Cultural leader Joy Bryer, founder of the European Union Youth Orchestra, returns to Boston as the EUYO plays at Symphony Hall on April 20 8 p.m. with conductor Vladimir Ashkenazy and pianist Yefim Bronfman. Here, she takes the time to answer a few questions ahead of the performance.
Renata Brito: How excited are you to come to Boston after so long? Joy Bryer: I’m more than excited. Although I’ve taken my orchestra well to China, Japan, Korea, South America, Paraguay, Mexico, Russia, all over the world, literally. The thrill of them seeing Boston and my being able to tell them what to see and how I feel about it is very different than talking to them when we are in Beijing.
I think if you are a Bostonian, the values and the life that you’ve led as a young child growing up don’t leave you. I think it gives you — in fact I know it does — and I feel that what I have been brought up to believe in we are very liberal, we are very multi-cultural. I remember the North End, Chinatown, I worked very hard for the Kennedy campaign, I know all the cabots and stalls, and our history of helping people, the slaves. I remember in one of the first homes we lived in Boston, there was an underground passage where the slaves from the South could come from underground. And you pushed a bookcase and it opened, it went down into some steps, and that’s where they could come from the Charles River. Continue reading “Q+A: Joy Bryer, Founder of the European Union Youth Orchestra” »
Esperanza Spalding: the baddest one-chick hit squad that ever hit town. (Photo by Sandrine Lee.)
Music Esperanza Spalding
27-year-old jazz bassist and singer Esperanza Spalding was only four years old when she saw Cambridge-resident Yo-Yo Ma perform on Mister Rogers and decided to be a musician. The Berklee grad — originally from Oregon — was the school’s youngest faculty member at the age of 20, and the first jazz musician to win a Grammy. We’re talking about the definition of badass here, but if you can’t make it to her show on Sunday, consider picking up her latest album, Radio Music Society, on Record Store Day this Saturday. $28–$45, Sunday, April 22, 7:30 p.m., Orpheum Theater, One Hamilton Pl., Boston, worldmusic.org. Continue reading “Five Reasons to Leave the House this Weekend” »
Perhaps you’ve heard, but there’s been a lot of attentionpaid of late to the fact there are more single people than ever in this country, and gasp! they’re just fine with being so. But here’s one thing that sucks about being single: You can’t have a wedding. And while this may seem obvious, as having a relationship is a pretty integral part in throwing such an event, hear me out for a minute. Because as much as weddings have been commodified and over-stylized and hyped to the point where they seem to have become more important than the bond itself — call it the Wedding Industrial Complex — there’s still (hopefully) meaning behind them, and what’s more, they’re a hell of a lot of fun.
If you’re single, you’ve probably made an investment in someone else’s happiness: buying your fair share of plane tickets and hotel rooms, bridesmaids dresses or tux rentals, wedding and shower gifts. And perhaps you believe that at some point, you’ll likely get married as well, so it all shakes out in the end. Continue reading “Screw Weddings” »
Lost in the Trees: If you don’t like them, I don’t like you. (Image courtesy of Anti & Epitaph Records)
Music Lost in the Trees, Poor Moon
It doesn’t get much more personal than this: North Carolina-based Lost in the Trees’ frontman, Ari Picker, wrote the band’s latest release, A Church to Fit Our Needs, for his mother, who passed away in 2008 from suicide. At times haunting, intensely layered, and vulnerable, the album is a work of beauty — and seeing the group perform live is not to be missed. $16‒$20, Friday, April 13, 7:30 p.m., Remis Auditorium, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 800-440-6975, mfa.org. Continue reading “Five Reasons to Leave the House this Weekend” »
Clockwise from top left, Alex and Ada: Orange Hat, 1990; Ulla in Black Hat, 2010; Gray Day, 1992. (Courtesy of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.)
For almost 60 years, painter Alex Katz’s style has been instantly recognizable: crisp lines, lush planes of color, and odd angles that make portraits and landscapes pop. His work has graced magazines, galleries the world over, and even taxicabs in his native New York. Now Boston gets a generous sample with a new exhibit at the Museum of Fine Arts, starting April 28.
The focus of the 125 works on display will be Katz’s prints from woodcuts and other materials, which distill his aesthetic to the basics. “I paint almost like printing,” says 84-year-old Katz, “but a painting has a thousand tones, while a print comes down to five.” The exhibit was organized by Vienna’s Albertina — perhaps the world’s best museum of prints and drawings — and makes its only U.S. stop here, with the MFA adding Katz paintings from its collection. Continue reading “The Arts Beat: Alex Katz, Painter and Patron” »
Kirby is only the tip of the Anime Boston iceberg. (Photograph courtesy of Anime Boston.)
Geekery Anime Boston & PAX East
Oh. My. Goodness. I’m not sure if it was the best or worst idea ever to schedule both the East Coast’s largest Japanese animation and video gaming conventions over the same weekend. I mean, what if I want to learn how to survive a robot apocalypse and design a D&D dungeon? Well of course robots always win over D&D, but I guess I’ll have to make sure mom can give me a ride. Betwixt hundreds of panels, screenings, demos, vendors, and (indubitably) legions of outrageous attendees (check out our slideshow from last year), fans, who will have crossover conflicts, no doubt, will have quite an epic challenge in sorting out which events to attend. $55, Anime Boston, Friday, April 6 through Sunday, April 8, Hynes Convention Center, animeboston.com;$35, PAX East, Friday, April 6 through Sunday, April 8, Boston Convention & Exhibition Center, 415 Summer St., Boston, east.paxsite.com. Continue reading “Five Reasons to Leave the House this Weekend” »
Untitled, 1932, by Lyonel Feininger. Harvard’s Sackler Museum will exhibit prints from Feininger’s photography collection from March 30-June 2. (Photo courtesy of Houghton Library, Harvard University.)
1. In The Luck of the Irish at the BCA’s Calderwood Pavilion, Medford’s Kirsten Greenidge explores the complications when a 1950s African-American family hires some white folks as a front to buy a house. 3/30 to 4/29
2. Cubist painter Lyonel Feininger was also an accomplished photographer. Now, Harvard’s Sackler Museum shows off his rarely seen personal collection dating from 1928 to 1939. 3/30 to 6/2
3. Forget Eric Clapton or Yngwie Malmsteen: The globe’s most face-melting guitarist is Spain’s Paco de Lucia. Watch him shred with his flamenco sextet at the Boston Opera House. 4/11
4. Christian Slater in a Bulgarian thriller … who knew? Catch Sofia and nearly 100 other flicks from around the globe during the Boston International Film Festival at AMC Loews Boston Common. 4/13 to 4/22
5. Hard-core Rasta punk legends Bad Brains give the Paradise hell on 4/16
6. It’s a four-day Muppet marathon at the Brattle, featuring the complete oeuvre of Miss Piggy and the gang, as well as Jim Henson’s sci-fi outliers, Labyrinth and The Dark Crystal. 4/20 to 4/23
7. Charlestown’s code of silence gets the thriller treatment in Under Oath, the second novel by BC law prof Margaret McLean. out 4/24, $26
8. The wool will fly and the baa’s will blare at Gore Place’s 25th annual Sheepshearing Festival in Waltham. 4/28
I remember quite well when Charles Dickens made his famous tour of America. Not that I was there, mind you — this was the mid-1800s. But being a kid growing up in drug-ravaged, crime-ravaged New Haven in the 1970s and 1980s, one thing you always learned in school is that Dickens came to the Elm City, pronounced it as “a fine town” in his book American Notes, and called Hillhouse Avenue the most beautiful street in America. At a time when the present was grim, these were welcome huzzahs for a kid proud of his hometown (still am) but wondering what happened to its noble past. Decades later, that’s why I snapped to attention when hearing that the city of Lowell was taking part in the worldwide celebration of the bicentenary of Dickens’s birth.
Like New Haven, Lowell has made great strides after decades of hard knocks, and it’s only fitting that England’s patron saint of hardscrabble city life is being heralded in this Merrimack Valley town. By 1842, when Dickens visited, he had already written such seminal works as Oliver Twist and Nicholas Nickelby, and he was like a Victorian-era Bruce Springsteen: wealthy, successful, and world-famous for writing about the poor and unheralded working-class. He shed some glaring spotlights on the underside of the Industrial Revolution, and such insights would have resonated in textile titan Lowell as in London or Manchester. Continue reading “Charles Dickens Returns to Lowell” »
A still from Saul Levine’s “Whole Note.” (Image courtesy of the ICA.)
Film International Experimental Cinema Exposition
According to Wikipedia, “an experimental film is often characterized by the absence of linear narrative, the use of various abstracting techniques — out-of-focus, painting or scratching on film, rapid editing — the use of asynchronous sound or even the absence of any sound track. The goal is often to place the viewer in a more active and more thoughtful relationship to the film.” Sound up your alley? This Colorado-based, non-profit expo seeks to call out experimental artistry in film. Founded by Christopher May (supported by Stan Brakhage), screenings will include a shorts from New England filmmakers Jonathan Schwartz and Saul Levine. $11–$13, 4 p.m., Sunday, April 1, Institute of Contemporary Art, 100 Northern Ave., Boston, 617-478-3103, icaboston.org.
Music Gotye
In case you’ve been living under a rock, Australia’s Belgian-born Gotye has been burning up the interwebs with his single, “Somebody That I Used to Know” (see the vid below, then check out this sweet cover version) from last year’s album, Making Mirrors. His voice smacks of Sting and Peter Gabriel (have a listen and tell me you don’t agree), while his style is all over the map — running the gamut from quiet ballads to synth-y, atmospheric works to neo-soul-infused numbers. $25–$35, Thursday, March 29, 8 p.m., House of Blues, 15 Lansdowne St., Boston, 888-693-2583, houseblues.com.
Wellness Violet Spa Spring Wellness Event
This Brookline spa is kicking off a week of discounted products and services with a free seminar on health and wellness. Meredith Mills, health counselor and founder of trunourish.com will speak about the connection between food, mood, and health, while Katherine Bicer, the founder of Om in the Office, will talk about ways to include yoga, meditation, and relaxation into your everyday life. Violet’s Organic Flax Seed Facial, Green Tea Purifying Facial, and Lemon Body Glow Treatment will all be $30 off, while skin care products will be on sale, too. Free, Sunday, April 1, 12 p.m.-6 p.m., Violet Skin Boutique, 1362 Beacon St., Brookline, 617-264-7546, violetskinboutique.com.
Tech Together Boston
So technically this is next week, but forgive me the technicality in exchange for advance notice of Together, Boston’s week long, electro-fabulous amalgamation of all things music, art, technology, and production. This year has an even bigger roster of acts, including RJD2 and Dubfire, and events like an installation competition, a demonstration of Sonotron — a 13-foot spherical, steel sculpture with speakers and amplifiers — and oodles of free tech seminars. Monday, April 2 – Sunday, April 8, check the schedule here, togetherboston.com.
Beer Five Napkin Burger Beer Dinner
If you’re not familiar with Stone Brewing, the San Diego-based brewery known for its hoppy brews, then a four-course dinner pairing with their Levitation Ale, IPA, Arrogant Bastard Ale, and Smoked Porter is a great place to start. The menu includes hors d’oeuvres like pork taquitos and spicy salmon wontons followed by gruyere mac ‘n cheese, a burger (or a veggie burger), and cheesecake with strawberry glaze. $45, 6:30 p.m., Tuesday, April 3, Five Napkin Burger, 105 Huntington Ave., Boston, 617-375-2277, buy tickets here.
As if being ranked #23 in Boston magazine’s 50 Most Powerful list weren’t grand enough, the American Repertory Theater‘s artistic director, Diane Paulus, has just been named the recipient of the Drama League’s 2012 Founders Award for Excellence in Directing. She’ll receive it on May 18 at the Marriott Marquis in New York. The news came on Friday, but in case you hadn’t heard, this is a big deal. Since 1916, the Drama League has been one of the most important associations in theater, its award ceremonies are the oldest for theater in the country, and it’s giving its most important one to Paulus. How much thought has to go into the winner and how he or she has transformed American theater? Well, try this on: You can only win this thing once in your life. She joins previous winners like legendary film director Mike Nichols, who made his name introducing Neil Simon plays on Broadway; George C. Wolfe, who premiered Jelly’s Last Jam, Angels in America, and Topdog/Underdog; and Susan Stroman, who launched the Broadway juggernaut version of Mel Brooks’s The Producers. No small company here, and Paulus wins for her huge Central Park revival of Hair, but also for Porgy and Bess and all her other innovative work she’s doing right here in Cambridge. Congratulations, and it’s just further proof she’s raising Boston’s bar as a national theater city. Continue reading “Arts Roundup: Diane Paulus, The Guitar Circle, The Chemical Brothers” »
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Esperanza Spalding: the baddest one-chick hit squad that ever hit town. (Photo by Sandrine Lee.)
Lost in the Trees: If you don’t like them, I don’t like you. (Image courtesy of Anti & Epitaph Records)
Kirby is only the tip of the Anime Boston iceberg. (Photograph courtesy of Anime Boston.)
Untitled, 1932, by Lyonel Feininger. Harvard’s Sackler Museum will exhibit prints from Feininger’s photography collection from March 30-June 2. (Photo courtesy of Houghton Library, Harvard University.)
