Elegy Becomes Focal Point on a Concert of Works by Houston Composer Reynaldo Ochoa

Percussionist Craig Hauschildt performs in Ochoa's
Pensaminetos Perfumados at the University of St. Thomas

The premiere of Elegy by Houston composer Reynaldo Ochoa became the focal point on a concert of his works presented by the University of St. Thomas at Cullen Hall on Tuesday night. Centrally placed on the program, Elegy was performed by Houston Symphony Orchestra cellists Chris French and Anthony Kitai, with narration by KUHF Radio Announcer Elaine Kennedy.

Dedicated to the fallen in Iraq, Elegy produced an ebbing dissonance that seeped into the room and then withdrew, leaving a low tremor in its wake. Connected to the music and to each other to a degree that was riveting, French and Kitai’s playing constituted one of the most powerful and fully realized interpretaions of Ochoa's work on the program. Elaine Kennedy added the spoken names of soldiers with just the right volume and placement, becoming a third voice in the trio rather than an overlay.

The final work of the evening, Ochoa's Pensamientos Perfumados, featured Houston Symphony powerhouse Dick Nunemaker on clarinet joined by Craig Hauschildt and Bryan Dilks on percussion. Nunemaker’s continued commitment to not only playing new music, but eating up scores like a favorite meal, was in full force. The three players made a formidable trio. Nunemaker was ecstatic as he drove the work to its raucous Rite of Spring-like ending.

University of St. Thomas presents a program of music by Houston composer Reynaldo Ochoa

Photo: (clockwise from top) Composer Reynaldo Ochoa
rehearses cellists Anthony Kitai and Chris French, and
KUHF Radio Announcer Elaine Kennedy


Warm currents of moist air blow in from the Caribbean Sea; the palm trees remain still and graceful because the wind is not sufficient to move them. The crystal clear waters on the other hand stir slightly, and then open their eyes to the rapidly approaching sunset. Does this sound good for a weeknight? Then the University of St. Thomas’ Cullen Hall might be the place to head this Tuesday April 24 at 7:30. The University’s music department presents a free concert of the music of Houston composer Reynaldo Ochoa.

The University of Thomas has begun a series of concerts designed to showcase music by composers who chose our city as the place where they live and create new work. Instead of a sampling by multiple composers, their concerts seek to demonstrate the range and richness of the works of one composer per each program. Tuesday’s presentation of music by Reynaldo Ochoa, who has been commissioned by the Houston Symphony Orchestra (Sounds Like Fun Concert Series) and David Bilger (Principal Trumpeter of the Philadelphia Orchestra), shows the composer’s impressive range and creativity with a selection of four works.

Louie’s, Key West, a suite for solo piano by Ochoa, is inspired by a series vibrant abstract expressionist canvases by New York artist Peter Josyph. The music, which was commissioned by the Michele Brangwen Dance Ensemble in 2002, explores the miracle of place and its capacity to stimulate emotion. The score and the paintings both take their title from the legendary restaurant located on the southernmost tip of the United States. Originally written for Edith Orloff to perform with the MBDE, Tuesday’s concert puts the score in the capable hands of pianist Rodolfo Morales, and gives audiences a chance to hear the music minus the dancing girls.

The evening will also feature the premiere of Elegy, performed by Houston Symphony Orchestra cellists Anthony Kitai and Chris French, with narration by KUHF Radio Announcer Elaine Kennedy. The work is dedicated to the fallen in Iraq.

Earlier work by Ochoa is represented by his sensual and jazz-like Songs of Solomon from 2000, performed by Mary Hines, vocals; Timothy Hester, piano; Frank Murray, string bass; and Ben Atkinson, percussion.

His energetic and driving Pensamientos Perfumados (loosely translated as Scented Thoughts) from 2001 is a work for clarinet and two percussionists. Each movement based on a different feeling evoked by scent and memory, the work is performed by HSO clarinetist Richard Nunemaker joined by percussionists Bryan Dilks and Craig Hauschildt. Also commissioned by MBDE, the work has been performed at Stude Concert Hall, Moores Opera House, and Miller Outdoor Theater as part of the Weekend of Texas Contemporary Dance. The four movements range from the dramatic and rhythmic rush of Pura Vida (Pure Life) and Tus Flower (Your Flowers) to the lush soundscape of Lluvia (Rain) and Momentos Antes de Sonar (Moments before Dreaming), with its plaintive marimba murmuring as it settles into sleep.

The concert, which begins at 7:30, is free and lasts just under an hour. Cullen Hall is located in the University of St. Thomas campus at 4001 Mt. Vernon.

Miami Moves: A Weekend at the Miami Beach Dance Festival

Carolyn Dorfman Dance Company
Photo by Tom Caravaliga

It’s good to send the dance critic out of town every now and then. With that in mind, I jumped at the chance to be a last minute dance talk replacement for Tedd Bale at the Miami Beach Dance Festival. Plus, as much as I love you all, I welcomed an opportunity to see new faces dancing through space.

Momentum Dance Company’s Artistic Director, Delma Iles, organized the festival. Iles is a one-woman dance hurricane. She’s not kidding about the momentum part; this dance maven does more in one morning than I do in a week, and looks good doing it. (Note to self: next visit to Miami dump the frumpola routine and save up for a pair of Manolo Blahniks.)

Where better way to launch a festival than in a jungle? The festival got off to magical start with members of Momentum Dance Company romping through the Miami Beach Botanical Garden. Modern dance amidst bromeliads and bamboo works extraordinarily well. The dancers that were not afraid to get muddy and dance on concrete included Danella Bedford, Odman Felix, Amber Wortham, Amy La Rue and Jesse Sani.

Getting up to speed on two artists I new zilch about was no easy task, but I did my best to sound like I at least tried to learn a lot in a short period of time. My first talk was on Aria for Endangered Species, performed by Core Performance Company with choreography by Ellen Bromberg, and images and music by Yoko Ono. Bromberg was the “it’ choreographer while I was living in San Francisco, so it was wonderful to catch up with her. Turns out this piece was a pivotal piece for her and the first time she incorporated visual media into her work. Bromberg is now a filmmaker and teaches at the University of Utah. I hope we get to see her work in Houston some day soon.

Because the piece is quite elaborate with huge paper mountains, Core’s Artistic Director, Sue Schroeder, excerpted the piece salon style, interspersing live performance with Ono and Bromberg’s words. Wonderfully sensitive performances by Renne Dismukes, Brooks Emmanuel, Lori Teague, and D. Patton White brought the performance to life. Re-visiting Ono’s work came as a blessing as well. In the 80s I was part of a Fluxus revival at the Washington Project for the Arts. Of course, as a typical unconscious artist, I had no idea what I was performing; it just felt cool. We forget the road Ono paved for us in her work that continually questioned and reframed perception. I plan to start using some of her Instruction Paintings as way to refresh my own lens. The event was presented by the Center for Emerging Art under the direction of Ava Rado. Special thanks to curator Valerie Cassel Oliver at the CAM for giving me some direction with the Yoko part of my talk.

My next challenge was to come up with something meaningful to say about Carolyn Dorfman, a mid-career artist with some 50 works under her choreographic belt. The Carolyn Dorfman Dance Company has been performing in and around New York, and elsewhere since 1982. She’s a serious woman that makes substantial work and it was a great joy to get to know her and her work. Dorfman crafts dances that delve deeply into her Jewish history, her love of storytelling, and her finesse with props. Not just any props, but big ones, like a huge 120 lb. wheel in Echad. Dorfman is a whiz at making the stuff she puts on stage look like it really belongs there. I half expected the wheel to take a bow. Her newest work, Cat’s Cradle, traces life in Theresienstadt, a ghetto in Czechoslovakia where they sent all the artists and intellectuals. The piece draws its history from true-life tales of Dorfman’s mother and aunts (all Holocausts survivors) enlisting knitting as a means to endure. It’s a haunting work, built from reverence and remembrance. With songs, sung in English and German, by Ilse Weber and Bente Kahan we revisit this chilling period in history. The piece was beautifully danced by her fine troupe: Joan Chiang, Jacqueline Dumas, Sarah Wagner, Kate Hirstein, Wendee Rogerson, Kyla Barkin, Mark Taylor, David Shen, Aaron Selissen, and Jon Zimmerman.

I finally just got to kick back and watch a spared bill between Momentum Dance Company, and an energetic spin-off company, Dance Now! Ensemble, under the direction of Hannah Baumgarten and Diego Salterini. Iles’ errie Sand Calendar takes place in a sand rainstorm (300 lbs. worth to be exact). And what a treat to see Jose Limon’s The Exiles, elegantly danced by Sani and Bedford. Baumgarten and Salterini’s lively dances were more of a jazzy genre. The festival continues with Ballet Flamenco La Rosa and Ballet Contemporaneo de la Cuidad de Oaxaca.

No festival is complete without awards; this is a perfect time to honor those that work tirelessly to keep dance on the upswing in their communities. Miami Beach Dance Festival awards went to Florene Litthcut Nichols, who has helped countless students experience the joy of dance, and Pedro Pablo Pena whose leadership in the Miami International Ballet Festival has made an enormous contribution to Miami culture.

Evenings were spent at the fabulous Z Wine Grill, the official watering and dining spot for the festival, while I spent my days hanging with the peacocks poolside. Not a bad way to spend the weekend.

New York Trumpeter Jim Rotondi with Woody Witt, Joe LoCascio, Brennen Nase and Sebastian Whittaker at Cezanne

Photo by Pin Lim

On Saturday night at Cezanne, the bop was so buoyant and aggressive, it would drive the phantoms of a stressful work week out of almost anyone’s head. I don’t like the term “hard-bop,” because “hard” sounds like something that stops, the word it self causing your mouth to pause mid phrase. Hard is something solid upon which there is no yielding, and all forms of bop are pliant and moving. New York trumpeter Jim Rotondi’s driving-bop style revved up the quintet consisting of Woody Witt on saxophone, Joe LoCascio on piano, Brennen Nase on bass, and Sebastian Whittaker on drums. They were cooking, the audience was sizzling, and the second set served up Witt’s tune “Trance.” Witt and Rotondi were responsive and agile, propelling the music into a frenzy of spontaneous waves of sound when all of a sudden LoCascio vacuumed up the entire sonic palette into the pinpoint of an unaccompanied piano solo. Poetic yet still part of the hypnotic tune, LoCascio’s solo let the energy build back up again in a different way. It’s like running to the roof but taking a different staircase for the variety of it, and back on they all bounced to the tune’s ending. Nase and Whittaker are a tight rhythm section, really feeling each other’s grove. The laying out for a few more unaccompanied solos throughout the evening gave the music balance amid this pretty athletic ensemble. Witt seemed to channel Dexter Gordon on “Body and Soul,” and yet with his own imprint mingled in. Cezanne was at full capacity. Pin Lim was discretely taking photos in the corner, and waitress Erin moved through the patrons with her usual sparkle.

Some Questions

I was posting on an online art forum recently and had some interesting experiences.

What is it about the internet that allows one to let all their censors down and spit fire so freely? Is it simply anonymity? Is it that one can thwart responsibility for their actions? Does one even truly dodge the consequences of this action?

Sometimes it seems that sincerity is a threat. Many times we can be so caught up in our own ignorance that when someone enters our lives coming from an opposite viewpoint it threatens our reality and we lash out. When one is holding on to anger and someone presents that with kindness it is so revealing of that state that one might respond with even more anger.

Why is it that sincerity is viewed as a weakness or presumed as naive? Isn't this what we strive for? Authenticity, sincerity?

This is where I believe all great art comes from. Though you can get some sincere bad art too...

Unhinged Productions' Corpus Christi

I've been thinking about how ensembles work in theater. As you might guess (from the title of this blog entry) I saw Terence McNally's play Corpus Christi this past Monday night. Just to kill any threat of suspense: the production is worth seeing, even if you're not lucky enough to be present on a night when the piano tries to commit suicide in the wings. I'm a little biased, and so I'm not going to present this as a review. I know one of the main actors, the director, and have met a number of the people on Unhinged's board (all nice, all talkative, all wine drinkers).

And so, even though the production is good (and won me over despite it -- as McNally threatens in the beginning -- telling the story of Christ over again with a gay Jesus and apostles in a slightly see-through modern dress) and there are some winning performances (notably Nicholas Lewis as Judas and Sydney Truss as John), this isn't really about reviewing the play.

Instead, I'm interested in this play that involves thirteen actors to play a variety of parts and how, in an ensemble cast, even if you try, individuality tends to get lost and disintegrate under the wealth of parts each actor is required to play. McNally even tries to avoid this pitfall by introducing each of the "main" characters (Jesus and the apostles) at the beginning of the play, giving each character a monologue that sets up who they are as well as providing a view of the magnetic personality of Jesus (Joshua, in the modern incarnation). However, from this point onward, every actor except those playing Jesus and Judas is involved in peopling the world.

What this means is that, as a member of the audience, I could only really connect with Judas or Jesus since they are the only stable characters, and the ones that the story revolves around. This is somewhat of a problem with the script since Jesus isn't really ever an interesting character (too determined, especially in a play that is deliberately retelling his life story) and Judas is presented as temptation only, even being the sideman for the Devil in the desert. The script presents glimpses of interesting characters, mostly in John, Thomas (Richard Pearson), and James the Less (Cory Sinclair), and the actors bring as much from those roles as they can, but the design of the play is this: To present the story everyone is familiar with in a light that's slanted enough make people uncomfortable, but faithful enough to the story to make those changes easy to swallow.

I wonder what this play would have been like with only six actors, with only four, even, since most of the scenes don't require the cast of thousands (okay, thirteen) that would scream, "Ensemble." I wonder what a play would have to do and be to make a cast of thirteen justified.

Andrew Kozma

Sustainablility Festival this Saturday

The Last Organic Outpost is having another fundraiser this Saturday, April 14, 2007 from 2pm-3am. The event will be a family friendly festival. There will be a kid's area specifically for the kids. Please bring them early so that they can enjoy the beautiful weather in the playground (swings/ sand box/ slide etc)…

A $10-$15 donation will be requested at the door. Volunteers and kids are free!! All funds will go to create a mobile garden at the Silo Outpost.

There will be venders on hand selling arts & crafts, beverages and services. We will also have many local active groups that will be sharing some important information with us.

The purpose for these fundraisers is to encourage community and awareness on our mission. The mission of the Last Organic Outpost is to collaboratively create and expand community-based agriculture that is locally controlled, environmentally sound, health-promoting and economically viable. The focus is to address life challenges and negative lifestyle choices through education, prevention and wellness to improve the quality of living for an entire community.

All of their events are family friendly oriented so please party consciously!

TONIGHT - and April 18 - FotoFest Lectures

Wednesday, April 11, 2007, 7pm
The Challenge of Guantanamo - Legal and Human Rights Issues
featuring Lt. Col. Mark A. Bridges - Guest Speaker
Professor of Constitutional and Military Law, USMA, West Point, NY

Anant Raut - Guest Speaker
Pro Bono Habeas Counsel, Wiel Gotschal & Manges, LLP, Washington, DC

William Cunningham - Moderator
Professor Emeritas, International Studies, University of St. Thomas

University of St. Thomas
Ahern Room, Crooker Hall
Parking available in the garage off of Graustark. Crooker Hall is adjacent to the garage.


Wednesday, April 18, 2007, 7pm
Breakdown in the Gray Room: The Images from Abu Ghraib
by David Levi Strauss

David Levi Strauss is the author of Between the Eyes: Essays on Photography & Politics, with an introduction by John Berger (Aperture, 2003), and Between Dog & Wolf: Essays on Art & Politics (Autonomedia, 1999).

University of Houston
Gerald D. Hines College of Architecture Theater
Entrance 16 off Cullen Blvd. Parking in lot 16B, across from the Fine Arts Building

Presented in collaboration with Cynthia Woods Mitchell Center for the Arts and
with support from the University of Houston Downtown

ARCHITECT RENZO PIANO AT THE MENIL: A FREE PUBLIC LECTURE April 21

Renzo Piano was born in Genoa in 1937 into a family of builders. After completing his studies, he traveled in Britain and America. In 1971 he founded the firm Piano & Rogers with Richard Rogers, and then L’atelier Piano & Rice with engineer Peter Rice. In 1989 he established the Renzo Piano Building Workshop. Piano’s design for The Menil Collection (1987), his first American building, is often cited as his finest work. His second American building, Cy Twombly Gallery (1995), is a single-artist space on the Menil campus. Piano’s awards include the R.I.B.A. Golden Medal, the 1990 Kyoto Prize, and the 1998 Pritzker Prize for Architecture.

Saturday, April 21, 2007
10:00 a.m.

Richmond Hall/The Menil Collection
1500 Richmond Avenue
Houston, Texas 77006

Free and Open to the Public

For more information
visit menil.org or call 713-525-9414

Creativity

Dear Readers

Married this month, and taking over the magazine, I am beginning a new adventure which I am sharing in some part with you all. To me, art is a reflection of our deepest longings and desires; full of potential to reveal new viewpoints and aspects of Truth we have not considered. Art is simply the product of creation and since we are constantly creating something, we have the opportunity to be conscious of what quality of art we want to create be it a painting or a viewpoint.

Houston has so much to offer and yet I feel its reputation as a major arts center has only begun to be recognized. With over 500 arts organizations, it’s prime time for Houston to take its rightful place as a leader in the arts world. Houston is poised to move up and collaboration seems to be a major key to this. While in school, I noticed that all the different departments tended to stick to their own territory. Photo students were on the 2nd floor, graphics students on the 3rd and painters on the 4th. Music was in one building and theatre in another. When I learned of George and Cynthia Woods Mitchell’s $20 million grant to the University of Houston to fund a center based on collaboration in the arts, I knew something fantastic was brewing. What was being gifted here was, as Sidney Berger said, “not ‘my art’ or ‘your art,’ but ‘the arts.’” While no doubt individuals make up the arts, it takes a community to build great things.

With collaboration, ideas are pushed, challenged, and grown. Each person’s unique experience offers a viewpoint, all of which are valid and contribute to the strength of whatever is collaborated upon. My hope is that this magazine can be a vehicle for collaboration between artists, patrons, and appreciators while acting as a voice for both the local community and beyond. So many developments in art, music, and culture reflect a growing need for connection in a way that goes beyond the material. A desire for deeper meaning, sincerity, and joy pervades the ethers. Our society’s fast paced lifestyle, technology, and the drive for personal success has helped to foster a sense of separateness in each other. However, these are not the culprits, but rather how we use them determines the outcome. Let us be artists and create the environment (inner and outer) we truly want!

I welcome any suggestions and feedback in the months to come as I am working on a new design and content format for the magazine. Please note the change in office address when addressing letters or feel free to email me: frank@artshouston.com. I look forward to serving you, the reader, and the arts in Houston.

Frank Rose

The Most Lamentable and Tragick Tragiful Tragedy of The Ambassadors (A Tragedy of Tragical Proportions)

The other night I witnessed the newest production of Nova Arts Project. Nova seeks "to recreate classics and inspire new works in a fearlessly theatrical way." No doubt fresh takes on classical forms are being created. This play was probably one of the most silly and fun things I've seen in a theatre. The Ambassadors seems a blend of Commedia Dell’ Arte and Tragedia Dell’Arte. "Unlike Commedia, however, a Tragedia doesn’t have a happy ending. It has a bloody, gory, violent, over-the-top gruesome ending, usually featuring tomatoes."

Whats great about Nova is that they encourage heckling, comments and interaction during the play. A man who had probably had one too many Modelos laughed loudly at many unexpected moments which forced the audience to follow suit.

Be prepared for toilet humor and a hunchback with a wooden spoon for a hand who is constantly trying to get in his mothers pants, lots of tomatoes and sauce at the end. Everyone dies.

Especially great were Gara Mora Murillo and Pablo Duran Rojas of Spain who met Project Artistic Associate Bernardo Cubria at a three month workshop last fall in Reggio Emilia, Italy taught by Commedia Dell’Arte Maestro Antonio Fava. Murillo and Rojas contributed a Borat-esque naivete in their characters and gave me the most laughs. I'm not sure if this is simply because they are good actors or if it is more of the mystique of a foreigner. Perhaps a little of both. A good actor would have to know how to play that card.

Go see it! Runs through Sunday, April 15 at 8:00pm, with a midnight performance Saturday, Saturday, April 14, and no performance on Tuesday, April 10. The production runs at the Midtown Arts Center, 3414 LaBranch, Houston, 77004. Tickets are $10-$15 and reservations can be made by calling the Nova Arts Project office at 713-623-4033 or emailing: info@novaartsproject.com.

William Parker Quartet at Diverseworks

Houston’s Warehouse district was alive on Saturday night with the rainy chill of a reluctant spring evening and the cosmic life-altering sounds of the William Parker Quartet in performance at DiverseWorks. You think I exaggerate, but the gruff audience member voice that barked out over the final applause “you change my life” sounded pretty sincere to me. It reminded me of the times that a performance can crystallize an idea that’s been forming and set about a chain of events that brings the idea to fruition. Parker was smokin’, mesmerizing, and true. Playing, talking, and sitting in the lobby with the audience during intermission. Joined by the considerable talents of Rob Brown on sax, Hamid Drake on drums, and Lewis Barnes on trumpet, Parker played his upright as well as a host of small wind instruments. An acro section played with two bows at the same time during one of his solos evoked a plaintive voice over the drone-like rumblings of some innermost and fleeting thought. As Parker writes “sounds that enlighten are infinite.” DiverseWorks was packed with chairs on the stage, and people sitting on the floor and on the cushions in the rafters. Time after time it is the smaller organizations, like the concert’s presenter, Nameless Sound, that create an eager and overflowing, leave-your-dinner-on-the-stove audience, with visionary programming designed to create a meaningful experience. Check out http://www.williamparkermusic.net/ and http://www.namelesssound.org/

Abbos Kosimov master musician from Uzbekistan

Friday night at Free Range Studios, Abbos Kosimov, master musician from Uzbekistan, filled the warehouse with intense beats. Abbos performed with Aaron Hermes on dumbek, djembe, and electronic santoor, and Raja Banga played tabla. Abbos Kosimov is internationally renown for his percussive mastery on the doira. He has performed with Zaikir Hussein, Randy Gloss, Stevie Wonder and many others. For more information on Abbos, please visit his website: abboskosimov.com. Apologies for the poor video quality.

Welcome!

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