A gastroenterologist from Maryland, Christopher Shih, has been named winner of the first YouTube Conest for amateur pianists, presented by the Van Cliburn Foundation in Fort Worth, Texas. His entry was an assured and colorful performance of Los requiebros from Goyescas by Granados. Dr. Shih, 35, will now gain automatic entry, application fee-free, to the next Cliburn International Competition for Outstanding Amateurs in 2011. About 2,400 people voted online, choosing among 41 amateurs (age 35 and older) who uploaded video performances of 5-10 minutes in length on YouTube. Dr. Shih, who earned his medical degree at Johns Hopkins, is affiliated with the Maryland Digestive Disease Center, which has offices in Ellicott City, Laurel and Takoma Park.

The YouTube contest provides extra attention to the Cliburn competition for amateurs; a second such contest will be held in 2009. The foundation's primary work, of course, remains the Cliburn International Piano Competition, named after the sensational American pianist Van Cliburn, who won the Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow in 1958.

Posted by Tim Smith at 12:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
                    

First things first: Sheryl Crow looks amazing. At 46, the eight-time Grammy winner has only gotten better. Her show last night at Merriweather Post Pavilion was one of the better concerts I've seen this year. There were no pyrotechnics, no over-the-top theatrics, no hip-grinding dancers. Just Crow singing her amiable, eclectic rock songs at full-throttle, and she seemed to be having a great time.

The rock-pop superstar was supported by a solid, eight-piece band. On stage, Crow and the fine musicians pumped up her greatest hits and choice cuts from Detours, her new album and one of her best releases. The CD is Crow's most politically charged set. It's also counterbalanced by deeply personal tunes centering on events in her life over the past few years: her breakup with Lance Armstrong, her bout with breast cancer, her adoption of a baby boy.

But the music and smart, revealing lyrics cliqued, and the show's energy never dipped. Be sure to catch my full review in tomorrow's paper. In the meantime, check out the video for "Love is Free," a nice cut from the Detours.

Posted by Rashod Ollison at 10:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
                    

Forty years into a celebrated, highly influential recording career, Al Green could just sit back and collect the royalties from his lucrative catalog. Whenever he felt like it, he could hit the road and perform his '70s evergreens, including "Let's Stay Together," "I'm Still in Love With You" and "Love and Happiness." He doesn't need to make any new material.

But the Memphis-based legend, 62, still loves making records. And with a voice and a style that defy time and easy categorization, Green continues to deliver solid albums. On Lay It Down, his third album for Blue Note Records in stores today, he collaborates with artists (Anthony Hamilton, John Legend, Corrine Bailey Rae) who were either toddling around in diapers or not even born when Green reigned supreme on pop radio.

Ahmir "?uestlove" Thompson of the Roots is one of the CD's producers. His crisp drumming anchors the 11-track album, whose sound warmly evokes Green's Willie Mitchell-produced hits of the 1970s.

Lay It Down is well-paced with sassy, midtempo numbers and floating ballads, and all are engagingly rendered by Green. Hamilton's youthful grittiness is a great complement to Green's full-bodied silkiness on the rousing "You've Got the Love I Need." Green is beautifully laid-back on the churchy "What More Do You Want From Me." And he trades dreamily romantic verses with Rae on "Take Your Time."

Lyrically, though, none of the songs are as tightly focused as Green's greatest hits. They're not as immediate, either. But they become more ingratiating with repeated listens. Even with the different guests, the album rightfully centers on Green's greatest asset: that heavenly voice.

Check out this funky clip of Al Green on Soul Train circa 1974:

Posted by Rashod Ollison at 1:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
                    

Hit modern rock band Weezer, whose latest hit is called "Pork and Beans," just launched a new channel on YouTube.  The video for the single, which can seen above, is the first of its kind featuring several YouTube “stars” – like the "Numa Numa" guy, the "Evolution of Dance" guy and "Chocolate Rain" star Tay Zonday.

Earlier this year, Weezer front man Rivers Cuomo enlisted the help of his fans to help write a song and has since made music videos like this one, called "Bridge Lyrics." Rivers’ channel and his videos push what seems to be YouTube's main intention: to bring its community of users together -- the platinum-selling rock stars, the wannabes and everybody in between. 

Posted by Rashod Ollison at 2:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
                    

A return visit to Baltimore Opera Company's new production of Puccini's Madama Butterfly gave me a chance to hear a Japanese-born soprano, Mihoko Kinoshita, in the iconic role of the Japanese heroine. It also gave me a chance to check, and basically confirm, my intitial impressions about Paolo Micciche's distinctive visual concept for the staging.

As for Kinoshita, her single performance Saturday night (the 17th) at the Lyric was very much like that of the Chinese-American singer Shu-Ying Li on opening night the week before -- vocally tentative at the start, but quickly gaining strength and richness; dramatically on target, with a wealth of detail in the acting. Kinoshita left quite a vivid mark on the role, especially in the Act 2 scene when Butterfly reveals to the U.S. consul Sharpless the child she had with the American naval cad, Pinkerton. (Shu-Ying Li also hit her expressive height in that scene on the 10th.) The rest of the cast was the same for Kinoshita's performance. John Packard's Sharpless sounded firmer of voice and even more communicative. Misoon Ghim's affecting portrayal of Butterfly's loyal servant Suzuki likewise revealed more vocal solidity. Jose Luis Duval remained only an adequate actor as Pinkerton, but his tenor often bloomed impressively. Once again, l  thought Stephen Mould's conducting missed opportunities to caress the most heart-melting passages; he moved things along too briskly in the love duet for the music to reveal all of its seductive beauty. But Mould certainly knew how to set up striking dynamic contrasts, to tighten the tension of key moments in the drama, and that knack paid off handsomely, as it had on opening night back on the 10th. And the orchestra sounded more deeply and securely settled into the music this time.

I still found Micciche's projected, swirling, blending images, all digitially projected onto screens (and, sometimes, costumes) ultimately persuasive. I've heard a grumble or two from folks who wanted something more traditional in the way of sets and found this approach distracting. But the two skeptical folks I attended the performance with on the 17th ended up singing the praises of the projections. Certain of the designer's choices struck me again as arbitrary, and some scenes still seemed unnecessarily busy. But the music and drama came through unscathed, with the emotional impact of several key passages greatly intensified by the imagery. It will be interesting to see how Micciche will treat Verdi's Aida when he returns to Baltimore Opera in the fall, and if he can keep his trademark computerized visuals looking fresh.      

One last thought: I think it's a great idea to perform the second and third acts of Butterfly without an intermission, as the Baltimore production did. After all, that's what Puccini first had in mind. But the really neat thing would be to restore the composer's original connecting music between those two acts, because that provides a much smoother, more atmospheric transition from the "Humming Chorus" into the Intermezzo. I had the same thought the other day at the Baltimore Symphony's pops program, which followed the "Humming Chorus" with the Act 3 Intermezzo from the standard, revised version of the score.  Maybe next time.

PHOTO: Baltimore Opera Company's production of 'Madama Butterfly,' Michael DeFilippi, photographer (courtesy of Baltimore Opera)  

Posted by Tim Smith at 12:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
                    

Inspired by the sensational success of the the countrywide El Sistema music program that involves several hundred thousand low-income children in Venezuela, the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra today announced OrchKids, a new pilot program that will begin in the fall at an inner-city school.

About two dozen first-graders at Harriett Tubman Elementary School in Baltimore will participate in the program, which will be held three days a week. By the end of the school year, the students will have been introduced to basics of music and will choose an instrument to study in the subsequent years of the project. By the third year, those first OrchKids will be helping to mentor first-graders coming into the program.

Initial funding for OrchKids comes from Robert E. Meyerhoff and Rheda Becker. BSO music director Marin Alsop has pledged $100,000 of her own as part of a four-to-one matching grant to support the project, which she envisions as "a program for the whole child." 

Alsop expects to visit the school periodically to participate in activities. Dan Trahey, a musician and educator who has taught in Baltimore public schools and elsewhere, is the program manager for OrchKids, which will involve a team of part-time music instructors.

The role of BSO musicians in the after-school program is still being worked out, but the orchestra will have direct interaction with the kids during visits to rehearsals and concerts at Meyerhoff Symphony Hall.

Partners in the BSO's initiative include the Baltimore City Public School System, Peabody Institute, Arts Everyday, Baltimore School for the Arts and the Family League.    

Posted by Tim Smith at 12:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
                    

WYPR's next Board of Directors meeting, set for 3 p.m. May 21 at The Family Tree, 2108 N. Charles St., will be open to the public, as much as the small meeting room will allow.

The room, where WYPR's board has been meeting for some five years, holds about 30 people, says station President and General Manager Anthony Brandon. If all 22 board members show up, that would leave room for about eight more people, who will be seated on a first-come, first-served basis. Those unable to sit inside the room will be able to watch via an Internet stream. The web address for that stream will be posted on the WYPR web page, wypr.org.

"All this is being done with the consent and approval of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting," Brandon said. Any disruption to the meeting -- such as the heckling that was heard during last month's board meeting at the Church of the Redeemer, where supporters of fired talk-show host Marc Steiner continued their campaign to bring him back and replace the station management -- will not be tolerated, he added.

The CPB, Brandon said, has "told us that anyone who makes a disturbance [may] be asked to leave."

CPB regulations require that radio stations receiving CPB money hold open board meetings, and that "reasonable accomodations" for the public be provided.

CPB spokesman Eben Peck wrote in an email that the corporation "does not offer legal advice to the public on station compliance with the Public Broadcasting Act requirements," and "does not police them for violations of the statute." Rather, he said, "we respond to complaints and/or audits and investigations (including those of our Inspector General)."

Posted by Chris Kaltenbach at 1:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
                    

The Baltimore Opera Company announced Thursday that it will bring the popular Metropolitan Opera high-def, digital simulcasts, currently beamed into movie theaters across the country and around the world, to the Lyric Opera House, starting next season. This will be the first presentation of the Met’s simulcasts inside Baltimore. They are currently available at cineplexes in Abingdon and Columbia.

A grant from the Abell Foundation and an anonymous donor have enabled Baltimore Opera to secure the necessary projection and satellite equipment for the project. Company general director Michael Harrison describes the venture as "an effort to provide an affordable means of introducing younger audiences to opera and to generate additional traffic for the Lyric Opera House and other Mt. Vernon area businesses."

The Met’s simulcast series includes 11 transmissions next season, beginning with an opening night gala Sept. 22 featuring soprano Renee Fleming (pictured above), and including productions of Salome, Madama Butterfly and the recent opera by John Adams, Doctor Atomic.

Details on dates and ticket prices for the Lyric Opera presentations will be announced in July. Tickets will go on sale in August.

AP Photo of soprano Renee Fleming

Posted by Tim Smith at 6:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
                    

It might not be quite up there with American Idol, but the just-announced auditions being held by the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra promise a chance to bask for a few minutes in the spotlight before an audience of thousands.

All you have to be is between the ages of 8 and 18 and capable of getting through one of the toughest musical assignments in the business -- singing our National Anthem. With its famously treacherous range, "The Star-Spangled Banner" takes more than rudimentary vocal skill, so any anthem competition has the distinct possibility of veering into The Gong Show territory. But the BSO's venture certainly has the possibility to uncover some notable singing talent  

Contestants must be able to warble the anthem in either B-flat or A-flat major. An accompanist will be provided for the auditions, which will be held on June 9, from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m., at Meyerhoff Symphony Hall. Winners will get to sing during the BSO's patriotic-theme concerts July 3-5, conducted by Constantine Kitsopoulos, at the outdoor Oregon Ridge, which typically draws thousands of listeners. 

Judges include Reagan Warfield from 106.5 FM. To register for an audition, applicants must email their requests by 5 p.m. June 4 and, among other things, include a statement of why they want to win this opportunity. Parental permission forms are required for those under 18.

Click here for more info.     

Posted by Tim Smith at 12:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
                    

Now you see him ... and now you see him.

The Olney Theatre Center has concluded its nearly year-long search for an artistic director by hiring -- (drumroll, please) -- Jim Petosa, who has held the identical job at the Montgomery County performing arts complex for the past 15 years.

Petosa initially announced in June 2007 that he would leave the theater center at the end of the current season, in part to devote more time to Boston University, where he is stage director of the school's Opera Institute. Recently, the board asked Petosa to reconsider his decision to step down. 

In a news release, Petosa says that his decision to remain at Olney was influenced by the recent hire of Amy Marshall as Olney's new managing director.

"I am energized by the Board's unexpected invitation to continue as Artistic Director," he says. "It is a new chapter in the life of this theater." 

(Photo courtesy of The National Players)

Posted by Mary McCauley at 11:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
                    

Two artists associated with Oprah's presentation of The Color Purple returned to their gospel roots Sunday in brief appearances at Bethel AME.

Fantasia, the American Idol winner turned pop singer turned stage actor who portrayed Celie in the Color Purple on Broadway, brought the capacity crowd at the 11:30 a.m. service to their feet with "Jesus Be a Fence Around Me,'' and "The Lord Is Blessing Me Right Now,'' two traditional gospel songs most churches and choirs know.

A red-haired Fantasia made a point to tell the audience about how gospel is still a part of her life.  Her grandmother and mother, who were with her at Bethel, are ministers.

"Most of you know I'm a church girl,'' she said to the capacity audience at the church on Druid Hill. "Every now and then I have to give some praise.''  
 

The church influence was evident, from her "holy" dance to the way she directed Bethel's all-women's choir with the sound of her voice.  She often walked up and down the church aisles to engage audience members around her.

In the 8 a.m. service, Jeannette Bayardelle, the actress who plays Celie in the touring production of  Color Purple, sang two songs, one contemporary gospel song and "I'm Here," a song from the production, which is currently playing at the Hippodrome Theatre through Sunday.  

Bayardelle, who grew up singing in a church choir, released her debut CD, entitled Praise Report, in September 2005.

(Photo from Sunday's performance by Steve Ruark / Special to The Sun) 

Posted by Karlayne Parker at 1:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
                    

The Wachowskis attempt to craft a family-film blockbuster with Speed Racer and cram in so many digital gewgaws and effects they arrive at the aesthetic equivalent of a pile-up.

Jon Favreau in Iron Man strives to make a sophisticated superhero movie and does his job so well that with New Hollywood personnel he creates the sort of classy Old Hollywood entertainment that adults, teens and kids all enjoy, albeit at different levels.

In an interview a month ago, he said parenthood actually helped him arrive at his current accomplishment.

"As people become parents, it takes a lot of wind out of their sails, creatively or as far as their career goes, because it becomes your life work," says Favreau. "But for me, what’s fun is I get to make movies that help me parent. I can even share the experience with my 6-year-old – 'Here, come to work with Daddy, here’s what I do, here’s this, take a look at this one.' Making movies that make my son light up becomes part of the parenting experience. Elf, Zathura and this one are not geared for a 6-year-old, but they’re something me and my 6-year-old are bonding over. "

Favreau’s dual parent-child perspective has enabled him to take family-film forms and give them just the right amount of twist to please critics without alienating regular moviegoers.

"The last thing you want to do is punish your audience for buying the ticket. I remember [the Schwarzenegger movie] The Last Action Hero – they were marketing it as an action movie, but it made fun of action movies, and, as a result, of the people who were going to see the movie. With Elf I thought it had to be a Christmas movie first and foremost – it couldn’t make fun of being a Christmas movie. And with superhero movies, it’s very much a Joseph Campbell rise-of-the-hero mythic story you are telling."

Simultaneously, though, Favreau aims to make films that are authentic and of their time. "I know when I made Elf, having grown up in New York, and Christmas movies meaning New York to me, to be able not too long after 9/11 to show the Empire State Building and all these landmarks and have people think of them in a way other than just as a terrorist target, it felt like it was liberating, offering hope and simplicity. It was such a complicated, anxious time.

"And now that it’s six or seven years later, in Iron Man, I think you can let the times inform the backdrop even more and you don’t run the risk of pulling people out of the story. The big thing was to express these anxieties everyone is feeling. ...  Tony Stark is a guy who is literally oblivious, fooling around, having drinks in a HumVee, then he wakes up to see himself in a hostage video. I think that’s how America feels."

(Photo by Zade Rosenthal) 

Posted by Michael Sragow at 3:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)
                    

Radio ratings for the first three months of 2008 suggest that the changes at WYPR-FM (88.1) have not led to the drastic ratings decline some fans of ousted talk-show host Marc Steiner predicted. But they also suggest the station has alienated some key listeners.

In the noon-2 p.m. time slot, where Sun columnist Dan Rodricks took over for Steiner beginning Feb. 25, WYPR took a considerable hit among listeners ages 25-54. The share (that is, the percentage of listeners tuned to a specific station in an average quarter-hour) declined 55 percent from a year ago (2.0 to .9). The total number of those listeners in a given week fell from 25,300 to 14,100.

Among overall listeners 12 and older, however, the change of share was only slight, from 2.2 in Winter 2007 to 2.0 in winter 2008; in fact, it grew from the last quarter of 2007 to the first quarter of 2008 (1.4 to 2.0). Among listeners 55 and older, the listenership grew considerably, from a 3.3 share in winter 2007 to 3.9 in winter 2008 (the increase was even more marked from the last quarter of 2007 to the first quarter of 2008, 1.9 to 3.9). The weekly average of those listeners increased from 16,100 to 26,900, almost making up for the loss in the 25-54 age group.

It's too early, based on the ratings, to make any grand assessment of how listenership has been affected by the Steiner furor. Typically, any abrupt change in programming results in a drop in listenership; whether the numbers pick up again will be measured in future ratings books. It's also possible that all the tumult over Steiner's firing attracted some curious listeners to the station, which could lead to a short-term spike in the ratings (judging by WYPR's numbers, the over-55 crowd must have been especially curious). Again, the question is, are those numbers temporary, or will they translate into loyal listeners?

The ratings were released last week by Columbia-based Arbitron.

Posted by Chris Kaltenbach at 12:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)
                    

Pulitzer Prize-winning, Baltimore-born Christopher Rouse has been named Distinguished Composer-in-Residence at the Peabody Conservatory, where he'll work with composition students starting in the fall. An annual public concert of Rouse's music will also be part of the residency.

The composer, who is on the faculty of the Juilliard School in New York, lives in Baltimore, where his work has long been championed by the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. Current BSO music director Marin Alsop is among his advocates; she conducted his Flute Concerto here in March and is conducting his Der gerettete Alberich this week with her other BSO, the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, in England. 

PHOTO: Christopher Rouse consults with Marin Alsop during a Baltimore Symphony Orchetsra rehearsal. Baltimore Sun Photo (Monica Lopossay)

Posted by Tim Smith at 3:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
                    

The exodus of managing directors from local theater companies continues.

Sara Rutstein, the second-in-command of Everyman Theatre, announced her resignation earlier today. Her last day will be July 31, departing shortly after Michael Ross leaves a similar post at Center Stage. Signature Stage in Arlington, VA., also lost Sam Sweet, its longtime managing director, earlier this fall.

Like Ross, Rutstein doesn't have another job lined up, though she has told friends she'd like to find a position better utilizing her recent MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.

"I will always cherish my time at Everyman and I have high hopes for its future," she says in a news release. "The staff is exceptional, and the work the company produces is first-rate. It is simply time for me to explore different career possibilities and move on to new challenges."

The managing director job can be a burn-out position, requiring near constant networking and fund-raising. Rutstein has worked in non-profit theater for 20 years, including at the Woolly Mammoth and Shakespeare Theatre Companies in Washington.

Vincent Lancisi, Everyman's artistic director, says that Rutstein has been a big factor in the company's success in the nearly three years that she has been with the troupe.

"Sara has been a great partner and resource to me over the years," he says in the release. "I've thoroughly enjoyed working with her. She's been hugely supportive of the artistry at Everyman, and she will be missed."

Everyman's board has hired a consultant to spearhead the search for Rutstein's successor.

(Photo courtesy of Everyman Theatre)

Posted by Mary McCauley at 1:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
                    

Melvin van Peebles' Confessionsofa Ex-Doofus-Itchyfooted Mutha brought the 2008 Maryland Film festival to a raucous close Sunday evening. The 75-year-old independent film and African-American film pioneer brought the crowd to its feet with a semi-autobiographical, blues-influenced, stream-of-consciousness extravaganza that packed in enough joy and inventiveness to make movie-making seem like the most fun anyone could ever have.

With brio, humor and self-effacing candor, van Peebles' film, which debuted at the Tribeca Film Festival last weekend and was getting its second public showing here in Baltimore, celebrated a life of equal parts confusion, obstinance and perseverance. Employing everything from from slow-motion to animation, from rotoscoping to a guy in a gorilla suit, Confessionsofa was the work of a mind that will never grow either old or content.

Thanks, Mr. van Peebles, for reminding us all how much fun creativity and passion can be.

See a clip from the film here:

Posted by Chris Kaltenbach at 4:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
                    

The Soulful Symphony, conducted by Darin Atwater, ended its season with the joyful sound of gospel music this weekend thanks to a guest appearance by one of the genre's greats, Donald Lawrence. 

For an hour and half, the capacity crowd at the Meyerhoff Symphony Hall listened to the 75-piece orchestra, accompanied by a choir, perform contemporary and traditional gospel songs. The two combined to do Kirk Franklin's "My Life Is In Your Hands,',  Anthony Wilkin's "Grace,' and Walter Hawkin's "Jesus Christ is the Way,'' among other well-known songs.

However, there were times when the volume of the music made the choir's vocals indistinct.

Atwater, who promised, "Tonight, we are going to have church,'' seemed to quench the spirit in several spots in the program. 

Although the crowd applauded for several minutes after a soloist did a powerful version of Donald Lawrence's "When the Saints Go to Worship,''  the orchestra quieted.  No other song received such a huge standing ovation.

Lawrence, who made three appearances in the second half of the program, appeared out of place as well.  

As the former director of The Tri-City Singers, a group that retired in 2006, he was accustomed to commanding and directing the attention of his choir through call and response, which is similarly done by such artists as Franklin.

On Saturday, his overtures on "Giants," "Never Seen the Righteous Forsaken" and "The Blessing of Abraham'' were stiff and mannered rather than rousing, which was his signature during his days as Tri-City Singers' front man. 

He sometimes turned his back to direct the choir, only to see Atwater doing the same.

Still, Lawrence's verbal cueing to the choir on his hit songs was precise and fluid.

The night was aptly titled "Say Amen Somebody.''

Many did just that. 
 

Posted by Karlayne Parker at 1:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)