Copious Notes

Amanda Balltrip, shown as Ann Rutledge in October's "River of Time," has never left the Kentucky District Round of the Met Auditions empty handed. She'll compete again Saturday. Photo by Rich Copley.

Usually singers in the Kentucky District round of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions have a 1-in-5, maybe 1-in-4 chance of advancing to the next round. This year, it’s more like 1-in-9.

Maybe it’s some sort of anniversary karma because this will be the 10th year the Kentucky District auditions have been contested in Memorial Hall, but regardless of the cosmic reasons, the fact is 28 singers are going to give it a shot Saturday.

Reginald Smith Jr., 21, will compete in the Met Auditions for the first time, Saturday. Nick Provenzale, foreground, is also in the field of 28. Photo by Rich Copley.

We don’t know a lot of these singers, as they hail from Indiana, Cincinnati and even as far off as New York and Chicago. But in the midst of them is a veritible all-star team of University of Kentucky singers we know very well, including virtually all the leads in October’s world premier production of Joseph Baber’s “River of Time.”

And over 10 years, UK has developed a strong record of sending people who come into town looking for an easy win home empty handed. Certainly any of the voices judges will hear could break through to the regional round in Indianapolis, but here are a couple of locals and one well-known visitor worth watching:

Amanda Balltrip — She has never left a Met Auditions empty handed. Her first two years she won the encouragement award and last year she broke through to the regionals. Clearly a variety of judges have liked what this 24-year-old soprano does, so it wouldn’t be at all surprising to see her finish in the money again.

Former UK student Afton Battle, the last UK student to advance to the national rounds of the Met Auditions, will be competing Saturday. Photo by Tim Collins.

Reginald Smith Jr. — Since 2000, when 21-year old Asbury College tenor Norman Reinhardt won the first Met Auditions at Memorial Hall, Lexington fans have understood the Met likes to get singers young. Since he appeared as the baritone soloist in George Zack’s final “Messiah” in 2007, 21-year-old Smith has been knocking local music fans out with his massive voice. Given his age, if he has a similar effect on the judges, it’s easy to imagine him advancing to Indy.

Afton Battle — Speaking of massive voices, Battle was the last UK singer to advance from the Kentucky Districts to New York, where she competed in the national semifinals. A former student of late UK voice professor Gail Robinson, Battle has moved on to Westminster Choir College in Princeton, N.J. But she’s returned to Kentucky to take another shot at the Met, and Lexington could easily be the first of several steps for her, again.

Of course, there are 25 other singers in the field, and one thing that was striking last year was the vastly improved quality of the Kentucky District field over the years. So, regardless of who wins, it should be a great day for the audience.

Ronan Tynan has recorded a lot of classical and pop hits. He may want to consider adding the Pink Floyd song One Slip to his repertoire, because an offhanded anti-Semitic remark is costing him dearly.

Ronan Tynan. 2007 AP photo by Don Heupel.

The tenor, a mainstay at New York Yankee games who performed at the Singletary Center with the Lexington Philharmonic Oct. 10, was with a real estate agent showing an apartment building when the incident occurred. According to the New York Times, the real estate agent joked to Tynan that the prospective tennant, New York University physician Gabrielle Gold-Von Simson, was not a Boston Red Sox fan.

Tynan’s shocking reply: “I don’t care about that, as long as they are not Jewish.”

Gold-Von Simson contacted the Yankees, who in turn contacted Tynan. As soon as Tynan admitted the remark, Yankees spokesman Howard Rubenstein said Tynan was disinvited from singing at Friday night’s opening game of the American League Championship Series and will not perform again at Yankee Stadium this season. The Yankees are one of four teams remaining in the hunt for a World Series championship, this year.

Since games following the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, in New York, Washington D.C. and Pennsylvania, it has been a tradition for Tynan to sing his distinctive rendition of God Bless America during the seventh-inning stretch at post-season games and other special games at Yankee Stadium.

In Saturday’s Irish Times, Tynan said he was distraught, and that his offhanded comment about some other prospective tenants was misunderstood. He told the paper the roots of the comment were in a visit by other potential residents three weeks before:

“Two Jewish ladies were coming to view it and the agent said, ‘They are very particular’. And I said, ‘I don’t know how they will deal with having a singer beside them, practicing all the time. That could be scary.’ We laughed about it.”

According to the Irish paper, his snappy reply was, “At least they’re not the Jewish ladies.”

Tynan, a Kilkenny, Ireland native, told the paper he has never been anti-Semitic and that three members of his band are Jewish. According to the Yankees spokesman, Tynan did call the doctor and apologize to her satisfaction. He also made a contribution to a charity of her choice: KiDs of NYU, an organization that supports children’s health services at the university’s Langone Medical Center.

Tynan also apologized to Major League Baseball Saturday, telling the Associated Press, in part, “Several days ago I made a joke that was insensitive. My attempt at humor was inappropriate and hurtful to the person who heard it.”

Still, the comment has cost Tynan his treasured Yankees gig for this season. The Yankees say he may be invited back in future seasons.

Other impacts to Tynan’s career remain to be seen.

Usually Mariano Rivera is the one getting saves this time of year in New York City.

But Saturday night, with an American League East Championship already sewn up for the Yankees, it was Lady Ga Ga who was pulling out a last minute victory for Saturday Night Live.

And this was a screecher.

It was like one of those saves in a bad game where Mariano gets a few on base and has us Yankee faithful nibbling our nails before he gets the final out.

Now let’s be honest: two episodes into the season, Saturday Night Live has been terrible, like the Yankees starting a season 3-22. Three may be the most laughs I uttered last week, one being when I realized Jenny Slate uttered the F-word during a skit that set her up to do it.

This week started with an op-ed piece masquerading as an opener that had Fred Armisen’s doing his effortless — and I don’t mean that in a good way — Obama impression with the President saying he has not done anything since he got in office. Then, host Ryan Reynolds wasn’t as funny as expected, we got a pointless Family Feud sketch, another lame SNL Digital Short and even Ga Ga’s first appearance was a dud.

In a bit that’s already gotten a lot of bytes, she and Madonna staged a cat fight and nearly kissed during Kenan Thompson’s (inexplicably) recurring Deep House Dish sketch. Really, why did Madonna waste her time with this bit? There should be more to an SNL skit than showing up.

And Ga Ga’s first number, Paparazzi, was pretty routine, maybe most notable because she put the show on a two-week streak of airing words you’re not supposed to say on TV.

Really, it was not until the eighth inning, when Ga Ga came back, that she brought the episode into the win column. It was a shaky start as she appeared in a dress that looked like several conjoined silver hula hoops to sing Love Game. She went through a mechanical verse, then became human. She sat down, making no pretense that this was easy with the hoops. Taking off her sun glasses and popping her hands in the air, she greeted the audience, “Hello SNL” — somewhat unheard of from musical guests on SNL – and proceeded to get all Billy Joel playing a ballad/medley of Poker Face and Bad Romance injected with some personal reflections on New York, the Yankees, and simpler music than what we’ve been hearing from her all summer.

Then, she came back for the next and last skit mocking her outrageous outfits as both she and Andy Samberg showed up in bubble dresses — “I spent $20,000 on this dress,” she said, and he replied, “I made this  out of garbage.” She also gamely attempted to kiss Samberg several times in their ridiculous outfits.

Ga Ga showed she has some chops beyond crazy fashion and naughty songs that make Madonna’s catalog sound like Amy Grant, and she had a sense of humor about herself.

Saturday Night Live showed it doesn’t have much going for itself this year without a suprisingly good guest performer. And unlike Mo Rivera with the Yankees, Ga Ga isn’t in the lineup for SNL every night.

So, if you’re a Central Kentucky Laura Bell Bundy fan who never got to New York to see her Tony-nominated turn as Elle Woods in Legally Blonde — The Musical, you have another chance, much closer to home.

Laura Bell Bundy as Elle Woods with Legally Blonde director Jerry Mitchell the opening night of Legally Blonde on Broadway. Photo by Aaron Lee Fineman.

Bundy is going to reprise the role when the national tour of Legally Blonde lands at Nashville’s Tennessee Performing Arts Center June 23-28. Bundy will play Elle in all evening performances, stepping in for vacationing Becky Gulsvig. Bundy, a Lexington native and Lexington Catholic graduate, relocated to Nashville last year after leaving the Broadway production of Legally Blonde in July.

Bundy also reprised the role on tour earlier this year in Washington D.C. and East Lansing, Mich., when Gulsvig was out with an injury.

Allie Darden is Ouisa in Studio Players' production of "Six Degrees of Separation" at the Carriage House Theatre in March and April. Photo by Rich Copley | LexGo.

Lexington actor Allie Darden will get to make her New York debut after all.

Darden will be heading to the Big Apple this summer to participate in a production of Brian Hampton’s Checking In at the Midtown International Theatre Festival July 15-Aug. 1.  She will be reprising the role of Brooke, the part she originated in the world premier production of Checking In at Actors Guild of Lexington in 2005. Actors Guild artistic director Richard St. Peter will be directing the production. It will be St. Peter’s New York directing debut.

Darden traveled to New York earlier this year for a reading of the play, which is about a group of high school friends who gather years after graduation at a hotel room in Atlantic City. She was invited to join the production when the Midtown Theatre Festival picked it up, but had to wait for permission from her employer to take the time off to go participate in rehearsals and the performances.

Darden’s most recent role in Lexington was Ouisa in Studio Players’ production of Six Degrees of Separation. She is currently working in On the Verge’s production of Lillian Hellman’s Another Part of the Forest, which opens Sunday at the Hunt-Morgan House.

The poster from AGL's original "Checking In" production.

Brian Hampton’s Checking In, which had its world premier production at Actors Guild of Lexington in 2005, will be presented at the Midtown International Theatre Festival in New York City this summer. Actors Guild artistic director Richard St. Peter will direct the production, which will be performed five times between July 13 and Aug. 3 at the 99-seat June Havoc Theatre in the Abington Theatre Arts Complex.

Checking In, which centers on the reunion of a group of Virginia high school friends at an Atlantic City hotel, had a reading in New York in January featuring Hampton in the role of Ben and Lexington actor Allie Darden as Brooke, the roles they originated in Lexington.  Brian will play Ben in the New York production, and Darden has been offered her role but has not announced whether she’ll be able to take it.

Norton Center for the Arts director George Foreman presents New York Philharmonic conductor Lorin Maazel with his Kentucky Colonel certificate. You can see video of the presentation at the New York Philharmonic website. This photo by Colin Misbach | Centre College.

As the New York Philharmonic has made its way through the Eastern United States, fans have been kept up to date with a photo and video tour diary on the orchestra’s website. The Danville edition posted late Monday with some great photos by NY Phil photographer Chris Lee and a video of Maestro Lorin Maazel receiving his Kentucky Colonel Award from Norton Center for the Arts impresario George Foreman. The photos take viewers from the tarmac at Bluegrass Airport to backstage at the Norton Center and after the show.

Lorin Maazel and the New York Philharmonic accept applause from the sold-out crowd in the Norton Center for the Arts' Newlin Hall on March 5, 2009. Photos by Chris Lee | New York Philharmonic.

There are two presumptions you could have made about Thursday night’s New York Philharmonic concert at Centre College’s Norton Center for the Arts in Danville.

This being a farewell tour for Maestro Lorin Maazel, 79-years-old today, you could assume this would be one of the last gasps of a tired old partnership, especially considering the Obamaesque press coming out of New York for Maazel’s successor, Alan Gilbert.

Lorin Maazel conducts in Danville.

Second, and somewhat contrary to the first presumption, Maazel being such a marquee name in classical music, you might assume he’d dominate the evening, and we’d be preoccupied watching the podium for the legendary maestro.

As often happens with presumptions, neither came true, this time in the best way possible.

The New York Philharmonic came to a sold-out Norton Center billed as one of the best orchestras in the United States, and it sounded like one of the best orchestras in the world. This was the orchestra of Mahler and Bernstein.

We often talk about the vast sonic difference between hearing music performed live and on recordings, and lord knows, we hear a lot of recordings and broadcasts of the New York Philharmonic. Thursday night, as much any time I’ve experienced in Central Kentucky, you really heard that difference. When the orchestra needed to turn on a dime, it turned on a pinhead. Crescendos lifted the Norton Center’s Newlin Hall and pastoral passages were as sublime as the Boyle County countryside.

The orchestra impressed from the beginning, Hector Berlioz’s Roman Carnival Overture springing off the stage, highlighted by Thomas Stacy’s English horn solo.

The Philharmonic played emotional pieces with the zeal they warrented, including Robert Schumann’s Symphony No. 4 in D minor and Maurice Ravel’s arrangement of Modest Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition. From the crystalline opening trumpets, Pictures was the evening’s starkest example of live vs. Memorex, and it came across as stunning as newly restored print of a Technicolor classic.

Looking over the roster, it is striking how many of the Philharmonic’s musicians are well-known names in their own rights: concertmaster Glenn Dicterow, cellist Carter Brey, clarinetists Stanley Drucker and Mark Nuccio, trumpeter Philip Smith, horn player Philip Myers and several others, all of whom were playing up to their reputations Thursday. Oboist Liang Wang seems to think he has the best job in the world, based on the zeal with which he played.

Notice, we’ve been talking about the orchestra.

Far from the podium showboat, Maazel was a modest presence who helped his orchestra shine. He had a subtle stick, seeming to elicit the sharpest passages with the most casual waves of his baton. At least on this night of a colorful program and two encores, Maazel looked like a hard act to follow.

A note, lest it seems like the big band has come to the provinces and easily impressed the country folk: The last time I saw the New York Philharmonic was at Lincoln Center in 2007, and it was far from impressive: some indifferent Beethoven followed by a hesitant concert version of an Alexander Zemlinsky opera under James Conlon’s baton. Maybe it was simply an off night, because this sounded like a much different group onstage in Danville.

Norton Center director George Foreman presents Lorin Maazel a certificate that makes him a Kentucky Colonel. Photo by Colin Misbach | Centre College.

Norton Center director George Foreman has made it an unofficial mission to bring the Top 5 orchestras in America to his stage. Bringing the New York Philharmonic to this town of just over 15,000 was quite an achievement.

Note: While in the Bluegrass State, Maazel was made a Kentucky Colonel. He didn’t don the white suit and string tie, but he did get a very nice piece of paper to take back to New York.

Jeremy Denk talks to the fellows at the 2007 NEA Arts Journalism Institute in Classical Music and Opera before performing Charles Ives' Concord Sonata on Bargemusic in New York. Behind him is institute co-director and NPR Music senior producer Anya Grundmann. Photo by Rich Copley.

When I heard Joshua Bell was coming to the Norton Center for the Arts for a recital Monday night, I was excited. When I heard Jeremy Denk was set to be his accompanist, that feeling doubled.

In October 2007, I got to spend a little time in Denk’s sphere as part of the NEA’s Arts Journalism Institute in Classical Music and Opera at Columbia University. Among the slate of artists and arts journalists that participated, including conductor James Conlon and New Yorker critic Alex Ross, was Denk. His two appearances with us were on a blogging panel with critic Terry Teachout and performing Charles Ives’ Concord Sonata at Bargemusic, literally a recital hall on a Barge next to the Brooklyn Bridge — had to limit my time actually watching Denk perform, because he was in front of a window through which we could see the Brooklyn skyline bobbing up and down.

The performance was exhilarating and informed by Denk’s witty and reverential discussion between movements. But the thing that fascinated me was that Denk was on a blogging panel. Before heading to NYC, I decided to check out Denk’s blog, with a little skepticism. After all, we were journalists. Wouldn’t we rather hear from another fellow journalist with a journalistic blog, like Teachout, rather than some artist prattling on about himself?

That skepticism vanished when I started reading Think Denk: The Glamous Life and Thoughts of a Concert Pianist for the first time. The blog is as self-depricating as its title indicates, which I quickly discovered in the first post I read, about accidentally receiving a package addressed to Yo-Yo Ma.

Often, Think Denk is about the rigors of touring, even playing second banana to bigger-name artists like his most recent post, a live blog about an all-star concert in London which he played with Bell. He talks about how he knows he’ll have to play on a piano bench adjusted for bigger name players Radu Lupu (sports car low) or Andras Schiff (firm and high).

But even in the midst of his second banananess, he finds unexpected affirmation when Schiff tells Denk he loved his Sarah Palin blog. Denk made a little splash in October with a faux interview with the Republican vice-presidential candidate about Ludwig Van Beethoven’s Hammerklavier Sonata.

JD: I just simply can’t believe in the midst of this intense campaign season, you could find the time to talk with me about the “Hammerklavier” Sonata.

SP: Well, ya know, Beethoven was the dude who said thanks but no thanks to Napoleon. Plus from all the mavericky songs he wrote, maybe this one could be known as the most maverickyest.

As funny as Think Denk can be, it’s also extremely insightful, particularly as Denk routinely includes musical notation to explain ideas he’s mulling over. That thoughtfulness is evident in his recordings, and in performance. In blogging, Denk is obviously exploring form, much like a pianist explores his instrument.

My skepticism disappeared in discovering a artist with a lot to say, in many ways, and well worth reading and hearing — like, say, Monday night.

Further reading:

~ Joshua Bell: A bow wonder

~ Joshua Bell: Violin hero?

Claudia McPherson (center) dances the role of the Sugar Plum Fairy in the Lexington Ballet's 1998 production of The Nutcracker. Herald-Leader file photo by Stephanie S. Cordle.

The Metropolitan Opera’s Live-HD series is back on the big screen this weekend, and once again, you may have a chance to see a local face in one of the Met’s epic productions.

Christoph Willibald Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice is the mythical story of ­Orfeo’s attempts to retrieve his wife, Euridice, from Hades. The Met’s current production features costumes by Isaac Mizrahi and ­choreography by Mark Morris. Look closely and you might see Lexington’s own Claudia McPherson in the dance scenes. McPherson, daughter of University of Kentucky voice professor Noemi Lugo, studied at and danced for the Lexington Ballet while growing up here, and is now a New York-based dancer.

The live broadcast shows locally at the Regal Hamburg Pavilion 16 and Lexington Green Movies 8 at 1 p.m. Saturday and the taped replay is at 7 p.m. Feb. 4. This show is listed at just over 90 minutes, so it’s a modest time committment for opera.