Lorenzo Bartolini: Scultore del bello naturale by Daniel B. Gallagher

Portrait-of-bartolini

The rebellion against French academicism in the nineteenth century was carried out from several angles. A variety of new themes, subjects, and techniques were used as ammunition, and the expanding international market widened the battlefield. It was more than a two-sided contest between “conformists” and “non-conformists,” for there were multiple camps of non-conformists each of whom eventually found something else to cling to.

Read the full review on The Berkshire Review, an international journal for the arts!

The Second Annual United Solo Theatre Festival, the Largest and Best of its Kind, October 20 – November 20, 2011, Theatre ROW, 410 West 42nd Street, New York City


The Second Annual United Solo Theatre Festival

October 20 – November 20, 2011

Theatre ROW

410 West 42nd Street, New York City

UNITED SOLO THEATRE FESTIVAL™ is an annual international festival for solo performances held in New York City. Through a diverse range of one-person shows, we explore and celebrate the uniqueness of the individual. From openly solicited submissions, we stage the most intriguing productions at the highly acclaimed Theatre ROW in the heart of the New York City theatre district on 42nd Street. Highly experienced performers and untried new talents have opportunities in many categories (e.g. storytelling, puppetry, dance, multimedia, improv, stand-up, magic, drama: tragedy or comedy). The artists also benefit from being presented by United Solo, a company made up of artists and producers with vast experience in solo performance. The festival is curated by Omar Sangare, founder and artistic director, who teaches theater at Williams College and was selected by the U.S. Department of State for a video project that appeared as part of President Obama’s trip to Poland in May 2011. This series of short documentaries focused on Polish Americans who have contributed to the innovation, creativity and vibrancy of America, featuring a wealth of prominent Polish Americans who are proud of their heritage while having an impact on America’s social and cultural fabric.

Read the full preview on the Berkshire Review, an International Journal for the Arts!



Wp-socializer-sprite-mask-16px

Paula Robison and Katherine Chi play Griffes, Lanier, Taffanel and Franck at NEC’s Jordan Hall, by Michael Miller


Paula Robison and Katherine Chi. Photo Matt Dine.

Paula Robison, flute
Katherine Chi, piano
NEC’s Jordan Hall, September 25, 2011 - 2 pm

Griffes - Poem for flute and piano
Three Tone-Pictures, Op. 5, for solo piano
Lanier - Wind Song for solo flute
Taffanel - Fantasy on Themes from Weber's Der Freischutz, for flute and piano
Franck - Sonata in A Major for flute and piano

COMING SOON: a podcast interview with Paula Robison

Although Katherine Chi played Charles T. Griffes' Three Tone-Pictures, Op. 5, for solo piano, there could be no question that this program was primarily a feast of specialized flute repertoire. (Simply hearing the sounds of Paula Robison's playing in Jordan Hall's extraordinary acoustic is enough to make this an exciting event.) One piece, Sidney Lanier's "Windsong," is even known relatively little outside Paula Robison's flute recitals. Paul Taffanel (1844-1908) is remembered primarily as a great flute virtuoso, who developed the modern technique of playing the Boehm flute and modifications thereof—the foundations of the instrument and technique that prevail today. While Taffanel sought above all to enrich the emotional content of flute music and to extend the expressive capabilities of the instrument, he composed much of his music for technical display at his own recitals and as exercises for his students. Nonetheless the appeal of the concert went far beyond the immediate concerns of flute-players and their pupils and offered a wealth of insights, which were both fascinating in relation to music as imagined and constructed by the composer and as re-created within the specificities of acoustics, instrument, and player, and deeply moving as expressions of the human spirit. Paula Robison may well be one of the great living flute virtuosi, one who has dedicated years to exploring the technique of the instrument, to teaching, and to writing textbooks, but she is also a deeply-read humanist with many diverse interests in all the arts and in art's relation to humanity. Like Taffanel and her own teacher, Marcel Moyse, who studied with Taffanel, she has worked to extend the tonal range of the flute even beyond what she first mastered, and to render it fully capable of expressing the subtlest nuances of human feeling through phrasing and tone-color, which, in her playing, are so closely-related as to be inseparable.

Read the full review
 on the Berkshire Review, an International Journal for the Arts!








(download)

Leonard Freed e L’Italia: L’elemento del tempo (mostra alle Stelline, Milano dal 20/10/11 al 08/01/12), di Silvia Magna

Leonard Freed, Io amo l'Italia, Mostra alle Stelline, Milano, dal 20/10/2011 al 08/01/2012.

"Io amo l'Italia." Leonard Freed. Mostra alle Stelline, Milano, dal 20/10/2011 al 08/01/2012.

Catalogo dal Quantuck Lane Press/Admira Edizioni, con saggio di Michael Miller.

Click here to read this article in English.

“There is a mathematical grid in the photograph. There is a rhythm.” (1)

Nel rileggere un’intervista rilasciata da Leonard Freed a Nathalie Herschdorfer (2), la mia attenzione si sofferma sulla considerazione che Freed fa rispetto alla connessione tra le sue fotografie ed il tempo: “The thing is I am trying to get into my photographs the element of time” (3). Parole che generano in me una serie di osservazioni in relazione al progetto di immagini italiane al quale proverò a introdurvi nelle pagine seguenti.

Read the full article on the Berkshire Review, an International Journal for the Arts!



(download)

Arabella Ensemble – Lorenz Gamma, violin, Jennifer Langham, cello, Ming Tsu, piano – with Christian Steiner, piano play Beethoven, Piazzolla, and rarities by Debussy and Rebecca Clarke at Tannery Pond, by Michael Miller


The Arabella Ensemble: Lorenz Gamma, violin; Jennifer Langham, cello; Ming Tsu, piano; with Christian Steiner.

Tannery Pond Concerts, Saturday, September 3, 2011, 8 pm
Arabella Ensemble
Lorenz Gamma, violin, Jennifer Langham, cello, Ming Tsu, piano, with Christian Steiner, piano

Ludwig van Beethoven - Piano Trio in E flat major Op. 1, No. 1
Claude Debussy - Piano Trio in G Major
Rebecca Clarke - Piano Trio
Astor Piazzolla - Four Seasons for Piano Trio

The penultimate concert of the 2011 season at Tannery Pond was not only the occasion of one of Artistic Director Christian Steiner's appearances as pianist, but the visit of an impressive and rather fascinating group of musicians from Southern California, the Arabella Ensemble, consisting of Lorenz Gamma, violin, Jennifer Langham, cello, Ming Tsu, piano. Mr. Steiner has enjoyed a long friendship with Ms. Langham, and they have played together often over the years. Lorenz Gamma and Ming Tsu are husband and wife. The three musicians of the Arabella Ensemble have markedly different personalities. Ms. Tsu takes a rather understated approach in her music-making, but the clarity and definition of her understanding of the music she is playing command one's interest from the start, and there is no danger of her receding into the background. The playing of her husband, Lorenz Gamma, reflects a carefully considered, analytical musicianship. His phrasing was consistently elegant and clearly articulated. Jennifer Langham, the most outgoing of the players, played with warmth and energy, often with pungent attacks, which never distracted from the flow of her line. She appeared to function as the leader of the group, not so much through active dominance as as its heart. Often she seemed to share the lead with Mr. Gamma through exchanged glances.

Read the full review on the Berkshire Review, an International Journal for the Arts!



(download)

Vasari, gli Uffizi e il Duca by Daniel B. Gallagher

Uffizi_facade_cu_web
Before entering this exhibition, take the time to examine the building that houses it. Study its façade at close range and from the opposite bank of the Arno. Contemplate its severe, stately economy. Notice the columns that seem to support more weight than they should. Allow your eye to scan the stretch of monolithic architraves, the repetitious ordering of portals. Only then will you begin to appreciate that the core of this exhibit is not in the Uffizi, it is the Uffizi.

Read the full reviewon the Berkshire Review, an international journal of the arts!

New York Arts / Berkshire Review editor Alan Miller shortlisted for the Architectural Journal Writing Prize


Alan Miller on the Promenade Plantée, Paris.

The shortlist for the inaugural AJ Writing Prize in association with architecture practice Berman Guedes Stretton has been announced, and New York Arts / Berkshire Review editor Alan Miller is among the six finalists who have been chosen from 91 entries to the contest which was launched in June to find the best up-and-coming architecture critic aged under 35.

The shortlist includes Malcolm Birks for ‘The Carrot and the Cane’ a critique of Zaha Hadid’s Evelyn Grace Academy (pictured), John Clark for ‘Meet me at the Wit’, an essay on Koo and Associates’ Wit Hotel, Mike Hawkins for ‘A review of The Collection’, on Panter Hudspith’s museum of archaeology in Lincoln, Hana Loftus for ‘Revisiting the Idea Stores’ by Adjaye Associates, Alan Miller for ‘The Architecture of Brittle Prosperity’ on architect John Wardle’s Westfield Sydney Central Shopping Centre, and Dale Suttle for ‘Building or Monument’, on the restoration of Paul Rudolph’s Yale Art and Architecture Building.

Read the full story
 on in New York Arts

(download)

The Second Annual United Solo Theatre Festival, October 20 – November 20, 2011, Theatre ROW, 410 West 42nd Street, New York City

UNITED SOLO THEATRE FESTIVAL™ is an annual international festival for solo performances held in New York City. Through a diverse range of one-person shows, we explore and celebrate the uniqueness of the individual. From openly solicited submissions, we stage the most intriguing productions at the highly acclaimed Theatre ROW in the heart of the New York City theatre district on 42nd Street. Highly experienced performers and untried new talents have opportunities in many categories (e.g. storytelling, puppetry, dance, multimedia, improv, stand-up, magic, drama: tragedy or comedy). The artists also benefit from being presented by United Solo, a company made up of artists and producers with vast experience in solo performance. The festival is curated by Omar Sangare, founder and artistic director, who teaches theater at Williams College and was selected by the U.S. Department of State for a video project that appeared as part of President Obama’s trip to Poland in May 2011. This series of short documentaries focused on Polish Americans who have contributed to the innovation, creativity and vibrancy of America, featuring a wealth of prominent Polish Americans who are proud of their heritage while having an impact on America’s social and cultural fabric.

Read the full preview in New York Arts

Wp-socializer-sprite-mask-16px

“What Inspires Design in Istanbul?” with Superpool: Becoming Istanbul at SALT Beyoğlu

“What Inspires Design in Istanbul?” with Superpool: Becoming Istanbul at SALT Beyoğlu

On September 13, 2011, Gregers Tang Thomsen and Selva Gürdoğan, of Superpool, in collaboration with Project and Projects, lead a talk atSALT Beyoğlu entitled “What Inspires Design in Istanbul.”  The discussion revolved around the innovative project, Becoming Istanbul, which will run from September 13, 2011 to December 31, 2011.

During this three month event, ”two parallel programs [will commence], 90, a program of 90 events focusing on contemporary issues in Istanbul, and The Making Of Beyoğlu, a series of workshops examining the methodology and implementation of projects initiated in the city’s center.”  At “What Inspires Design in Istanbul,” Superpool explored the obvious and subtle designopportunities of the Becoming Istanbul installation.

Read the full notice
 on the Berkshire Review, an International Journal for the Arts!








(download)

Pieter Wispelwey and Lois Shapiro to play the complete Beethoven Cello Sonatas at Simon’s Rock, Sunday, Oct. 3, at 3 pm

Pieter Wispelwey and Lois Shapiro to play the complete Beethoven Cello Sonatas at Simon's Rock, Sunday, Oct. 3, at 3 pm

See the notice
on the Berkshire Review, an International Journal for the Arts!








(download)