$450,000 Worth of Gerbode-Hewlett Awards
The Wallace Alexander Gerbode Foundation and the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation have announced six $75,000 grants for the creation and world premiere of new works by California composers, created in collaboration with another California artist of their choice.
All the commissioned musical works will have their world premieres in Bay Area public performances between December 2011 and June 2013. The awards went to:
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Jewish Community Center of San Francisco, Mark Izu and choreographer Kimi Okada; a multimedia, multicultural, and multidisciplinary work, incorporating Korean, African, Indian, Japanese, and Hawaiian traditional music and dance, heralding the end of the Mayan calendar, and named Mu, after the lost continent, Pacific version of Atlantis
(Note: This project has a limited shelf life because there are only 695 days left to the end of the world on the Mayan calendar 12/21/2012. Also, shouldn't Mayan music be included in this project?)
- Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, Sarah Wilson and aerial dance company Catch Me Bird; a jazz composition for aerial dance, Off the Walls.
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Movimiento de Arte y Cultura Latino Americana de San José; Guillermo Galindo and chamber ensemble Quinteto Latino create Voces del Desierto, a piece exploring the journeys of immigrants
who cross the Mexico-U.S. border in search of a better life.
- San Francisco Girls Chorus, Gabriela Lena Frank and librettist Nilo Cruz; a cantata for treble chorus, chamber orchestra, and vocal soloists, Holy Daughters examines the cultural clash and interchange between the European colonial and indigenous worlds, and the roles and perception of women in each.
- Z Space Studio; composer Marcus Shelby and actor/director/singer Margo Hall develop a musical performance piece exploring the journey of a young black woman growing up in Detroit during one of the most exciting times for music and one of the most turbulent for civil rights.
- Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music, composer Laura Karpman and producers-authors The Kitchen Sisters (Nikki Silva and Davia Nelson); a multimedia symphonic collaboration, The Hidden World of Girls.
'Women in Music' at San Domenico School
San Anselmo's San Domenico School, a girls' school with a famed Virtuoso Program, will be the venue on Feb. 6 for a program of "Women in Music."
Led by Virtuoso Program Director Ann Krinitsky, the program will feature works by Maria Grimani (Italian Baroque), Teresa Carreño (Venezuelan Romantic), Hilary Tann (Welsh contemporary, Asian influence), Mary Jeanne van Appledorn (American contemporary), and Gabriela Lena Frank (Peruvian contemporary).
Saxophonist Kristen Strom is a guest soloist. Her ensemble, the Kristen Strom Quintet, is one of the Bay Area's leading bands. She has performed with many well-known artists, including Manhattan Transfer, Roberta Flack, Johnny Mathis, and the San José Symphony.
"For many centuries, women composers and performers were kept from public view," says the program announcement. "Tradition deemed it only proper that females confine themselves to the domestic arts and leave the concert hall to the men. Considered a novelty, women’s music might be heard at best in drawing rooms and recital parlors.
"During this time, only a few works by women ever found their way into the standard repertoire; most compositions never received significant recognition. Recent interest in Clara Wieck Schumann has revealed that although she performed to great acclaim in public, her concerts usually presented works by her husband Robert Schumann or her friend Johannes Brahms. Her own compositions remained largely unknown to the general public. Other women composers, who received acclaim during their lifetime, have similarly fallen into obscurity, along with their musical works."
Before the 3 p.m. concert, Lenore Alford will give a lecture, outlining the history of women in classical music, particularly from sacred traditions in convents, from medieval to modern times. There will be an exhibit of portraits of famous female composers by Maureen Blumenthal in the Faith Y. France Lobby.
Latest Chapter in the Radio Wars of 2011
Last Saturday, National Public Radio observed the 2010 double anniversary of opera on the radio: the centennial of the first broadcast from the Metropolitan Opera and the 80 years of live broadcasts from that institution, the longest-running classical-music program in the country.
Here in San Francisco, we were to mark the anniversaries with an absence of the broadcast on the air as the last Met-broadcasting holdout, KUSF-FM, was eliminated by KDFC (which itself removed Met broadcasts years ago).
Before moving into this self-styled metropolis many years ago, in then-semirural Hawaii, I had a choice of three stations for Saturday mornings (albeit at a very, very early time of day). In San Francisco, however, I was about to be up the creek without a Live from the Met paddle.
But hark! What is it I hear on 90.3 (the new KDFC)?! Sounds like Rigoletto — "live from the Met"! So, not all is lost. As long as you are in certain sections of the Richmond District, you can still hear the Met. For the time being, the new KDFC, with its limited reach, is doing the job of the old KUSF.
And, though I didn't even think of checking 102.1, it turned out there was "simulcasting" there with the new KDFC. Apparently, the changes came so suddenly that the replacement station (to be called what? and programming what?) is not up yet.
Anyway, now that KDFC is a public station, how long before it will have a fund-raiser, NPR style: two to three weeks of nothing but "give!"? Right now, both KQED and KALW are at it.
The Upside to the Downside of IRA Distributions
It's tax time and worry time over taking mandatory IRA distribution for those over 70½. The problem? When you take your very own money from the IRA account, you pay tax on what you get. Bummer.
But ... The president and Congress, during December's lame-duck session, which turned into the opposite of lame, extended the federal IRA qualified charitable distribution provision for another year.
That means the ability to direct up to $100,000 to be distributed to a charity tax-free and fulfill the minimum-distribution obligation.
The catch: Deadline is the end of January, so do hurry. See small print here, and good luck figuring it all out. I am neither a tax attorney nor do I play one on TV, so check with professionals — one of whom already mentioned the deadline was Dec. 31. Hope he is wrong.
DiDonato's Diva, Divo for Free
Not only did the Merola-alumna mezzo Joyce DiDonato have a great interview last weekend with NPR's Guy Raz, but there are excerpts available from every aria in her new album, Diva, Divo and — improbably — the entire album, all 80 minutes of it!I don't see in the printed report what I heard during the interview: that at the beginning of her career, DiDonato was only hoping to be a backup singer with Billy Joel. Overachiever!
Waarts Featured at Prometheus Concert
One of the youngest and most accomplished violin virtuosos around, Stephen Waarts, 14, has a booming international career, but he is still performing locally — next with the all-volunteer, Oakland-basedPrometheus Symphony.
Waarts is studying with San Francisco Symphony Concertmaster Alexander Barantschik, and he is continuing to paint, as well.
Conducted by Music Director Erik Hansen, the concerts will feature the Beethoven Violin Concerto and Mikhail Ippolitov-Ivanov's Caucasian Sketches.
There will be two performances: Jan. 28 in Berkeley's Presbyterian Church, and Jan. 30 in Oakland's Saint Paul's Episcopal Church. All Prometheus concerts are free, though donations are solicited. The work of the orchestra is made possible by individual contributions, an ArtsFund grant from the Alameda County Arts Commission, and support by Chevron Corporation.
Museums Are Rockin'
Art on walls is just part of the museum experience. If you go to the de Young, Legion of Honor, Asian Art, Contemporary Jewish, SF/MoMA, and others only to look at the art, you miss out on a plethora of other media. Museums are hotbeds of activity, offering lectures, films, concerts, activities of all kind, even parties. Here are just a few examples in the coming weeks.
The Music of Hamsters
Hamsters star in one rib-tickling TV commercial: a band of hamsters playing music in their cage on behalf of the bottled water Drench. This is one of dozens of fascinating "art of funny commercials" samples at Yerba Buena Center of the Arts. This new edition of the British Television Advertising Awards pushes the boundaries of the advertising world with innovative use of graphics, fascinating and hilarious subjects, and strange images.At 2, 4, 6 and 8 p.m., Jan. 27-30; Yerba Buena Art Center, 701 Mission St., San Francisco; $6 to $8. 415-978-2787, www.ybca.org.
'Textural Rhythms' — Jazz and Quilts
On the opening day of the Museum of the African Diaspora's next exhibit, "Textural Rhythms: Constructing the Jazz Tradition, Contemporary African American Quilts," Executive Director Grace Stanislaus welcomes the participation of "young professionals with the goal of expanding the community of art enthusiasts and MoAD supporters.""Textural Rhythms" is curated by Carolyn Mazloomi, who blends two of the most popular artistic forms in African-American culture: jazz and quilts. The exhibition of 64 quilts includes work from some of the best-known practitioners of quilting, such as Michael Cummings, Edjohnetta Miller, Tina Brewer, Jim Smoote, and locally, Marion Coleman and Alice M. Beasley.
At 7:30 p.m., Jan. 28, Museum of the African Diaspora, 685 Mission St., San Francisco; $5-$10 museum admission, the event is free. (415) 358-7200, www.moadsf.org.
A Johnny Mathis Homecoming
San Francisco native Johnny Mathis, who grew up listening to Jewish melodies in local synagogues, will
Mathis will reflect on his life in music, and will receive special awards for his contributions to the musical life of The City. The evening also includes a conversation among exhibition curators about the history of Black–Jewish musical collaboration.
At 7 p.m., Feb. 3, Contemporary Jewish Museum, 736 Mission St., San Francisco; $15 (including museum admission). (415) 655-7800, www.thecjm.org.
Vallejo Symphony Cancels Season
As reported in the Benicia Herald, David Ramadanoff's Vallejo Symphony opened and closed its 79th season earlier this month. The orchestra's board cancelled the season's two remaining concerts, "putting on the brakes while everything was still in the black."The problem is the same that plagues all organizations: cutback on donations while the recession's effects linger on. "There's no money to pay for the remaining concerts," said the board president.
With the current cutback, the administration hopes to preserve next year's 80th season.
Costumer Walter Mahoney Dies
Walter Mahoney, former San Francisco Opera costume shop manager and resident costume designer, died earlier this month at the age of 85. A member of the San Francisco Opera for 60 years, Mahoney was the 1993 recipient of the Opera Medal, the highest honor awarded by the company.A native San Franciscan, Mahoney began his association with S.F. Opera in 1943, working in the wardrobe department and with Goldstein & Company, then the supplier of costumes.
He designed new costumes for productions of La sonnambula (1984), Manon Lescaut (1988), Don Giovanni (1991), L’Elisir d’amore (1992), La bohème (1993), Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (1993), and, most recently, Orleanskaya Dyeva (2006).
Mahoney is survived by his partner of 49 years, William E Wilson, and his brother, Robert F. Mahoney of Fairfax, California.