The Kentucky Center Blog

Top 10 Life Skills We Learn Through the Arts

I'll admit this article is actually entitled "Top 10 Skills Children Learn from the Arts," but I think age is irrelevant. Anyone who engages regularly in self-expressive and/or performance-based activities can enjoy these benefits.

1. Creativity – Being able to think on your feet, approach tasks from different perspectives and think ‘outside of the box’ will distinguish your child from others. In an arts program, your child will be asked to recite a monologue in 6 different ways, create a painting that represents a memory, or compose a new rhythm to enhance a piece of music. If children have practice thinking creatively, it will come naturally to them now and in their future career.

2. Confidence – The skills developed through theater, not only train you how to convincingly deliver a message, but also build the confidence you need to take command of the stage. Theater training gives children practice stepping out of their comfort zone and allows them to make mistakes and learn from them in rehearsal. This process gives children the confidence to perform in front of large audiences.

3. Problem Solving – Artistic creations are born through the solving of problems. How do I turn this clay into a sculpture? How do I portray a particular emotion through dance? How will my character react in this situation? Without even realizing it kids that participate in the arts are consistently being challenged to solve problems. All this practice problem solving develops children’s skills in reasoning and understanding. This will help develop important problem-solving skills necessary for success in any career.

4. Perseverance – When a child picks up a violin for the first time, she/he knows that playing Bach right away is not an option; however, when that child practices, learns the skills and techniques and doesn’t give up, that Bach concerto is that much closer. In an increasingly competitive world, where people are being asked to continually develop new skills, perseverance is essential to achieving success.

5. Focus – The ability to focus is a key skill developed through ensemble work. Keeping a balance between listening and contributing involves a great deal of concentration and focus. It requires each participant to not only think about their role, but how their role contributes to the big picture of what is being created. Recent research has shown that participation in the arts improves children’s abilities to concentrate and focus in other aspects of their lives.

The Lights are out for Sound Check: Fine Tuning the Acoustics of Whitney Hall

One of the goals of last summer's overhaul of Whitney Hall was to improve the acoustics of the space and increase our flexibility to support the many different types of sound the variety of artists we present produce. The needs of the highly amplified rock concert moves dance party at the end of the Blue Man Group show last weekend and the sound of the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields chamber orchestra are very different.

For classical music, the shape of the hall in conjunction with the orchestra shell is designed to do most of the work, balancing the sound in the audience and on stage for the musicians so everyone can hear clearly. 

Some of the room is fixed - we can't really move the walls in the audience, and the seats are where they're going to be. But, hanging in the air and rolling on the floor we have orchestra shell pieces, and ceiling units - clouds, we call them. So the question is, how do we know exactly where to put them? How can we figure out where they will bounce the sounds the orchestra is producing?

Enter our Acoustician, Carl Giegold, of Threshold Acoustics in Chicago. Carl's been working on Whitney Hall for a while now, and he flew in this week to help us fine tune the placement of all of the orchestra shell pieces to make the Whitney sound its best. As it turns out, sound travels directionally through the air much like light, and to see where the sound will go, we can shine a light at the shell and watch its reflection. As we tilt the ceiling pieces, the distribution of the reflected sound changes, pushing more or less sound out at the audience, or back to the musicians on stage so they can hear themselves and each other as they play.

Here's what that looks like from the side of the stage, a little work light pointing up at the ceiling:

 

Now, check out Carl's view as he wanders around in the seating in the house:

From the audience, you can clearly see which parts of the ceiling will reflect a sound eminating from the point on stage where the light is set up to your seat. Carl explained the difference between the bands of reflected light you see - there are parts of each cloud that are wide and parts the curve up to the ceiling. The smaller highlights on the curves only reflect high frequencies, where wide, flat sections will push a clearer, fuller sound out to the audience or back to the stage. We've been staring at the ceiling making tiny adjustments to the tilt of each piece for the last couple of days, and tonight we'll finally get to hear how it all comes together with an orchestra on stage.

You probably won't see these details when you come to Whitney Hall for Joshua Bell and the Academy of St. Martin in th e Fields tonight - and really, how much looking at the ceiling do any of us do when we're listening to a concert - but hopefully you will hear them. 

 

Royal Phil performs at Kentucky Center Jan. 12 + thoughts on the future of classical music

As reported by Elizabeth Kramer in the Courier-Journal on January 6:

http://www.courier-journal.com/article/2012301080023

 The last time world-renowned violinist Pinchas Zukerman was in town was in September 1998 to play the Beethoven Violin Concerto with the Louisville Orchestra under then-conductor Uriel Segal.

But on Thursday, Zukerman comes to The Kentucky Center to play with another orchestra — the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, often referred to as Britain’s national orchestra. Since 2009, Zukerman has been its principal guest conductor while maintaining his position as music director of Ottawa’s National Arts Centre Orchestra, a position he has held since 1998.

Glenview Trust Enriching Life Series

ROYAL PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA

Pinchas Zukerman, Principal Guest Conductor and Violin Soloist

Thursday, January 12, 7:30 p.m.

The Kentucky Center, Whitney Hall

Tickets start at $25. Click here for Ticketing & Details.

The performance is a revival of sorts. The Kentucky Center had brought internationally known orchestras to town until stopping the practice more than a decade ago. Last year, the center brought the Moscow State Symphony Orchestra to Whitney Hall. The center’s president, Stephen Klein, said the turnout for last year’s concert made it a success, but that the ticket sales were slow until the week before the concert.

The idea of bringing Zukerman and the Royal Philharmonic here particularly appealed to Klein, given that he had worked with the renowned musician when Klein was executive director of the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington, D.C., with which Zukerman made guest appearances.

The violinist rose to prominence in the classical music world after Isaac Stern and Pablo Casals discovered him during a 1962 trip to Israel. That same year, Zukerman came to the United States, and since then he has had a prolific career spanning more than 100 recordings, including 21 Grammy nominations and two Grammy awards. In 1983, President Ronald Reagan presented him with the National Medal of Arts.

During a recent telephone interview from his home in Ottawa, Zukerman spoke sparingly about Thursday’s program, which includes Mozart’s Overture from Die Zauberflöte, Max Bruch’s Violin Concerto No. 1 in G minor, Op. 26, and Brahms’ Symphony No. 4 in E minor, Op. 98. Read more on the C-J site...

Another World: Sounds & Rhythms of Afghanistan

Last year, when Actors Theatre of Louisville unveiled its thrilling production of The Kite Runner, one of the stars of the show was tabla virtuoso Salar Nader. Of course, anyone who loves world music and saw tabla legend Zakir Hussain in his two performances at The Kentucky Center in past seasons is familiar with the tabla, a wonderfully expressive Asian drum. But for many in the audiences at Actors, watching Nader perform live was a revelation. Here is just a sample (from a recent production at the Arizona Theatre Company) of the incredible melodies he was able to evoke with his fingers. 

 

Now, Nader returns to Louisville with his entire ensemble, S.A.R.A. (which stands for Sounds & Rhythms of Afghanistan). As brilliant as he is as a solo artist, when he is joined by the equally gifted Homayoun Sakhi on rubab (an Asian lute), Abbos Kosimov on dorya (a kind of Celtic drum) and Homayun Khan on vocals, the combination is hypnotic. One of the joys of world music is the thrill of discovery, of experiencing something so new that it seems otherworldly, and with S.A.R.A., audiences can experience the music of all Central and Southern Asia. Check out their first video (with guest guitarist Alfredo Cesares).

 

S.A.R.A.
“Sounds & Rhythms of Afghanistan”
Thursday, October 6, 2011, 8 p.m.
Bomhard Theater
Buy tickets here.

 

Lily Tomlin: Unleashing Her Inner Edith Ann

From the moment she hit the small screen in that ground-breaking (and now, face it, horribly dated) TV chestnut Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In, Lily Tomlin has inhabited a very special place in the American subconscious. She is the perpetual id, the free-spirited, free-wheeling, free-speaking force of nature who uses her cutting wit and formidable acting skills to bend the fabric of our social universe. 

But how did she get there? What sort of childhood could produce such an ageless child? Whence Edith Ann? Well, watch this portion of an interview Lily Tomlin gave on the British talk (chat) show Enough Rope with Andrew Denton to learn how her upbringing was every bit as unconventional and uninhibited as her adulthood.

 

And then see how the wild child Lily Tomlin used her memories to create her most recognizable character.

 

Louisville Film Arts Institute presents
Lily Tomlin
Wednesday, October 5, 7:30 p.m.
The Brown Theatre

Buy tickets here.

 

Rosanne Cash: Storyteller

It's pretty commonplace to acknowledge that some of the best singer/songwriters are just storytellers who set their tales to music, and Rosanne Cash certainly qualfies as one of the best storytellers of her generation. What many don't know is that she is just as accomplished telling stories with or without music. A writer of numerous articles and four books, she is currently touring to promote her latest work, a memoir entitled Composed.

That tour brings her to Louisville for the Kentucky Author Forum on Monday, September 26. Click here to listen to an excerpt from Composed. And watch this story about her writing and her life from CBS Sunday Morning.

 

Kentucky Author Forum
Rosanne Cash
Monday, September 26, 6 p.m.
Bomhard Theater 
For tickets, click here. 

Photo: Stephen Cohen, Simohen-Art.com

Manhattan Short Film Festival: A Sneak Peek

The idea behind the Manhattan Short Film Festival is pretty simple. Invite filmmakers from around the world to submit their best short films. Any genre, any style. Comedy, drama, musical, documentary, animation, it just has to be short. Pick the ten best. Screen all ten for people in 250 different cities across six continents. (Can you believe Antarctica still doesn’t have a multiplex?) Have more than 100,000 film lovers pick the winner.

You can read about the ten finalists in this year’s festival here.  Plus, below are trailers (short trailers, naturally) for two of the finalists.

The Legend of Beaver Dam (Canada) has already won rave reviews from such prestigious publications as Fangoria and Dread Central. With credentials like that, you can guess what type of movie it is. It’s a horror/comedy/rock and roll musical, of course. (And be warned, the trailer is a little graphic.)

 

I Love Luci (Scotland) is a comic tale about a lost dog, unrequited love and missing dentures. Maybe it’s just me, but there’s something funny about a person speaking in a thick Scottish burr without any teeth.

 

World’s First Global Film Festival
Manhattan Short Film Festival
Tuesday, September 27, 6 p.m. & 8:30 p.m.
KentuckyShow! Theater
Order tickets here.

Contains mature content.
Support provided by Louisville Film Society. Media support provided by WFPL.

 

Wynton Marsalis, Jedi Master

This year, Wynton Marsalis is touring with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra (for which he acts as Artistic Director) to celebrate his fiftieth birthday. Fifty years old. I don’t know what that is in Jedi years, but it’s a milestone nonetheless. You didn’t know Marsalis was a Jedi Master? Well, check out the video below.

 

It shows him at a Master Class of students at the Marciac Jazz Festival in France. He’s teaching the younglings about improvisation, and coincidentally enough, he uses the tune “Happy Birthday” to demonstrate how improvisation works. First, he plays the melody. Next, he has his sax friend play the melody while Wynton “plays around it.”

Very well and good. But then, things get all Jedi. Wynton and his partner offer up a display of “collective improvisation.” (Or, as the translator deftly translates it, “improvisation collective.”) And at the 6:30 mark on the video, Wynton starts playing Jedi mind tricks on the sax player. YOU CAN SEE HIM DO IT! He just, like, looks at him, and suddenly it’s as if Wynton is playing both instruments! At the same time! It’s phenomenal!

Which all goes to prove two things. One, Wynton Marsalis is clearly a Jedi Master. And two, the Jedi Jazz Ensemble must be a pretty cool band.

Glenview Trust Enriching Life Series
Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis
Sunday, September 25, 2011, 7 p.m.
Whitney Hall
Buy your tickets here.

Sponsored by The Glenview Trust Company.  Media support provided by WFPK.

 

There’s Something About Carmen

Kentucky Opera is launching their Brown-Forman 2011/2012 Season with a stunning production of Georges Bizet’s masterpiece of violent passions and passionate violence, Carmen. In honor of the fiery gypsy’s return to the local stage, here are five things you might not know about Carmen.

1. The opera premiered at Paris’ Opéra-Comique on March 3, 1875 (the very same day that Bizet was awarded the Légion d’honneur), and was an instant flop. That’s right. It was considered too vulgar. By the end of its brief 48-performance run, the theater was literally giving tickets away. It wasn’t until a successful run in Vienna later that year that it was appreciated as a work of genius, and within a few years Carmen was playing in opera houses across the globe.

2. Unfortunately, Bizet never heard of Carmen’s subsequent success. He died of a heart attack at the age of 36, just two months after the Paris premiere. He went to his grave convinced that his last opera was a failure.

3. Originally, Carmen had spoken dialogue, much like today’s Broadway musicals. By the time it premiered in Vienna, the dialogue had been replaced by recitative, but some critics felt that the addition marred Bizet’s structure and pacing. As late as 1964, attempts have been made to create a single, authorized version, with limited success. Fortunately, none of this has much effect on the music.

4. The story of Carmen has been filmed 40 times. Charlie Chaplin made a short burlesque version in 1915. One of the most famous versions was Otto Preminger’s Carmen Jones, starring Dorothy Dandridge and Harry Belafonte, with updated lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II. In 1989, a German production company gave us Carmen on Ice. And the most recent film was this year’s Royal Opera production of Carmen in 3D.

5. And in case you’re still wondering, here’s Maria Callas from Covent Garden in 1964 reminding us why Carmen is the brilliant opera it is.

   

Kentucky Opera
Carmen
Friday, September 23, 8 p.m.
Sunday, September 25, 2 p.m.
Friday, September 30, 8 p.m.
The Brown Theatre

Buy tickets here.

 

Maz Jobrani: The Man from Iran

Americans are proud of their roots. St. Patty’s Day. Columbus Day. Oktoberfest. All great excuses to pretend we come from places we’ve never visited. Maz Jobrani is proud of his heritage, too. Of course, that heritage is Iranian. (Or Persian as his father reminds him. “We had an empire once!”) He was born there and raised here, a politically challenging history, to be sure.

Maz knows that being Iranian-American in a post-9/11 world comes with its own set of hurdles to leap. Why do casting directors want him to play terrorists and not doctors? And why do they always want him to strap bombs to himself?

In this very funny clip from last year’s TED, Britain’s version of IdeaFestival held at Oxford, Maz explained something about his stand-up routine and how he hopes, through comedy, to breed understanding.

 

Oh, and just because, here’s a really hilarious cartoon of one of Maz’s bits.

 

The Kentucky Center and IdeaFestival present
Maz Jobrani
Saturday, September 24, 8 p.m.
Bomhard Theater
Buy tickets here.

Co-presented with IdeaFestival. Media support provided by WHAS11 and WFPL.