BIRMINGHAM ARTS & EVENTS

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Whatever the reasons, the Peabody Trio attracted only 74 people to its all-Beethoven concert in Birmingham in March 2006. Those fortunate few witnessed a fiery concert that revealed the composer's innate sense of architecture and drama, and intense and engaging playing from violinist Violaine Melancon, cellist Natasha Brofsky and pianist Seth Knopp, the resident faculty ensemble at Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore.

The Birmingham Chamber Music Society is bringing them back next Sunday for an intriguing program that explores the literary properties of chamber music. The concert's centerpiece is "Sindbad," a 10-movement piece by 42-year-old composer Harold Meltzer. Based on a short story that appeared in The New Yorker magazine, it alternates a narrative of a timid night school teacher with the adventures of Sinbad the Sailor. One reviewer called it a Victorian melodrama. Meltzer, who will be narrating at the concert, calls it "a postmodern fairy tale, a skeleton of traditional narrative fleshed out with recomposed characters and situations."

Leos Janacek's "Kreutzer Sonata," which opens the program, is based on Leo Tolstoy's tale of the same title, in which a man tells a traveling companion how he murdered his wife. The 1908 trio, which was lost and reconstructed by Stephen Coxe, became the basis for Janacek's String Quartet No. 1, penned in 1923.

Closing the program will be a pillar of the piano trio repertoire, Beethoven's "Archduke" Trio, Op. 97, which the composer dedicated to his student, Archduke Rudolph of Austria.

The concert begins at 4 p.m. next Sunday in Reynolds-Kirschbaum Recital Hall at the Alys Stephens Center, 1200 10th Ave. South. Tickets are $35, $20 for students. Call 975-2787.

Michael Huebner is fine arts writer and classical music critic.
E-mail him at mhuebner@bhamnews.com.
Blog: blog.al.com/mhuebner

ALABAMA SYMPHONY MASTERWORKS

Who's performing: Alabama Symphony Orchestra, Justin Brown, conductor; Leila Josefowicz, violinist.

On the program: Britten, "The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra" (Variations and Fugue on a Theme of Purcell), Op. 34; Ades, Concerto for Violin (Concentric Paths); Mendelssohn, Symphony No. 3 in A minor, Op. 56 (Scottish).

When: Friday and Saturday, 8 p.m.

Tickets: $12-$65. Call 251-7727 or go to www.alabamasymphony.org.

Where: Alys Stephens Center, 1200 10th Ave. South.

Concert Comments: 7 p.m., Reynolds-Kirschbaum Recital Hall.

COFFEE CONCERT

Who's performing: Alabama Symphony Orchestra, Justin Brown, conductor.

On the program: Britten, "The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra" (Variations and Fugue on a Theme of Purcell), Op. 34; Mendelssohn, Symphony No. 3 in A minor, Op. 56 (Scottish).

When: Friday, 11 a.m.

Tickets: $15.

Where: Alys Stephens Center, 1200 10th Ave. South.

In mid-September, Leila Josefowicz got the phone call of a lifetime. Not only did the caller from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation inform her that she has been deemed a genius, she was also told that $500,000 was coming her way.

"I must say, I was just stunned," said the 30-year-old violinist, who solos with the Alabama Symphony on Friday and Saturday. "When I got the call, I was in a really bad mood and I was really tired, which made the whole experience so much more surreal. I could hardly believe this was actually happening."

Between 20 and 30 MacArthur "Genius" Grants have been given annually since 1981, nearly 800 to date. Among this year's recipients are Regina Benjamin, a physician and UAB graduate who was recognized for her humanitarian work in hurricane-ravaged Bayou La Batre, and New Yorker magazine music critic Alex Ross, who cogently wove together 20th century culture and music in his book "The Rest Is Noise."

There is no need to "apply" for the award. They are given without the nominees' knowing they were even considered. The money can be used in any way the recipients choose -- "no strings attached" (the foundation's words).

Josefowicz is growing accustomed to receiving grants. She received an Avery Fisher Career Grant in 1994 and a United States Artists Cummings Fellowship in 2007. But now that the MacArthur is hers, does she feel like a genius?

"No," she said recently from her home in New York. "I feel the work I'm doing is very good work and very interesting work. I work extremely hard. It's not like it's easy and flowing naturally. It takes a lot of study and work."

Josefowicz was cited by the foundation for her tireless advocacy of new music, as a performer, recording artist and commissioner of new works from composers, a passion she has nurtured since she was a teen prodigy. This week, she will be doing more of the same with ASO -- performing British composer Thomas Ades' Violin Concerto ("Concentric Paths").

Continue reading "Leila Josefowicz to bring her 'genius' talents to Alabama Symphony" »

The First Emperor: China's Terracotta Army. High Museum, Atlanta. Through April 19 (admission charged).

The quest for immortality is one of the great conceits that have been forged since the dawn of civilization. The tomb of the Chinese Emperor Qin (Chin) Shihauangdi, who established the first empire called China, is among the most awe-inspiring and expansive of such efforts in the known world. There have been several touring exhibitions, including a show in Birmingham several years ago, drawn from the archeological site of his tomb, a single burial mound and surrounding area that is the approximate size of Manhattan. This current exhibition at the High Museum is being touted as the largest single showing of tomb artifacts to be presented to date. It is the inaugural presentation in the United States. Continue reading "Atlanta's High Museum exhibits artifacts from the tomb of Chinese Emperor Qin Shihauangdi" »

Grant recipients can expect about 10 percent less from the Alabama State Council on the Arts, according to Executive Director Al Head.

Across-the-board spending cuts announced Monday by Gov. Bob Riley will reduce ASCA's budget by about $500,000. The council this year received $5.5 million from state funds.

"I don't have the information precisely at this point, but the cuts will be significant," says Head. "We're going to have to work through our budget and make some adjustments. We'll be traveling less and spending less. There will clearly be some adjustments in grants that we have awarded this year."

ASCA also receives about $300,000 in federal funding, but the remainder is from the state's Education Trust Fund, which is facing a 12.5 percent cut from its $6.36 billion budget, minus withdrawals from a rainy day account. It will be a few days before the council can evaluate which areas it can and can't cut, and which special projects can still go forward.

"There are a lot of areas that we are supporting and funding, and we still will be, but to a lesser degree," Head says. "This will not involve eliminating any grants. Any grants we approve will have to be adjusted a bit."

Hundreds of grants were awarded this year, ranging from $1,000 to $250,000.

In the round of grants awarded on Dec. 5, a total of $517,145 went to 145 individuals and organizations, 28 of those in Jefferson County. They range in scope from dance and music events to artist residencies and apprenticeships. A complete list of awards and guidelines for 2009-10 awards can be found at www.arts.state.al.us.

Continue reading "Alabama arts cuts estimated at 10 percent for FY 2009" »

The year is coming to a close, and so is 12 months of theater, mostly good, with a little bit of the bad and the ugly thrown in.

I wasn't able to catch everything that opened in 2008, but I saw most of it, and the depth of Birmingham's talent - largely amateur actors who participate in community theater in addition to their day jobs - never ceases to amaze me.

Here's a look at the 10 shows/performances that I'll most remember in 2008 (in chronological order):

Continue reading "The best of Birmingham theater in 2008" »

HANDEL'S 'MESSIAH'

Alabama Symphony Orchestra, Birmingham Concert Chorale, Raymond Leppard, conductor
Arianna Zukerman, Angela Horn, John Bellemer and Thomas Barrett, soloists
Friday, Dec. 19
Alys Stephens Center

5 stars out of 5

Raymond Leppard's conception of how George Frideric Handel's "Messiah" should go might be a little risky. Choirs and orchestras don't often take kindly to innovative manipulation of the score, even in an oratorio for which it's expected.

But the proof is in the listening, and the 81-year-old maestro's brilliant vision of multiple choruses and bands of instruments made Friday's "Messiah" at the Alys Stephens Center one of the most satisfying in memory.

Leppard molded this exquisite music like raw clay, fashioning it into a sculpturesque masterpiece that surely would have pleased Handel. Everything clicked, from the edgy string playing to John McElroy's piccolo trumpet, from dramatic airs by the vocal soloists to the engaged singers of the 120-strong Birmingham Concert Chorale, who seemed genuinely excited about finding unique insights in a 266-year-old staple.

A highlight reel might begin with the Sinfonia, the ASO strings crisp and lively with incisively-etched imitation in the fugue, and end with a spine-tingling "Amen" that retained its transparency despite full-throttled volume.

Continue reading "Conductor Raymond Leppard fashions memorable "Messiah" with Alabama Symphony, chorus, soloists" »