Performance Today will broadcast Hopkinson Smith's performance of "The Right Honourable Robert, Earle of Essex, his Galliard" and "Fantasie" by Dowland. The concert was recorded on August 1, 2007 at the Cooperstown Chamber Music Festival.
This performance will air on Thursday's edition of Performance Today, which broadcasts from 2 to 4 p.m. on WSKG Public Radio.
Classical Pianists of the Future presents
Kariné Poghosyan in recital
Sunday, March 2, 3pm
Tri-Cities Opera Center
315 Clinton Street
Binghamton, NY 1390
Armenian born pianist Kariné Poghosyan will give a recital as part of the Classical Pianists of the Future series at the Tri-Cities Opera Center, 315 Clinton St., Binghamton.
Some of Ms. Poghosyan's performances include recitals at the Weill Hall at Carnegie Hall, the Trinity's Concerts at One series at the St. Paul's Chapel, the Beverly Hills Sundays at Two series, a recital for the Valley Committee for the LA Philharmonic, the Bach's Lunch Recital Series in Manhattan Beach in California, the Los Angeles Liszt Competition Winners' Concert at the Nixon Library, the Young Artists International Peninsula Festival in California, and the International Keyboard Institute and Festival in New York. She has appeared with numerous orchestras including the New West Symphony, Musica Bella Symphony Orchestra, CSUN Symphony Orchestra, and Armenian Youth Symphony.
'Classical Pianists of the Future' is a collaboration between Alvin H. Williams III and Lance G. Hill, both of Vestal. Williams has participated for several years as co-director of the Thousand Islands International Piano Competition for Young People; Hill is a well-known piano tuner-technician, musicologist and classical music radio program host. Their intent is to provide emerging top-flight young classical pianists ongoing performance opportunities in the Greater Binghamton area and beyond.
The Tri-Cities Opera Center is home to a magnificent, fully restored 1913 Bechstein concert grand piano, which will showcase the talents of pianists such as Kariné Poghosyan.
Tickets at the door: $10. Details: Call 748-2231.
Listen to Bill Snyder's interview with Lance Hill and Alvin Williams, curators of the series.
Warm up and get out of the snow this January/February with a host of quirky characters who are also escaping the cold. In BED NO BREAKFAST, six people are waylaid by a blizzard in Michigan's Upper Peninsula and seek shelter at the UP B&B - a bed and breakfast probably not found on the list of "best cozy and quaint" places to stay. The owner would prefer no guests at all and was certainly not expecting so many this particular night. And what a group it is! Compounding the lack of camaraderie of the group is the lack of comforts of the inn. How long can strangers wait out a storm outside before a storm erupts inside?
BED NO BREAKFAST is the fourth musical by the creative team of Rachel Lampert (book & lyrics) and Larry Pressgrove (music). Their previous musicals are TONY AND THE SOPRANO, COMFORT FOOD, and The Angle of the Sun (chosen for inclusion in the 2007 New York Musical Theater Festival and had performances in September 2007 at the Sage Theater in New York City.) In BED NO BREAKFAST, Lampert and Pressgrove do something new again: they have written a musical that revels in full ensemble scenes and songs, with a cast of seven.
The cast brings together many Kitchen favorite actor/singers, including Erica Steinhagen, Norma Fire and Jessica Flood . Dan Kiely, seen last season in AFTER ASHLEY, makes his KTC musical debut. They are joined by Brett Bossard and Jessica Carr, who have appeared in original musicals on the Family Fare series, and newcomer Tony Simione. Richard Montgomery is the music director.
Norma Fire is Mrs. L, the quirky owner of the B&B and her guests Chance (Erica Steinhagen), Jake (Dan Kiely), Marla (Jessica Flood), Will (Brett Bossard), Henry (Tony Simione) and Greta (Jessica Carr) struggle through their three-day confinement with no conveniences and lots of parlor games.The Kitchen Theatre is transformed into a rustic B&B by scenic designer Steve TenEyck. Hannah Kochman designed the costumes. Stage management is by resident stage manager Stephen Wagner.
Click here to listen to an interview with The Kitchen Theatre's Rachel Lampert.
BED NO BREAKFAST will run through February 16th at the Kitchen Theatre, 116 North Cayuga Street, Ithaca. For tickets or more information, call 607-272-0403.
Old friends Mick Jones, former lead guitarist of The Clash, and
Tony James, once of the Billy Idol-fronted Generation X, have teamed up
in a band called Carbon/Silicon.
Carbon/Silicon isn't yet as well known as the bands the two co-founders came from, or even the bands the other band members once played in. Leo Williams played bass with Jones in Big Audio Dynamite, and Dominic Greensmith was the drummer for British rock group Reef. But the group's approach to the internet has gained them widespread popularity.
James and Jones began making their songs available on their web site as free downloads in the summer of 2004, and encouraged their fans to record them when they played live and pass those around as well. They've just put out their first full length CD, called The Last Post, but they pledge to keep giving songs away on the internet as well.
Click here to listen to the Fresh Air interview and hear samples from the new CD.
Name: Christopher Julian
Training/School: Binghamton University & Tompkins Cortland Community College
Community Involvement: Video Editing & Cinematography
Describe your ‘art’: I write, direct, produce, shoot and edit films and videos of a variety of different kinds including documentaries, narratives, promotional and commercial videos.
Who or what inspires your work? I was hooked on film ever since Star Wars at age 5. Since then it has been a very wide variety of filmmakers’ works that continue to reinvigorate my passion for the medium.
What is your proudest accomplishment so far? “Invisible Ink,” a two-hour narrative that took my co-writer and I over three years to finish. And “101 Ways to Retire—or Not!” a one-hour documentary about active retirement.
Who are your favorite local artists? The local music band “IY” has some of the best songwriting and musicianship around. The fab four of Ithaca!
Advice to aspiring artists: Do what feels right. Worry about money later...
Who are you listening to and/or reading right now? The music I’m listening to lately usually features dead artists J Nick Drake, Elliott Smith, Jeff Buckley. But among the living, I love Iron & Wine, Radiohead, and the Shins.
What is important to you? Art of all kinds are the things that are most important to me. Filmmaking, music, photography, mostly.
Christopher Julian's documentary "101 Ways to Retire - Or Not!" will be broadcast on WSKG-TV on Thursday, January 17th at 8 p.m.
'Behind the Art' is a regular series that profiles the people behind the arts throughout our community. If you'd like to be profiled in 'Behind the Art,' email editor Crystal Sarakas.
Whenever anyone asks about an appearance on OFF THE PAGE one of my first questions is, “Do you [or the author you’re representing] have a phone number starting with 607?” I’m not necessarily looking for contact information at that point but it’s the quickest way to determine who is a “regional author”. WSKG Radio’s primary coverage area fairly duplicates the 607 area code, albeit with some spillover into 315, 845, 585 and – not limiting ourselves to New York State – Pennsylvania’s five-seventy.
Occasionally I’ll go beyond the Southern Tier and adjacent lands if a book or author is of special regional interest, but otherwise I’m simply looking for well-written fiction and non-fiction, poetry and history and anything else created by a writer from our region. Sometimes the most important activity going on in a community is happening in solitude and in one person’s mind. We’ve discovered an abundance of good writing here in these hills.
One question I regularly receive is, “Do you read the entire book for an OFF THE PAGE interview?” I certainly do, usually with a speedy re-read just before the broadcast. There are some people who think you can get the idea of both style and substance by reading only the first and last chapters, but that seems to me like simply eating the crackers without the cheese in the middle.
A book can be itself an object of beauty, but there’s an old saying about not judging a book by its cover and it is literally true. Some of the best books I’ve seen lately were cheaply printed and bound, perhaps by the author himself. That should not detract from interest in the writing within.
An increasing number of authors choose to self-publish, often because they simply don’t want to take the time to hassle with agents and publishers. Especially at the beginning of a writing career DIY publishing is a sure way to get into print. But it may be more difficult to get into the bookstores, or even on-line sellers, especially if someone has written an especially personal book or one that deals with their own community. That should make such a book all the more relevant to the WSKG audience, for it means that on OFF THE PAGE you’re regularly learning about a first edition right from the person who wrote it, and possibly published it.
These days even well-established publishing houses are turning to print-on-demand and the invention of the e-book has made it possible for anyone to get their words into distribution. OFF THE PAGE will continue to concentrate on the content and quality of books by authors in our part of the country, how their mind and spirit was conveyed to us, with less concern about the system that made it happen.
- Bill Jaker is the host of WSKG Public Radio's OFF THE PAGE.
