DPO 9/11 Remembrance premieres three works

By Burt Saidel

The Dayton Philharmonic remembered the shock and horror of 9/11 with music that soothed and helped express grief. As important, it was a look forward into where music can transport us.  

The combination of a great orchestra, an incredible hall, the Schuster Center, and a program of more rarely heard works, made for another very special experience. The three works on the program were all Dayton premieres yet only one of them was “new music.”  

The concert opened with Olivier Messiaen’s L’Ascension.  Frenchman Messiaen nearly lived out the entire 20th century and was known as composer, teacher, organist and ornithologist.  His music is complex in its simplicity.  

The work opened with the horns playing difficult tonalities. Was this poor harmony by the musicians?  As we continued to listen, these doubts melted away as the sounds made more sense and pulled the listener into the swirling strings and compelling musical effects.  

Bird calls, Messiaen’s other passion, are always clearly evident in his music.  Persistent sounds from the strings required help from other musicians to turn the pages for those whose bows never left the strings.

Deeply religious, Messiaen gives his compositions very sacred subtitles.  Hearing his music transcends any label that even the composer can impose.  

Maestro Neal invited young American composer David Conte to return to Dayton for a third time. September Sun was written especially to commemorate 9/11. Conte collaborated with poet John Stirling Walker. The result was an embodiment of the sensitive poems given life by stunning musical effects.  

Imagine a string prelude, elegiac in the opening moments but developing into an uplifting paean. This is followed by a choir singing a cappella and recreating the same effects as did the strings. Finally, all elements join in dramatic yet gentle strains which define the poem, In New York, and the tragedy it commemorates with perfection.

Conte, as composer, brings so many gifts to contemporary music. Hearing his works makes me want to hear more.  Maestro Neal agrees.

The concert closed with the popular Requiem of Gabriel Fauré. I find it hard to believe that this was a Dayton Philharmonic premiere.  Without stating, “It’s about time,” I proceeded to enjoy the soft, even mellifluous music of the French master as played and sung by the Philharmonic, Hank Dahlman’s Philharmonic Chorus and soloists Mary Elizabeth Southworth and John Koch.  

Full of stunning musical effects and marked by restraint, the Requiem is a celebration of the Latin mass and the power of pure music.  Obviously, Fauré had never heard the crystalline soprano of Mary Elizabeth Southworth.  If he had, he would have written more for her marvelous voice and beautiful presence than one section, the Pie Jesu.

Dayton Contemporary Dance Company

I am running out of superlatives to describe Dayton Contemporary Dance Company.  DCDC’s national and international reputation has long made them Dayton’s top arts export.  

Their October concert at the Victoria began a season of all new works. The program rocketed into the stratosphere of dance excitement. Kevin Ward’s In a Word was unveiled as a work in progress at the Rhythm in Shoes concert in September. A second experience left us even more breathless.  

The work combines prize-winning poetry from Sinclair College’s Dunbar contest.  Synthesizing poetry into dance is often done. Having the dancers recite the poems as well as embody the spirit of the words into movement is unique.

Moving easily from speakers to dancers, their lithe and beautiful forms made the poetry and song live to the fullest. I was especially impressed by sensitive solos by newcomer Rebecca Sparks Vargas and DCDC star Julius Brewster-Cotton. Always exciting, Queala Clancy, James Dixon and Jaysin McCollum made a memorable trio.
It was the next piece, Donald Byrd’s J Lawrence Paint (Harriet Tubman Remix) which literally ripped your guts out.  Based on the paintings of Jacob Lawrence, this episode deals with the spirit of Harriet Tubman. She was the legendary Moses of the Underground Railway who led many slaves to freedom.

The entire company, physically beautiful, dancing to the very limits, portrayed more than any painting could express. In scene after scene, the pathos, anguish and suffering of the slaves could be seen and felt.  

Superstar Sheri Williams can create any persona to perfection. As Harriet Tubman, she was the focus of the work. William McClellan became a lynching victim, almost too real to experience. This work, along with three other pieces based on Lawrence’s paintings, will become color-ógrphy. The concert will tour over 20 cities this year enhancing DCDC’s national prominence.

The final work on the concert was Dianne McIntyre’s Lyric Fire. Dunbar’s poems, both dialect and lyric, were rendered in voice by Debbie Blunden-Diggs, Kevin Ward, Maurice Watson and Sheri Williams. Their dramatic talents added a new dimension. The dancing, in period costumes, brought the poems into a special life-form.

DCDC is a treasure.  This season of premieres will add to that treasure chest.

Bach Society concert Oct. 22

On Sunday, Oct. 22, at 4 p.m., the Bach Society of Dayton, along with soloists and orchestra, will present a concert entitled “Bach to Haydn.”  The program will include Haydn’s Mass in B Flat (“Theresienmesse”), his motet “Insanae et Venae curae, and his Concerto for Organ and Strings, as well as Bach’s Cantata 106 (Gottes Zeit is die allerbeste Zeit.) Soloists will include Andrea Chenoweth, Soprano; Liza Forrester, Mezzo-soprano; Randall Black, Tenor; and Jeremy Kelly, Bass. The concert will be conducted by music director John Neely.

Local residents participating in this concert include Margaret Karns; Dave Grupe; Faye Seifrit; Marc Georgin; Laura Thie; accompanist, R. Alan Kimbrough; and music director, John Neely.

The concert will take place at the Kettering Seventh-day Adventist Church, 3939 Stonebridge Road. Tickets ($15 adults, $10 students, children 12 and under-Free) will be available at the door or may be purchased in advance by calling (937) 294-BACH or by writing to: The Bach Society of Dayton, 1563 East Dorothy Lane, Suite 300, Dayton, OH 45429. CultureWorks “Passport” holders are eligible for 2 for 1 tickets.

Vanguard Concerts opens with Claremont Trio

Hailed by Strings Magazine as “deft, exhilarating and imaginative,” the Claremont Trio has been called “the freshest breath of air in the world of chamber music today.” Vanguard Concerts opens its 2006-07 season with the return engagement of the Claremont Trio on Friday, Oct. 20 at the Dayton Art Institute NCR Renaissance Auditorium at 8 p.m.

The Claremont Trio is composed of: Emily Bruskin, violin; Julia Bruskin, cello and Donna Kwong, piano.

Their concert will include: Piano Trio in D minor, Op. 32 by Anton Arensky; String Band by Mason Bates and Piano Trio in E minor Op. 90 by Antonin Dvorak.

Individual tickets are $20 for adults and $12 for students and may be purchased at the door. For advance purchase of tickets, contact the Vanguard Concerts office, 6077 Far Hills Ave., #196, Dayton, Ohio 45459.

K-12 Nutcracker art contest taking entries until Nov. 3

Dayton Ballet is excited to announce the 2nd Annual Dayton Ballet Nutcracker Art Contest.  Children ages 4 to 12 may enter Dayton Ballet’s Nutcracker Art Contest by submitting original artwork representing The Nutcracker theme by Nov. 3, 2006.  Select entries may be displayed at the Schuster Center during performances of Dayton Ballet’s The Nutcracker, Dec. 15-23, 2006.  All forms of media will be accepted with winners selected from each age group:  age 4-6, 7-9, and 10-12.  

Various prizes will be awarded to each winner and the overall winner will have their art reproduced on the cover of every 2006 Playbill for Dayton Ballet’s The Nutcracker.  All entries must be oriented vertically with dimensions of 8.5 x 11 inches to be eligible.  Each piece must include the child’s name, address, phone number and age on the reverse side.  Entries should be sent or delivered to Dayton Ballet, c/o Nutcracker Art Contest, 140 N. Main Street, Dayton, OH  45402.  Only one entry per child will be accepted.  The winners will be announced on Nov. 10, 2006.

Open Auditions for Inspecting Carol Oct. 23 & 24

Mix together a struggling theatre company, a tired pproduction of "A Christmas Carol", a really bad actor and a visiting inspector from National Endowment of the Arts and you end up with Inspecting Carol, the off-the-wall holiday farce. Everything that could possibly go wrong, does, as a ficticious theatre company struggles to mount their annual production of the holiday classic. Bad theatre has never been this much fun! Ring in the holidays with this unforgettable comedy!

No preparation necessary as cold readings will be delivered from the script. Auditions will take place Oct. 23rd and 24 at 7:30 p.m., Playhouse South, 3700 Far Hills Avenue, Kettering. (www.playhousesouth.org)

Arts education benefits literacy

By Jim Uphoff, Ed. D.

The famous Guggenheim Museum has many programs that it sends out to schools. Wondering whether or not such efforts by the museum and the school’s own curricular efforts on the arts made any difference, a major study was commissioned. Over a two school year period, the study interviewed hundreds of New York City third graders—both those who had been in museum programs and those that had not.

Over the years Oakwood has had many programs that were designed to support our full time teachers in art and music. I remember the Picture Ladies which
changed to Picture People as some men also became volunteers who helped introduced our children to world famous artists and their creations.  The Guggenheim program and the research study help to explain some of our own student successes over the years.

Those NYC children who had studied the arts, worked with visiting artists, and actively participated in the arts themselves performed better in six categories of literacy and critical thinking skills than did those who had not been as engaged in the arts.  Such key thinking skills as describing, hypothesizing and reasoning were among the aspects showing gain.

An important part of this study was centered around the fact that the students had to use their verbal language skills extensively rather than rely only on the more mundane paper/pencil format of most research studies and tests. The researchers hypothesize that the literacy gains occur because “talking about art and using inquiry to help students ‘tease’ apart the meaning of paintings helps students learn how to tease apart the meaning of written texts, too.  These skills are then applied to reading.”

The importance of the arts—visual, music, drama, writing, etc.—are vital to a full and rich education.  I worry that our nation’s emphasis on paper/pencil testing will cost our kids as they have less and less time for the arts. For example,  I think our State Board of Education needs to take a very public and positive stand on behalf of the arts here in Ohio.

I am convinced that our strong academic record here in Oakwood has been supported by our emphasis on the arts. I hope you will join me in working to preserve the place of the arts in our schools and in the lives of our youth not only in Oakwood, but throughout our state.

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October 17, 2006
Volume 15, Number 42

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