Halsey Exhibition Return to the Sea: Saltworks

Return to the Sea: Saltworks 
by Motoi Yamamoto

ART OPENING: A LONG TIME AGO

OPENING AT THE CITY GALLERY: A LONG TIME AGO....

Kulture Klash Conversation with artist Nathan Durfee

At this year's Kulture Klash I had the privilege of interviewing Nathan Durfee a visual artist here in Charleston, SC. I talked to Nathan about on of his most recent works, Search For Song. Click on the image below to listen to this interview.




See more Audio at TeacherTube.com.


To see more images of artwork created by Nathan visit his website at: http://www.nathandurfee.com/

Pure Theater's Hogs: The Interview

Coming Soon.... my conversation with Rodney Rogers about Pure Theater's production of Hogs.

Pure Theater's production of Hogs: PREP KIT

Tomorrow night I will have the opportunity to watch Pure Theater’s production of Hogs, a new adaptation of Ibsen’s play Enemy of the People.

I am eager to see how Rodney Rogers interprets Ibsen’s play for modern audiences. In Ibsen’s original play the character of Dr. Stockmann is subjected to the slings and arrows of the “tyranny of the majority” when he steadfastly defends the need to speak the truth. Stockmann's struggle to be heard over the shouts of the majority is sadly all too familiar still today. In a world dominated by bumper sticker politics and for profit journalism Ibsen's message is highly relevant.

Speaking before a jeering crowd Dr. Stockman proclaims that,

“The most dangerous enemy of truth and freedom amongst us
is the compact majority--yes, the damned compact Liberal
majority--that is it! Now you know!”

Moments later the doctor continues,

The majority never has right on its side. Never, I
say! That is one of these social lies against which an
independent, intelligent man must wage war. Who is it that
constitute the majority of the population in a country? Is it the
clever folk, or the stupid? I don't imagine you will dispute the
fact that at present the stupid people are in an absolutely
overwhelming majority all the world over. But, good Lord!--you
can never pretend that it is right that the stupid folk should
govern the clever ones I (Uproar and cries.) Oh, yes--you can
shout me down, I know! But you cannot answer me. The majority has
might on its side--unfortunately; but right it has not. I am in
the right--I and a few other scattered individuals. The minority
is always in the right. (Renewed uproar.)

Below is a clip from Arthur Miller’s 1966 adaptation of the play.

I found some of the statements Bill Moyers made in 2008. He speaks about how democracy only works when ordinary people claim it as their own. So it's up to you to tell the truth about this country we love. It's up to you to tell the truth about what's happening to ordinary people. It's up to you to remind us that democracy only works when ordinary people claim it as their own.

City Paper review of the play:
http://www.charlestoncitypaper.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A66116

The Immersed Teacher: Joshua Bell

Last night I had the pleasure of seeing, hearing, and feeling the music created by one of the greatest living volinists in the world, Joshua Bell.











My favorite part of the performance came after the intermission when Bell performed Ysaye's "Violin Sonata in A Minor".



The tune of Ysaye's work was very familiar to me. It was half way through the performance that it struck me, the "death chant" tune was the same that is played in the background of the opening title sequence for the film, The Shining.



$32.17
That's how much money Joshua Bell made when he played in a Metro station in April 2007. It was part of an experiment by The Washington Post that examined the question, will busy commuters take the time to stop for beauty?
Read the full article here:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/04/AR2007040401721.html

The Immersed Teacher: Fall Training _________The Warsaw Philharmonic

Tonight I heard the Warsaw Philharmonic perform at the Gaillard Auditorium. I went to the performance tonight eager to hear Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 6. Instead I left with a new appreciation for Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1.

The Warsaw orchestra opened with a piece titled Orawa composed by Wojciech Kilar. At the center of the piece was a jagged melody that was repeated while surrounded by a sea of slicing sounds. The following is the image that was singed into my mind as I listened to this opening work:

Later that night when reading the program I discovered that Orawa is a word reminiscent of "olawa", which denotes a mountain pasture; its grass cover trampled by sheep and on which young shepherds celebrated the end of the grazing period with a rousing "zbojnicki" (robbers') dance. Orawa is a kind of musical painting of mountain nature and the highland folk.

The next piece featured the pianist Valentina Lisitsa which the program described as having "the kind of talent that comes along once in a generation." I am not a fan of piano concertos but Lisitsa's performance won me over. Her playing impressed not only me but also my 9 year old daughter Zoe. Lisitsa's flurry of fingers sparked repeated exhalations of wonderment and amazement from my daughter. At times her fluid mastery of the keys approached a surreal state. The following is my illustrated response to her performance:

The following video is an example of the magic that I witnessed tonight:

The final performance was Tchaikovsky's Symphony #6.
Interesting thing that I learned. If you squint your eyes during the performance everything disapears except for the muscians hands and bows. It made the visual effects that much more interesting. Here is the image that this work inspired: