Aisle Be Seeing You

Handel and Hendrix were neighbors

The Hendrix and Handel houses on
London's Brook Street (note the blue sign on each)

George Frideric Handel lived at 25 Brook Street, Mayfair in London. 200 years later rock and roll guitarist Jimi Hendrix moved in next door at 23 Brook Street (Handel had left by then). The good folks at The Handel House Museum in London, who use Hendrix's former address as administrative offices for the museum at 25 Brook Street, have mounted an exhibit of Hendrix memorabilia to celebrate the famed neighbors. Read The Guardian's coverage.

In their August newsletter, the Handel House Museum noted the passing of longtime Bostonian Sterling Hale, who was instrumental in negotiating the 999-year lease on the house for the museum. Read the Handel House August 2010 newsletter.

Which classical musicians are on Twitter/Facebook and what are they doing?

Amanda Ameer, via her ArtsJournal blog, Life's a Pitch, has taken a look at selected classical musician's approach - or perhaps their publicist's approach - to both Twitter and Facebook, with minor mentions of wikipedia. The list includes several people you may have seen on a Celebrity Series of Boston stage in the  past, such as Sarah Chang, Hilary Hahn, Renée Fleming, Lang Lang, Maya Beiser, and Yuja Wang. Lady Gaga is included on the list, I assume for the sake of comparison.

Check out the complete post, Doin' What Comes Naturally.

UPDATE:

Here, in no particular order and for no particular reason, is a short list of other classical musician types that Tweet. I am not endorsing these accounts, and I can't verify if they are who the names claim (hint: referring to themselves in the third person says publicist to me, not that there is anything wrong with that); I bring them to you in the name of science ...

@eighthblackbird
@evanziporyn
@SteveReich
@DawnUpshaw
@GustavoDudamel
@MaestroMaazel
@silkroadproject
@GilShaham
@DavidKrakauer
@thomas_hampson
@simonrattle

A profile of the remarkable Christine Brewer

From KTEC in St. Louis, the story of the little girl from Shawnee High School who grew up to be a major opera star.

Christine Brewer makes her Celebrity Series debut in recital on January 15.

Mark Morris Dance Group dancer Julie Worden opens up

Julie Worden

Mark Morris Dance Group dancer Julie Worden has just done a fascinating interview with Time Out New York. Worden covers a range of topics, from inside baseball on working with Morris, to her two knee operations as a child, in an interesting and very articulate way. Great stuff. So much for dancers not being verbal:

"TIME OUT NEW YORK: What are some recent dances that mean a lot to you?

WORDEN: I find the Ives Piano Trio, "Empire Garden," fascinating. There are these unbelievable layers of Americana folk themes played over crazy polyrhythms. You can make out “My Old Kentucky Home” in the midst of mayhem. Inside the dance it feels like pure chaos. Watching it, you can see these layers fit together, as a quilt of old folklore. I find it incredibly vibrant and fresh. It really moves me intellectually. There are moments of pure communism, where we are a part of a political concept that feels so real, I get chills."

The complete interview can be found here.

By the way, Empire Garden will be on the program (along with the world premiere of a Celebrity Series of Boston commissioned work) when MMDG opens our 2010-2011 season October 14-17 at the Cutler Majestic Theatre.