Copious Notes

Musicians in the University of Kentucky Symphony Orchestra, Lexington Singers and UK Chorale settle onto the stage of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts for the Our Lincoln performance Feb. 2, 2009. Photo by Jonathan Palmer.

The presentation of Our Lincoln at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., in February was undeniably a big deal for Kentucky arts and humanities.

Artists who live and work here were presented on one of the nation’s most ­prestigious stages along with hometown kids who have made good and a few international stars, such as violinist Mark O’Connor. A production conceived and produced in Central Kentucky went to an international arts showplace and acquitted itself admirably.

I sat with a Washington cameraman who went on at length about how great the University of Kentucky Symphony Orchestra is. It was one of numerous anecdotes about seasoned Washington arts observers who were impressed with Our Lincoln.

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.

But it is understandable that this might be lost on people who weren’t among the 1,463 people who saw the ­performance, given while the state was in the throes of an ice storm. ­Overseeing recovery ­efforts forced Gov. Steve Beshear to cancel his plans to attend.

But now Beshear and anyone else who would like to see the show can catch it in Michael Breeding’s PBS-quality DVD, which has just been released.

After raising the money to get the program to ­Washington, the Kentucky Humanities Council had to go back to the well for an ­additional $6,500 to produce the DVD, with the total costs to be recouped through sales.

What we can now see is that Breeding and his crew captured the proceedings in stunning detail, with shots that take the viewer onto the stage with the performers and also relay the grandeur of the occasion.

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The Lexington Philharmonic Orchestra will announce its choice for its new music director at Friday night’s concert, bringing to a close a two-year search for the successor to George Zack.

George Zack, whose successor will be named Friday. Photo by Matt Goins.

“This is the way we always wanted to make the announcement, and it looks like we’re on track to do it,” said Larry C. Deener, President of the Lexington Philharmonic Society, Inc.

Zack announced his retirement in December 2006, setting in motion a two-season search that saw 10 candidates conduct the Philharmonic between October 2007 and last month. Two candidates withdrew from the race after visiting — February auditioner Alastair Willis and March candidate Mei-Ann Chen.

That leaves eight candidates in contention for the spot:

• Kayoko Dan, assistant conductor of the Phoenix Symphony
• Alexander Platt, music director of the Waukesha Symphony in Wisconsin, resident conductor of the Chicago Opera Theatre and several other posts
• Darryl One, music director of the Victoria Symphony Orchestra in Texas
• Daniel Meyer, music director of the Asheville Symphony Orchestra in North Carolina, resident conductor of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and several other posts
• Alfred Savia, music director of the Evansville Symphony Orchestra in Indiana
• Scott Terrell, resident conductor of the Charleston Symphony Orchestra in South Carolina
• Jeffrey Pollock, last post was assistant conductor of the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra in Texas
• Morihiko Nakahara, music director of the South Carolina Philharmonic

Deener said the announcement will come just before intermission of Friday’s concert, which will feature the Lexington Singers and Lexington Philharmonic performing works by Gabriel Faure and Ludwig Van Beethoven. Lexington Singers music director Jefferson Johnson and University of Kentucky Symphony Orchestra director John Nardolillo will co-conduct the concert.

At the concert, Deener said plans are to have brochures available with the programs for next season’s Masterclassics series, which will be the new conductor’s first season with the Philharmonic.

Nick Nickl, board chair of the Lexington Singers, at a rehearsal of the group Dec. 8, 2008. Photo by Rich Copley | LexGo.

It’s been a good season for Studio Players.

Martha Campbell as Mary Todd Lincoln in the Studio Players hit, "The Last of Mrs. Lincoln." Photo by Pablo Alcala | LexGo.

The first three shows at the Carriage House ­Theatre on Bell Court - Don’t Dress for Dinner, A Tuna ­Christmas and The Last of Mrs. Lincoln - were hits for the community ­theater troupe, selling out most performances. Bob Singleton, president of the company’s board of directors, says that if about 80 percent of the seats for a production are sold, the costs have been covered. And so far, Studio Players has not seen a decline in donations.

If only every arts group could tell that tale.

As the nation plunges deeper into a recession, good news in the arts has been hard to find. Just last week, word came of layoffs at the Philadelphia Orchestra and Merce Cunningham Dance Company, the latest in a steady stream of bad news for arts groups that also must deal with the economic downturn’s effect on ticket sales and fund-raising.

But community arts ­organizations generally don’t have the overhead costs of a staff or space to maintain, and sometimes are able to thrive in challenging times.

“This is a season ­everyone wants to write down in red letters in their diaries,” Lexington Singers board president, Nick Nickl, says.

Last fall’s the Singers’ 50th ­anniversary concert far ­exceeded box-office ­expectations, and the chorus had the ego boost of traveling to ­Washington to sing at the ­Kennedy Center for the ­Performing Arts in the production of Our Lincoln.

The only ­disappointment of the season, Nickl says, has been ­raising money for its annual Festival of Choirs.
“Usually people are eager to contribute to that,” Nickl says of the event, which brings the Singers together with choirs from ­traditionally black churches. “But we had to give it a little extra push this year.”

That said, “if you look at the list of organizations close to the edge, we’re not one of them,” Nickl says.
Neither is the Lexington ­Community ­Orchestra.

“We have been able to continue with a minimum of difficulty or ­challenge,” says violinist Pam ­Hammonds, ­president of the community orchestra board. Read the rest of this entry »

Paula Harrison, left, Bluegrass Tours driver Kevin Fister, and Sallie Razor outside the bus at exit 110 in Mt. Sterling, after the bus had been waved off Interstate 64, which was temporarily closed, due to several accidents. Photo by Jonathan Palmer.

Just 24 hours after the exhilarating experience of performing at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington D.C., the Our Lincoln cast’s trip home ground to a halt on snowy I-64.

Our Lincoln director James W. Rodgers had introduced the people on his Bluegrass Tours bus to a tradition of snapping fingers as they crossed state lines for good travel luck, but that didn’t help in Kentucky.

The trip had seen snow all day in Virginia and West Virginia, but it didn’t start sticking to the roads until after crossing the Kentucky State Line. Two buses containing members of the Lexington Singers Children’s Choir got stopped on Interstate 64 East for more than two hours due to two accidents. A bus with members of the Lexington Singers, University of Kentucky Opera Theatre and other groups was waved off 64 while the Interstate was briefly closed.

“So close to home,” said Our Lincoln coordinator, Julie Klier.

The snow added an element of adventure to a trip that had otherwise been smooth, with trips to Washington finishing ahead of schedule and a triumphant performance.

“That’s the way it is,” said Lexington Singers soprano Becky Grice, of Richmond. “You have a big top experience, but there’s always payback.”

Shortly after 9 p.m., the bus pulled into the parking lot behind the Paul Miller Auto Outlet, and Our Lincoln participants from that and several other buses dusted snow and chipped ice off their cars for the final miles of their journeys home.

~ After entering Kentucky, several Lexington Singers and UK Opera singers broke into an impromptu rendition of My Old Kentucky Home.

~ Final figures aren’t in, but approximately 1,300 tickets were sold to the Our Lincoln performance in the 2,500-seat John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Concert Hall. The show’s organizers were particularly pleased with more than 500 tickets sold through the Kennedy Center box office.

~ Rodgers said that when he thanked the Kennedy Center crew for having the show at the Kennedy Center, the crew turned the gratitude around, thanking the show for coming. Apparently, as the economy has soured, a number of groups have been forced to cancel their Kennedy Center engagements.

~ Event organizer Julie Klier said she credentialed 441 people for the event, including performers, chaperones for the Lexington Singers Children’s Choir, spouses of performers and others.

~ Klier said that during Mark O’Connor’ performance Monday night, a woman she was sitting next to broke out in tears. She asked the woman if she was from Kentucky, and she replied, “No, but I wish I was.”

UK symphony violin players Ella Chang, left, and Jihee Kang make a portrait together on the stage of the Kennedy Center concert hall. Photo by Jonathan Palmer.

Check out Jonathan Palmer’s slide show from Our Lincoln.

WASHINGTON – Last February, the Kentucky Humanities Council and the University of Kentucky Opera Theatre claimed Abraham Lincoln as the Bluegrass State’s own through music and words in the Our Lincoln concert at the Singletary Center for the Arts.

Monday night, the same artists staked that claim on a national stage: the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington D.C.

The performance of Our Lincoln at the Kennedy Center was a chance for the artists involved, including the Lexington Singers and the UK Symphony Orchestra, to play on the stage of one of the most prestigious arts venues in America. It was also a chance for Kentucky to show off.

“When I heard about this, I said, in one fell swoop, you could change a lot of people’s minds about our state,” Robert Brock, artistic director of Kentucky Repertory Theatre, said, recalling receiving his invitation to portray Lincoln’s law partner, Billy Herndon, in the show.

Brock’s performance was one of numerous pieces meant to portray the 16^th President, usually associated with Illinois, from a distinctly Kentucky perspective. The performance was created as part of the celebration of the bicentennial of Lincoln’s birth in Hodgenville.

Our Lincoln included Augusta’s Nick Clooney narrating Aaron Copland’s Lincoln Portrait, UK alum and Metropolitan Opera tenor Gregory Turay singing a new musical setting of The Gettysburg Address, Kentucky Poet Laureate Jane Gentry reading her poem about a Lincoln portrait in her house, and excerpts from River of Time, a forthcoming opera about Abraham Lincoln by UK composer Joseph Baber.

The program was narrated by national radio host and Louisville native Bob Edwards, and it was attended by a who’s who of Central Kentuckians including Lexington Mayor Jim Newberry, and U.S. Reps. Ben Chandler and Hal Rodgers.

“This is a proud night for the State of Kentucky because of what we are about to show the nation,” University of Kentucky President Lee Todd said to about 400 people at a pre-show reception in the Kennedy Center.

The crowd included Kentuckians who made the trip to Washington, expatriate Kentuckians living in Washington, people invited by their Kentucky friends and pure concertgoers.

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Participants in the Our Lincoln production boarded a bus in Lexington early Sunday morning for a daylong trip to Washington D.C. Photos by Jonathan Palmer.

It’s not like the Lexington Singers don’t have experience singing in storied concert halls.

Singing at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts on Monday will add to a distinguished list of venues for the singers including Carnegie Hall in New York and the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris.

Ginny Smith has been along for the ride since the singers went to Romania in 1974.

Ginny Smith, a 37-year veteran of the Lexington Singers, on the bus to Washington D.C., Sunday.

“Most of our trips have been flying,” the 37-year Singers veteran said Sunday morning, settled into her seat on a Bluegrass Tours bus, tooling through snow-blanketed Eastern Kentucky on the way to Washington D.C. “They’ve all been great — Romania, Italy, Paris.”

This time, the Singers, as well as several other groups and individual artists are traveling to the Nation’s Capitol to present the Our Lincoln concert that premiered in Lexington last February.

Despite being a well-traveled singer, Smith was excited by the same thing that had most of the Singers buzzing: The prospect of singing for the President.

Barack Obama has been invited to the performance of Our Lincoln Monday night, though organizers do not know if the newly inaugurated President will attend. Information has been collected from all participants in the concert for security, and the productions directors have been advised what the logistical changes would be if Obama came. They have been told they may not know until the very last minute if he’s coming.

It would be the first time Smith, or the singers, for that matter, have sung for a sitting president.

But new Singer Jeanne Sallee had an experience to put the prospect in some perspective. She was the music director at the the Cathedral of Christ the King when the church’s choirs traveled to Rome and sang for Pope John Paul II.

“It was a moment you just kind of go wow,” Sallee said. “It was more special because he was the head of the church, and so it seems you’re doing it for your church and your faith.”

Even if Obama does not come to the show, the performers are still stoked about getting to sing in the Kennedy Center.

“The whole prestige of the place and the city has an air of accomplishment with it,” said UK Symphony percussionist Tim Wilburn, as he was getting off the bus in Washington. “I will be able to say I performed here. It’s a great resume builder.”

University of Kentucky symphony percussionist Tim Wilburn surveys the Holiday Inn on Rhode Island Avenue NW in Washington D.C. on Sunday.

Click the play button for our Lexington Singers 50th season slideshow, including current and archival photos, the sounds of the Singers in rehearsal, and reflections from the three directors: Phyllis Jenness (1959-75), James Ross Beane (1975-97) and Jefferson Johnson (1997-present). Click here to see a slightly larger version of the show.

Sometimes there’s good karma in the calendar. With George Zack retiring from the podium of the Lexington Philharmonic in ­September and the search for his ­successor still in progress, there was a perfect ­opening for Lexington Singers music ­director ­Jefferson Johnson to take the baton for this year’s ­performance of George Frideric ­Handel’s Messiah.

And the timing is great for the Singers to have its man on the podium: This is the 170-member group’s 50th season.

“It is totally coincidental,” Johnson says, “but it’s pretty neat.”

This will be Johnson’s first time ­conducting a performance of Handel’s ­perennial. Usually, he prepares the chorus for the concert and then, as most choral conductors do, hands the group off to the orchestra conductor for the show.

Until this year, Johnson, 52, has spent the concert in the same place: the back row of the Singletary Center for the Arts Concert Hall, where he is showered with the crystal-clear voices of his chorus.

The feeling is not much different from when he moved to Lexington as ­director of choirs at the University of Kentucky, and he would go hear the Singers under James Ross Beane.

“I was just in awe of how close to perfection they were singing,” Johnson says. “Like any choral conductor, I would listen for mistakes — we’re all diagnostic by nature. I distinctly remember being struck by how close to perfection they were.”

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