February 2011 by WRR Classical 101.1 FM

Overture

In this issue: Dallas Museum of Art & Cowboys Stadium, Nouveau 47, South Dallas Concert Choir, Couture Music, Soriano and Plata, Arsenic and Old Lace

Dallas / Fort Worth • wrr101.com

WRR Classical 101.1 FM

February 2011

A Monthly publication For Friends of WRR

Getting Police’d on D’Drum

B e s t - k n o w n around the world as the groundbreaking drummer for the legendary band The Police, Stewart Copeland has also created a substantial body of work for classical ensembles. His recent commission for the Dallas Symphony Orchestra premiered Feb. 3-6 at the Meyerson Symphony Center. Kurt Rongey, WRR’s Program Director, had the opportunity to interview Copeland before the concert. KR: Tell us what this piece is called and do your best to describe it. SC: It’s called Gamalan D’Drum. The gamelan originates in Indonesia on a tiny island called Bali. It’s an orchestra of bell instruments, very exotic and sophisticated harmonically. I’ve been listening to this stuff since college in the Nonesuch Explorer series. The folks from the Dallas Symphony came to me with this concept for the ensemble D’Drum. They have a set of these instruments in concert pitch, which for the first time makes

it possible to really write a piece for gamelan and orchestra. Music has been written for these instruments and orchestra before, but the tuning has always been funky and it’s always been limited in its scope. KR: Are all the members of D’Drum playing the gamelan instruments? Yes, and various other instruments. The gamelan bells are the star of the show, but they have all kinds of oddly shaped drums and other pitched instruments as well as cymbals and other gongs. It’s kind of a motley array of inanimate objects upon which they will aggress mightily. There are five in all, five crazy Texans who just love Balinese music. They’ve been going out there studying this stuff for 20 years. I think they’ve learned a lot of the language, certainly a lot of the musical language. I had to catalog what exact pitch each bell makes so that I can compose music for them. I took a little handheld movie camera and filmed each bell with them hitting it. Then I carved up those as samples and used those to compose the music. Actually writing the music was not

such a big deal, but it took another two years to create the score. KR: Do you incorporate other ethnic styles? The ethnic style of it is American, because that’s who I am. The instrument is an extremely exotic ethnic instrument, but I haven’t really attempted to reproduce classical Balinese music; that would be fake. I’m going after the instrument itself. The western orchestra is also not Indonesian. So the music is American, but it has this inescapable flavor. The music will be more familiar, but the sound will be strange. When you get five wild-eyed Texans blasting away on these things, it’s pretty darn exciting. And then you get Jaap on the podium there, leading that huge orchestra… it’s going to be a big night. You can find a recording of this entire interview at wrr101.com/podcasts and be sure to listen March 21 at 8 p.m. for a rebroadcast of this concert.

Still on point 50 years later

A vision at 50

The Texas Ballet Theater was founded by Margo Dean in 1961 as the Fort Worth Ballet. It became a professional ballet company in 1985. In 1988 the company began adding performances in Dallas and was renamed Texas Ballet Theater in 2003. Ben Stevenson and the dancers of Texas Ballet Theater are celebrating 50 years of world-class ballet for A Weekend of Dance, featuring Balanchine’s Theme and Variations, Stevenson’s Four Last Songs, and two World Premieres: one by Ben Stevenson, accompanied by the Booker T. Washington Jazz Ensemble, and one by Company dancer Peter Zweifel. Celebrate Texas Ballet Theater’s 50th Anniversary February 18-20 at Bass Performance Hall in Fort Worth and March 4-6 at the Winspear Opera House in Dallas. Call 877828-9200 or visit texasballettheater.org for tickets.

In 1961 the Amon Carter Museum of American Art opened its doors. By making provisions in his will, businessman and philanthropist Amon G. Carter had assured that a museum free and open to the public to house his collection of works by Frederic Remington and Charles M. Russell would be built. “It is my purpose to erect and equip a museum and present it to the city of Fort Worth,” he wrote the city manager in 1950. The council quickly complied, and the bedrock of Carter’s gift to the town he loved was secured. As he clearly suspected, Carter did not live to see his dream fulfilled. His daughter, Ruth Carter Stevenson (b. 1923), and son, Amon G. Carter Jr. (1919–1982), carried out their father’s wishes by seeing that his museum was realized. Stevenson and her brother, in concert with the foundation Carter established ten years prior to his death, selected Philip Johnson (1906–2005), winner of the first Pritzker Architecture Prize in 1979 and architect of several prominent DFW buildings including The Crescent Hotel, Kennedy Memorial, Momentum Place (Comerica Bank Tower) and Thanks-Giving Square, to design the new museum. The museum’s rise from a 20,000-square-foot structure housing a collection of western art to a building nearly four times that size with some 250,000 objects of American art is a testament to the museum’s consistent leadership and ambitious drive over the decades. The museum is now among the nation’s principal repositories of American art. Today a dozen exhibitions each year, drawn from the permanent collection and other premier museums across the country, entice visitors from around the world to visit the Amon Carter Museum of American Art. The museum is still free to the public. Lecture series, extended education opportunities, films, family events, and interactive tours are just part of the array of free programming the museum offers. After fifty years, Amon G. Carter’s gift to the city of Fort Worth keeps on giving, just as the man himself first envisioned and dreamed that it would.

African American Repertory Theater founder Irma P. Hall Irma P. Hall, who helped found the African American Repertory Theater in DeSoto, stars in Flyin’ West by Pearl Cleage at The Corner Theatre. Hear the interview with Hall and WRR’s Tempie Lindsey during The Classic Cafe Live from One Arts Plaza at wrr101.com/podcasts. The play, set in Kansas in 1898, portrays the rich history and unique challenges of a small group of black women who dared to seize the opportunity of a new law that opened up vast acres of land to people willing to simply “go west” and build Irma P. Hall new lives for their families. Flyin’ West runs Feb. 4-27. More details can be found at aareptheater.com.

Overture • February 2011

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Overture

By Joseph Kesselring | Directed by Scott Schwartz Starring award-winning Broadway legends

Betty Buckley

Tovah Feldshuh

Feb 4-March 13 Kalita humphreys Theater On Sale Now - Tickets as low as $15! DallasTheaterCenter.org (214) 880-0202 Associate Producing Partner CHARLES SCHWAB

Assistant Producing Partner Gardere Wynne Sewell, L.L.P.

The Dallas Museum of Art teams up with the Cowboys When Gene and Jerry Jones began planning a new stadium for the Cowboys, they wanted a place that highlighted North Texas as a leader in art and architecture. An Art Council of noted curators and collectors was assembled to recommend artists and their works. Its members include Michael Auping, Chief Curator, the Museum of Modern Art, Fort Worth; Charles Wylie, Lupe Murchison Curator of Contemporary Art, the Dallas Museum of Art; and Texas-based collectors Howard Rachofsky and Gayle Stoffel. The Dallas Cowboys Art Program is an ongoing initiative to commission contemporary artists to create monumental, site-specific installations for the recently completed Cowboys Stadium. The program launched in 2010 with 14 commissioned artworks, installed in prominent locations throughout the stadium. To celebrate the launch of this public art program and educate viewers, The Dallas Museum of Art hosts Big New Annette Lawrence Field: Artists in the Cowboys Stadium Art Program through Feb. 20. Field features some twenty works by the artists involved with Cowboys Stadium including Franz Ackermann, Olafur Eliasson, Daniel Buren, Annette Lawrence, Terry Haggerty, Teresita Fernandez, and Doug Aitken among many other others. Annette Lawrence’s Coin Toss (pictured) is one of the installations featured at the stadium in the South East VIP Lobby. The shape of Coin Toss alludes to the promising moment at the start of a game referencing a circle flipping in space across the room. Half of the circle is on the left and the other half is on the right. The steel cablewire crosses 45 feet from the top of one side to the bottom of the other creating a convex shape on one side and a concave shape on the other. As visitors pass beneath Coin Toss the Coin Toss, by Annette Lawrence. work transforms itself from an interior to an exterior Photo: Dallas Cowboys transparent conical form. One side completes the other. “The Art Program at Cowboys Stadium has enriched the North Texas art community with a unique commissioning program that brings together sports fans and art aficionados alike,” said Bonnie Pitman, the DMA’s Eugene McDermott Director. “With this exhibition, we hope to deepen that experience at the Dallas Museum of Art by providing audiences with further understanding of the work and practices of these leading contemporary artists who hail from North Texas, the United States, and beyond.”

Spotlight sounds for February Chopin: The Mazurkas; Mirian Conti (Steinway & Sons 30003) - 2 CDs of musical poetry from Steinway’s new label. The sound of the piano is of course amazing. Conti balances intellect and passion masterfully. Rossini: Stabat Mater; Netrebko, DiDonato, Pappano (EMI 40529) - Verdi had his Requiem. Rossini had his Stabat Mater. Antonio Pappano and his singers give it all they’ve got. This is an especially exciting release in anticipation of Joyce DiDonato’s February 8 appearance at the Bass Performance Hall.

CONDOS, BRAVOS LUXURY RESIDENCES IN THE ARTS DISTRICT

Fete Galante / Karina Gauvin, Marc-Andre Hamelin (Atma Classique 2642) - Songs sung in French with soprano Karina Gauvin. Piano super-virtuoso Marc-Andre Hamelin takes on a subdued, supportive role in accompanying the singer in some of the most tender and poetic French songs ever written. Mozart: Violin Concertos / Julia Fischer, Yakov Kreizberg, Netherlands Chamber Orchestra (Pentatone 5186453) - The complete set of five played by Julia Fischer. Gordan Nicolic, concertmaster of the Netherlands Chamber Orchestra, switches to viola to join Fischer in works for the two instruments, including the Concertone and the Sinfonia Concertante.

CALL 214-520-4466 FOR TOURS

Interim General Manager: David Fisher Editor: Paul Adams Send Comments or story ideas to:

ONEARTSPLAZA.COM

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Editor: wrrmac@wrr101.com, or Overture Editor - WRR FM PO Box 159001 Dallas, TX 75315 214-670-8888

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t F m f o t w t p b P

C c C

Staging something new in FairPark One of Dallas’ newest theatre companies, Nouveau 47 presents its first mainstage production in the Margo Jones Theatre at the Magnolia Lounge in Fair Park, Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure in February. One of Shakespeare’s dark comedies, Measure runs the gamut of controversial issues, including politics, ethics, religion, violence and sex, and is crammed full of inspired plot twists and timeless ethical dilemmas that speak as much to 21st century America as they did to Shakespeare’s 16th Century English culture. Director Tom Parr IV has transplanted Measure into an insane asylum – a world full of misfits, lunatics and madmen, and the officials who must attempt to control them. The production runs Feb. 10–26. For more information visit nouveau47.com.

Tradition, spirituals and singing Celebrating Black History Month, the South Dallas Cultural Center presents the South Dallas Concert Choir on Saturday, Feb. 12 at 2 pm. This free event features the 40+ member choir singing music that traces the history of African Americans. Following the ancestors’ tradition, the spirituals are sung in their original form without instruments, giving audiences an appreciation for the close harmony and beauty of the a cappella format of music born out of desperation yet ultimately looking forward with hope. For more information, visit dallasculture.org/SDCulturalCenter or call 214-939-2787.

All dressed up The Irving Symphony premieres Couture Music in collaboration with the Meadows School of the Arts at SMU Feb. 11-12 at the Irving Arts Center. Combining couture apparel in a runway show with a chamber orchestra featuring Joaquín Achúcarro, professor of Piano Performance at SMU, Couture looks at the interaction of music and fashion. Visit irvingsymphony.com for more details on this unique performance.

The Roots of Bachata The rhythms of the Dominican Republic take over the Latino Cultural Center on Saturday, Feb. 19, when two extraordinary Dominican musicians, Joan Soriano and Puerto Plata, join forces for an evening of bachata and son. The one-night concert brings together Plata, an oldtime veteran of the Dominican guitar tradition, with a young grittier bachatero, Soriano. The two musicians, accompanied by a 7-member band, will give the audience a unique perspective of Dominican music in all its forms - bolero, merengue, ranchera, mangulina, bachata and son. If you like the Buena Vista Social Club, you will love Joan Soriano and Puerto Plata. This will be an evening of bachata like you’ve never heard before! For more information and to get tickets visit dallasculture.org/latinoCulturalCenter or call 214-671-0045.

Meeting the family Betty Buckley and Tovah Feldshuh joined WRR for the Classic Cafe Live from One Arts Plaza to talk about the black comedy Arsenic and Old Lace, presented by the Dallas Theater Center, Feb. 4-March 13. Arsenic, strychnine, and “just a pinch” of cyanide probably aren’t the first ingredients to come to mind when thinking comedy but the Award-winning Broadway duo bring the Brewster Betty Buckley Sisters to life (and take it from a few lonely old men) at the Kalita Humphreys Theater with the help of the Diane and Hal Brierley Resident Acting Company members of the Dallas Theater Center. Listen to the entire interview with Buckley and Feldshuh on The Classic Café at wrr101.com/podcasts Tovah Feldshuh Do you think they’ll be serving elderberry wine in the lobby? Learn more at dallastheatercenter.org.

Overture • February 2011

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Must hear radio: February

Join Friends of WRR today! Why support the Friends? Music enriches all of our lives. We at the Friends of WRR are committed to providing programming that enhances classical music education and benefits the local community, its artists, and arts groups. Support from individuals and organizations alike enables the Friends to continue responding to artistic needs within the community. By giving to the Friends, you add your voice to our own and help promote classical music throughout the metroplex and beyond.

By Kurt Rongey Operations Manager

February 2011 marks the 2nd anniversary of the Classic Café at One Arts Plaza, the monthly live broadcast presented by WRR in partnership with One Arts Plaza in the Dallas Arts District. Since 2009, our live “music lounge” at One Arts Plaza has featured interviews and live performances from renowned musicians such as Marvin Hamlisch, pianist Marc-Andre Hamelin and violinist Michael Shih. We’ve welcomed guests such as Super Bowl XLV Host Committee President (and soon to be Dallas Symphony Orchestra Pres. and CEO) Bill Lively, conductor Alondra de la Parra, violinist Sarah Chang and philanthropist Caren Prothro as well. We celebrated the second anniversary of the broadcasts with guests including actress Betty Buckley, percussion maestro Stewart Copeland and Grammy-nominated pianist Joseph Banowetz. February is the month of love at WRR. Is there someone for whom you’d like us to play a special piece of classical music? We invite you to let us know and tune in for Command Performance, starting at 8 p.m. on Fridays. Send your requests to request@wrr101.com with a message for your loved one. We’re devoting Command Performance Feb. 11 to these dedications. African American composers and performers are part of the music and programs throughout the year, but during Black History Month, WRR takes the opportunity to highlight and spotlight the significant contributions of African-Americans to classical music. Our schedule features works of such brilliant musical personalities as Measha Brueggergosman, Leontyne Price, Andre Watts, Wynton Marsalis, William Grant Still and so many more. Check wrr101.com/playlist daily to see highlights as they’re scheduled. Looking ahead, we’ll once again be presenting the WRR March March Countdown in, you guessed it, March! Every weekday at 7:35 am from March 4-31, during our March of the Day, we’ll count down your 20 favorite marches. To cast your vote, go to WRR101.COM or send a postcard with your three favorite marches to WRR March March Countdown, P.O. Box 159001, Dallas, TX 75315. Ballots will be taken all through the month of February.

Members receive many benefits, including: • The monthly WRR Overture • Special discounts for merchandise and special events Support the Friends of WRR today, and help to support the education, enjoyment and understanding of classical music in the WRR listening area.

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WRR Classical 101.1 FM

Dallas / Fort Worth • wrr101.com

Overture • February 2011

February 2011

A monthly publication for friends of WRR

Broadcasting in all-digital

101.1 FM WRR • wrr101.com