Eastman Presents – Eastman Philharmonia with Peter Serkin

This weekend we were treated to another wonderful performance in the Eastman Presents series. The first in the series, the hysterical Jason Alexander, was of course a sell-out, not just because of who he is, but because of when he was scheduled: U of R's Meliora weekend. Arturo Sandoval's concert in November was exceptional, and my friends and I speculated that because it was on a Sunday afternoon, the sparse audience was attributable to football competition. It was sad that Sandoval could see all of the empty seats, and not only did he remark on it, he practically begged people to return after intermission. We were underwhelmed by the Vienna Choir Boys (although the crowd was certainly bigger, the musical ensemble was smaller than expected, since they split into smaller groups that tour simultaneously), and left at intermission.

The Eastman Philharmonia did not disappoint in their performance of Mozart's Concerto No. 19 in F Major, with the extremely talented Peter Serkin at the piano. He was masterful, as expected, but also elegant, non-showy, and gracious to the students. My husband even commented that he couldn't tell the difference in sound between the Eastman students, under the skillful baton of conductor Neil Varon, and the RPO. And it was fun to see all those fresh young faces on stage (and there were a fair proportion in the audience as well – classmates, perhaps?), and watch them sway, and in the case of the cellists in particular, bob heads forcefully, in time with the music. What was disappointing was the audience – it felt like only a few hundred (although it was difficult to tell, from the orchestra, how full the balcony section was). Perhaps the snow kept some people home? But what we lacked in numbers we made up in enthusiasm, especially when it became clear, from the loud cheering at the end of the concert, that there were lots of students in the balcony!

There was a long awkward pause between the short first piece, played by the entire orchestra of about 90, and the Mozart, as the stage hands picked up some chairs and rearranged others to bring the piano on. It seemed like a lost opportunity for someone speak to the audience about the series in general and the upcoming Kodo One Earth Tour: Mystery performance on March 3, or about the pieces on the program, or about the Eastman students themselves.

There has been a lot of press lately about Rochester trying to brand itself as the “City of the Arts.” Much of this seems aimed at getting additional funding for our very deserving performing arts organizations. But selling tickets and filling seats are also important. Our classical orchestras need to find a way to educate Rochesterians about their “product” to create more excitement and demand, or perhaps adapt the product to what the audience wants (e.g., more John Williams, less Vaughan Williams...).

I hope that Eastman gives the series another year, as they promise in the program, to work out the kinks (maybe use Kilbourn Hall for the less popular performances?), and to entice more residents to become audience. Rochester deserves to have high quality musical entertainment, and the musicians deserve to be heard by more people.

A Purse for Change – Benefit for the Women’s Foundation of Genesee Valley

Until I moved to London, I was a one-at-a-time purse person. I would buy an unremarkable black or brown bag, and use it every day until it was too broken to patch or my friends complained that it was desperately out of fashion. For me, a pocketbook was a totally utilitarian tool, and the most desirable features had to do with a comfortable strap length, zippered security, and perhaps some internal pockets for keeping order. Then a new friend introduced me to the concept of a purse as an accessory. Initially, this seemed a needless burden – I would have to keep moving the contents to and fro, potentially misplacing something, like my glasses or my keys. But I bought some cute shoes at a place that sold bags that matched, and from then on I was hooked.

So even though I already owned dozens of purses (because I soon realized you don’t need just one black bag, you need different sizes and different materials for different occasions!), I went to the Purse for Change benefit for the Women's Foundation of Genesee Valley last year. I certainly wasn’t in the market for any additional bags, but I was on the lookout. And it was for a good cause – the foundation’s mission is “to empower and inspire women and girls to achieve economic self-sufficiency through grant making and education.” I was lucky to have been raised in a family and community in which this was not an issue. Poverty was never something that I would feel threatened with, and I took my ability to attend the college and graduate school of my choice for granted. As anyone who lives here knows, since we read it all the time, Rochester is one of the poorest cities in the nation, and unfortunately, girls and women are disproportionately affected.

My friends Martha and Gwen went with me, and we thoroughly enjoyed the event. Susan Latoski, the Executive Director, informed me that there were about 300 attendees (two of whom were men!), and about 150 purses (surprisingly, only 50 were donated; the remainder were purchased, with the aid of the benefit’s sponsors). The event was extremely well run – 40 volunteers kept watch over the purses and answered questions and processed transactions at the end of the silent auction. I bid on several, mostly to be supportive, but there was one in particular – an interesting two-fer by Miche – that I wanted badly enough to ‘buy it now’ so people would stop ogling and touching ‘my’ purse! I also ‘won’ a cute grey bag (well, I didn’t have a grey bag…) that had some serious bidding on it, and a black bag, constructed of recycled bicycle inner tubes, made right here in Rochester! I liked that bag so much that I visited the workshop, EvenOdd, in the Hungerford building and bought three more as gifts for friends. I lost out on a Louis Vuitton purse in the live auction – to Susan Latoski herself! The live auction was wonderfully run, with great patter, by Pamela Sherman, who is locally known as the Suburban Outlaw in the D&C.

Last year’s event raised over $70,000. I already have my ticket for this year’s event, on March 19. To learn more about the organization or the event, click here. I hope to see more of my friends at this year’s auction, and I promise not to bid against you!

Susan B. Anthony Birthday Luncheon

My friend (and Susan B. Anthony House Board Chair) Bernie Todd Smith invited me to join her table for Susan B.'s 195^th birthday celebration at the Rochester Convention Center, and since I'm such a devoted fan of the house (I take any and all guests that I can to see it!), I thought it was time to step up my support (and the chicken really isn't rubber...). I was amazed, as were the event planners, at the turnout – it was a record sellout crowd, at over 1000 people. The audience was predictably predominantly female, but I was surprised and pleased at the number of young women in attendance.

Susan B. Anthony, portrayed
by Barbara Blaisdell

Although there were many people on the dais, the remarks were short and sweet, and interjected with a lot of humor. Kathy Hochul admitted that she recently visited the House for the first time, and Bernie informed us that they get over 10,000 visitors annually. She also recognized that Miss Anthony's "vision is still an incomplete dream," and that "we need to continue the march for equality" (it's incomprehensible that we are still striving for gender equality in this country). Kitty Van Bortel, the presenting sponsor, confided that she had pinned a “Failure is Impossible" button to her underwear the first five years of her working life, as she strove to be taken seriously in the man's world of automobiles. At the end of the event, she generously announced that she would be matching all donations made at the lunch!

Lynn Sherr, journalist and author, captivated and inspired the audience as the keynote speaker. She shared anecdotes about Sally Ride (her most recent book is Sally Ride: America's First Woman in Space), whose career wouldn't have been possible without the tireless efforts of Susan B. Anthony decades earlier. Sherr compared Susan B. to her birthday-buddy Galileo, remarking that Galileo's crime was revealing that the earth was not the center of the universe, and Susan B.'s that men weren't, either!

The event was very well run, except for the inevitable parking garage headache, made worse by the snow (Sherr did jokingly complain that it was unfortunate Miss Anthony wasn't born in May...). The Susan B. Anthony House truly is a Rochester cultural gem, and it was great to see so many people taking an interest in learning about and maintaining it. Happy birthday, Susan B. Anthony, and thank you for making it possible for women today to take for granted the right to vote, the right to attend the University of Rochester, and the notion that women and men should be treated equally.

GRCC Prism Concert - A Taste of Song

How lucky are we to live in a community that not only has a lot of opportunities to hear and participate in choral music, but also has an umbrella organization that helps coordinate the various groups? The Greater Rochester Choral Consortium (GRCC) “was organized in 1996 in order to anticipate and avoid scheduling conflicts among choral groups in the greater Rochester area,” and its mission is “to enrich the Rochester community's environment by fostering the choral arts.” One of their fostering mechanisms is the biannual Taste of Song – an opportunity for member choruses (this year 19 of the 29 members participated) to present a 5-minute selection at a free concert in Kodak Hall. It started at 4pm and ran without intermission or applause (there were definitely times the audience wanted to acknowledge a group, and the organizers would do well to instruct people in the art of deaf clapping in the future) until the end, when Eric Townell, Director of the Rochester Oratorio Society, led the entire hall in three verses of the original 1814 The Star Spangled Banner.

The exuberant Chorus of the Genesee

This was my first experience as a Prism participant. The choruses had to arrive by 1pm for rehearsal (the parking lots were already filling up), to run through every group's songs and get the lighting right. To facilitate a seamless transition between groups, some were positioned on or in front of the stage, others in the boxes, and still others in the orchestra or balconies. Luckily, Concentus had a prime spot right in front of the stage, so we could be seen as well as heard.

the very expressive signer during
the Rochester Gay Men's Chorus set

There were only a few empty seats in Kodak Hall (to be fair, the choruses took up almost 800 of the 2300+ seats) as Tim Forster, Concert Committee Chair, welcomed the audience on this wintry afternoon; explained the Prism concept – begun here in the 1970s; and commended the choral groups, who normally “compete for audience, singers, and funding,” for their collaboration on this event. He proclaimed that “choral music is alive and well in Rochester,” before introducing Jamal Rossi, the Eastman School Music Dean. Rossi reminded us of the inscription on the facade of the theatre: “For the Enrichment of Community Life,” and said he “could think of no better place than to be inside this beautiful theatre and have our lives enriched by the music to be performed by the 19 choirs.” And then we were off and running!

Amadeus Choral Youth Singer: "We Sing for the Children"

The quality of the program was variable, as you would expect with such a range of groups. There were two children's choruses, and one moved the audience to tears with We Sing for the Children; they had won a GRCC grant to learn to sign the song, so it was especially moving to hear and watch them sing and sign, “We sing for the children who have no voice, who have no choice.” There were several community choruses and lots of small ensembles, in addition to large choruses like the Eastman-Rochester Chorus and ROS. 

Madrigalia in a box

And of course there were the professional sounds of Musica Spei and Madrigalia. It was a mostly Caucasian affair, with the refreshing exception of the Taiwanese Choral Society of Rochester, and their non-western music that reminded us there are other tonalities in this world. Concentus' piece, I Thank You God, went without a hitch, and the concert was over before we knew it. It was a treat to perform for that many people, and also with that many other singers – to share the joy of music for an hour and a half, before heading back out into the cold and snow.  

Final bow of the music directors

Geva's Little Shop of Horrors

I have a vague recollection of seeing Little Shop of Horrors 30+ years ago off-Broadway, with Faith Prince and Brad Moranz in the leading roles. Slightly more memorable to me is the brilliant Steve Martin as the dentist in the movie version. But I remember loving this campy musical, and “Somewhere that's Green” is recognizable even if you never saw the show on stage or film. I was eager to see it again, especially since it was being directed by Sean Daniels, who has a way with comedy (and sadly for Rochester, his talent has been recognized outside of our city; he will be leaving us at the end of the season to become the Artistic Director of the Merrimack Repertory Theatre outside Boston).

Puppeteer Raymond Carr demonstrating
Audrey II at the Open House

I'd been to Geva's Open House, so I was already impressed with the set and Audrey II puppets. And I'd been recommending the show, sight unseen, to friends (those who've seen it already reported back their enjoyment, although one friend was dismayed at the ending – she didn't realize the movie version, in typical movie fashion, was given a happy ending that wasn't in the original musical!). Little Shop has been a near sellout so far, so there was a great vibe in the audience the night I went. It is well cast – Will Blum reminded me of Josh Gad (and it turns out they both played the same role in Book of Mormon), and John Gregorio, who recently took the Geva stage in The 39 Steps, was a natural at portraying not just the dentist, but various minor characters requiring speedy costume changes. It was a delightful production, from start to finish.

Geva has used this musical as an educational opportunity, in its Stage Door Project, to partner with the theatre department of Rush-Henrietta High School. They are mounting their own production of Little Shop, on Geva's stage, and they have had the guidance of the entire cast and crew at Geva. This is the reason there is no show listed for Tuesday, February 10 on the website – that's the night of the high school production! The show only runs two more weeks, so you still have a chance to see it if you haven't yet. Then it has to close to make room for Sean's final production (until he visits us as a guest director...), Women in Jeopardy! This will also be a must-see (I attended the reading of this play last year, and it was absolutely hysterical).

For more information on the professional production of Little Shop, visit Geva's website: http://www.gevatheatre.org

For information on the Stage Door Project: http://www.gevatheatre.org/training-for-artists/