.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-17324" srcset="https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Margaret-Bonds-Courtesy-Hildegard-Publishing-1-300x169.jpg 300w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Margaret-Bonds-Courtesy-Hildegard-Publishing-1-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Margaret-Bonds-Courtesy-Hildegard-Publishing-1-768x432.jpg 768w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Margaret-Bonds-Courtesy-Hildegard-Publishing-1-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Margaret-Bonds-Courtesy-Hildegard-Publishing-1-696x392.jpg 696w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Margaret-Bonds-Courtesy-Hildegard-Publishing-1-1068x601.jpg 1068w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Margaret-Bonds-Courtesy-Hildegard-Publishing-1-747x420.jpg 747w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Margaret-Bonds-Courtesy-Hildegard-Publishing-1.jpg 1920w" sizes="(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Margaret Bonds (Courtesy Hildegard Publishing)</figcaption></figure></div> <p><strong>That’s a really great question. I would say that it should encourage artists and musicians and scholars to ask those questions. If these two people, Florence Price and Margaret Bonds, could have had all these roadblocks, had all these different struggles to be appreciated, there has to be more.</strong></p> <p><strong>I came across a number of composers that were either from or spent time in Chicago. That’s why their names came up. I was reading about the connections of Black artists, from musicians to poets to writers. There was a renaissance there in Chicago of these artists. </strong></p> <p><strong>Betty Jackson King was a name that I came across that has this beautiful set of pieces, <em>Four Seasonal Sketches</em>. Another name I came across, Irene Britton Smith, was African-American and she also had some Native American blood in her. She knew Florence Price and was a huge fan, of course.<em> </em> She wrote her a letter and Price responded. She kept this letter her whole life because it was such a big deal to her.<em> </em></strong></p> <div class="wp-block-image"> <figure class="alignleft size-medium"><img decoding="async" width="300" height="169" src="https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Helen-Hagan-Courtesy-Yale-School-of-Music-1-300x169.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-17326" srcset="https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Helen-Hagan-Courtesy-Yale-School-of-Music-1-300x169.jpg 300w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Helen-Hagan-Courtesy-Yale-School-of-Music-1-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Helen-Hagan-Courtesy-Yale-School-of-Music-1-768x432.jpg 768w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Helen-Hagan-Courtesy-Yale-School-of-Music-1-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Helen-Hagan-Courtesy-Yale-School-of-Music-1-696x392.jpg 696w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Helen-Hagan-Courtesy-Yale-School-of-Music-1-1068x601.jpg 1068w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Helen-Hagan-Courtesy-Yale-School-of-Music-1-747x420.jpg 747w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Helen-Hagan-Courtesy-Yale-School-of-Music-1.jpg 1920w" sizes="(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Helen Hagan (Courtesy Yale School of Music)</figcaption></figure></div> <p><strong>This past year I came across the name Helen Hagan. She was the first Black woman to ever go to Yale</strong> [School of Music] a<strong>nd graduate from Yale. She went on to write this really great piano concerto, except that all we can find is the first movement. We can’t even find the rest. The one thing I will say that I found to be consistent across the board, from Florence Price to Helen Hagan, is all of them had the same kind of issue of not being fully appreciated during their time, especially when it came to publishing. More than half of their music is lost.</strong></p> <p>More than six years you got the call from <a href="https://thedreamunfinished.org" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">The Dream Unfinished</a> about Florence Price and her music. When you got to really sit down and look at the score for the <em>Piano Concerto in One Movement</em>, what stood out to you about her style of composing? </p> <p><strong>I think what was really amazing for me, and still is, was that I got a very strong sense and connection to American Black music and culture. Throughout every section of the concerto, since it’s one movement, there were constant folk melodies. The second solo section is like a spiritual, and the last movement is, which I found out later, was the Juba</strong>*<strong> dance. It just reminded me of ragtime from that first reading. There was this complete sense that she loved and really understood and connected with all these different Black American music musical styles. </strong></p> <p><strong>The other thing I love about her and the uniqueness of her as a composer was that she also really did bring in her training – the European style of composing. The way she structured the concerto that it fit into a certain structure that you would expect in a piano concerto from other well-known European composers. She clearly loved the Romantic Era because even the beginning of the concerto was very rhapsodic. You could imagine Tchaikovsky, Brahms, Rachmaninoff, any big romantic composer writing in a certain way that she did in this concerto.</strong> </p> <div class="wp-block-image"> <figure class="alignleft size-medium"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="169" height="300" src="https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Pianist-Michelle-Cann-Photo-by-Steven-Mareazi-Willis-Courtesy-of-the-Curtis-Institute-of-Music-1-169x300.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-17328" srcset="https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Pianist-Michelle-Cann-Photo-by-Steven-Mareazi-Willis-Courtesy-of-the-Curtis-Institute-of-Music-1-169x300.jpg 169w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Pianist-Michelle-Cann-Photo-by-Steven-Mareazi-Willis-Courtesy-of-the-Curtis-Institute-of-Music-1-576x1024.jpg 576w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Pianist-Michelle-Cann-Photo-by-Steven-Mareazi-Willis-Courtesy-of-the-Curtis-Institute-of-Music-1-768x1365.jpg 768w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Pianist-Michelle-Cann-Photo-by-Steven-Mareazi-Willis-Courtesy-of-the-Curtis-Institute-of-Music-1-864x1536.jpg 864w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Pianist-Michelle-Cann-Photo-by-Steven-Mareazi-Willis-Courtesy-of-the-Curtis-Institute-of-Music-1-696x1237.jpg 696w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Pianist-Michelle-Cann-Photo-by-Steven-Mareazi-Willis-Courtesy-of-the-Curtis-Institute-of-Music-1-1068x1899.jpg 1068w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Pianist-Michelle-Cann-Photo-by-Steven-Mareazi-Willis-Courtesy-of-the-Curtis-Institute-of-Music-1-236x420.jpg 236w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Pianist-Michelle-Cann-Photo-by-Steven-Mareazi-Willis-Courtesy-of-the-Curtis-Institute-of-Music-1.jpg 1080w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 169px) 100vw, 169px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Pianist Michelle Cann (Photo by Steven Mareazi Willis/Courtesy of the Curtis Institute of Music)</figcaption></figure></div> <p>You’ve said in previous interviews about her music that you can hear folksongs, Saint-Saëns and now you mention these other composers. Folk songs have been a huge inspiration for classical composers for a long time. Where does her voice stand out above those references and those influences that you cited? </p> <p><strong>Just like any composer there is obviously going to be this connection to what you grew up hearing. What you were taught from a young age, even all the way through college. All of these things are influencing your style of writing, whether you like it or not. She grew up in the South. She knew these dances. She grew up religious and in the church; she knew spirituals very well. All of these things were the backdrop of her life. </strong></p> <p><strong>Meanwhile she was classically trained. She was a pianist. She played all of the standard literature and studied composition. So you see that side of her life. I find it very interesting when I see somebody who can literally just take every aspect of their life and the influences of their life and somehow make that into their own unique musical style. That to me is what stands out.</strong></p> <p>You’re going to be giving the world premiere of <em>A Piece for Solo Piano and Orchestra after Florence Price’s Fantasie négre No. 1</em>. Price was very much inspired by the spiritual <em>Please Don’t Let This Harvest Pass</em>. How does this new work by Michael-Thomas Foumai honor Price’s work and the spiritual that inspired her?</p> <p><strong>He doesn’t really change the music. What I appreciate is that Michael in no way set out to change her vision.</strong></p> <p><strong>Generally speaking she did a lot of original things. In this particular <em>Fantasie</em> she takes a well-known spiritual. She clearly knew this and she knew it as a spiritual. It’s an amazing set of variations on this spiritual theme and brings it to life as one of her most significant piano works. The <em>Fantasie</em> is the longest and the most developed.</strong> </p> <p><strong>Now Michael is just continuing in that kind of progression, taking something that existed before Florence Price and that existed within Florence Price’s vision for a piano. He’s expanding that even more to be realized now by the orchestra. Which is exciting because, of course, the orchestra is going to be able to afford even more colors and more variety to what Florence Price was able to put on the piano with these variations.</strong></p> <p>How will performing this newly expanded work be different for you as a pianist?</p> <p><strong>The only thing that I find tricky is <em>not</em> playing. That’s the part I’ve had a hard time with because I’ve played it so much as a piano solo. I play everything and he gave parts to the orchestra. So even though he doesn’t change the music, he slightly changes when I play. It’ll be very interesting. I’m very excited. But I’m also so curious about how this is all going to feel when we put it together in rehearsal.</strong><em> </em></p> <p>Renowned opera and gospel singer Marian Anderson, who sang Florence Price’s music, said, “It is my honest belief that to contribute to the betterment of something, one can do it best in the medium through which one expresses oneself most easily.” How does playing Florence Price’s music allow you to express yourself most easily? </p> <p><strong>From the very first introduction to her music with the piano concerto I just fell in love with her writing style. I felt that it fit me. </strong></p> <div class="wp-block-image"> <figure class="alignleft size-medium"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="300" height="169" src="https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Michelle-Cann-Photo-by-Steven-Mareazi-Willis-Courtesy-of-LA-Philharmonic-1-300x169.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-17330" srcset="https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Michelle-Cann-Photo-by-Steven-Mareazi-Willis-Courtesy-of-LA-Philharmonic-1-300x169.jpg 300w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Michelle-Cann-Photo-by-Steven-Mareazi-Willis-Courtesy-of-LA-Philharmonic-1-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Michelle-Cann-Photo-by-Steven-Mareazi-Willis-Courtesy-of-LA-Philharmonic-1-768x432.jpg 768w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Michelle-Cann-Photo-by-Steven-Mareazi-Willis-Courtesy-of-LA-Philharmonic-1-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Michelle-Cann-Photo-by-Steven-Mareazi-Willis-Courtesy-of-LA-Philharmonic-1-696x392.jpg 696w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Michelle-Cann-Photo-by-Steven-Mareazi-Willis-Courtesy-of-LA-Philharmonic-1-1068x601.jpg 1068w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Michelle-Cann-Photo-by-Steven-Mareazi-Willis-Courtesy-of-LA-Philharmonic-1-747x420.jpg 747w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Michelle-Cann-Photo-by-Steven-Mareazi-Willis-Courtesy-of-LA-Philharmonic-1.jpg 1920w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Michelle Cann (Photo by Steven Mareazi Willis/Courtesy of the LA Philharmonic)</figcaption></figure></div> <p><strong>I lived in a small town in Florida. I grew up in the church. I played in the church, sang in the church and knew all these spirituals. At the same time I had friends that were not classical musicians. So part of my life very much involved popular music. My dad is a music teacher and I played the steel drums and I played Caribbean and Latin music. Then I would go to my piano lesson to work on Beethoven and then go do a Mozart concerto for a competition. Then the next day go play calypso music with the steel drum band. So I literally grew up participating in music in all its forms. </strong></p> <p><strong>I really love so many different styles, but I always felt like they had to be separate because that’s what it was.</strong></p> <p><strong>We spent too long putting music into different boxes and saying, this music is for you. None other than African-Americans, more than anybody else, still to this day are pigeonholed into a certain type of music being, quote unquote, our music. I had to live feeling like I had to separate the sides of me instead of just embracing it all because it’s all really great. Music is something for us all to share, no matter what it is. </strong></p> <p><strong>All that to say that Florence Price was an inspiration to me because she wasn’t afraid to do that. She would not let you put her in a box. She did not just write music of Black American people. She also didn’t just sit there and pander to the Romantic era and make everything just sound like Romantic era music that will sell. She wasn’t writing music based on what she thought would sell. She wrote what was part of her and inside of her. Her music is her soul. </strong></p> <p><strong>I can’t find any other composer that spoke to me in such a very real and visceral way than Florence Price. Of all composers that I’ve come across, she’s like my soul sister, as some people would say. I feel that way when it comes to her and her music.</strong></p> <p>*A juba dance is an African style of dance that features slapping, stomping and patting arms, legs and other parts of one’s body. It is also referred to as “hambone.”</p> <p>Main Photo: Michelle Cann (Courtesy Curtis Institute of Music)</p> <p>The post <a href="https://culturalattache.co/2022/11/04/michelle-cann-found-her-soul-sister/">Michelle Cann Found Her Soul Sister…</a> appeared first on <a href="https://culturalattache.co">Cultural Attaché</a>.</p> ]]></content:encoded> <wfw:commentRss>https://culturalattache.co/2022/11/04/michelle-cann-found-her-soul-sister/feed/</wfw:commentRss> <slash:comments>0</slash:comments> </item> <item> <title>Soprano Julia Bullock Wants to Rock Your Soul</title> <link>https://culturalattache.co/2022/11/02/soprano-julia-bullock-wants-to-rock-your-soul/</link> <comments>https://culturalattache.co/2022/11/02/soprano-julia-bullock-wants-to-rock-your-soul/#respond</comments> <dc:creator><![CDATA[Craig Byrd]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Thu, 03 Nov 2022 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[Classical: Metronome]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Featured]]></category> <category><![CDATA[What's Hot]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Bell Hooks]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Christian Reif]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Courtney Brian]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Florence Price]]></category> <category><![CDATA[History's Persistent Voice]]></category> <category><![CDATA[J'Nai Bridges]]></category> <category><![CDATA[James Agee]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Jasmine White]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Jeri Lynn Johnson]]></category> <category><![CDATA[John Adams]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Julia Bullock]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Los Angeles Philharmonic]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Margaret Bonds]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Meshell Ndegeocello]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Michelle Bradley]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Michelle Cann]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Nonesuch Records]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Peter Sellars]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Rhiannon Giddens]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Rock Your Soul Festival]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Samuel Barber]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Valerie Coleman]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Walking the Dark]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">https://culturalattache.co/?p=17271</guid> <description><![CDATA[<p>"I made a lot of peace with who I am and how I also am expanding in the various roles that I can take on and feel comfortable in."</p> <p>The post <a href="https://culturalattache.co/2022/11/02/soprano-julia-bullock-wants-to-rock-your-soul/">Soprano Julia Bullock Wants to Rock Your Soul</a> appeared first on <a href="https://culturalattache.co">Cultural Attaché</a>.</p> ]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<div class="wp-block-image"> <figure class="alignleft size-medium"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="300" height="169" src="https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Julia-Bullock-2-Photo-by-Allison-Michael-orenstein-Courtesy-Askonas-Holt-300x169.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-17279" srcset="https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Julia-Bullock-2-Photo-by-Allison-Michael-orenstein-Courtesy-Askonas-Holt-300x169.jpg 300w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Julia-Bullock-2-Photo-by-Allison-Michael-orenstein-Courtesy-Askonas-Holt-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Julia-Bullock-2-Photo-by-Allison-Michael-orenstein-Courtesy-Askonas-Holt-768x432.jpg 768w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Julia-Bullock-2-Photo-by-Allison-Michael-orenstein-Courtesy-Askonas-Holt-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Julia-Bullock-2-Photo-by-Allison-Michael-orenstein-Courtesy-Askonas-Holt-696x392.jpg 696w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Julia-Bullock-2-Photo-by-Allison-Michael-orenstein-Courtesy-Askonas-Holt-1068x601.jpg 1068w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Julia-Bullock-2-Photo-by-Allison-Michael-orenstein-Courtesy-Askonas-Holt-747x420.jpg 747w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Julia-Bullock-2-Photo-by-Allison-Michael-orenstein-Courtesy-Askonas-Holt.jpg 1920w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" /></figure></div> <p>This year is going out with a bang for soprano Julia Bullock. She’s curated the <a href="https://www.laphil.com/concerts-and-events/festivals/rock-my-soul-festival" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><em>Rock Your Soul Festival</em> </a>with the Los Angeles Philharmonic that starts in earnest on November 5th and runs through November 22nd. She has her first solo recording coming out from Nonesuch Records. It’s called <em><a href="https://www.nonesuch.com/albums/walking-in-the-dark" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Walking in the Dark</a></em>. Finally she and pianist/conductor husband Christian Reif are expecting their first child any day now.</p> <p><em>Rock Your Soul</em> <em>Festival</em> was originally conceived by the LA Phil as a celebration of the work and friendship of Florence Price and Margaret Bonds. The title harkens back to a spiritual (<em>Rock My Soul in the Bosom of Abraham</em>) and a book by noted author and activist Bell Hooks (<em>Rock My Soul: Black People and Self-Esteem</em>).</p> <p>Amongst the artists Bullock has assembled for the festival are soprano Michelle Bradley, mezzo-soprano <a href="https://culturalattache.co/2022/05/31/jnai-bridges-enters-peter-lorraine-hunt-liebersons-world/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">J’Nai Bridges</a>, pianist Michelle Cann (look for our interview with her later this week), singer/composer Rhiannon Giddens, conductor Jeri Lynn Johnson, singer/songwriter <a href="https://culturalattache.co/2019/07/11/meshell-ndegeocello-unplugged-and-unmasked/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Meshell Ndegeocello</a> and mezzo-soprano Jasmine White.</p> <p><em>Walking in the Dark</em> finds Bullock performing works by John Adams, Samuel Barber, Oscar Brown Jr., <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NDdUOXpp6Zc" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Connie Converse</a> and Sandy Denny. It’s a beautiful record that is set for release on December 9th. Reif plays piano on the recording and leads the Philharmonia Orchestra of London as well.</p> <p>Bullock’s pregnancy precludes her from performing in <em>Rock Your Soul Festival</em>, but it did allow for other opportunities which she described in our conversation recently. What follows are excerpts from that conversation which have been edited for length and for clarity.</p> <p>I want to start by asking you about something you told <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/25/arts/music/julia-bullock-zauberland-lincoln-center.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Zachary Wolff</a> in the <span style="text-decoration: underline;">New York Times</span> in 2019. It was advice your mother gave you: “Make sure that your work is making a difference for the betterment of the world.” You seem to have taken up that challenge and made it your mission. How do you think that has made your career different than others and, by extension, more fulfilling for you? </p> <div class="wp-block-image"> <figure class="alignleft size-medium"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="300" height="169" src="https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Julia-Bullock-Photo-by-Allison-Michael-orenstein-Courtesy-Askonas-Holt-300x169.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-17280" srcset="https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Julia-Bullock-Photo-by-Allison-Michael-orenstein-Courtesy-Askonas-Holt-300x169.jpg 300w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Julia-Bullock-Photo-by-Allison-Michael-orenstein-Courtesy-Askonas-Holt-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Julia-Bullock-Photo-by-Allison-Michael-orenstein-Courtesy-Askonas-Holt-768x432.jpg 768w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Julia-Bullock-Photo-by-Allison-Michael-orenstein-Courtesy-Askonas-Holt-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Julia-Bullock-Photo-by-Allison-Michael-orenstein-Courtesy-Askonas-Holt-696x392.jpg 696w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Julia-Bullock-Photo-by-Allison-Michael-orenstein-Courtesy-Askonas-Holt-1068x601.jpg 1068w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Julia-Bullock-Photo-by-Allison-Michael-orenstein-Courtesy-Askonas-Holt-747x420.jpg 747w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Julia-Bullock-Photo-by-Allison-Michael-orenstein-Courtesy-Askonas-Holt.jpg 1920w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" /></figure></div> <p><strong>Well, I don’t know if it’s made it so much different from other people’s. I think every artist has a call in one way or another to have a mission or have their their passion realized. I don’t have a casual relationship with music. In fact, my desire to sing and also share music is because I know the impact that it’s had on my life and also how it’s enriched my life and helps me feel more interconnected and engaged. </strong></p> <p><strong>I guess I’m always looking for ways to deepen that exploration and enjoy it in the process. I find that most of the artists whose work I really love also have this sort of mission. They’re very much conscious of the world that was going on around them and trying to make sense of it or call out hypocrisies. I’m not sure if I feel it’s so different than what other artists are doing. I guess I’ve just given myself permission to expand that in as many directions as I can imagine.</strong></p> <p>I would assume that in doing that, when someone like Peter Sellars says “Her path is going to be our path,” that’s got to be both hugely flattering and also a bit of a mantle to take on on a certain level.</p> <p><strong>I truthfully don’t like to be positioned in any capacity. I appreciate that Peter feels that the way that I work, the reflections that I have, and just the fact that I’m really dedicated to my craft and my own development and learning, is something that he wants to celebrate. I guess I celebrate that, too. That would be part of why, in the performing arts in particular, I don’t take that pressure on because that’s just a projection of something. The work that I do is not trying to live into some projection of Julia. </strong></p> <p>In the liner notes for <em>Walking in the Dark</em> you conclude your statements in the liner notes with “If our intentions are translated well enough and are clearly in focus, it may lead to some moments of illumination.” What has been the process of making your intentions perfectly clear with the <em>Rock Your Soul Festival</em>?</p> <div class="wp-block-image"> <figure class="alignleft size-medium"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="300" height="169" src="https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Florence-Price-Courtesy-New-York-Public-Library-Archive-300x169.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-17275" srcset="https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Florence-Price-Courtesy-New-York-Public-Library-Archive-300x169.jpg 300w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Florence-Price-Courtesy-New-York-Public-Library-Archive-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Florence-Price-Courtesy-New-York-Public-Library-Archive-768x432.jpg 768w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Florence-Price-Courtesy-New-York-Public-Library-Archive-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Florence-Price-Courtesy-New-York-Public-Library-Archive-696x392.jpg 696w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Florence-Price-Courtesy-New-York-Public-Library-Archive-1068x601.jpg 1068w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Florence-Price-Courtesy-New-York-Public-Library-Archive-747x420.jpg 747w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Florence-Price-Courtesy-New-York-Public-Library-Archive.jpg 1920w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Florence Price (Courtesy New York Public Library Archive)</figcaption></figure></div> <p><strong>It was their idea, not the title or anything like that, but just the proposal to curate a program that was focusing on the relationship between Margaret Bonds and Florence Price. Other than their vocal music and really just their songs, I was not too familiar with a lot of their repertoire – the breadth of their repertoire. It was an opportunity for me to again delve into some research and take six, seven months to consider the work of composers that I had not had the time or had this opportunity to look at. </strong></p> <p><strong>I was reading about their personal lives and also this relationship of mutual support. They had this teacher</strong> (Price)<strong>/ student</strong> (Bonds) <strong>relationship.</strong> <strong>When there were really troubling times for Florence Price in her personal life she went and lived with Margaret Bonds for a period of time. That really communicated this beautiful thing. It wasn’t just about their artistic output. It was also about nurturing and respecting each other as human beings and fully supporting each other that way. That was something I really wanted to celebrate and acknowledge besides just sharing their repertoire. </strong></p> <div class="wp-block-image"> <figure class="alignleft size-medium"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="300" height="169" src="https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Margaret-Bonds-Courtesy-New-York-Public-Library-Archive-300x169.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-17276" srcset="https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Margaret-Bonds-Courtesy-New-York-Public-Library-Archive-300x169.jpg 300w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Margaret-Bonds-Courtesy-New-York-Public-Library-Archive-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Margaret-Bonds-Courtesy-New-York-Public-Library-Archive-768x432.jpg 768w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Margaret-Bonds-Courtesy-New-York-Public-Library-Archive-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Margaret-Bonds-Courtesy-New-York-Public-Library-Archive-696x392.jpg 696w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Margaret-Bonds-Courtesy-New-York-Public-Library-Archive-1068x601.jpg 1068w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Margaret-Bonds-Courtesy-New-York-Public-Library-Archive-747x420.jpg 747w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Margaret-Bonds-Courtesy-New-York-Public-Library-Archive.jpg 1920w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Margaret Bonds (Courtesy New York Public Library Archives)</figcaption></figure></div> <p><strong>Every single artist that was invited into the festival there is this feeling of mutual support. Every single composer that I know, that I work with personally and also the composers that I either read their letters or biographies, they openly admit how influenced they are by the people who are around them. And they seek out guidance and advice. They are influenced by what’s going on socially, politically.</strong> </p> <p>I think we can learn a lot from what Florence Price and Margaret Bonds did in terms of shared experiences as musicians and as human beings. Because it goes without saying that a lot of people care more about ideologies and less about each other as human beings right now. Perhaps the festival can find a way to bridge that divide.</p> <p><strong>It can be very closed and people can get very closed. Growing up listening to recordings, my family had vinyls or cassettes playing all the time. A lot of the time we listened to music together. Even if I was alone I was still playing music, not locked into an earphone or earbuds privately, it was something that was heard in the house – the shared space. I think music can foster some really beautiful acknowledgment of each other. It’s not just some theoretical exercise. It’s like actually putting it into practice. I think that’s probably what drove me and that’s what drives most musicians to make music. Because you’re wanting a shared experience and wanting to share your own experience as well.<em> </em></strong></p> <p>Once you became pregnant and knew that being here for the festival wasn’t going to be possible did that give you any opportunities to make changes or add other things that maybe couldn’t fit into the program because you were a part of it at one point and now you were not?<em> </em></p> <div class="wp-block-image"> <figure class="alignleft size-medium"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="300" height="169" src="https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Julia-Bullock-4-Photo-by-Allison-Michael-orenstein-Courtesy-Askonas-Holt-1-300x169.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-17282" srcset="https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Julia-Bullock-4-Photo-by-Allison-Michael-orenstein-Courtesy-Askonas-Holt-1-300x169.jpg 300w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Julia-Bullock-4-Photo-by-Allison-Michael-orenstein-Courtesy-Askonas-Holt-1-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Julia-Bullock-4-Photo-by-Allison-Michael-orenstein-Courtesy-Askonas-Holt-1-768x432.jpg 768w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Julia-Bullock-4-Photo-by-Allison-Michael-orenstein-Courtesy-Askonas-Holt-1-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Julia-Bullock-4-Photo-by-Allison-Michael-orenstein-Courtesy-Askonas-Holt-1-696x392.jpg 696w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Julia-Bullock-4-Photo-by-Allison-Michael-orenstein-Courtesy-Askonas-Holt-1-1068x601.jpg 1068w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Julia-Bullock-4-Photo-by-Allison-Michael-orenstein-Courtesy-Askonas-Holt-1-747x420.jpg 747w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Julia-Bullock-4-Photo-by-Allison-Michael-orenstein-Courtesy-Askonas-Holt-1.jpg 1920w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" /></figure></div> <p><strong>I’m sad. I’m just not going to be there. Obviously I’m growing a human being. So that’s what it is.</strong><em> </em></p> <p><strong>I was supposed to perform <a href="https://juliabullock.com/met-residency-historys-persistent-voice/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">History’s Persistent Voice</a>, which featured a lot of contemporary composers who are all Black women. That was an hour-and-a-half program.<em> </em>I decided to save this for another season and think about another program. </strong></p> <p><strong>That was a great opportunity to perform one of <a href="https://www.laphil.com/events/performances/1796/2022-11-11/bryan-bonds-price" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Florence Price’ full symphonies</a>. It was also an opportunity then for me to think about the composers who were associated with <em>History’s Persistence Voice</em> and look at some of their other pieces and see if there was a way to feature their work.</strong> </p> <p><strong>I’m really excited Courtney Brian’s <em>Sanctum</em> is included. Her work is just super powerful and I’m so glad that that is going to have a premiere at the LA Phil. Valerie Coleman’s selections from her <em>Phenomenal Women</em> will be featured as well. It’s the first time that she will have anything performed at the Phil.</strong></p> <p>Your first album is going to be something that was to be considered carefully. Now that you’ve recorded it, and I know from earlier in this conversation you haven’t listened to it recently, but what would you like listeners to know about you from hearing the choices that you made for <em>Walking in the Dark</em> and the performances you give? </p> <p><strong>What do I want them to know about me? I really hope it is just an invitation. All of the music that’s on this is material I’ve lived with for honestly two decades and some of it I’ve performed for a decade. The chance to lay it down and be a part of a recording legacy of some of these pieces that have also been recorded by so many different artists was a rare and wonderful opportunity. It’s not one that I take for granted. </strong></p> <div class="wp-block-image"> <figure class="alignleft size-medium"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="300" height="300" src="https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Walking-in-the-Dark-Album-Cover-300x300.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-17277" srcset="https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Walking-in-the-Dark-Album-Cover-300x300.jpg 300w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Walking-in-the-Dark-Album-Cover-1024x1024.jpg 1024w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Walking-in-the-Dark-Album-Cover-150x150.jpg 150w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Walking-in-the-Dark-Album-Cover-768x768.jpg 768w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Walking-in-the-Dark-Album-Cover-696x696.jpg 696w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Walking-in-the-Dark-Album-Cover-1068x1068.jpg 1068w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Walking-in-the-Dark-Album-Cover-420x420.jpg 420w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Walking-in-the-Dark-Album-Cover.jpg 1080w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" /></figure></div> <p><strong><em>Walking in the Dark</em>, I mean the title of it. I didn’t write this in the liner notes and I’ve only brought it up to a few people, but I want to make it very clear that darkness is not something that should have, in fact, any kind of negative association. I feel in some ways that darkness, or blackness even, has been conditioned in certain parts of societies or cultures to have negative connotations and somehow promotes the idea of a white supremacist ideology. That really is not something that I can tolerate. </strong></p> <p><strong>I guess it’s been something I have grappled with – a collective question about identity or I have felt that I have had to question my identity for a very, very long time. I made a lot of peace with who I am and how I also am expanding in the various roles that I can take on and feel comfortable in.</strong></p> <p>James Agee, who probably needs no introduction to you since his poetry inspired Samuel Barber’s <em>Knoxville Summer of 1915</em> (which Bullock performs on <em>Walking in the Dark</em>), is quoted as saying, “Some people get where they hope to in this world. Most of us don’t.” I feel like in watching your career over the last number of years that you’re actively working through your art and through your activism to get the world to where you hope it will be. As a soon-to-be mother, what is the world you’d like to see your child living in and how do you think your art can pave a path for that to be a reality? </p> <p><strong>Well, I hope that this child will feel safe. That the child will not be limited in anything that they want to invest in and enjoy. That there will be not be a lot of assumptions made or anticipated projections of this child and what they feel they have to represent so that they can just live their lives. But there’s something in safety that feels really important right now.</strong></p> <p>Photos of Julia Bullock (By Allison Michael Orenstein/Courtesy Askonas Holt)</p> <p>The post <a href="https://culturalattache.co/2022/11/02/soprano-julia-bullock-wants-to-rock-your-soul/">Soprano Julia Bullock Wants to Rock Your Soul</a> appeared first on <a href="https://culturalattache.co">Cultural Attaché</a>.</p> ]]></content:encoded> <wfw:commentRss>https://culturalattache.co/2022/11/02/soprano-julia-bullock-wants-to-rock-your-soul/feed/</wfw:commentRss> <slash:comments>0</slash:comments> </item> <item> <title>Best Bets: February 19th – February 21st</title> <link>https://culturalattache.co/2021/02/19/best-bets-february-19th-february-21st/</link> <comments>https://culturalattache.co/2021/02/19/best-bets-february-19th-february-21st/#respond</comments> <dc:creator><![CDATA[Craig Byrd]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Fri, 19 Feb 2021 18:00:18 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[Classical: Metronome]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Come to the Cabaret]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Dance: At the Barre]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Featured]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Jazz in 5/4 Time]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Musicals: 5-6-7-8]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Opera: Bravo]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Streaming]]></category> <category><![CDATA[The Play's The Thing]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Ahmanson Theatre]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Amanda Lynn Bottoms]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Angela Gheorghiu]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Anna Christy]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Anthony Roth Costanzo]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Bang on a Can Marathon]]></category> <category><![CDATA[CAP UCLA]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Carmen]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Center Theatre Group]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Common]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Dance Theatre of Harlem]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Daniil Trifonov]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Death]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Don Giovanni]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Eddie Henderson]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Ellen Reid]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Enrique Mazzola]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Evidence]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Florence Price]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Franco Zeffirelli]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Franz Schubert]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Fridays at Five]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Gabriel Kahane]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Georges Bizet]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Gerard Powers]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Giacomo Puccini]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Gioachino Rossini]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Howard Watkins]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Icons on Inspiration]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Ion Marin]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Irish Repertory Theatre]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Jason Marsalis]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Julie Andrews]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Katy Perry]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Kenny Barron]]></category> <category><![CDATA[LA Opera]]></category> <category><![CDATA[La Rondine]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Lara Downes]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Los Angeles Philharmonic]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Lyric Opera of Chicago]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Matthew Bourne]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Metropolitan Opera]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Michelle Cann]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Misha Didyk]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Nadia Hallgren]]></category> <category><![CDATA[New Bach]]></category> <category><![CDATA[New York Philharmonic]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Nicolas Joël]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Paul Laurence Dunbar]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Philadelphia Orchestra]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Regina Carter]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Romeo and Juliet]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Ronald K. Brown]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Santino Fontana]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Seth Rudetsky]]></category> <category><![CDATA[SF Jazz]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Shriver Hall Concert Series]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Snug Harbor]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Sole e Amore]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Soundwalk]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Teri Lynne Carrington]]></category> <category><![CDATA[The Joyce Theatre]]></category> <category><![CDATA[The Kronos Quartet]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Theater Resources Unlimited (TRU)]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Tonya Pinkins]]></category> <category><![CDATA[TruSpeak...Hear Our Voices]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Turandot]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Tyshawn Sorey]]></category> <category><![CDATA[William Shakespeare]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Yannick Nézet-Séguin]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Yuja Wang]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">https://culturalattache.co/?p=13143</guid> <description><![CDATA[<p>Fourteen options to enjoy culture at home this weekend lead by a new work by Tyshawn Sorey</p> <p>The post <a href="https://culturalattache.co/2021/02/19/best-bets-february-19th-february-21st/">Best Bets: February 19th – February 21st</a> appeared first on <a href="https://culturalattache.co">Cultural Attaché</a>.</p> ]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>My February Fourteen. Let’s consider my Best Bets: February 19th – February 21st – and the 14 options on this week’s list – a second valentine of sorts. </p> <p>My top pick is the world premiere of <em>Death </em>by Tyshawn Sorey. Los Angeles Opera is giving the work its debut through their digital shorts program. The work will begin streaming on Friday, February 19th at 11:00 AM.</p> <p>Those interested in modern dance, ballet, jazz, classical music, plays and musicals will also have plenty to watch his weekend.</p> <p>Here are my Best Bets: February 19th – February 21st:</p> <div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="alignleft size-medium"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="300" height="169" src="https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Annique-Roberts-Joyce-Edwards-and-Company-in-22Mercy22-Photo-by-Julietta-Cervantes-Courtesy-Ron-K.-Brown-Evidence-300x169.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-13152" srcset="https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Annique-Roberts-Joyce-Edwards-and-Company-in-22Mercy22-Photo-by-Julietta-Cervantes-Courtesy-Ron-K.-Brown-Evidence-300x169.jpg 300w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Annique-Roberts-Joyce-Edwards-and-Company-in-22Mercy22-Photo-by-Julietta-Cervantes-Courtesy-Ron-K.-Brown-Evidence-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Annique-Roberts-Joyce-Edwards-and-Company-in-22Mercy22-Photo-by-Julietta-Cervantes-Courtesy-Ron-K.-Brown-Evidence-768x432.jpg 768w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Annique-Roberts-Joyce-Edwards-and-Company-in-22Mercy22-Photo-by-Julietta-Cervantes-Courtesy-Ron-K.-Brown-Evidence-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Annique-Roberts-Joyce-Edwards-and-Company-in-22Mercy22-Photo-by-Julietta-Cervantes-Courtesy-Ron-K.-Brown-Evidence-696x392.jpg 696w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Annique-Roberts-Joyce-Edwards-and-Company-in-22Mercy22-Photo-by-Julietta-Cervantes-Courtesy-Ron-K.-Brown-Evidence-1068x601.jpg 1068w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Annique-Roberts-Joyce-Edwards-and-Company-in-22Mercy22-Photo-by-Julietta-Cervantes-Courtesy-Ron-K.-Brown-Evidence-747x420.jpg 747w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Annique-Roberts-Joyce-Edwards-and-Company-in-22Mercy22-Photo-by-Julietta-Cervantes-Courtesy-Ron-K.-Brown-Evidence.jpg 1920w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" /><figcaption>Annique Roberts, Joyce Edwards and Company in “Mercy” (Photo by Julieta Cervantes/Courtesy Ronald K. Brown and Evidence)</figcaption></figure></div> <p><strong>DANCE: </strong><a href="https://www.joyce.org/ronald-k-brown-evidence" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><em>Evidence</em> – Ronald K. Brown</a> – The Joyce Theatre – Now – March 4th</p> <p>In 1985 Ronald K. Brown formed a new company called Evidence. On the occasion of its 35 anniversary, the Joyce Theatre is streaming a program of six works for solo dancers and couples. Included in the program are <em>For You</em>, which served as a tribute to Stephanie Reinhart, the late co-creator of the American Dance Festival; <em>Grace</em>, a solo that put Brown on the map when it was performed by Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre; <em>March</em>, a duet set to a speech by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.; <em>Mercy</em> set to music by Meshell Ndegeocello; <em>Palo y Machete</em>, from <em>One Shot</em>, which was inspired by photographer Charles “Teenie” Harris and <em>She is Here.</em></p> <p>Tickets are $25 per household and allow for on-demand streaming through March 4th.</p> <div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="alignleft size-medium"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="300" height="169" src="https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Ellen-Reid-22Soundwalk22-Photo-by-Erin-Baiano-Courtesy-CAP-UCLA-300x169.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-13167" srcset="https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Ellen-Reid-22Soundwalk22-Photo-by-Erin-Baiano-Courtesy-CAP-UCLA-300x169.jpg 300w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Ellen-Reid-22Soundwalk22-Photo-by-Erin-Baiano-Courtesy-CAP-UCLA-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Ellen-Reid-22Soundwalk22-Photo-by-Erin-Baiano-Courtesy-CAP-UCLA-768x432.jpg 768w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Ellen-Reid-22Soundwalk22-Photo-by-Erin-Baiano-Courtesy-CAP-UCLA-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Ellen-Reid-22Soundwalk22-Photo-by-Erin-Baiano-Courtesy-CAP-UCLA-696x392.jpg 696w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Ellen-Reid-22Soundwalk22-Photo-by-Erin-Baiano-Courtesy-CAP-UCLA-1068x601.jpg 1068w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Ellen-Reid-22Soundwalk22-Photo-by-Erin-Baiano-Courtesy-CAP-UCLA-747x420.jpg 747w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Ellen-Reid-22Soundwalk22-Photo-by-Erin-Baiano-Courtesy-CAP-UCLA.jpg 1920w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" /><figcaption>“Ellen Reid Soundwalk” (Photo by Erin Baiano/Courtesy CAP UCLA)</figcaption></figure></div> <p><strong>CLASSICAL MUSIC: </strong><em><a href="https://www.ellenreidsoundwalk.com" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Soundwalk</a></em> – Multiple Locations – Now Available</p> <p>Pulitzer Prize-winning composer <a href="https://culturalattache.co/2018/05/09/composer-ellen-reids-new-work-cautionary-tale/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Ellen Reid</a> has created a musical landscape to accompany walks through many public parks and spaces in some of America’s cities. Her goal, as stated on the website, is to “inspire us and make us feel connected to something larger than ourselves. It is meant to serve as artistic nourishment – a place to recharge, reconnect, and re-energize.”</p> <p>You download an app, put on your headphones and talk a walk through designated areas and listen to the music she’s created. Right now it is only available in Los Angeles and New York, but additional cities will be added throughout the year.</p> <p>For Los Angeles, presented in association with <a href="https://cap.ucla.edu/calendar/details/soundwalk" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CAP UCLA</a>, The Kronos Quartet performs the music to accompany walks through Griffith Park as does the Soundwalk Ensemble. For New York, presented in association with the <a href="https://www.ellenreidsoundwalk.com/new-york-philharmonic" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">New York Philharmonic</a>, musicians from the orchestra perform the music to accompany walks through Central Park. The Soundwalk Ensemble, members of the Young People’s Chorus of New York City and Poole and the Gang also perform. </p> <p>There is no charge to download the app and the <em>Soundwalk</em> experience will remain active into 2023. Additional locations roll out beginning in April.</p> <div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="alignleft size-medium"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="300" height="169" src="https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Kenny-Barron-at-SFJAZZ-Courtesy-SFJAZZ-300x169.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-13165" srcset="https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Kenny-Barron-at-SFJAZZ-Courtesy-SFJAZZ-300x169.jpg 300w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Kenny-Barron-at-SFJAZZ-Courtesy-SFJAZZ-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Kenny-Barron-at-SFJAZZ-Courtesy-SFJAZZ-768x432.jpg 768w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Kenny-Barron-at-SFJAZZ-Courtesy-SFJAZZ-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Kenny-Barron-at-SFJAZZ-Courtesy-SFJAZZ-696x392.jpg 696w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Kenny-Barron-at-SFJAZZ-Courtesy-SFJAZZ-1068x601.jpg 1068w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Kenny-Barron-at-SFJAZZ-Courtesy-SFJAZZ-747x420.jpg 747w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Kenny-Barron-at-SFJAZZ-Courtesy-SFJAZZ.jpg 1920w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" /><figcaption>Kenny Barron performing at SFJAZZ (Photo courtesy SFJAZZ)</figcaption></figure></div> <p><strong>JAZZ: </strong><em><a href="https://www.sfjazz.org/watch/#info-open" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Kenny Barron</a></em> – SFJAZZ – February 19th – 8:00 PM EST/5:00 PM PST</p> <p>In this fall of 2018 concert, legendary jazz pianist Kenny Barron is joined by violinist Regina Carter, trumpeter Eddie Henderson and drummer Terri Lyne Carrington. Any one of them would be compelling, having them perform with Barron will offer great music.</p> <p>Barron is an 11-time Grammy Award nominee (how is it possible he’s never won one?) whose career began as a member of Dizzy Gillespie’s quartet. His recording career began in 1967 and his most recent release was 2020’s <em>Without Deception</em> with bassist Dave Holland.</p> <p>Tickets are $5 (which allows for a one-month digital subscription) or $60 (which allows for a 12-month digital subscription). There is only the one showing on Friday.</p> <div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="alignleft size-medium"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="300" height="169" src="https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Cordelia-Braithwate-and-Paris-Fitzpatrick-in-Matthew-Bournes-22Romeo-and-Juliet22-Photo-by-Johan-Persson-Courtesy-Center-Theatre-Group-300x169.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-13153" srcset="https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Cordelia-Braithwate-and-Paris-Fitzpatrick-in-Matthew-Bournes-22Romeo-and-Juliet22-Photo-by-Johan-Persson-Courtesy-Center-Theatre-Group-300x169.jpg 300w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Cordelia-Braithwate-and-Paris-Fitzpatrick-in-Matthew-Bournes-22Romeo-and-Juliet22-Photo-by-Johan-Persson-Courtesy-Center-Theatre-Group-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Cordelia-Braithwate-and-Paris-Fitzpatrick-in-Matthew-Bournes-22Romeo-and-Juliet22-Photo-by-Johan-Persson-Courtesy-Center-Theatre-Group-768x432.jpg 768w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Cordelia-Braithwate-and-Paris-Fitzpatrick-in-Matthew-Bournes-22Romeo-and-Juliet22-Photo-by-Johan-Persson-Courtesy-Center-Theatre-Group-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Cordelia-Braithwate-and-Paris-Fitzpatrick-in-Matthew-Bournes-22Romeo-and-Juliet22-Photo-by-Johan-Persson-Courtesy-Center-Theatre-Group-696x392.jpg 696w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Cordelia-Braithwate-and-Paris-Fitzpatrick-in-Matthew-Bournes-22Romeo-and-Juliet22-Photo-by-Johan-Persson-Courtesy-Center-Theatre-Group-1068x601.jpg 1068w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Cordelia-Braithwate-and-Paris-Fitzpatrick-in-Matthew-Bournes-22Romeo-and-Juliet22-Photo-by-Johan-Persson-Courtesy-Center-Theatre-Group-747x420.jpg 747w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Cordelia-Braithwate-and-Paris-Fitzpatrick-in-Matthew-Bournes-22Romeo-and-Juliet22-Photo-by-Johan-Persson-Courtesy-Center-Theatre-Group.jpg 1920w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" /><figcaption>Cordelia Braithwaite and Paris Fitzpatrick in Matthew Bourne’s “Romeo and Juliet” (Photo byJohan Persson/Courtesy Center Theatre Group)</figcaption></figure></div> <p><strong>DANCE: </strong><em><a href="https://www.centertheatregroup.org/digitalstage/premium-events/matthew-bourne-romeo-and-juliet/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Matthew Bourne’s Romeo and Juliet</a></em> – Ahmanson Theatre – February 19th – February 21st</p> <p>Ivo Váňa-Psota was the first choreographer of a ballet of Shakespeare’s <em>Romeo and Juliet</em>. It was set to the music by Sergei Prokofiev. The work had its world premiere in 1938.</p> <p>In 2019 Matthew Bourne presented to the world his new <em>Romeo and Juliet</em> ballet, also set to Prokofiev’s music as interpreted by composer Terry Davies.</p> <figure class="wp-block-embed-youtube wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> <iframe loading="lazy" title="Matthew Bourne's Romeo and Juliet - Official Trailer" width="696" height="392" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/2NesVA-4d-g?feature=oembed&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe> </div></figure> <p>Center Theatre Group in Los Angeles is making the ballet available for rent this weekend only. Unlike other Bourne productions, <em>Romeo and Juliet</em> has never been performed in Los Angeles. Cordelia Braithwaite dances the role of Juliet and Paris Fitzpatrick dances the role of Romeo.</p> <p>There are seven available performances this weekend. On Friday at 5:00 PM PST and 8:00 PM PST; Saturday at 2:00 PM PST, 5:00 PM PST and 8:00 PM PST and Sunday at 1:00 PM PST and 6:30 PM PST. Tickets are $10.</p> <div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="alignleft size-medium"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="300" height="169" src="https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Tyshawn-Sorey-in-a-still-from-22Death22-Courtesy-LA-Opera-300x169.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-13154" srcset="https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Tyshawn-Sorey-in-a-still-from-22Death22-Courtesy-LA-Opera-300x169.jpg 300w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Tyshawn-Sorey-in-a-still-from-22Death22-Courtesy-LA-Opera-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Tyshawn-Sorey-in-a-still-from-22Death22-Courtesy-LA-Opera-768x432.jpg 768w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Tyshawn-Sorey-in-a-still-from-22Death22-Courtesy-LA-Opera-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Tyshawn-Sorey-in-a-still-from-22Death22-Courtesy-LA-Opera-696x392.jpg 696w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Tyshawn-Sorey-in-a-still-from-22Death22-Courtesy-LA-Opera-1068x601.jpg 1068w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Tyshawn-Sorey-in-a-still-from-22Death22-Courtesy-LA-Opera-747x420.jpg 747w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Tyshawn-Sorey-in-a-still-from-22Death22-Courtesy-LA-Opera.jpg 1920w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" /><figcaption>Tyshawn Sorey in a still from “Death” (Courtesy LA Opera)</figcaption></figure></div> <p><span style="text-decoration: underline;">*</span><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">TOP PICK*</span> OPERA:</strong> <em><a href="https://www.laopera.org/performances/upcoming-digital-performances/death-digital-short/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Death</a></em> – LA Opera – February 19th – May 4th</p> <p>This is our third week in a row with Tyshawn Sorey on our list of best bets. This week his work <em>Death</em> will have its world premiere from LA Opera. Sorey sets the poetry of Paul Laurence Dunbar to music for solo voice and piano. </p> <p>Dunbar is considered America’s first great Black poet. Sorey uses his poem of the same name from Dunbar’s 1903 collection <em>Lyrics of Love and Laughter</em>.</p> <p>Performing <em>Death </em>are mezzo-soprano Amanda Lynn Bottoms and pianist Howard Watkins. Nadia Hallgren (<em>Becoming</em>) directed the film. </p> <p>Sorey is obviously exploding with his inventive mix of jazz, classical and experimental music styles. With <em><a href="https://www.operaphila.org/whats-on/2020-2021/save-the-boys/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Save the Boys</a></em> and <em>Death</em>, 2021 is clearly turning out to already be a remarkable year for the 40-year-old who was awarded a MacArthur “Genius Grant” in 2017.</p> <p>There is no charge to watch <em>Death</em>, but you do need to register with LA Opera.</p> <div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="alignleft size-medium"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="300" height="200" src="https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Michelle-Cann-and-the-Philadelphia-Orchestra-Photo-by-Jeff-Fusco-Courtesy-Philadelphia-Orchestra-300x200.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-13155" srcset="https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Michelle-Cann-and-the-Philadelphia-Orchestra-Photo-by-Jeff-Fusco-Courtesy-Philadelphia-Orchestra-300x200.jpg 300w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Michelle-Cann-and-the-Philadelphia-Orchestra-Photo-by-Jeff-Fusco-Courtesy-Philadelphia-Orchestra-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Michelle-Cann-and-the-Philadelphia-Orchestra-Photo-by-Jeff-Fusco-Courtesy-Philadelphia-Orchestra-768x512.jpg 768w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Michelle-Cann-and-the-Philadelphia-Orchestra-Photo-by-Jeff-Fusco-Courtesy-Philadelphia-Orchestra-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Michelle-Cann-and-the-Philadelphia-Orchestra-Photo-by-Jeff-Fusco-Courtesy-Philadelphia-Orchestra-696x464.jpg 696w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Michelle-Cann-and-the-Philadelphia-Orchestra-Photo-by-Jeff-Fusco-Courtesy-Philadelphia-Orchestra-1068x712.jpg 1068w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Michelle-Cann-and-the-Philadelphia-Orchestra-Photo-by-Jeff-Fusco-Courtesy-Philadelphia-Orchestra-630x420.jpg 630w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Michelle-Cann-and-the-Philadelphia-Orchestra-Photo-by-Jeff-Fusco-Courtesy-Philadelphia-Orchestra.jpg 1620w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" /><figcaption>Michelle Cann and the Philadelphia Orchestra (Photo by Jeff Fusco/Courtesy Philadelphia Orchestra)</figcaption></figure></div> <p><strong>CLASSICAL MUSIC: </strong><em><a href="https://www.philorch.org/performances/our-season/events-and-tickets/digital-stage-2021-on-demand/michelle-cann-plays-florence-price/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Michelle Cann plays Florence Price</a></em> – Philadelphia Orchestra – February 19th – February 25th</p> <p>June 15, 1933 was a pivotal day in the life of composer Florence Price. The Chicago Symphony Orchestra performed her <em>Symphony in E Minor</em>. This marked the first time the work of a Black woman had her composition performed by a major orchestra in America. </p> <p>The other important date happened well after Price had passed away. In 2009 a couple, while renovating a house they purchased in Illinois, came across manuscripts, books and other writings by Price. More than half of the works she composed were found. The rediscovery of Price had begun.</p> <p>Pianist Michelle Cann, who has made Price’s <em>Concerto in One Movement</em> a regular part of her repertoire, joins The Philadelphia Orchestra and music director Yannick Nézet-Séguin, for a performance of the work in a film available through February 25th. They are using the original orchestration of the concerto. The website indicates this may be the first time since the 1930s that this orchestration has been performed.</p> <p>Also on the program are Rossini’s Overture to <em>La scala di seta</em> and Schubert’s <em>Symphony No. 4 (“Tragic”)</em>.</p> <p>Tickets are $17.</p> <div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="alignleft size-medium"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="300" height="169" src="https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Kip-Sturm-and-Tai-Jimenez-in-22New-Bach22-Photo-by-Joseph-Rodman-Courtesy-DTH_-300x169.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-13156" srcset="https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Kip-Sturm-and-Tai-Jimenez-in-22New-Bach22-Photo-by-Joseph-Rodman-Courtesy-DTH_-300x169.jpg 300w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Kip-Sturm-and-Tai-Jimenez-in-22New-Bach22-Photo-by-Joseph-Rodman-Courtesy-DTH_-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Kip-Sturm-and-Tai-Jimenez-in-22New-Bach22-Photo-by-Joseph-Rodman-Courtesy-DTH_-768x432.jpg 768w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Kip-Sturm-and-Tai-Jimenez-in-22New-Bach22-Photo-by-Joseph-Rodman-Courtesy-DTH_-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Kip-Sturm-and-Tai-Jimenez-in-22New-Bach22-Photo-by-Joseph-Rodman-Courtesy-DTH_-696x392.jpg 696w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Kip-Sturm-and-Tai-Jimenez-in-22New-Bach22-Photo-by-Joseph-Rodman-Courtesy-DTH_-1068x601.jpg 1068w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Kip-Sturm-and-Tai-Jimenez-in-22New-Bach22-Photo-by-Joseph-Rodman-Courtesy-DTH_-747x420.jpg 747w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Kip-Sturm-and-Tai-Jimenez-in-22New-Bach22-Photo-by-Joseph-Rodman-Courtesy-DTH_.jpg 1920w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" /><figcaption>Kip Sturm and Tai Jimenez in “New Bach” (Photo by Joseph Rodman/Courtesy Dance Theatre of Harlem)</figcaption></figure></div> <p><strong>DANCE: </strong><em><a href="https://www.dancetheatreofharlem.org/virtualballetseries/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">New Bach</a></em> – Dance Theatre of Harlem – February 20th – February 27th</p> <p>The second half of Dance Theatre of Harlem’s Winter 2021 Virtual Ballet Series takes place on Saturday with <em>New Bach</em> which will be posted on their<a href="https://www.facebook.com/dancetheatreofharlem/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"> </a><a href="https://www.youtube.com/dancetheatreofharlem?sub_confirmation=1" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">YouTube channel</a> on Saturday.</p> <p>Robert Garland created <em>New Bach</em> which had its world premiere in 2001 just after the 9/11 tragedy. <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2001/09/27/arts/dance-review-1-night-4-firsts-from-harlem-dance-theater.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Anna Kisselgoff</a>, in her <span style="text-decoration: underline;">New York Times</span> review, said of the work upon its premiere (with specific names from that performance): “Mr. Garland has used the Balanchine model in the best sense in <em>New Bach</em>,’ and alludes to the jazzy syncopation of the Bach-Balanchine masterpiece <em>Concerto Barocco</em>. Bach’s <em>Violin Concerto in A minor</em>, (conducted here by Joseph E. Fields with Deborah Wong as the violin soloist), has impelled him into formal patterns studded with occasional pelvis swivels, limp arms descending from rotating shoulders and wiggles in plié. Nothing is overdone, however, as four couples are in frequent interplay with the leads — Donald Williams, wittily assertive in a noble style, and Tanya Wideman-Davis, eye-riveting in her robust but refined classical silhouette.”</p> <p>There is no charge to watch <em>New Bach</em>.</p> <div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="alignleft size-medium"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="300" height="169" src="https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Angela-Gheorghiu-in-22La-Rondine22-Photo-by-Terrence-Mc-Carthy-Courtesy-SFO-300x169.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-13157" srcset="https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Angela-Gheorghiu-in-22La-Rondine22-Photo-by-Terrence-Mc-Carthy-Courtesy-SFO-300x169.jpg 300w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Angela-Gheorghiu-in-22La-Rondine22-Photo-by-Terrence-Mc-Carthy-Courtesy-SFO-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Angela-Gheorghiu-in-22La-Rondine22-Photo-by-Terrence-Mc-Carthy-Courtesy-SFO-768x432.jpg 768w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Angela-Gheorghiu-in-22La-Rondine22-Photo-by-Terrence-Mc-Carthy-Courtesy-SFO-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Angela-Gheorghiu-in-22La-Rondine22-Photo-by-Terrence-Mc-Carthy-Courtesy-SFO-696x392.jpg 696w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Angela-Gheorghiu-in-22La-Rondine22-Photo-by-Terrence-Mc-Carthy-Courtesy-SFO-1068x601.jpg 1068w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Angela-Gheorghiu-in-22La-Rondine22-Photo-by-Terrence-Mc-Carthy-Courtesy-SFO-747x420.jpg 747w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Angela-Gheorghiu-in-22La-Rondine22-Photo-by-Terrence-Mc-Carthy-Courtesy-SFO.jpg 1920w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" /><figcaption>Angela Gheorghiu in “La Rondine” (Photo by Terrence McCarthy/Courtesy San Francisco Opera)</figcaption></figure></div> <p><strong>OPERA: </strong><a href="https://sfopera.com/opera-is-on/streaming/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Puccini’s <em>La Rondine</em> </a>– San Francisco Opera – February 20th – February 21st</p> <p>Conducted by Ion Marin; starring Angela Gheorghiu, Gerard Powers, Anna Christy and Misha Didyk. This Nicolas Joël production is from the 2007-2008 season.</p> <p>Puccini’s <em>La Rondine</em> had its world premiere in Monaco in 1917. The libretto, based on a libretto by Alfred Maria Willner and Heinz Reichert, was written by Giuseppe Adami.</p> <p>Multiple people collide in this opera about love. Magda is Rombaldo’s kept mistress. While entertaining friends, including the poet Prunier, she realizes how much she misses being in love. Prunier is in love with Lisette, who is Magda’s maid. A young man enters their group, Ruggero, who falls in love with Magda. Could he possibly provide the true love she so desperately desires? Who will end with whom and will they all live happily ever after?<br></p> <figure class="wp-block-embed-youtube wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> <iframe loading="lazy" title=""La Rondine" Moving Moment, featuring Angela Gheorghiu" width="696" height="392" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/M3kywbg7ljc?feature=oembed&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe> </div></figure> <p>This production marked Gheorghiu’s debut with San Francisco Opera. <a href="https://www.sfgate.com/performance/article/Review-Gheorghiu-s-debut-worth-the-wait-in-3301208.php" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Joshua Kosman</a>, writing in the <span style="text-decoration: underline;">San Francisco Chronicle</span>, said, “Gheorghiu’s company debut is long overdue, but her performance in the signature role of Magda was worth the wait. Her tone was strong but tender, with an irresistible blend of earthiness and purity, and when she lofted the high notes of “Chi il bel sogno di Doretta,” her breath control and flawless intonation seemed to make time stand still.”</p> <div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="alignleft size-medium"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="300" height="169" src="https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Jason-Marsalis-Coutesy-MM-Music-Agency-300x169.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-13158" srcset="https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Jason-Marsalis-Coutesy-MM-Music-Agency-300x169.jpg 300w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Jason-Marsalis-Coutesy-MM-Music-Agency-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Jason-Marsalis-Coutesy-MM-Music-Agency-768x432.jpg 768w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Jason-Marsalis-Coutesy-MM-Music-Agency-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Jason-Marsalis-Coutesy-MM-Music-Agency-696x392.jpg 696w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Jason-Marsalis-Coutesy-MM-Music-Agency-1068x601.jpg 1068w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Jason-Marsalis-Coutesy-MM-Music-Agency-747x420.jpg 747w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Jason-Marsalis-Coutesy-MM-Music-Agency.jpg 1920w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" /><figcaption>Jason Marsalis (Courtesy MM Music Agency)</figcaption></figure></div> <p><strong>JAZZ:</strong><em> </em><a href="https://www.stageit.com/jason_marsalis_and_the_k_love_experience/snug_harbor_jazz_revival/94637" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><em>Jason Marsalis</em> <em>and the K Love Experience</em></a> – Snug Harbor (on Stage it) – February 21st – 8:00 PM EST/5:00 PM PST</p> <p>You know Wynton Marsalis, Branford Marsalis, the late Ellis Marsalis and perhaps even Delfeayo Marsalis. But do you also know drummer/vibraphonist Jason Marsalis? If not, Sunday’s performance from New Orleans’ Snug Harbor will give you a great opportunity to hear the youngest of the Marsalis brothers.</p> <p>This concert will feature music with Afro-Cuban, funk, samba, reggae coursing through its veins. This won’t just be music to sit and listen to, you’ll want to get up and dance.</p> <p>Tickets are $15.</p> <div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="alignleft size-medium"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="300" height="169" src="https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Daniil-Trifonov-©Dario-Acosta-300x169.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-13159" srcset="https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Daniil-Trifonov-©Dario-Acosta-300x169.jpg 300w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Daniil-Trifonov-©Dario-Acosta-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Daniil-Trifonov-©Dario-Acosta-768x432.jpg 768w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Daniil-Trifonov-©Dario-Acosta-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Daniil-Trifonov-©Dario-Acosta-696x392.jpg 696w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Daniil-Trifonov-©Dario-Acosta-1068x601.jpg 1068w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Daniil-Trifonov-©Dario-Acosta-747x420.jpg 747w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Daniil-Trifonov-©Dario-Acosta.jpg 1920w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" /><figcaption>Daniil Trifonov (©Dario Acosta)</figcaption></figure></div> <p><strong>CLASSICAL MUSIC:</strong><em> <a href="https://www.shriverconcerts.org/concert/trifonov" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Daniil Trifonov Recital</a></em> – Shriver Hall – February 21st – 5:30 PM EST/2:30 PM PST</p> <p>Are you tired of me constantly having a recital by pianist Daniil Trifonov on my best bets? I hope not, because there’s a reason his performances regularly appear on my list, he’s that good.</p> <p>This performance, filmed at New York’s 92nd Street Y, finds Trifonov performing Szymanowski’s <em>Sonata No. 3, Op. 36</em> and Debussy’s <em>Pour le piano</em>. </p> <p>He concludes with Brahms’ <em>Sonata No. 3 in F minor, Op. 5</em>.</p> <p>Tickets are $15 and allow for on-demand streaming through February 28th.</p> <div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="alignleft size-medium"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="300" height="169" src="https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Gabriel-Kahane-Photo-by-Josh-Goleman-300x169.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-13162" srcset="https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Gabriel-Kahane-Photo-by-Josh-Goleman-300x169.jpg 300w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Gabriel-Kahane-Photo-by-Josh-Goleman-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Gabriel-Kahane-Photo-by-Josh-Goleman-768x432.jpg 768w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Gabriel-Kahane-Photo-by-Josh-Goleman-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Gabriel-Kahane-Photo-by-Josh-Goleman-696x392.jpg 696w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Gabriel-Kahane-Photo-by-Josh-Goleman-1068x601.jpg 1068w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Gabriel-Kahane-Photo-by-Josh-Goleman-747x420.jpg 747w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Gabriel-Kahane-Photo-by-Josh-Goleman.jpg 1920w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" /><figcaption>Gabriel Kahane (Photo by Josh Goleman)</figcaption></figure></div> <p><strong>CONTEMPORARY CLASSICAL MUSIC</strong>: <em><a href="https://live.bangonacan.org/february2021marathon/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Bang on a Can Marathon #5</a></em> – February 21st – 1:00 PM EST/10:00 AM PST</p> <p>Fans of contemporary classical music will not want to miss this Sunday’s Bang on a Can Marathon. All you have to do is look at the line-up:</p> <p><strong>Hour 1: </strong>Jakhongir Shukur’s<em> Potter’s Wheel</em> performed by Robert Black; Jennifer Walshe performing her <em>Happiness Starts Right Now</em>; Maria Huld Markan Sigfusdottir’s <em>Pending, </em>performed by Chi-chi Nwanoku and a new work by Amir Elsaffar performed by Ken Thomson</p> <p><strong>Hour 2: </strong>A new work by Gregory Spears performed by David Byrd-Marrow; a new work by Kristina Wolfe performed by Molly Barth; Gabriel Kahane’s <em>Hollywood & Vine</em> performed by Arlen Hlusko and a new work written and performed by Bora Yoon with video by R. Luke Dubois</p> <p><strong>Hour 3: </strong>Matthew Shipp performs his <em>Spaceman’s Blues</em>; Joel Thompson’s <em>Supplication and Compensation</em> performed by Anthony Roth Costanzo; Rohan Chander’s <em>△ or The Tragedy of Hikkomori Loveless</em> from <em>FINAL//FANTASY</em> performed by Vicky Chow and a new work written and performed by David Cossin. </p> <p><strong>HOUR 4: </strong>Eve Beglarian’s <em>A Solemn Shyness</em> performed by <a href="https://culturalattache.co/2018/03/22/lenny-pianist-lara-downes/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Lara Downes</a>; a new work written and performed by Ingrid Laubrock;<em> </em>Molly Herron’s <em>Canon No. 4</em> performed by Maya Stone and a new work by Alvin Lucier performed by Mark Stewart.</p> <p>There is no charge to watch the marathon, but donations are encouraged.</p> <div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="alignleft size-medium"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="300" height="169" src="https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Enrique-Mazzolla-and-Lunga-Eric-Hallam-in-22Sole-e-Amore22-Photo-©Kyle-Flubacker-Courtesy-Lyric-Opera-of-Chicago_-300x169.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-13160" srcset="https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Enrique-Mazzolla-and-Lunga-Eric-Hallam-in-22Sole-e-Amore22-Photo-©Kyle-Flubacker-Courtesy-Lyric-Opera-of-Chicago_-300x169.jpg 300w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Enrique-Mazzolla-and-Lunga-Eric-Hallam-in-22Sole-e-Amore22-Photo-©Kyle-Flubacker-Courtesy-Lyric-Opera-of-Chicago_-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Enrique-Mazzolla-and-Lunga-Eric-Hallam-in-22Sole-e-Amore22-Photo-©Kyle-Flubacker-Courtesy-Lyric-Opera-of-Chicago_-768x432.jpg 768w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Enrique-Mazzolla-and-Lunga-Eric-Hallam-in-22Sole-e-Amore22-Photo-©Kyle-Flubacker-Courtesy-Lyric-Opera-of-Chicago_-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Enrique-Mazzolla-and-Lunga-Eric-Hallam-in-22Sole-e-Amore22-Photo-©Kyle-Flubacker-Courtesy-Lyric-Opera-of-Chicago_-696x392.jpg 696w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Enrique-Mazzolla-and-Lunga-Eric-Hallam-in-22Sole-e-Amore22-Photo-©Kyle-Flubacker-Courtesy-Lyric-Opera-of-Chicago_-1068x601.jpg 1068w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Enrique-Mazzolla-and-Lunga-Eric-Hallam-in-22Sole-e-Amore22-Photo-©Kyle-Flubacker-Courtesy-Lyric-Opera-of-Chicago_-747x420.jpg 747w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Enrique-Mazzolla-and-Lunga-Eric-Hallam-in-22Sole-e-Amore22-Photo-©Kyle-Flubacker-Courtesy-Lyric-Opera-of-Chicago_.jpg 1920w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" /><figcaption>Enrique Mazzola and Lunga Eric Hallam in “Sole e Amore” (Photo by Kyle Flubacker/Courtesy Lyric Opera of Chicago)</figcaption></figure></div> <p><strong>OPERA: </strong><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2mk--s_GmXg" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><em>Sole e Amore</em> </a>– Lyric Opera of Chicago – Begins February 21st – 7:00 PM EST/4:00 PM PST</p> <p>Fans of Italian opera will want to check out <em>Sole e Amore</em> which will feature arias by Bellini, Donizetti, Mascagni, Puccini, Rossini and Verdi. Members of the Ryan Opera Center Ensemble will be performing.</p> <p>They include baritones Leroy Davis and Ricardo José Rivera; bass Anthony Reed; bass-baritone David Weigel; mezzo-sopranos Katherine Beck, Katherine DeYoung, and Kathleen Felty; sopranos Maria Novella Malfatti and Denis Vélez; tenors Martin Luther Clark and Lunga Eric Hallam and pianist Chris Reynolds.</p> <p>Enrique Mazzola, who will become the Lyric’s music director in the 2021-2022 season, curated the program and will also play piano for much of the recital.</p> <p>The program is free and will be available on the Lyric Opera of Chicago’s YouTube channel.</p> <div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="alignleft size-medium"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="300" height="169" src="https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/TruSpeak...Hear-Our-Voices-300x169.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-13161" srcset="https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/TruSpeak...Hear-Our-Voices-300x169.jpg 300w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/TruSpeak...Hear-Our-Voices-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/TruSpeak...Hear-Our-Voices-768x432.jpg 768w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/TruSpeak...Hear-Our-Voices-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/TruSpeak...Hear-Our-Voices-696x392.jpg 696w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/TruSpeak...Hear-Our-Voices-1068x601.jpg 1068w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/TruSpeak...Hear-Our-Voices-747x420.jpg 747w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/TruSpeak...Hear-Our-Voices.jpg 1920w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" /></figure></div> <p><strong>PLAYS/MUSICALS: </strong><em><a href="https://truonline.org/events/tru-speak-hear-our-voices/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">TruSpeak…Hear Our Voices</a></em> – February 21st – 5:00 PM EST/2:00 PM PST</p> <p>Theater Resources Unlimited (TRU) has assembled a very impressive line-up for their gala event, <em>TruSpeak…Hear Our Voices</em> on Sunday.</p> <p>Maggie Baird, Brendan Bradley, Brenda Braxton (<em>Smokey Joe’s Cafe</em>), Jim Brochu (<em>The Big Voice: God or Merman?</em>), Nick Cearley (one half of The Skivvies), Robert Cuccioli (Irish Rep’s <em>A Touch of the Poet</em>), Andrew Lynn Green, Ann Harada (<em>Avenue Q</em>), Dickie Hearts (<em>Grace and Frankie</em>), Cady Huffman (Tony Award-winner <em>The Producers</em>), Crystal Kellogg (<em>School of Rock</em>), Will Mader, Lauren Molina (the other half of The Skivvies), Jill Paice (<em>An American in Paris</em>), <a href="https://culturalattache.co/2017/10/03/tonya-pinkins-time-alone-stage/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Tonya Pinkins</a> (<em>Caroline, or Change</em>), Jana Robbins (<em>Gypsy</em>), Dominique Sharpton, Haley Swindal, Regina Taylor (<em>I’ll Fly Away</em>), Crystal Tigney and Tatiana Wechsler are all participated. </p> <p>The gala will feature monologues, plays and an online musical. </p> <p>TRU is a non-profit that helps in the development of new theatre companies and new works.</p> <p>Tickets are $55 with VIP tickets also available (this is a fundraiser after all) that will include virtual meet-and-greet opportunities.</p> <div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="alignleft size-medium"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="300" height="169" src="https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Santino-Fontana-Courtesy-Seth-Concert-Series-300x169.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-13163" srcset="https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Santino-Fontana-Courtesy-Seth-Concert-Series-300x169.jpg 300w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Santino-Fontana-Courtesy-Seth-Concert-Series-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Santino-Fontana-Courtesy-Seth-Concert-Series-768x432.jpg 768w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Santino-Fontana-Courtesy-Seth-Concert-Series-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Santino-Fontana-Courtesy-Seth-Concert-Series-696x392.jpg 696w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Santino-Fontana-Courtesy-Seth-Concert-Series-1068x601.jpg 1068w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Santino-Fontana-Courtesy-Seth-Concert-Series-747x420.jpg 747w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Santino-Fontana-Courtesy-Seth-Concert-Series.jpg 1920w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" /><figcaption>Santin Fontana (Courtesy Seth Concert Series)</figcaption></figure></div> <p><strong>BROADWAY/CABARET:</strong> <em><a href="https://events.broadwayworld.com/event/watch-santino-fontana-seth-rudetsky-in-concert-february-21-2021/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Santino Fontana with Seth Rudetsky</a></em> – February 21st: 8:00 PM EST/5:00 PM PST</p> <p>One of my favorite movies of all time is <em>Tootsie</em>. When the musical was announced Santino Fontana was cast in the role of Michael Dorsey/Dorothy Michaels. (If you don’t know the movie, please do yourself a favor and watch it.) I purchased a ticket to see the show only to find out Fontana was out after the birth of his daughter. I held onto my ticket in hopes that I could see Fontana’s Tony Award-winning performance, but sadly the show closed before I had a chance to do so.</p> <p>Luckily we can all see how talented he is when he joins Seth Rudetsky for this weekend’s concert. He’ll share music and stories from his career that has included being Prince Topher in <em>Rodgers + Hammerstein’s Cinderella</em> and Tony in <em>Billy Elliot</em>. Filmgoers will recognize him as the voice of Prince Hans in <em>Frozen</em>.</p> <p>If you are unable to watch the live performance on Sunday, there is an <a href="https://events.broadwayworld.com/event/santino-fontana-seth-rudetsky-2-22-3-pm-et/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">encore showing of the concert </a>on Monday, February 22nd at 3:00 PM EST/12:00 PM PST.</p> <p>That is my list of my Best Bets: February 19th – February 21st. But before I go, I have a few reminders:</p> <p>The Metropolitan Opera’s weeklong look at <a href="https://culturalattache.co/2021/02/15/franco-zeffirelli-week-49-at-the-met/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">the work of Franco Zeffirelli</a> concludes with the first-ever streaming of his 1989-1990 season production of Mozart’s <em>Don Giovanni</em> on Friday; the first-ever streaming of his 1996-1997 season production of Bizet’s <em>Carmen</em> on Saturday and concludes with the 2009-2010 revival of his 1987 staging of Puccini’s <em>Turandot </em>on Sunday.</p> <p>Irish Repertory Theatre’s @Home Winter Festival continues this weekend. There are five different productions available for viewing. You can find out details <a href="https://culturalattache.co/2021/01/27/irish-reps-theatre-home-winter-festival/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">here</a>. </p> <p>Los Angeles Philharmonic’s <em><a href="https://www.laphil.com/support/icons-on-inspiration" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Icons on Inspiration</a> </em>with Julie Andrews, Common, Katy Perry, Yuja Wang and more is still available for free streaming (though donations are encouraged)</p> <p>There you have it. The complete list of Best Bets: February 19th – February 21st. I hope you enjoy the culture, you enjoy the weekend and for those of you struggling with the aftermath of the winter storms this week, I’m sending you my best.</p> <p>Main Photo: Tyshawn Sorey in a still from <em>Death</em> (Courtesy LA Opera)<br><br></p> <p>The post <a href="https://culturalattache.co/2021/02/19/best-bets-february-19th-february-21st/">Best Bets: February 19th – February 21st</a> appeared first on <a href="https://culturalattache.co">Cultural Attaché</a>.</p> ]]></content:encoded> <wfw:commentRss>https://culturalattache.co/2021/02/19/best-bets-february-19th-february-21st/feed/</wfw:commentRss> <slash:comments>0</slash:comments> </item> </channel> </rss>