Celebrity Series of Boston Blog

Beantown Settles for a Great Weekend

If you believe the weather forecasts you might think that a higher power is looking out for Darryl Settles and the Beantown Jazz Festival. The best weather of the weekend is scheduled for tomorrow when the Fest is outdoors, when the weather gets rough again on Sunday, they'll be in a hotel. Nice.

Here's Bob Young's preview of the Beantown Jazz Festival in The Boston Herald, and a bit about a worthy panel discussion on Miles Davis that includes Joel Brown (and is also part of the Beantown Fest).

"All Said and Done"

I can't bring myself to take down my blog roll link, but unless its creator has a change of heart, the St. Botolph's Town blog is through. That's too bad for all of us, she's a real pleasure to read, but she does have some valid reasons.

Friendly Reminder

Be sure to wear your costumes to the Family Musik presentation of Trick or Treat on October 29 at the Tsai Performance Center. Rob "Spooky" Kapilow will be wearing his...

Leonard Bernstein, Boston to Broadway (and sometimes to the Celebrity Series)

Leonard Bernstein, Bostonian

There's always something going on at Harvard and October is no different from any other month. From October 12 to 14, Harvard will present Leonard Bernstein, Boston to Broadway a dizzying parade of concerts, symposia, master classes, video screenings and exhibitions.

The opening concert, on October 12, is called “Boston’s Bernstein,” and it will feature Bernstein's Piano Trio (1937) and Sonata for Clarinet and Piano (1942), as well as works by his mentors.

Among those to be featured in panel discussions are: Harold Prince, producer of Bernstein’s classic 1957 musical West Side Story; dance critic and scholar Deborah Jowitt; actor/singer Marni Nixon, the voice of “Maria” in the 1961 film version of West Side Story; as well as members of Bernstein’s family: daughters Jamie Bernstein Thomas and Nina Bernstein Simmons, son Alexander Bernstein, and brother Burton Bernstein.

Read all about it here: Leonard Bernstein, Boston to Broadway.

If I know you, you're probably wondering how many times the Celebrity Series presented Maestro Bernstein over the years. Your answer: 3 times conducting the New York Philharmonic and once leading the Orchestre National de France. Oh, and we also presented Bernstein as an accompanist (!) for soprano Helen Traubel during the 1941-42 season. The concert also included BSO cellist Jean Bedetti and Conrad V. Bos, who shared piano duties with Bernstein.

In With The New...cool new stuff we are doing that we're really proud of

What's new? Well, the whole 2006-007 season is "new" in one sense, new performance dates, new programs, etc. There has never been a February 25, 2007 before (outside of a Twilight Zone episode, anyway) and Dawn Upshaw's recital at Jordan Hall is one great thing that, barring an act of God, should be taking place that afternoon.

But what about the artists that haven't performed in Boston before or on the Celebrity Series before? Or what about the new works we are responsible - in whole or in part - for commissioning? Well there's this web page where you can find out, see...

Before and After with Ellis Marsalis

Jazz Times Magazine has for some time published a variation on the blindfold test called Before and After, in which a musician of note is asked to comment on musical selections before knowing the identity of the performers and again after learning to whom they were listening. It's fun in print, but it really hits home in online form, when you can hear the selections yourself, read the Before comments and then learn the performers' identity just like the interviewee while you read their comments.

I just happen to have come across a Before and After from March of this year featuring Ellis Marsalis, pianist and patriarch of the Marsalis clan, who will be a guest of the Preservation Hall Jazz Band as part of "The New Orleans Revue" on October 15 at Symphony Hall, nudge, nudge.

This month's Before and After is with tap dance king Savion Glover - a bit of a departure for the column. Alert blog readers and Celebrity Series patrons will remember that we presented Mr. Glover in Classical Savion at Symphony Hall last year...not that you need a tie-in to read the article.

Fervor

Alex Ross writes his remembrance of Lorraine Hunt Lieberson in the September 25 issue of The New Yorker. Ross took a little time to write his appreciation and it shows: warm memories and a rich and satisfying analysis, with apt quotes sprinkled throughout. Ross' thoughts are worth making oneself revisit the tragedy of her death.

"She broke through the façade of cool professionalism that too often prevails in the classical world, showing the kind of unchecked fervor that is more often associated with the greatest pop, jazz, and gospel singers. She was often compared to Maria Callas, but she might have been a shade closer to Mahalia Jackson." Read all of Fervor

The New Yorker has also included a bit of audio of Ms. Hunt Lieberson and Charles Michener's article The Soul Singer from 2004.

"The Greatest Story Ever Sold"

Craig Crawford reviews Frank Rich's new book, The Greatest Story Ever Sold: The Decline and Fall of Truth from 9/11 to Katrina, in today's New York Times. I won't spoil it for you, but here's a clippet:

"Still, Mr. Rich ends his book by urging Americans to reject the pervasive culture of blurred lines between truth and fiction, or to risk being 'exploited by another master manipulator from either political party.' If the public does not heed Mr. Rich’s warnings, perhaps the news media will answer his call for coverage that more aggressively separates fiction from reality as a step toward a more truthful civic life." Read the whole review (login required).

Mr. Rich will get his chat on at an appearance rescheduled from last season at John Hancock Hall on October 22.

"Sense in the Sound"

Lots of people are seizing on jazz singer Cassandra Wilson's much-anticipated appearance in Boston as an opportunity to write about her. It's not our show (though Ms. Wilson has graced our stage), but I say it's fitting and proper. And one article stands out for me. In this week's Boston Phoenix, Jon Garelick picks up a thread that a number of critics have weighed-in on in the past (notably jazz critic Gary Giddins), that of singers singing as if they know the meaning of the words, thus conveying the meaning of lyrics effectively, versus those that don't convey meaning as well, and assorted implications. Discussions on this theme are often centered on the eternal question: "why-can't-we-boomers-sing-standards-as-well-as-our-parent's-generation-did." A worthy topic, and Garelick enlarges the scale to cover more styles. There is much more to the story than my shorthand, of course, which is why I recommend you read Sense in the Sound.

Too good to keep to myself

Want to know how to build a robot from a coat hanger? Well, I did. The Boing, Boing editor says it isn't really a robot, but it's that kind of attitude that has kept great thinkers throughout history from frittering away their time on foolish pursuits...