Copious Notes

Transylvania University’s Morlan Gallery presents “MYKY - Life Through the Lens,” an exhibit of Kentucky images by five Bluegrass State photographers: Don Ament, Angela Baldridge, Frank Döring, Mary Tortorici and Carla Winn. Click play, above, to get a preview of the exhibit narrated by Morlan Gallery director Andrea Fisher. Click here to read our preview of the show. The exhibit continues through Feb. 12.

Heather Parrish led the most successful show of the year for Studio Players, the summertime production of "Always, Patsy Cline." Photo by Mark Cornelison | Herald-Leader staff.

New Year’s Day 2009, I assumed by New Year’s Eve I would have written about at least one Lexington arts group closing its doors. The economy was buried nose-first in the ground and theaters and other arts organizations were closing their doors around the county. While Actors Guild of Lexington did give us plenty of offstage drama, there actually were no fatalities here as far as arts groups go, and some even thrived despite the nation’s foundering fortunes.

The poster child for doing quite well, thank you very much, was Studio Players. In the depths of our national despair, Studio put up a winter show about Mary Todd Lincoln it thought would probably have limited appeal. And “The Last of Mrs. Lincoln” was a sold out hit that had to add performances to accommodate the audiences.

And that’s pretty much how 2009 went for Studio, the pinnacle of the year being the summer production of “Always, Patsy Cline” that added numerous performances including unprecedented, for Studio, Wednesday shows.

Studio was not alone in bucking trends. The Lexington Ballet went out and hired a new company of professional dancers, the ballet’s first pro troupe since the early part of this decade. Paragon Music Theatre presented its first two productions directed by new artistic director Robyn Peterman Zahn at the Lexington Opera House.

Now Lexington and Central Kentucky were not immune to economic challenges. Donations to campaigns cooled a bit and the Kentucky Arts Council has had to endure several cuts due to state cuts. But, everyone came out alive.

Of course, there were other big arts stories this year:

Scott Terrell conducts his first Masterclassics concert as music director of the Lexington Philharmonic in September. Photo by Matt Goins.

A new maestro: After two years of searching, the Lexington Philharmonic named Scott Terrell its new music director. He succeeded George Zack, who held the Philharmonic’s baton for more than three decades, and so far, it seems the change has done the orchestra good.

“This orchestra is coming alive,” Herald-Leader critic Loren Tice wrote, reviewing November’s MasterClassics concert. “There is a sense of cohesion, of belief that there is first-rate music being made here.”

The new face has given the Philharmonic a chance to rebrand itself with a more youthful profile, helped by a group of hip, young soloists to start Terrell’s debut season. In all, it has been a profound change for Lexington’s flagship arts group.

Now-departed Actors Guild of Lexington artistic director Richard St. Peter and managing director Kim Shaw. Photo by Rich Copley | LexGo.com.

Actors Guild melts down: Lexington’s one-time flagship theater had a very different year. Actors Guild of Lexington has long been angling to become the area’s fully-professional theater for adult audiences — Lexington Children’s Theatre has been a professional house for years. In May, it announced plans to make that move, but less than a month later, the bottom fell out. LexArts, exasperated after years of AGL’s financial roller coaster, withdrew annual general-operating funding from the theater. That nearly-$70,000 hit sent the theater into a tailspin, with both artistic director Richard St. Peter and managing director Kimberly Shaw eventually leaving to pursue other opportunities.

This fall, AGL has presented an abbreviated and altered schedule from what was announced in the spring. The December production of “The SantaLand Diaries” was reportedly sold out, and Actors Guild says it is making plans for 2010. But none have been announced.

It should be noted that at the same time this story has played out, other area theaters including the ones mentioned above plus The Woodford Theatre, Balagula Theatre and Children’s Theatre have thrived.

Abraham Lincoln played by Jim Sayre of Lawrenceburg, left, and Henry Clay played by George MGee of Georgetown put the finishing touches on their costumes outside the entrance to the Kennedy Center. Photo by Jonathan Palmer.

“Our Lincoln” in Washington: Many Lexington artists and groups go to perform in other areas on celebrated stages such as Carnegie Hall and even Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. But taking 375 performers from a diverse ensemble of groups to the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington was a whole new level of ambition.

The Kentucky Humanities Council pulled it off, traveling - despite the epic ice storm that befell Central Kentucky - on the first days of February to put on a show for 1,463 people. The performance, narrated by Bob Edwards and including the Lexington Singers and the University of Kentucky Symphony Orchestra, is now available on DVD from the Humanities Council Web site.

Film incentives pass: In June, the state General Assembly passed a bill providing financial incentives to filmmakers who shoot in Central Kentucky. The incentives - a 20 percent refundable tax credit for production and post-production expenses for feature filmmakers who spend at least $500,000 in Kentucky - are seen as essential to attract filmmakers. An immediate result was Disney’s “Secretariat” chose to come to Kentucky for filming in October.

New works: It’s always important to remember new performing arts works, because they help keep the disciplines vital and relevant.

This year started with the Lexington Ballet’s production of artistic director Luis Dominguez’s “The Magical Tales of Beatrix Potter” in March and concluded with The Woodford Theatre’s original holiday show, “The Christmas Presence.” In between, Actors Guild launched Silas House’s second work for the stage, “Long Time Travelling;” Pioneer Playhouse director Holly Henson presented “The Infamous Ephraim,” about Danville physician Ephraim McDowell’s historic abdominal surgery; the UK Opera Theatre premiered composer Joseph Baber and librettist James W. Rodgers’ opera “River of Time,” about young Abraham Lincoln; the Lexington Singers premiered “A Bluegrass Tapestry,” which was 11 songs accompanying the photography of Scott County’s James Archambeault; the Lexington Ballet presented “The Koln Concert,” set to Keith Jarrett’s iconic jazz concert album and the UK Symphony premiered Lorne Dechtenberg’s “Token of Affection.”

Other headlines

Kayoko Dan addresses the CKYO audience at her first concert, Nov. 15. Photo by Rich Copley | LexGo.com.

Lexington’s Michael Shannon was nominated for a best supporting actor Oscar for “Revolutionary Road.” … Lexington musical theater artist Christopher Tolliver was fatally shot at Lexington Green. … The New York Philharmonic played a sold-out show at Danville’s Norton Center for the Arts. … Lexington Children’s Theatre celebrated its 70th anniversary. … The Central Kentucky Youth Orchestras named Kayoko Dan its new music director. … Former UK Opera star Reshma Shetty landed role on the USA TV network’s series “Royal Pains.” … LexArts announced Horse Mania will return in 2010. … UK’s Cliff Jackson was named “coach of the year” by Classical Singer magazine. … Winchester’s Jason Epperson, runner-up on Fox’s “On the Lot” film-director reality series, shot his feature film debut, “Unrequited,” in Central Kentucky. … Norton Center completed a $3 million rennovation. … The Men of Note big band played its last gig. … Former Kentucky State University drama teacher and area director Jack Parrish died. … Norton Center director George Foreman announced he is leaving for a University of Georgia job. … The Radio City Music Hall Rockettes came to Rupp Arena for the first time with the “Radio City Christmas Spectacular.”

Pulitzer Prize- and Tony Award-winning Actors Theatre of Louisville is a major part of the River City's nationally recognized arts scene. Photo by Charles Bertram | Herald-Leader staff.

The fourth and final part of “Building Arts Communities,” the series the Herald-Leader has partnered with WEKU-FM 88.9 to present, aired this morning with WEKU’s Ron Smith looking at Louisville as an arts success story. A very community-based report, Smith starts by visiting with a man who moved to the River City for its architecture and ends at a community center where kids from a troubled neighborhood get to engage with the arts.

Click here for Ron’s report. A transcript of the radio-version of the story is below.

Click here for the thread of all four installments.

San Diego resident Harvey Belcher was attracted to Louisville by its architecture:

“We came here to see the buildings, because it’s a very old town, very old.”

Sitting on a bench on Louisville’s Main Street, the retired electrician concentrated on a city map and looked up to see architecture … and art …

“If you look at the uh … probably about 100 feet from me right now you’ll see a building, and about halfway up the face of the building you’ll see a gargoyle on the side of the building … I’m kind of interested in that kind of art.”

Belcher was surprised to learn Louisville has a widespread reputation for the value it places on the arts. The groundwork was laid in 1818, when the city created its first symphony orchestra. These days Louisville can boast of a diverse arts presence, anchored by a professional orchestra, opera and ballet companies, and the venerable Speed Museum. And there’s the Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning Actor’s Theatre of Louisville, now in its 46th season.

(rehearsal sound)
“Good morning Tuna! This is Thurston Wheelans, and this is Arlis Scroovy and this is the Whelans-Scroovy Report and here we go with the news…

An Actor’s Theater rehearsal for the zany satire “Greater Tuna.”

So how does a city make a name for itself in the arts? Practice, practice, practice is the old joke. But in Louisville’s case, success can be traced to vision and leadership. The sparkle of what could be was in the eye of Mayor Charles Farnsley in 1937 when he helped create the modern Louisville Orchestra. Twelve years later, Farnsley founded the Fund for The Arts, making Louisville the first community in the nation to gather arts groups together for an annual fund drive. These days the organization is headed by Allan Cowen. For 33 years he’s built on the foundation laid by Mayor Farnsley and a string of strong civic leaders:

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Anna Miskelly left, and Ruby Wiggs, shopped at Third Street Stuff and coffee shop in Lexington, Ky., on Wed, Jan., 30 2008. Photo by Pablo Alcala | Herald-Leader staff.

The second part of “Building Arts Communities,” the series the Herald-Leader has partnered with WEKU-FM 88.9 to present, aired this morning with WEKU’s Stu Johnson looking at developing arts districts. Stu visited the Limestone Street area of Lexington as well as Berea’s trio of distinctive arts districts.

Click here to hear Stu’s report. A transcript of his story is below.
By Stu Johnson | WEKU News
Third Street Stuff at the corner of Third and North Limestone in Lexington is home to a great deal of art.

“I do all the cans and all the furniture … whenever you get the feeling?… oh, I always have the feeling, (laugh)  yeah, I always want to paint.”

Third Street Stuff owner Pat Gerhard has been in the arts business for more than two decades..  She says times are good…

“I’ve been watching Lexington and the arts scene for 35 years and I think it’s it feels really good right now there are a lot of artists doing a lot of work.”

For a long time, Gerhard says there’s been interest among many Lexington’s artists in creating a formal arts district…but there could also be a downside…

“It might be a little disadvantageous to people if they find themselves outside the art district that would be a little too bad, but I mean that happens.”

One organization just outside the central business district is the Lexington Art League.  Executive Director Allison Kaiser admits the eventual location of an arts district is a very big question.  There’s no question, she says, it can make quite an economic impact on its neighborhood.   The League has been around for 53 years.   Kaiser says several community leaders have suggested the League should move it’s headquarters downtown, and help establish an arts district.

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A few months after we started collaborating with WEKU-FM 88.9 on some arts coverage, the station’s news director Charles Compton batted an idea by me: the station’s reporters were getting ready to begin work on a series about building arts communities. The catalysts included the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games coming to Lexington in 2010, the growing national reputations of some Kentucky arts communities such as Louisville and Paducah, and a year of change in Lexington. They were interested in seeing whether we’d like to participate.

It just so happened that I had a story on my fall schedule about one of the keys to building an arts community: venues. For several years, we have wanted to take a good look at the infrastructure of arts venues is like in Lexington and Central Kentucky, how well it serves artists and patrons and what some of the big needs are.

So, we and WEKU married our ideas into a four part series that began today on “Morning Edition” with Charles’ report on recruiting and developing talent. His report takes you from Lexington’s Balagula Theatre to Paducah’s burgeoning arts district, and includes local notables such as Balagula’s Natasha Williams and the Lexington Philharmonic’s Scott Terrell.

The rest of the schedule is:

• Tuesday: Stu Johnson reports on developing arts districts.
• Wednesday: I report on venues.
• Thursday: Ron Smith reports on how Louisville has built it reputation as an arts town.

Wednesday, the paper is scheduled to run the story on arts venues as well as print versions of the other stories in the series. It’s been an interesting experience getting other reporters perspectives on the Commonwealth’s arts scene and it will make for some enlightening listening and reading. You can check out Charles report online now.

Also, at 8 tonight, WEKU is presenting the Lexington Bach Choirs’ performance of Bach’s “Christmas Cantata 40, ‘Darzu ist erschiennen der Sohn Gottes’” and “Missa in F,” as well as music of Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, W.A. Mozart, Paul Hillier and others.

This photograph by James Archambeault was used to illustrate the Shaker hymn "The Gift to be Simple" in the Lexington Singers' "A Bluegrass Tapestry."

The Lexington Singers get it.

Times and people are changing, and the audience to come out and simply hear a concert of choral works is declining. For a group such as the Singers, as talented and well-directed as they are, there is an increasing need to provide a stronger storyline than simply putting on a concert.

So, last year, for its fall concert, the Singers celebrated their 50th anniversary not by putting on the old hits but by commissioning a new work from one of the United States’ great choral composers, Rene Clausen, plus new pieces from its in-house composers, Jay Flippin and Johnie Dean. For this season’s November concert, the Singers decided to add a visual element.

Now this treads into some tricky territory, as many a venerable classical music institution has made itself look foolish adding things such as costumes and misguided choreography to its presentations. The line between inspired and silly is remarkably thin.

Saturday night’s Singers performance stayed firmly on the inspired side.

James Archambeault at his Scott County home. Photo by Rich Copley | LexGo.com.

The idea was to create a musical piece evocative of Kentucky and Appalachia. To complete this picture, the Singers joined forces with one of Kentucky’s best-loved photographers: James Archambeault.

As the Singers, the Lexington Singers Children’s Choir and a small orchestra performed under the baton of Jefferson Johnson, Archambeault’s images were shown on a screen over the stage, creating some brilliant moments of sonic and visual imagery.

There was the Gwyneth Walker song “How Can I Keep from Singing?” mostly illustrated with flowing scenes of waterfalls, but concluding with the final frame of a little bird singing from a branch. There was “Heritage,” which paired James Still’s words about a complex relationship with the mountains and Flippin’s music, illustrated with some images we may not associate with Archambeault as much, like a miner illuminated by window light and a shack with a big pile of coal in front of it.

“Sure on this Shining Night” by Morten Lauridsen brought out some moonlight shots by Archambeault, including a dazzling water photograph. There was plenty of time for Archambeault’s iconic landscapes in songs like “Shenandoah.” But as an overview of Archambeault’s work, this presentation told the viewer if all you know of the photographer are his great landscapes, there is much more to explore in his images. The only glitch to complain of with the “Tapestry” was a technical kerfuffle which caused the first song, Aaron Copland’s “Zion’s Walls” to run sans images.

The concert opened with a presentation of Daniel Pinkham’s “Sinfonia Sacra” and several selections by the Children’s Choir. The first half showed off the groups’ technical and interpretive skills, but it was the “Bluegrass Tapestry” that made this concert unforgettable.

By pairing Achambeault’s images with Dean’s sumptuous arrangement and the musicians’ sensitive performance, the Lexington Singers have created an iconic Kentucky work that ought to be committed to video and packaged as something choral groups around the Commonwealth can present.

That Saturday’s concert sold out the 1,500-seat Singletary Center — and we’re not talking about one of those “sell outs” where you look around and see a lot of empty seats — particularly on the night of a very important University of Kentucky football game, should tell the Singers they are on the right track.

HorseMania 2010 isn’t the only equine-related art project that will ride again during the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games. ­Horsetails, a project that the ­Lexington Philharmonic first ­orchestrated in 2003 and repeated the next three years, is returning to coincide with next year’s big event.

Big Brown by Peter Williams.

The public can get a look at the pieces for this year’s event starting Tuesday morning, when the Horsetails 2010 website is launched.

The idea behind Horsetails is to highlight the link between classical music and horses: Hair from horses’ tails is used in the bows of string ­instruments. The artworks in Horsetails use hair from the tails of famous horses including Big Brown, Funny Cide and Smarty Jones. Showpieces are by many local notable artists, including ­Lucinda Alston Chapman, ­Federico Pizzurro and Gary R. Bibbs.

All 54 pieces will have a premiere exhibition in April at L.V. Harkness and will be shown at other locations in and beyond Central Kentucky from April until WEG, Sept. 25 to Oct. 10. The pieces will be auctioned off during the games, with proceeds benefitting Partners in Education, a program that supports music education.

"Unicoi County" by Mike Smith. It will be featured in an exhibit of his work at the Art Museum at the University of Kentucky.

Mike Smith was on a Tuesday morning mission to show a friend some peacocks on a farm along East Tennessee’s Holston River.

He also knew he had a photo opportunity.

“I’d been there before and I knew it was gorgeous,” Smith said, less than an hour after the visit. “And I was right. There was fog coming off the river this morning with sunlight poking through.”

It was a moment that showed the East Tennessee State ­University photography professor’s enduring love for the landscape surrounding him, and a more directed way of working.

"Blountville, TN"

“I used to just drive slowly on the back roads around here, when I first came to Tennessee,” said Smith, who moved to Johnson City in 1981. “Now, I usually have a destination in mind.”

As part of the ­Robert C. May Photography ­Endowment Lecture Series, Smith will be in Lexington on Friday to talk about his work in conjunction with an exhibit of his photos in The Art Museum at the ­University of Kentucky.

Smith’s photos show a distinctly rural landscape, slowly changing with suburban development and businesses.

“You see new development adjacent to old farmlands,” he said. “I parallel familiar, ordinary stuff with things like gas stations and material more corporate in nature.”

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At Louisville's Flame Run Gallery you can blow your own glass holiday ornament. Photo by Anessa Arehart.

How often can you come up with something completely different for Christmas? Now giving Christmas ornaments and even making them are commonplace. But Flame Run, a Louisville contemporary glass art studio and gallery, is giving you an opportunity to blow your own glass ornament. During personal ornament sessions with Flame Run artists, you can choose your colors and then create your ornament.

“It’s a unique opportunity to create an original work of art to enjoy for yourself or to give as a gift,” Flame Run owner Brook Forrest White, Jr. said in a press release. “A one-on-one experience with a Flame Run artist will make a memorable holiday outing, and blowing your own ornament makes a great new family tradition.”

Sessions are available by appointment only beginning Nov. 27 through Dec. 22. Slots are available on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays as well as Dec. 21 and 22. The cost is $40 per person, per ornament. The gallery is located at 828 East Market Street, Louisville. Hours are 10 a.m-4 p.m. Tues.-Sun. Call (502) 584-5353 or visit the gallery website for more information.

Lexington Philharmonic music director Scott Terrell conducts a combined rehearsal of the Central Kentucky Youth Orchestras' symphony orchestra and the Philharmonic Oct. 19. CKYO director Kayoko Dan stands at the back of the orchestra, in a black blouse. Photos by Matt Goins.

When I moved to Lexington in 1998, one thing that immediately struck me about the ­local arts scene was the prominence of children and organizations geared toward children.

The Lexington Children’s Theatre’s shows rated the same sort of attention as productions at Actors Guild of Lexington and other area stages.

The Central Kentucky Youth Orchestras’ events and personnel moves were prominent news. There were two institutions - the Explorium (then, the Lexington Children’s Museum) and the Living Arts and Science Center - geared toward children’s arts, particularly visual arts.

The School for Creative and Performing Arts had a prominent place in town, but there were stage, art and music programs at other schools also producing talented graduates who went on to arts careers.

Children’s Health magazine recently ranked Lexington No. 6 on its list of the 100 best places to raise a family. The criteria included crime and safety, education, economics, housing, cultural attractions and health.

I’d be willing to bet that if someone wanted to rank best places to be an artsy kid, Lexington would rate high on that list, too. By virtue of what is offered, we tell our children that the arts are something to do and be respected for doing.

Students Madelyn Nelson, left, Sara Arthur-Paratley, and Mary Rollins-Mathews rehearsed with the Lexington Ballet on Monday in preparation for Youth Arts Day.

The Lexington Philharmonic, the Horse Capitol of the World’s flagship arts organization, will celebrate young artists with its Youth Arts Day family concert at 3 p.m. Sunday at the Singletary Center for the Arts. It will include young singers from SCAPA, Fayette County Public Schools and the School of the Lexington Ballet.

The prominence of youth-oriented groups here is quite a bit more than other communities that I have lived in or observed. Over the nearly 12 years since I arrived, it has become clear that a big reason for that is quality.

Take the Children’s Theatre: In a town that has struggled with the concept of professional theater for adults, the Lexington Children’s Theatre has established itself with its own building on Short Street and a professional staff, including actors. What’s more, Larry and Vivian Snipes have developed a national reputation for the theater by being a venue that presents and creates new work. And the primary beneficiaries are kids.

And it really wasn’t terribly surprising that when the Central Kentucky Youth Orchestras went looking for a new music director at the same time that the Lexington Philharmonic was trying to fill a similar job, it ended up attracting and hiring Kayoko Dan, also a candidate for the Philharmonic post.

CKYO has graduated numerous professional musicians, including Chicago Symphony Orchestra violinist Nathan Cole and hard-to-categorize cello soloist Ben Sollee.

Outside of groups directly geared toward kids, Lexington arts groups have been generous to kids.
Look at Paragon Music Theatre, which routinely loads the stage with kids, including Hello Dolly! this weekend, and even makes a place for them in its cabaret shows.

During years without a professional company, the Lexington Ballet featured its students in productions, and it and Kentucky Ballet Theatre, which has always had a pro troupe, always find ways to present students. Former Ballet Theatre dancer Adalhi Aranda Corn saw such value in Central Kentucky’s young artists she left and formed Bluegrass Youth Ballet and eventually built CulturArte, an arts facility that acommodates a variety of disciplines.

Possibly one of the biggest statements about valuing student artists was when the Lexington Singers’ ­Children’s Chorus was invited to perform in the Our Lincoln performance at the Kennedy Center in Washington in February.

And now LexArts has formed a Youth Arts Council to help focus young artists in the area.

Clarinetists Andrew Burton, 14, left, of the Central Kentucky Youth Orchestras and Mike Acord of the Philharmonic rehearsed together Monday.

Full disclosure: My children have participated in some of these groups, and one is in the Central Kentucky Youth Orchestras, although not the ensemble performing Sunday with the Lexington Philharmonic.

In addition, I’ve gotten to know many other kids who participate in groups. Maybe the most important thing these groups engender is enthusiasm for the arts they are participating in. I hear spirited discussions about play rehearsal and genuine interest in Bach sonatas.

Like anything, Lexington’s youth arts scene isn’t perfect. I remain baffled, for instance, why SCAPA does not have a theater of its own. Then again, SCAPA regularly solves that problem by putting its kids on stages usually graced by adults and pros.

It occurred to me as I left a CKYO rehearsal last week with my daughter that by virtue of her participation in the orchestra, she’s on the University of Kentucky campus every week. Most of us didn’t get used to being on a college campus until we had enrolled.

That’s just one of many ways that through our youth arts, regardless of whether the students pursue arts careers, by supporting such substantial programs, we’re preparing our kids for the rest of their lives.