Young pianists thrill Kennedy Center audience

International piano stars at the Kennedy Center, from left: Mihyun Lee, Matthew Eng, Vivien Zhu, Ethan Hsiao, Gloria Cai, and Tyler Fengya/Patricia Leslie

 

Their keystrokes and music coming from the Steinway on the Millennium Stage Tuesday evening left audience members star struck by talents displayed by those so young. Unless you were there, it is almost impossible to believe, but the large screen up above the stage on the heavy curtain displayed close-ups of nimble fingers and focused eyes, and we realized we were witnesses to distinction. 

 

The performers are the world’s best pianists for their age groups, as selected in the 28^th International Young Artist Piano Competition, and three of the five are area residents.

 

First up on the stage was seven-year-old Tyler Fengya who began his piano lessons at age three and won his first competition a year later. A school student in Clifton, N. J., Tyler played Claude Debussy’s “Clare de Lune” and “Chinatown Rag” composed by Li-Ly Chang who founded the competition in 1986.

 

Promoting Chinese composers and strengthening ties between the East and West are two goals of the contest which requires participants to play selections by Chinese and western composers.

 

Tyler was not the only pianist to play a piece written by the competition’s founder. Mihyun Lee, the prize winner for the Young Professional group ages 19 through 28, chose Ms. Chang’s “Taking Shapes” and, also, Maurice Ravel’s “La Valse.”

 

A Korean native who is a Ph.D. student in musical arts at Ohio State University, Ms. Lee has a solo recital coming up later this year at Carnegie Hall.

 

Gloria Cai, age 10, a school student in Ellicott City, Maryland, came to the stage after Tyler. She began her training at age 4 at the knee of her grandmother, Yuhua Gu. When Gloria was seven, she won her age category in the international contest. For Tuesday’s show Gloria played “Flower Drum Song” by He Hsao Yin and Frederic Chopin’s Etude, Op. 10, No. 5.

 

Next on the bench was Ethan Hsiao, 11, who began his piano lessons at age six. A school student in McLean, Virginia, Ethan played Aaron Copland’s “The Cat and the Mouse.”

 

Vivien Zhu, 14, attends high school in Rockville, Maryland, and she started musical training at six. Her selection was Enrique Granados’s Allegro de Concierto, Op. 46.

 

Matthew Eng, 15, a student in Moorestown, New Jersey, began studying piano at age seven, and his selections were Quan Jihao’s “Combination of Long and Short” and Alexander Scriabin’s Sonata No. 9, Op. 68 “Black Mass.”

 

The winners of numerous awards, prizes, and scholarships, the young medalists have performed on television and at top venues across the U.S., including, in Ms. Lee’s case, Korea.

 

Without question those of us who hold classical music dear have many hours of listening pleasure to anticipate from these remarkable musicians. 

To see past performances click here.

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'Peter the Great' welcomes the G20 to St. Petersburg

 

 

 

Peter the Great welcomes visitors to St. Petersburg/Patricia Leslie

I hope President Obama does not cancel his trip to St. Petersburg, Russia for the G20 over the Syria mess for after all, how can you communicate if you don't communicate?

St. Petersburg welcomes the G20/Patricia Leslie

Peter the Great (1672-1725) on his horse on a very big rock stands ready on the banks of the Neva to welcome the G20 members to St. Petersburg, truly one of the world's loveliest cities, an UNESCO World Heritage Site, the "Venice of the North" for its cultural opportunities and beautiful canals, reminiscent of the real Venice.

Peter the Great in St. Petersburg/Patricia Leslie

The inscription in Latin on one side and in Russian on the other side of the stone reads:  Peter the First, Catherine the Second, 1782/Patricia Leslie

The revered (almost as much as Lenin, it seems) Russian poet Aleksandr Pushkin (1799-1837) wrote the poem, The Bronze Horseman, about the statue of Peter who founded St. Petersburg in 1703. (I would include the English text of the poem, however and alas, "This text has been suppressed due to author restrictions," but it is found in Russian at http://www.rvb.ru/pushkin/01text/02poems/01poems/0795.htm?start=0&length=all.)

Orest Adamovich Kiprensky (1782-1836), Aleksandr Pushkin (1827),Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow/Patricia Leslie

From a distance Peter the Great seemed smaller than expected.  Beyond the statue is the Neva River and in the distance is the Menshikov Palace/Patricia Leslie

It is almost criminal to visit St. Petersburg without having read Peter the Great by Robert K. Massie published in 1981. Indeed, the Fairfax County Public Library has only three copies which are never on the shelves, always checked out and reserved, no doubt partially due to Massie's 2012 Catherine the Great, also required reading to truly enjoy the magnificence and scope of the history of Russia, its tsars, their legacies, and the possessions they left behind. And it was because of these two books, honestly, that I went to Russia. (Reading Massie's Nicholas and Alexandra was a factor, too.  Forced by books. They made me do it. This has happened to me before.)

The Neva River separates Peter the Great and the Menshikov Palace (reddish roof)/Patricia Leslie

Peter the Great on the banks of the Neva River, St. Petersburg, Russia.  The Russian flag flies on top of the government building across the street/Patricia Leslie

Catherine the Great commissioned the statute to honor the 100th anniversary of Peter's coronation. She, always happy to glorify Western Europe as was Peter, hired a French sculptor, Etienne Maurice Falconet (1716-1791) to create the piece. (Russia didn’t have sculptors? Rather like the U.S. which went to China to hire one for the Martin Luther King, Jr. statue.)

Peter the Great on the banks of the Neva River, St. Petersburg, Russia/Patricia Leslie

Peter the Great on the banks of the Neva River, St. Petersburg, Russia with a slain snake with its multiple interpretations/Patricia Leslie

Peter the Great on the banks of the Neva River, St. Petersburg, Russia/Patricia Leslie

The stone on which Peter stands has its own history and is sometimes called the Thunder Stone. It was found 3.7 miles inland from the Gulf of Finland and hauled painstakingly by 400 men who laid and relaid track and worked nine months to carry it to St. Petersburg in what is still known as the largest stone moved by man without animals or machinery. The whole transfer to the statue site took two years.

Hauling of the Thunder Stone for the monument to Peter the Great. Engraving by I.F. Schley of the drawing by Y.M. Felton (Yury Felten), 1770/Wikipedia

Falconet worked on the project for 12 years before his inability to please the madam,  exhaustion and exasperation led him to leave four years before the statue was completed. His absence at the dedication on August 7, 1782 received attention and is noted on the sign at the entrance to the park where the statue stands. Massie provides lots more detail.

About 150 years after the dedication, citizens covered Peter with sandbags and a wooden shelter to hide the statue from 900 days of Nazi attack and bombs.  The monument escaped the siege undamaged.

The camouflage of Peter the Great during World War II/Wikipedia

Having a little knowledge of the statue’s background, I was mysteriously drawn to it every day while I was in St. Petersburg. It lies in close proximity to St. Isaac’s Cathedral, itself a landmark whose gilded dome can be seen for miles around town.

St. Isaac's Cathedral, St. Petersburg, Russia/Patricia Leslie

St. Petersburg, Russia welcomes the G20/Patricia Leslie

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Update: Why I (used to) hate Dulles

Wikimedia Commons, Joe Ravi/CC-BY-SA 3.0

(Since this was originally posted in 2013, things have gotten far better for arriving international passengers at Dulles. Updated October 4, 2017)

Dulles' traffic is down. 

You don't say.

I can give you a few reasons:

1.  Inefficiency

2.  Sullen, mediocre staff

3.  Delays

4.  Time

On Saturday night I was one of about 300 deplaning from international flights at Dulles where "our time" was the middle of the night. Woe be to us.

I suppose it was a new experience for Dulles which must not have access to flight schedules so it didn't know 300 were arriving simultaneously to go through "passport control," and that is why only three of 24 lanes were open for U.S. citizens for "processing."   I was in the second line of between 10 and 15 lines, likely 30 deep each, at least.  I took photos, but, alas, I was thwarted by the Dulles' staff. Surprise.  Read on.

After 25 minutes a man in the first lane called out to an attendant:  "Can't you get more people here to process us?  My goodness, you only have three lanes open for all these people!"  She looked deaf, blind, and mute.  It was 7:55 p.m. EST and 3:55 a.m. Moscow time.

Five minutes later another lane opened to accommodate the hundreds of people.  Babies cried.  Spouses exchanged irritations.  Children asked "Why?"

It took 40 minutes for me to be "processed."  How long would you estimate the people in the last line waited?  That, in addition to another passport check and declarations of goods brought into the U.S. at another station beyond the first.   

This did not happen last year at National Airport where processing was uneventful and fast.  Maybe the Dulles' staff can attend classes at National Airport.

When I got to Moscow last week and some Brits found out I was from Washington, they rushed to tell me their horrid experience at Dulles when they visited the U.S.  "It took us two hours to get through passport control," they said.  Oh, really.  At the Moscow airport, we sailed through with three persons in lines at most, and were "processed" quickly.

The only time I ran into any security problems on my trip was at Dulles.  No questions (or police) at the Kremlin, in Red Square or anywhere else in Russia.  Not even from the Russian military I often shot.

When I photographed the throng of people and crying babies in the middle of the night at Dulles, I was rushed by "Mahder" who demanded I delete my pictures of Dulles and said she would watch me to make sure I did it.  Why can't I keep my pictures to show your inefficiency?  I asked.  She said she could not say why. 

One of my pictures was a stand-up advertisement in the last line we could read about 1,000 times which said:  "What are you waiting for?"  And on a brochure Mahder handed me:  "You're in a hurry.  Global Entry Makes International Arrivals Fast & Easy."  Ha!  Ha!  The joke was on us.

Dulles thinks it's the only airport with security in place and that's why no photos are allowed?  If you think D.C. is a police state, it will be confirmed for you on a trip to Russia where security is lax, and people laugh on the streets and are happy.  As Derrick from Britain said before the British Parliament voted to stay out of the Syria mess: "America attacks everyone, and that's why America is a target."

The only piece of good news from the night came from the bus driver who said the traffic to Dulles was so light on the bus line from Tysons to the airport, the fare had been cut from $5 to $1.80. 

I can tell you why.

You have heard the expression "I hate Duke." 

Well guess what.

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'A Chorus Line' is a hit at the Olney

A Chorus Line at the Olney Theatre Center/Stan Barouh photo

This production is so hot it was extended less than a week after it opened.

And dance, natch, is what it’s all about at the Olney Theatre Center's biggest musical staged in its 75-year history.   

A Chorus Line has 24 performers and an eight-piece orchestra and all the flash and flames with melodrama and pizzazz and lots of high kicks that you expect.

We marveled at the possibility that all the performers might be local, not impossible with the regional wealth of talent, and many are.  Others arrive from national touring shows and Broadway, including Michelle Aravena who was "Tricia" in the 2007 Broadway revival and who is featured on the cast recording.

By now, most know the background of the story and the show's history as one of Broadway's longest-running musicals, the winner of nine Tonys in 1976 and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. 

The story is based on real life experiences of a group of dancers struck by a sagging economy in the mid-1970s when there were not enough parts to go around for all to be gainfully employed in New York's theatre scene.

They tell their stories to each other, the heartbreaks, the rejections, the successes, and away we go. But, it's not only their stories but the viewer's stories, too, since we all struggle with life's ups and downs and compete for the top spot. Selling, or rather promoting, ourselves is de rigueur in today's world and to "follow your passion" like these dancers can mean near starvation.

The set is a dance studio, an audition with a full length (floor to ceiling, i.e., huge) mirror behind the dancers so the audience watches them perform and rehearse in front of the mirror (which makes the stage appear much larger than it is) as if…they are audience members watching a rehearsal and eavesdropping. Quite unique, and for the 1970s, it was revolutionary.

The show's initial 24 dancers are quickly cut to 17 who are the main focus of the play.  Artificial selection (?) shrinks them at the end to the final Great Eight, and if you don't know who "wins," it's fun to try and pick them out.  I was nowhere near close. 

Offstage and behind the audience, the show's director, "Zach" (Carl Randolph) calls out questions and makes comments to the dancers, one of whom, "Cassie" (Nancy Lemenager), has been his former "partner." Their spark has long died out, and the intermingling on stage and weak attempt to reconcile come across as stilted and artificial. Some sex is better than no sex, I suppose (on stage or anywhere else). (The notes say Mr. Randolph's first professional production was as "Bobby" in the national tour of A Chorus Line in 1982, but he doesn't look that old.)

The final scene takes a glorious turn when the rehearsal clothes come off, and gold and dazzle take over, and real show costumes come on.

The production's fast pace without intermission slowed a few times with laborious dialogues which, if shortened or entirely omitted, would improve enjoyment. But it may be the action which lulled me into expecting continuous movement and entertainment, rather like children who expect it non-stop.  The show seems far shorter than two hours.

Director/choreographer Stephen Nachamie refashioned the dancing for this production, and his notes describe his first experience with A Chorus Line 20 years ago when he was 18 and played "Mark."  He's directed many national and regional shows including the Olney's 1776, Camelot, and You’re A Good Man, Charlie Brown.

Stand-outs on the Olney stage are Kurt Boehm as "Larry," the show's "co-director," Colleen Hayes, as sassy "Sheila," Elyse Collier as "Judy," and the melodious voice of Jaimie Kelton as "Maggie."

You'll like hearing again "What I Did for Love, "One," and "Dance: Ten; Looks Three." Group harmonies are the best.

Marvin Hamlisch (1944-2012), former pops conductor for the National Symphony Orchestra, wrote the music and won the Tony and the Pulitzer Prize.

Andrew F. Griffin will certainly be nominated for a Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding Lighting Design which in a memorable scene showers two actors talking down stage while other performers dance in slow motion in subdued shadows for the backdrop, creating a surreal effect.

I predict more Helen Hayes nominees for Olney's Chorus Line:

Outstanding Resident Musical

Outstanding Choreography, Resident Production, Stephen Nachamie

Outstanding Ensemble, Resident Musical

What: A Chorus Line

When: Evening performances with weekend matinees and some Wednesday matinees now through September 8

Where: Olney Theatre Center, 2001 Olney-Sandy Spring Road, Olney, MD 20832

How much: Tickets from $31. Click here.

Language: Street talk. The show is recommended for ages 13 and up.

Treats: May be taken to seats, including beer, wine, and other beverages which are sold on-site

Free parking: Plenty of it and just steps from the entrance

For more information: 301-924-3400

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B.B. King and Peter Frampton: the thrills ain't gone

B.B. King sang the blues at Wolf Trap Sunday night/Patricia Leslie 

 

He may be almost 88 (September 25), but he sure don't look it.  He don't act it either.  "He," of course, is the only one, the inevitable, Mr. Showman, B.B. King, who wowed'em with a capital W at Wolf Trap where the house and yard were full.  And along on the ride was another musical star, Mr. Peter Frampton, who brought a surprise guest.

 

B.B. was fit and energetic and talkative (all he did was talk the first 30 minutes). With co-star Frampton and Frampton's Guitar Circus, they played their most popular pieces to the screams of fans who were mostly white, mostly over age 40. 

B.B. King sat on a chair while he played (well, look, some half his age have to sit on a chair) and said more than once: "I know I am getting old.  You can look at me and tell," but he didn't look or act it.  He seemed to really enjoy himself up on the stage, in the lights again.  He sang "I Need You So," "Every Day I Have the Blues," "Rock Me, Baby," "How Blue Can You Get?" and, with the audience,  "You Are My Sunshine"/Patricia Leslie

B.B. King held his signature piece, "The Thrill is Gone," until his last number when Peter Frampton sneaked on stage to join him and helped belt it out on the guitar.  With voices as crisp and throaty as yesteryear's, the men needed no back-ups or sound equipment to strengthen their sounds.  They were fine/Patricia Leslie

B.B. King, far right, bantered with the audience and said "Above 60, you're not old.  You're just getting there"/Patricia Leslie

Peter Frampton, 63,  seemed and sang happy "All Night Long" with his special guest at Wolf Trap/Patricia Leslie

To the screams of the crowd, Frampton brought out Roger McGuinn, 71, one of the masterminds of the Byrds, who started off his performance with "Mr. Tambourine Man" and sang "So You Want to be a Rock and Roll Star" and "Eight Miles High"/Patricia Leslie

Some of Peter Frampton's greatest hits he let loose at Wolf Trap were "Show Me the Way," "Lines On My Face," "Baby I Love Your Way," "I'll Give You Money," and "Do You Feel Like We Do"/Patricia Leslie

Frampton's Guitar Circus at Wolf Trap Sunday night.  Besides Peter Frampton, band members are Adam Lester, guitar; Rob Arthur, keyboards and guitar; Dan Wojciechowski, drums; and Stanley Sheldon, bass/Patricia Leslie

 

The only disappointment of the evening was B.B.'s shortened version of "The Thrill is Gone" which mortified some fans who pleaded for more before he left the stage for the night at intermission (he said he was three minutes over his allotted time!), but when you get to be almost 88 and have won 17 Grammys (the first in 1971 and the last in 2009), you can pretty well do what you want to do, they say.  Even an abbreviated version of the classic alone was worth the price of admission and with all the "extras" (!), well, to understate the experience:  a memorable concert for the record books.

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Rita Coolidge gave us 'Fever'

Rita Coolidge in a free concert at the National Museum of the American Indian, August 10, 2013/Patricia Leslie

 

Never know how much I love you, never know how much I care
When you put your arms around me, I get a fever that's so hard to bear
You give me fever - when you kiss me, fever when you hold me tight
Fever - in the the morning, fever all through the night.

 

In a free concert Saturday afternoon at the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian, Rita Coolidge charmed hundreds in the Potomac Atrium for almost 90 minutes, singing her classics in her gentle, distinctive voice, instantly recognizable and unchanged over the four decades she has been a star. 

Rita Coolidge in a free concert at the National Museum of the American Indian, August 10, 2013/Patricia Leslie

 

Among the numbers she sang were "Fever," "Your Love Has Lifted Me (Higher and Higher)," "Come Rain or Come Shine," "We're All Alone," "The Way You Do the Things You Do,"  "Only You," "Bird on a Wire," and "How Sweet It Is to be Loved by You."

 

Eric Clapton was on her mind in 1969 when she wrote "Superstar":

 

Long ago, and, oh, so far away
I fell in love with you before the second show
Your guitar, it sounds so sweet and clear
But you're not really here, it's just the radio

Don't you remember, you told me you loved me baby?
You said you'd be coming back this way again baby
Baby, baby, baby, baby, oh baby
I love you, I really do

When she originally recorded "I'd Rather Leave While I'm in Love," she said she didn't understand what it was all about since she was not divorced.  But she discovered the meaning later.

The audience did not "sing along" until near the end of the show when Rita invited participation.  Do you ever attend concerts to hear the star perform instead of the audience?

Rita Coolidge and her band gave a free concert at the National Museum of the American Indian, August 10, 2013, which followed a concert at the museum's New York City location.  It was a rarity and welcome sight to see a woman, Mary Ekler, as a band member.  Thanks, Rita! Other band members were Randy Landas, bass and guitar; John McDuffie, guitar; Lynn Coulter, drums/Patricia Leslie

Rita Coolidge with Randy Landas in a free concert at the National Museum of the American Indian, August 10, 2013/Patricia Leslie

 

Ms. Coolidge, of Cherokee Indian ancestry,  saved the best for last: Amazing Grace, the Cherokee National Anthem. She briefly described the sad story of the Trail of Tears, the saga of 1838 when President Andrew Jackson forced the last 16,000 Cherokees to leave Georgia, Alabama, North Carolina and Tennessee and travel to what became Oklahoma, literally following in the footsteps of their brothers and sisters who had earlier moved. Thousands died on the journey, including 60,000 of the 130,000 Cherokees driven away. The Indian Removal Act of 1830 banished all Indians from east of the Mississippi River. (Click here to see their trails. And here for more information.)

 

 

Ms. Coolidge's powerful song and story brought the hall to a standstill. Babies quietened, talkative youth grew silent, and even the noisy guards on the upper floors ceased shouting at visitors standing along the stairwell to listen to the singer's message which evoked passions for peace, and emotions, including among those without known Indian heritage.

Rita Coolidge with Randy Landas on bass and Lynn Coulter on drums in a free concert at the National Museum of the American Indian, August 10, 2013/Patricia Leslie

 

It just looks like church, but it was the audience who came to see and listen to Rita Coolidge in a free concert at the National Museum of the American Indian, August 10, 2013/Patricia Leslie

The crowd gave Rita Coolidge and her band a standing ovation at the end of their free concert at the National Museum of the American Indian, August 10, 2013/Patricia Leslie

 

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