St. Martin-in-the-Fields choir to sing June 15 at St. John's, Lafayette Square

The choir from St. Martin's-in-the-Fields will sing at St. John's Episcopal Church, Lafayette Square, June 15

The public is invited to hear London's renowned choir from St. Martin-in-the-Fields on Sunday evening at St. John's Episcopal Church, Lafayette Square, beginning at 7:30 p.m.

Reserved seating is available with advance purchase ($25) or tickets may be bought with cash or check at the door, if available.  The choir will also sing at the 10:30 a.m. Sunday service for which there is no charge to attend.

The choir sings every Sunday at St. Martin-in-the-Fields and frequently performs on the BBC.  St. Martin's, the parish church of the Royal Family, stands at Trafalgar Square and is one of England's oldest, most famous churches, dating to 1222.  Its name derives from its location "in the fields" where Henry VIII (1491-1547) rebuilt the church in 1542 so plague victims would stop walking through the grounds of his palace, says Wikipedia.

Leading the choir is St. Martin's director of music, Andrew Earis, and joining St. John's in the presentation of the program is the Conference of the Association of Anglican Musicians. 

On the evening program are:   

Herbert Howells (1892-1983)
Haec dies

William Byrd (1540-1623)
Laetentur coeli
Justorum animae

Henry Purcell (c.1659-1695)
I was glad

Hubert Parry (1848-1918) from Songs of Farewell
My soul, there is a country
Never weather-beaten sail

Gabriel Jackson (b. 1962)
A Prayer of King Henry VI

James MacMillan (b.1959)
Mitte manum tuam from Strathclyde Motets
A New Song

Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958)
The Turtle Dove

Michael Tippett (1905-1998)
Lillibulero from Four Songs from the British Isles

Nils Lindberg (b. 1933)
Shall I compare thee to a summer's day

Vaughan Williams
Over hill, over dale from Three Shakespeare Songs

George Shearing (1919 - 2011)
Songs and Sonnets of Shakespeare

Trad. arr Michael Tippett (1905-1998)
Go down, Moses from Five Spirituals

Trad. arr Moses Hogan (1957-2003)
The Battle of Jericho

At the morning service, the St. Martin's choir will sing compositions by William Lloyd Webber, John Stainer, and Charles Villiers Stanford, and a new assistant rector, the Rev. D. Andrew Olivo, will be welcomed at St. John's.

St. John's Episcopal Church, Lafayette Square/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Well known as the yellow church at Lafayette Square, the “Church of the Presidents” was founded in 1815. When he began attending services at St. John's, President James Madison, who served as president from 1809 to 1817, set a precedent for future presidents who have all either attended and/or joined St. John's.  A plaque at the rear of the church designates the Lincoln Pew where President Abraham Lincoln often sat when he stopped by the church during the Civil War.

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Who:  The Choir of St. Martin-in-the-Fields

When: 7:30 p.m. and 10:30 a.m., June 15, 2014, Trinity Sunday

Where: St. John’s, Lafayette Square, 1525 H Street, NW, at the corner of 16^th and H, Washington, D.C. 20005

Tickets: $25 at 7: 30 p.m.  Or attend the church services at 10:30 a.m. when there is no fee!

St. John's is wheelchair accessible

Metro stations: McPherson Square, Farragut North, or Farragut West

For more information:  Michael Lodico, associate organist and choir director at St. John's, ph. 202-270-6265, Michael.Lodico@stjohns-dc.org

patricialesli@gmail.com
 

 

 

 

 

Last chance to see Garry Winogrand pictures at the National Gallery of Art

The cover of the catalogue, Garry Winogrand, edited by Leo Rubinfien, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Yale University Press, 2013

Garry Winogrand (1928-1984) may not be a household name, but his pictures are classics.

Almost 200 of them on display through Sunday at the National Gallery of Art. In the words of guest curator, Leo Rubinfien, Mr. Winogrand's friend and photographer, they are "an epic picture of American life," unlike those captured by any other.

Garry Winogrand (1928-1984), New York World's Fair, 1964, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art

 

One of the nation's most respected photographers, Mr. Winogrand is chiefly known as a diarist of New York.

Sarah Greenough, a senior curator and head of photographs at the National Gallery of Art, said the New Yorkers photographed by Mr. Winogrand illustrate a "powerful sense of anxiety." The pictures depict "who we are and how we feel."  

Garry Winogrand (1928-1984), Centennial Ball, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1969, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art

Mr. Winogrand, a Bronx native, did not stay in New York.  Guggenheim Fellowships enabled his travel to other parts of the U.S., to large cities and the Southwest, where he took thousands of pictures which tell the stories of life on city streets, beaches, and other public places in post World War II America, a time of vast upheaval, the 1960s and 70s.

The big hair, the heavy makeup, the slick and stand-up hair for men, the styles, the huge cars, the "gas hogs," the demonstrations, sex. It's all here.

Mr. Winogrand, influenced by Robert Frank and Walker Evans, captured the land's mood and spirit in black and white, still videos, the work of a pictorial historian whom Mr. Rubinfien compares to Walt Whitman.

Many of the pictures reveal private moments of passersby on city streets, lost in thought and worry.  Their anguish is palpable. As with many photography exhibitions, a viewer may experience feeling like a voyeur, observing day-to-day lives of citizens who rarely smile or express sunny dispositions, but rather, they are like people found on sidewalks today everywhere, anxious and stressed. There we are.

In a video at Rice University taped in 1977 which runs continuously in the show, Mr. Winogrand, seated with his feet propped on a chair, answers questions from students who are offstage.

"I don't think you learn from teachers; you learn from working," he says.

And yes, he agrees, he does photograph a lot of women, but he is not obsessed by them. 

The pictures tell a different story.
 
What Mr. Winogrand didn't have time to do before he died of gall bladder cancer at age 56, was to edit his 22,000 contact sheets and thousands of rolls of film, but Mr. Rubenfien did.  He spent three years studying, developing, and making choices from Mr. Winogrand's collection of thousands of images, sometimes with Mr. Winogrand's handwritten directions found on the sheets.

Many of the 190 selections in the show have never been publicly displayed including one of John F. Kennedy with four African-Americans at the 1960 Democratic Convention in Los Angeles. 

Garry Winogrand (1928-1984), Garry Winogrand Archives, Center for Creative Photography, the University of Arizona, copyright, the estate of Garry Winogrand, courtesy, Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco

Some say that later in his career, Mr. Winogrand "lost his touch," and the National Gallery show seems to affirm the criticism (or perhaps it is the power of suggestion).  The spark and lustre of his earlier works are missing in the last two galleries, and what are represented are more common and indistinctive scenes and individuals.

Mr. Rubinfien edited the catalogue which notes that some of the later pictures are still, quiet, without "the energetic roiling of the urban crowd" found in earlier scenes which generally feature younger, more attractive people. 

At the end "the people here...seem to look inward, as if toward some trouble....Winogrand may well have seen them as mirrors of himself."

Where are the studies of people photographs juxtaposed with those from other nations of the same era where expressions and moods can be compared?

From Washington the exhibition travels to The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, June 27–September 21, 2014; Jeu de Paume, Paris, October 14, 2014–January 25, 2015; and Fundación MAPFRE, March 3–May 10, 2015.
 
Assisting Mr. Rubinfien for the exhibition and catalogue were Ms. Greenough and Erin O'Toole  of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, which organized the show with the National Gallery of Art and where it opened last year.

The comprehensive catalogue of Mr. Winogrand's life and work, available in the shops, spans almost 500 pages and includes hundreds of photos, lists of his exhibitions, lectures, articles, and a timeline of his life.

The people of the United States are grateful to those who made the presentation possible in Washington:  the Robert and Mercedes Eichholz Foundation, the Trellis Fund, and the Blavatnik Family Foundation.  Sponsor for the international exhibition is the Terra Foundation for American Art with leadership provided by Randi and Bob Fisher.

What: Garry Winogrand

When: Now through  Sunday, June 8, 2014, 10 a.m. - 5 p.m., Monday through Saturday, and 11 a.m. - 6 p.m., Sunday.

Where: Ground Floor, West Building, National Gallery of Art, between Third and Ninth streets at Constitution Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. On the Mall.

Admission: No charge

Metro stations: Smithsonian, Federal Triangle, Navy Memorial-Archives, or L'Enfant Plaza

For more information: 202-737-4215

patricialesli@gmail.com 

Free organ concert June 4 at St. John's, Lafayette Square

Alan Morrison

One of the best known organists in the U.S., Alan Morrison, will present the finale of the free noon concerts of the season at St. John's Episcopal Church, Lafayette Square, Wednesday, and the public is invited to attend at no charge. 

On the program are Toccata by Anne Wilson, Mountain Music by Harold Stover, Aria by Charles Callahan, and a piece by Washington's Leo Sowerby, Pageant, known to have one of the most difficult passages for pedal ever written.

Mr. Morrison is a champion of contemporary music and has premiered more than a dozen compositions.  He heads the organ department at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia and is associate professor at the Westminster Choir College of Rider University.

Next May he will premiere a concerto by Dick Brosse in celebration of the 50th anniversary of Philadelphia's Chamber Orchestra.

Alan Morrison

From October through June St. John's hosts First Wednesday concerts for the public at 12:10 p.m.

 

St. John's Episcopal Church, Lafayette Square/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Well known as the yellow church at Lafayette Square, the “Church of the Presidents” was founded in 1815. President James Madison, who served as president from 1809 to 1817, began a tradition for all presidents who have attended and/or joined St. John's. A plaque at the rear of the church designates the Lincoln Pew where President Abraham Lincoln often sat when he stopped by St. John's during the Civil War.

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Who: Alan Morrison, organist

What: First Wednesday Concerts

When: 12:10 p.m., June 4, 2014

Where: St. John’s, Lafayette Square, 1525 H Street, NW, at the corner of 16^th and H, Washington, D.C. 20005

How much: No charge

Duration: About 35 minutes

Wheelchair accessible

Metro stations: McPherson Square, Farragut North, or Farragut West

Food trucks: Located two blocks away at Farragut Square

For more information: Contact Michael Lodico at 202-270-6265, Michael.Lodico@stjohns-dc.org.

Patricialesli@gmail.com

 

Memorial Day weekend at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial

It was startling and gratifying on May 25, 2014 to see so many parents too young to remember the Vietnam War themselves bring their children to honor the 58,286 soldiers whose names appear on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial/By Patricia Leslie

Some brought art work, flags, clothing, plastic flowers in commemorative wrap, and mementos to leave at the memorial. A ranger for the National Park Service said all items are collected nightly except for Memorial Day weekend when items were left at the wall for visitors to see. Volunteers, including members of Rolling Thunder, help the single ranger gather the keepsakes, and non-perishables are stored in a warehouse. Some of them will be displayed at the memorial's new visitors center once funding is completed, and the center is built/By Patricia Leslie

The names of the war dead and those missing in action are etched in stone and appear chronologically beginning with 1959 on the far upper left where the wall points to the Lincoln Memorial and stretching to 1975 with the wall in the foreground pointing to the Washington Monument/By Patricia Leslie

This looks towards the Washington Monument (in the distance) and more current years and names.  The design by Maya Lin, then a Yale University undergraduate student, was intended to bring the past and present together with reflections on the wall.  Her creation was chosen in a blind competition which received 1,421 submissions.  The wall was completed in 1982 and was so controversial at the time, another memorial called "The Three Servicemen" (or "The Three Soldiers") was unveiled two years later, designed by the third-place finisher in the contest, Frederick Hart.  It and the Vietnam Women's Memorial designed by Glenna Goodacre and dedicated in 1993, stand nearby.  Ms. Goodacre, who also submitted in the original competition, had to change her women's winning design because of controversy/Photo by Patricia Leslie

At the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, May 25, 2014/By Patricia Leslie

Nearby directories make it relatively easy to locate names of soldiers which may be copied identically with available paper/By Patricia Leslie 

 

Boots, medals, photos and biographies of the deceased and missing lined the wall on Memorial Day weekend/By Patricia Leslie

The park ranger said he thought more people than usual came to see the memorial last weekend.  Its stature grows with its increasing image as an American shrine, to match the respect and honor due all soldiers who protect and serve the United States. In a list compiled by the American Institute of Architects in 2007, Americans ranked the Vietnam Veterans Memorial tenth most favorite architecture/By Patricia Leslie

Honoring POW/MIA soldier, Ronald E. Smith/By Patricia Leslie

 

Poems by children were found at the wall.  This is the cover of a book which says "MILITARY We Will Fight For You.  A Collection of Poems by Jonathan Post, Troy, Ohio.  Navy!  Air Force!  Marines!  Army!"/By Patricia Leslie

Jonathan devoted a page to his mother which says "I dedicate this poetry anthology to my mom because she has helped me with some of the poems in this book and had the paitience it took to sit there and help."/By Patricia Leslie

 

A statement and artwork by a student says "The Vietnam War was the most hated war that the U.S. faught (sic) and, when the soliders  came home they were treated very badly."  On the right of the page is a drawing of a female in a short skirt who calls out "Boo!!!" and "You stink!!!" That these young children are educated about the war and its futility was welcoming.  A local Vietnam vet told me this week he has only visited the memorial once, and no more because of the pain.  Another one said he was never able to go and see it.  "Why?  Why?" John cried. "What was the purpose? All a waste!  All for egos!"/By Patricia Leslie

A floral tribute at the memorial which says "Rolling Thunder Never Forget Our Brothers and Sisters"/By Patricia Leslie

A wooden wreath with soldiers' dog tags at the memorial/By Patricia Leslie

 

Some of the wreaths at dusk at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, May 25, 2014/By Patricia Leslie

When it got too dark to see, the people took out their telephones and used the lights to illuminate names of those not forgotten. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial is open all day and night/By Patricia Leslie

 

Glenn Greenwald and the NSA on book tour

Do you think the NSA will buy any copies of Glenn Greenwald's new book, No Place to Hide?/Photo by Patricia Leslie

 

Glenn Greenwald whose newspaper, the Guardian shared Pulitzer Prize honors last month with the Washington Post based on Mr. Greenwald's scoop about government spying, was in town last week at Sixth & I Historic Synagogue promoting his newest book, No Place to Hide: Edward Snowden, the NSA, and the U.S. Surveillance State.

At the ticketed event all 800 seats were taken and all copies of the book sold out, according to bookstore Politics and Prose.

When he was a contractor for the U.S. government, Edward Snowden downloaded NSA documents he found so disturbing he wanted to share them and educate the public about just exactly what it is the NSA does, Mr. Greenwald said.  Mr. Snowden could have sold the documents and made millions.  Instead, he chose public awareness and transparency.
 
He "unleashed profound change," said Mr. Greenwald.  The NSA motto is "collect it all," and the agency has billions of pieces of information about Americans, Mr. Greenwald said.

When he first met Mr. Snowden, 29 years old at the time, Mr. Greenwald was taken aback since he expected someone much older, in his 60s or 70s. Mr. Snowden came across online as "a little cynical, very sophisticated, a deep thinker."

"It took me about the entire day to recover" after they met a year ago in Hong Kong, and Mr. Greenwald remained skeptical of Mr. Snowden's motives for a while. Why would someone possibly give up his life for prison? Mr. Greenwald wondered.

For Mr. Snowden, the possibility of "the pain of prison" was better than "the pain of doing nothing."

Now Edward Snowden lives in Moscow where he fled to avoid the the U.S. government which has tirelessly tried to capture him. Mr. Greenwald said he could not picture any scenario that would bring Mr. Snowden back to the U.S. since he doesn't want to spend the rest of his life "in a cage" like another well known whistleblower, Chelsea Manning, whom the U.S. has "turned into a martyr."

The U.S. government is sending a loud and clear message that Chelsea Manning's punishment is a model for anybody else who may be thinking about revealing government secrets, Mr. Greenwald said.

Glenn Greenwald at Sixth & I Historic Synagogue/Photo by Patricia Leslie

 

A persistent critic of the mainstream press, Mr. Greenwald said the press never fails to ask him one question as if it were the most important one: "What about Snowden's girlfriend?"
He talked about 30 minutes and gave lengthy answers to questions posed by the mostly male, mostly under age 40 (80%, according to an unofficial tally) audience, some who lined up six deep at two microphones to query Mr. Greenwald.  No one asked any hostile or negative questions.

Mr. Greenwald quoted one of his childhood heroes, Daniel Ellsberg, who says "they" are saying the same things about Mr.Snowden that "they" said about Mr. Ellsberg and Ms. Manning.  Nothing new.

The audience interrupted the author several times with applause, and some intermittently stood and clapped.

Mr. Snowden's "strategic sense has been remarkably vindicated," Mr. Greenwald said. He said there is a document which supersedes the Justice Department: "It is called the Constitution."

Greenwald is prepared. He has done his homework.   He ain't no slouch, and he makes no apologies for selling and making money on his books: It's the American way. He is a graduate of George Washington University where he majored in philosophy, and he earned a law degree from New York University. He lives in Brazil with his partner, David Michael Miranda, since the U.S. won't give Mr. Miranda a visa to live here.

Mr. Greenwald is working on something much bigger than the NSA story which will come out in due time, he said.

Movie rights to No Place to Hide have been sold to Sony Pictures, and producers will be Michael Wilson and Barbara Broccoli who produced the James Bond series.

Mr. Greenwald mentioned James Clapper, the director of national intelligence, who lied to the U.S. Congress in testimony about government spying, committing at least a felony, he said.

No one responsible for the destruction of Iraq, a nation with 26 million people, or the wounding and deaths of thousands of Iraq citizens and American troops has ever been held accountable, he noted.  I suppose it depends upon whom you know.

patricialesli@gmail.com
 





 

Skies light up after timpanist plays at the Kennedy Center

At the Kennedy Center guests who attend performances by the National Symphony Orchestra see and hear shows indoors and out/Photo by Patricia Leslie

At intermission Tuesday night, guests attending the National Symphony Orchestra performance streamed out onto the veranda at the Kennedy Center to catch a breath of fresh air, to sip beverages, admire the scenery, and praise the performance of timpanist Jauvon Gilliam who had just finished, in vigorous fashion, Timpani Concerto No. 1, "The Olympian," by James Oliverio (b. 1956).

Jauvon Gilliam/Photo from blogs.Kennedy-Center.org

At the conclusion of the piece moments earlier in the Concert Hall, the composer came up on stage and joined Mr. Gilliam and guest conductor Thomas Wilkins to receive enthusiastic applause and shouts of "Bravo!" from the audience.

Mr. Gilliam, the NSO's principal timpanist and also guest principal timpanist for the Budapest Festival Orchestra, had pounded the eight kettledrums which encircled him at the front of the stage, swirling in his chair and making music with what seemed like four hands.  He waved his sticks like a juggler tossing flames, with arms that sometimes flashed behind him.

The combinations of jazz, dance, Duke Ellington, and George Gershwin made for a spectacular presentation in the inauguration of the NSO's series "New Moves:  symphony + dance," the latter expertly supplied by members of Katie Smythe's New Ballet Ensemble from Memphis. 

Now in its eleventh year, the New Ballet comprises children from different social and economic backgrounds, those who cannot afford to pay for dance training and those who can, to learn professional dance on their way to stage careers.  Several alums have already made it up.

Thomas Wilkins, conductor of the Omaha National Symphony and principal guest conductor for the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, had no trouble leading the NSO. Indeed, every time he turned around to face the audience, a broad smile brightened his face.

Thomas Wilkins/Photo from the Omaha Symphony Orchestra

Selections from Porgy and Bess by George Gershwin (1898-1937) with arrangement by Robert Russell Bennett (1894-1981) got the show off to a stellar start, leading me to wonder if the best was saved for first, but it was an introduction to all the evening's finery which lay ahead, including the fantastic Martin Luther King from a ballet composition, Three Black Kings by Duke Ellington (1899-1974) and arranged by Luther Henderson (1919-2003). Ellington died before he finished Kings, and his son, Mercer, completed the piece. 

(Up against the night's competition, Souvenirs, Op. 28 by Samuel Barber (1910-1981) was a trifle uninteresting.)

All this served to build anticipation for the night's climax, the debut of Ellington's Harlem ballet, commissioned by the NSO and the Kennedy Center.

New Ballet Ensemble dance Harlem with the National Symphony Orchestra at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts/Photo by Scott Suchman

Dressed in Sunday clothes for Harlem's streets (except for one lass wearing a long dress who may have just stepped off the train from Kansas), the young performers exuded confidence and grace that belied their years and made viewers aware of their futures as career performers.

The choreography had some gaps, namely, the frequent freezes-in-positions which left the majority of the nine dancers stationary and motionless while one, two, or three colleagues twirled around them.  The ballet was far more enjoyable when all nine danced, like the old-fashioned way.

I wondered what a Porgy and Bess ballet would be like and discovered the Dallas Black Dance Theatre brought it to the Kennedy Center in 1998.

The combination dance and music series continues this weekend with compositions by John Adams and Aaron Copland and performances by violinist Leila Josefowicz and Jessica Lang's Dance Company.

This summer will find Maestro Wilkins, a Norfolk, Virginia native, in the area again when he conducts the NSO at Wolf Trap August 2 with guest artist, Yo-Yo Ma.  At last check, only lawn spaces remained.  Take your back brace.

patricialesli@gmail.com

Free trumpet and organ concert May 7 at St. John's, Lafayette Square

A. Scott Wood

A finalist in the International Trumpet Guild Solo Competition in London and the organist at St. John's Episcopal Church, Lafayette Square, will present an Easter concert on Wednesday, May 7, at the church, and the public is invited to attend at no charge. 

Performing will be A. Scott Wood on the trumpet and organist Benjamin Hutto, the director of music ministry at St. John's.  Both serve on the faculties at St. Albans and National Cathedral schools.  Mr. Wood is the conductor of several local orchestras including the Arlington Philharmonic and the Amadeus Orchestra, and he is assistant conductor of the Fairfax Symphony Orchestra.

Benjamin Hutto

Mr. Hutto was named a Fellow of the Royal School of Church Music in 1998 and was president of its North America chapter for seven years. He has served as president of the Association of Anglican Musicians, and several of his works are found in The Hymnal 1982 of the Episcopal Church. 

St. John's hosts First Wednesday concerts every month from October through June at 12:10 p.m. The last program of the season will be June 4 when organist Alan Morrison shall play.

St. John's Episcopal Church, Lafayette Square/By Patricia Leslie

Well known as the yellow church at Lafayette Square and the “Church of the Presidents,” St. John's was founded in 1815. President James Madison, who served as president from 1809 to 1817, began a tradition for all presidents who have attended and/or joined St. John's. A plaque at the rear of the church designates the Lincoln Pew where President Abraham Lincoln often sat when he stopped by St. John's during the Civil War.

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Who: Benjamin Hutto, organist, and A. Scott Wood, trumpeter

What:  First Wednesday Concerts
 
When: 12:10 p.m., May 7, 2014

Where: St. John’s, Lafayette Square, 1525 H Street, NW, at the corner of 16^th and H, Washington, D.C. 20005

How much: No charge

Duration: About 35 minutes

Wheelchair accessible

Metro stations: McPherson Square, Farragut North, or Farragut West

Food trucks: Located two blocks away at Farragut Square

For more information: Contact Michael Lodico at 202-270-6265, Michael.Lodico@stjohns-dc.org.

Patricialesli@gmail.com