Giving Tuesday

#givingtuesday:  I give to help the arts remain vibrant and vital - Paul Larson 

After Black Friday and Cyber Monday comes Giving Tuesday, a time to donate to your favorite charities.  Learn more at the facebook page of Mountain Lake PBS:  https://www.facebook.com/mlpbs

FOCUSED: Creative Youth in the Empire State premieres in Albany.

Commissioner of Education Dr. John B. King, Jr., NYSSSA Executive Director Sara Fittizzi, and producer Paul Larson at the FOCUSED:  Creative Youth in the Empire State screening in Albany.

Sara Fittizzi and students featured in FOCUSED address the audience before the show.

Songs to Keep makes its big screen debut!

Singer Dan Berggren, producer Paul Larson, and Special Collections 
Librarian Debra Kimok with Festival Co-Organizer Melissa Hart

Festival Co-Organizer Melissa Hart and "Songs to Keep:
Treasures of an Adirondack Folk Collector" producer Paul Larson 

Songs to Keep:  Treasures of an Adirondack Folk Collector screened at the Strand Theatre as part of the Lake Champlain International Film Festival. Singer Dan Berggren, producer Paul Larson, and Special Collections Librarian Debra Kimok answered questions from the audience after the screening. Berggren also performed a song from the collection of Marjorie Lansing Porter, the subject of the documentary.

The Mountain Lake PBS documentary was preceded by the short film "Lucid" about a local band.  The complete program was titled "Local Voices I."

Songs to Keep:  Treasures of an Adirondack Folk Collector was awarded 2nd place in the "People's Choice" category at the Festival.    The first place prize went to Runway from Germany.

From Mark Friedman, Keeseville, New York: 

Hi, Paul -

It was wonderful viewing your documentary on a large screen at the Strand.  The sweep and immensity of the Adirondack  landscape came across vividly.  And this exquisite scenery is the stage upon which the folk music indigenous to our area was created.  Your interview with Pete Seeger reminded me of how many regional seeds of musical influences this icon of folk liberally took and spread world-wide.

While Adirondack ballads comprise only one part of Americana folk music,  they nonetheless represent an important piece of our collective culture.  Kudos for your insightful, story-telling detail of how Marjorie Lansing Porter was the central archivist - the keeper of the flame - of such a treasured piece of Americana.

From Glenn Estus, Essex, New York:  Recently I attended the first Lake Champlain International Film Festival at the newly renovated Strand Theatre in Plattsburgh, N.Y.  I was pleased to be invited to see Mountain Lake Public Broadcasting’s recent documentary Songs to Keep, about local historian Majorie Lansing Porter’s endeavor to save seldom heard folk songs from the Adirondacks of New York State.

I had seen the documentary on Public Television earlier in the year, but on a “small” screen television, i.e. 32 inches.  Looking forward to seeing the documentary on the newly installed large screen and projected by a new digital system, I was not disappointed.  The new projection system allowed the viewer to be immerse in the program from the very beginning. The opening scenes with aerial views of the Adirondacks were so lifelike that I for a moment I thought I was actually in the plane.   

The Strand’s new sound system coupled with the HD projection enhanced the on-screen performances of long lost Adirondack folk tunes.  If you couldn’t see a the performance live, the next best thing was the screening.

After Songs to Keep’s showing, the producer Paul Larson was invited to take questions from the audience of about 30 people.  He introduced Debra Kimok, the librarian at the Special Collections at Plattsburgh State where the Porter archives are stored and also Dan Berggren, one of the folk singers highlighted in the documentary.  Larson noted that his interview with the late noted folksinger Pete Seeger was the last interview that Seeger had given.

Over all, a very enjoyable time at the newly renovated Strand Theatre.

From Cathy Cook, posting on the Lake Champlain International Film Festival facebook page:  "Local Voices I" was awesome! Really enjoyed the past and present connection with local music with the short film featuring Lucid: "Ground on Up" and the wonderful Adirondack folk music feature film "Songs to Keep". Wonderful film festival!

See SONGS TO KEEP on the BIG SCREEN this week, and across the country!

Marjorie Lansing Porter's grandchildren, Michael McNamara, Sean Rosemeyer and Charles McNamara offer insight into their grandmother's life in Songs to Keep:  Treasures of an Adirondack Folk Collector.

The story of an Adirondack woman’s life will get the chance to inspire the rest of the country, thanks to the distribution of a local documentary by a national television service. Local viewers may also wish to see the program for the first time on a large movie screen, when it makes it cinematic debut at a film festival this week.

The Emmy Award-winning Mountain Lake PBS documentary Songs to Keep:  Treasures of an Adirondack Folk Collector has been selected by American Public Television for national distribution this month.  Programming directors at public television stations in more than 90 cities including New York City, Burbank, and Phoenix have expressed interest in showing the folk music program to their viewers.  Stations in Portland, Oregon and Denver, Colorado have already scheduled the program to air before the end of the year. 

Songs to Keep:  Treasures of an Adirondack Folk Collector relates the tale of Adirondack historian Marjorie Lansing Porter, who recorded traditional folk songs in the Adirondack Mountains in the 1940s, ‘50s and ‘60s, from the last generation that remembered them, thus preserving them for the future.  The documentary is one component of a larger project spearheaded by Traditional Arts in Upstate New York (TAUNY). 

 “It was always a goal to get this show out to as wide an audience as possible,” Paul Larson, documentary producer, said. “A story about preserving history told through the performances  of 

talented musicians and illustrated with the stunning vistas of the Adirondacks strikes a universal chord. I am so happy we can share this story now with people in other states.” 

Performer Sue Grimm Hanley, who sings surrounded by tall pine trees in the show, agrees that 

combining Adirondack nature with Adirondack music captures the essence of hundred-year old folk 

songs. 

“We are so far removed from the time when people sang while they worked, while they hiked, while 

they celebrated holidays and milestones in their lives,” Hanley said.  “The program is a bridge to connect 

the various people who love this place with the history of past Adirondackers, and life in these 

mountains.” 

Songs to Keep will appear on television sets across the country this year, as well as on the large movie screen at the Strand Theatre in Plattsburgh, New York.  On Saturday, November 15, the program will screen at the inaugural “Lake Champlain International Film Festival.”   

"In addition to bringing in films from around the world, part of the mission of the festival is to showcase some of the amazing work being done right here in the North Country. Songs to Keep shines a light on the importance of preserving our cultural heritage and is a perfect example of the types of quality programming we're excited to offer," said Melissa Hart, festival co-organizer.  

“We’re very proud of this collaboration with Mountain Lake PBS, and pleased that it is garnering so much attention locally and nationally,” Jill Breit, Executive Director of TAUNY, said. “As well as telling a great story, Songs to Keep is visually beautiful. Seeing it on the big screen will be a delight.”   

Songs to Keep:  Treasures of an Adirondack Folk Collector won an Emmy award for “Outstanding Documentary"at the Boston/New England Regional Emmy Awards Gala in May 2014. 

The documentary was just one part of a multiplatform project aiming to increase awareness of and access to the Marjorie L. Porter Collection of North Country Folklore. TAUNY partnered with Mountain Lake PBS, SUNY Plattsburgh, and The Adirondack History Center Museum on the initiative which also included an album of new recordings from the Porter Collection, a traveling exhibit about Porter, and a concert series in the Adirondack Park. 

The Lake Champlain International Film Festival presents Songs to Keep:  Treasures of an Adirondack Folk Collector at the Strand Theatre in Plattsburgh on Saturday, November 15 at 4:30pm.  

To learn more about the film festival:  http://lcifilmfest.org/

Producer Paul Larson says he had a wider audience for the program in mind even before production began on it.   For that reason he says he aggressively pursued interviews with folk legend Pete Seeger and a musical performance from Michael and Kevin Bacon, the Bacon Brothers, for the show.
- See more at: http://mountainlake.org/about/press-releases/adirondack-documentary-gets-national-distribution/#sthash.D2vtAo5L.dpuf

The Emmy Award-winning Mountain Lake PBS documentary Songs to Keep:  Treasures of an Adirondack Folk Collector has been selected by American Public Television for national distribution this month.  Programming directors at public television stations in more than 90 cities including New York City, Burbank, and Phoenix have expressed interest in showing the folk music program to their viewers.  Stations in Portland, Oregon and Denver, Colorado have already scheduled the program to air before the end of the year. - See more at: http://mountainlake.org/about/press-releases/adirondack-documentary-gets-national-distribution/#sthash.D2vtAo5L.dpuf

The Emmy Award-winning Mountain Lake PBS documentary Songs to Keep:  Treasures of an Adirondack Folk Collector has been selected by American Public Television for national distribution this month.  Programming directors at public television stations in more than 90 cities including New York City, Burbank, and Phoenix have expressed interest in showing the folk music program to their viewers.  Stations in Portland, Oregon and Denver, Colorado have already scheduled the program to air before the end of the year.
Songs to Keep:  Treasures of an Adirondack Folk Collector relates the tale of Adirondack historian Marjorie Lansing Porter, who recorded traditional folk songs in the Adirondack Mountains in the 1940s, ‘50s and ‘60s, from the last generation that remembered them, thus preserving them for the future.  The documentary is one component of a larger project spearheaded by Traditional Arts in Upstate New York (TAUNY).
Producer Paul Larson says he had a wider audience for the program in mind even before production began on it.   For that reason he says he aggressively pursued interviews with folk legend Pete Seeger and a musical performance from Michael and Kevin Bacon, the Bacon Brothers, for the show.
“Programmers at American Public Television told me it was the narrative of a woman who preserved a regional legacy and the stories behind these tunes that had a wider appeal beyond our immediate region.  The inclusion of celebrity musicians who are positively affected by Porter’s work also caught their attention,” Larson said.
Larson says the possibility of national exposure guided many of his decisions while making the show.
“I used to joke with the videographer Paul Frederick before we’d set up a shot,” Larson added.  “I’d say, ‘Is this going to be good enough for a national production?’ Of course I am thrilled with his videography and that of Daniel McCullum, who both showcase the Adirondack region so beautifully in this program. The vistas we display while the performers sing is a breathtaking way to show off our region and our music to the rest of the country.”
- See more at: http://mountainlake.org/about/press-releases/adirondack-documentary-gets-national-distribution/#sthash.D2vtAo5L.dpuf

The Emmy Award-winning Mountain Lake PBS documentary Songs to Keep:  Treasures of an Adirondack Folk Collector has been selected by American Public Television for national distribution this month.  Programming directors at public television stations in more than 90 cities including New York City, Burbank, and Phoenix have expressed interest in showing the folk music program to their viewers.  Stations in Portland, Oregon and Denver, Colorado have already scheduled the program to air before the end of the year.
Songs to Keep:  Treasures of an Adirondack Folk Collector relates the tale of Adirondack historian Marjorie Lansing Porter, who recorded traditional folk songs in the Adirondack Mountains in the 1940s, ‘50s and ‘60s, from the last generation that remembered them, thus preserving them for the future.  The documentary is one component of a larger project spearheaded by Traditional Arts in Upstate New York (TAUNY).
Producer Paul Larson says he had a wider audience for the program in mind even before production began on it.   For that reason he says he aggressively pursued interviews with folk legend Pete Seeger and a musical performance from Michael and Kevin Bacon, the Bacon Brothers, for the show.
“Programmers at American Public Television told me it was the narrative of a woman who preserved a regional legacy and the stories behind these tunes that had a wider appeal beyond our immediate region.  The inclusion of celebrity musicians who are positively affected by Porter’s work also caught their attention,” Larson said.
Larson says the possibility of national exposure guided many of his decisions while making the show.
“I used to joke with the videographer Paul Frederick before we’d set up a shot,” Larson added.  “I’d say, ‘Is this going to be good enough for a national production?’ Of course I am thrilled with his videography and that of Daniel McCullum, who both showcase the Adirondack region so beautifully in this program. The vistas we display while the performers sing is a breathtaking way to show off our region and our music to the rest of the country.”
Performer Sue Grimm Hanley, who sings surrounded by tall pine trees in the show, agrees that combining Adirondack nature with Adirondack music captures the essence of hundred-year old folk songs.
“We are so far removed from the time when people sang while they worked, while they hiked, while they celebrated holidays and milestones in their lives,” Hanley said.  “The program is a bridge to connect the various people who love this place with the history of past Adirondackers, and life in these mountains.”
Songs to Keep will appear on television sets across the country this year, as well as on the large movie screen at the Strand Theatre in Plattsburgh, New York.  On Saturday, November 15, the program will screen at the inaugural “Lake Champlain International Film Festival.”
"In addition to bringing in films from around the world, part of the mission of the festival is to showcase some of the amazing work being done right here in the North Country. Songs to Keep shines a light on the

- See more at: http://mountainlake.org/about/press-releases/adirondack-documentary-gets-national-distribution/#sthash.D2vtAo5L.dpufThe story of an Adirondack woman’s life will get the chance to inspire the rest of the country, thanks to the distribution of a local documentary by a national television service. Local viewers may also wish to see the program for the first time on a large movie screen, when it makes it cinematic debut at a film festival this month.

The Emmy Award-winning Mountain Lake PBS documentary Songs to Keep:  Treasures of an Adirondack Folk Collector has been selected by American Public Television for national distribution this month.  Programming directors at public television stations in more than 90 cities including New York City, Burbank, and Phoenix have expressed interest in showing the folk music program to their viewers.  Stations in Portland, Oregon and Denver, Colorado have already scheduled the program to air before the end of the year.
Songs to Keep:  Treasures of an Adirondack Folk Collector relates the tale of Adirondack historian Marjorie Lansing Porter, who recorded traditional folk songs in the Adirondack Mountains in the 1940s, ‘50s and ‘60s, from the last generation that remembered them, thus preserving them for the future.  The documentary is one component of a larger project spearheaded by Traditional Arts in Upstate New York (TAUNY).
Producer Paul Larson says he had a wider audience for the program in mind even before production began on it.   For that reason he says he aggressively pursued interviews with folk legend Pete Seeger and a musical performance from Michael and Kevin Bacon, the Bacon Brothers, for the show.
“Programmers at American Public Television told me it was the narrative of a woman who preserved a regional legacy and the stories behind these tunes that had a wider appeal beyond our immediate region.  The inclusion of celebrity musicians who are positively affected by Porter’s work also caught their attention,” Larson said.
Larson says the possibility of national exposure guided many of his decisions while making the show.
“I used to joke with the videographer Paul Frederick before we’d set up a shot,” Larson added.  “I’d say, ‘Is this going to be good enough for a national production?’ Of course I am thrilled with his videography and that of Daniel McCullum, who both showcase the Adirondack region so beautifully in this program. The vistas we display while the performers sing is a breathtaking way to show off our region and our music to the rest of the country.”
Performer Sue Grimm Hanley, who sings surrounded by tall pine trees in the show, agrees that combining Adirondack nature with Adirondack music captures the essence of hundred-year old folk songs.
“We are so far removed from the time when people sang while they worked, while they hiked, while they celebrated holidays and milestones in their lives,” Hanley said.  “The program is a bridge to connect the various people who love this place with the history of past Adirondackers, and life in these mountains.”
Songs to Keep will appear on television sets across the country this year, as well as on the large movie screen at the Strand Theatre in Plattsburgh, New York.  On Saturday, November 15, the program will screen at the inaugural “Lake Champlain International Film Festival.”
"In addition to bringing in films from around the world, part of the mission of the festival is to showcase some of the amazing work being done right here in the North Country. Songs to Keep shines a light on the
- See more at: http://mountainlake.org/about/press-releases/adirondack-documentary-gets-national-distribution/#sthash.D2vtAo5L.dpuf

FOCUSED: Creative Youth in the Empire State premieres tonight!

Explore the creative force that drives New York kids to give up their summer vacations for four weeks of intensive study and training.

Mountain Lake PBS is proud to partner with the New York State Summer School of the Arts (NYSSSA) to celebrate young people who have their ambitions aimed at the arts.   NYSSSA is a 45 year old program of the New York State Education Department that operates 4-week residential programs in ballet, choral studies, dance, media arts, orchestral studies, theatre and visual arts, for approximately 425 of the state’s most talented youths. The schools provide intensive training in an environment where students experience the rigorous discipline of the daily life of a professional artist.   The school is open to all high school age students who qualify, and no student who qualifies is denied NYSSSA’s opportunities because they cannot afford them. NYSSSA represents the wide spectrum of cultural, ethnic, social, and economic diversity that is New York State.

FOCUSED: Creative Youth in the Empire State is a special television program that follows students from audition through performance during their journey at NYSSSA. These talented teens represent the future of the arts. You’ll see their dedication, determination and drive. Some of the students come from rural areas where working with top professionals in the arts would not otherwise be an option for them.

Be inspired by their discovery and growth as artists and as young adults, and learn why this program has been a life-changing experience for more than 20,000 students. 

The program, produced by Paul Larson, airs tonight at 9pm on Mountain Lake PBS.  It repeats Friday at 2am, Friday at noon, and Saturday at 5pm.

Face of the Arts: article in Strictly Business Magazine

Feature story in the current issue of Strictly Business about Paul Larson's
Emmy win for "Songs to Keep," plus his Rondo Award.  

Meg LeFavre's feature story about Paul Larson, his Emmy win for the Mountain Lake PBS documentary "Songs to Keep," and the Rondo Award:  Monster Kid of the Year, appears in the current issue of Strictly Business.  You may read the article at the Strictly Business website, or enjoy the pages here.

HELP US CELEBRATE THE EMMY WIN OF SONGS TO KEEP TONIGHT!

Songs to Keep, Treasures of an Adirondack Folk Collector" commemorates its recent award win with a special broadcast of the program on Mountain Lake PBS at 9pm.  The airing includes an interview with producer Paul Larson about the Emmy ceremony.

The program relates the story of folklorist Marjorie Lansing Porter, who dedicated much of her life to saving traditional folk songs before the population who remembered the tunes vanished.  Performers include the Bacon Brothers, Alex Smith, Celia Evans, Dan Berggren, and Dave Ruch.

Pete Seeger gave his final interview for this documentary. 

- See more at: http://mountainlake.org/programs/songs-to-keep-airs-thursday%2C-august-7-at-9/#sthash.vx6bgA90.dpufThe program relates the story of folklorist Marjorie Lansing Porter, who dedicated much of her life to saving traditional folk songs before the population who remembered the tunes vanished.  Performers include the Bacon Brothers, Alex Smith, Celia Evans, Dan Berggren, and Dave Ruch.
Pete Seeger gave his final interview for this documentary.

- See more at: http://mountainlake.org/programs/songs-to-keep-airs-thursday%2C-august-7-at-9/#sthash.vx6bgA90.dpuf"Songs to Keep, Treasures of an Adirondack Folk Collector" commemorates its recent award win with a special broadcast of the program, including an interview with the producer about the Emmy ceremony. 

The program relates the story of folklorist Marjorie Lansing Porter, who dedicated much of her life to saving traditional folk songs before the population who remembered the tunes vanished.  Performers include the Bacon Brothers, Alex Smith, Celia Evans, Dan Berggren, and Dave Ruch.
Pete Seeger gave his final interview for this documentary.
- See more at: http://mountainlake.org/programs/songs-to-keep-airs-thursday%2C-august-7-at-9/#sthash.vx6bgA90.dpuf

Paul Larson's Emmy win!

Paul Larson at the Emmy ceremony in Boston with his award for
Songs to Keep: Treasures of an Adirondack Folk Collector

A television documentary celebrating history through music in the Adirondacks can celebrate its Emmy Award win this week.  Songs to Keep: Treasures of an Adirondack Folk Collector won a regional Emmy award for Outstanding Documentary at the Boston/New England Emmy Awards gala.  The Mountain Lake PBS production tells the story of Adirondack historian Marjorie Lansing Porter, who recorded traditional folk songs and stories from the last generation of people who remembered them, thus preserving them for the future.

"Porter is a hero for having captured these songs in the nick of time," said producer Paul Larson, who received his award at the gala this past weekend.  "Without Porter's original foresight and hard work to preserve these treasures, we would have lost a lot of music and stories that originated in the Adirondacks.  She never cared much for receiving awards for herself, but she would probably have been thrilled to know the songs she collected have received such a high honor."

The program includes musical performances from contemporary folk singers, who aim to revive Porter's songs.  Performers included Dave Ruch, Lee Knight and Dan Berggren, who had all previously worked with Porter's collection in their own projects, and who helped Larson understand the historical significance of the folk songs. Larson invited the Bacon Brothers, Kevin and Michael, to record a song for the project, as they frequently visit their family camp in the Adirondacks.  Peter Yarrow and Noel Paul Stooky of Peter, Paul and Mary fame gave their insight into traditional music of the northeast. Larson was also able to speak with folk legend Pete Seeger, a conversation that became his official final television interview when the singer passed away in January of this year.

Paul Larson with his Emmy award for
Songs to Keep:  Treasures of an Adirondack Folk Collector

"Mountain Lake PBS has aspired to tell the stories of the Adirondack region for over 35 years," Dan Swinton, executive producer of the documentary, said. "We are extremely honored to receive this award as it reinforces our role as an important voice for our communities we serve."

This documentary was just one part of a multiplatform project aiming to increase awareness of and access to the Marjorie L. Porter Collection of North Country Folklore. Traditional Arts of Upstate New York (TAUNY) partnered with Mountain Lake PBS, SUNY Plattsburgh, and The Adirondack History Center Museum on the initiative which included: an album of new recordings from the Porter Collection interpreted by well-known regional and national musicians;  a traveling exhibit about Marjorie Lansing Porter and her work, including new original research with descendants of Porter and the singers she recorded; a manuscript of all the folksongs of Porter Collection; publication of a 40 page songbook from the Porter Collection; a concert series hitting six locations throughout the Adirondack Park; and this 1-hour televised documentary.

The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences distributes Regional Emmy® Awards in 20 regions across the United States.

Monster Kid of the Year Walks Among Us!

Paul Larson with his Rondo Award:  Monster Kid of the Year 2013, for his successful efforts to unearth and distribute rare, nearly forgotten Vincent Price footage that he put on The Vincent Price Collection Blu-ray set.

     Every year, as the Oscar, Emmy, Grammy and Tony Award spotlights shine on the brightest in their respective fields, the Rondo Awards honor achievements in the darker corners of entertainment, the world of classic horror movies.  People working for monster magazines, spooky DVD releases and scary movie soundtracks are the types who win the internationally-known Rondo Award.  The awards are sponsored by the Classic Horror Film Board, a website dedicated to all things Dracula, Frankenstein, and other creatures that go bump in the night.

     Hellboy and Pan's Labyrinth director Guillermo del Toro said of the awards, "I love Rondo!"

     Into this misty realm steps producer Paul Larson of Mountain Lake PBS, who has just won the coveted "Monster Kid of the Year" Award, the highest honor of the award program.  Larson, producer of documentaries and the program Art Express, won the award for his work on bonus features for the Shout! Factory blu-ray release "The Vincent Price Collection."  When Larson heard last spring that Shout! was going to release a blu-ray set of 1960s Vincent Price films directed by Roger Corman, including many based on Edgar Allan Poe tales, he remembered a TV series he watched while in elementary school. His hometown PBS station, Iowa Public Television, had produced a film retrospective series in 1982, where Vincent Price himself had come to Des Moines to shoot new introductions for the very same Corman-Poe films.

     They featured the tuxedo-clad actor in an appropriately Gothic Des Moines mansion, speaking about twelve films and his time working with Roger Corman.

     "I contacted Shout! Factory first, the very night I heard they were going to create the blu-ray set," Larson said.  "Then I contacted Iowa Public Television.  I had no idea whether the Vincent Price intros even existed anymore.  They were shot on videotape and were thirty-one years old."

     As luck would have it, Executive Producer Duane Huey called Larson, and said it was a good thing Larson reached out when he did, because Huey was on the verge of retiring and was one of the few people who might know how to locate the long-forgotten footage.  Huey had written the intros for Vincent Price in 1982.

     Huey found the raw footage, and Larson volunteered to edit it back into the intros and outros as he remembered them.  Larson also interviewed Huey to create a brand new bonus feature for the blu-ray set.  "I thought the intros could use some context," Larson said.

  As for the award, "I'm completely elated about this," Larson said.  "People are saying I saved this rare Vincent Price footage before it may have vanished. To think in 1982 I was a kid enjoying Vincent Price introducing his movies in my hometown, and now I've played a role in getting this footage out to a wider audience.  It thrills me!"

     A "monster kid" is someone who has loved the classic monster movies since childhood.  According to the Classic Horror Film Board, the award recognizes Larson's "efforts beyond the call of duty" to help celebrate and preserve the archival materials that help keep these creepy creatures alive. Thousands of horror fans and genre professionals around the world vote for Rondo winners in the annual contest. The award is named after 1930s B-movie actor Rondo Hatton, whose exaggeratedly brutish facial features grace the award bust, and enabled him to play a believable thug in many films.

Hansel und Gretel, Opera de Montreal

Loved it so much I saw it twice!

I've known Humperdinck's exquisite music since childhood, but had never seen Hansel and Gretel performed live on stage until last week.  This production is the latest triumph from Atelier lyrique de l’Opéra de Montréal, and they staged it in collaboration with the National Theatre School of Canada and the National Circus School.

This is the best opera I have seen.  I suppose I was pre-conditioned to love it, since both the story and the music have always been a part of my life.  The production did impress me.  The staging,  the singing, the live music...all superb! 
Humperdinck's music is enchanting.  The visuals in this production, abstract.  Book pages and German words from the tale compose much of the scenery,  reminding one that the opera originated with a German text by the Brothers Grimm.  It was a real pleasure to hear the opera sung in its original language too.  I'm very happy for the translation provided on an unobtrusive screen above the stage.

The second time I saw it, I noticed how good the acting is in the production.  Gretel looked genuinely scared of the witch.  Hansel, played by a female (following the tradition of this opera, due to the mezzo-soprano voice required for the role) was a believably protective brother.  Also,  sitting close to the front, I noticed the mother froze just before the final curtain fell, holding a broom and giving a hysterical facial expression linking her with the witch.  Hilarious for those of us who noticed, but sad in that, perhaps the happy ending that Hansel and Gretel deserve after their heroism will not be achieved once they settle back into life at home.

Perhaps I went twice to see the ending of the second act another time. The scene in the forest, after the two children sing their evening prayer for angels to guard them while they sleep, was followed by one of the most beautiful spectacles I have ever seen on a stage. Acrobats from the National Circus School, dressed in white, gracefully descended from ladders and higher planes, twirling and defying gravity in slow motion, and gently placed the sleeping children on a white bedspread, eventually covering them with it under a twinkling sky.  Extraordinary!

Joshua Bell to perform in Montreal

JOSHUA BELL LIVE!

For those of you who have not yet seen this violin virtuoso play live, this is a great opportunity.  For those of yo who have already seen him, you may be tempted to go again.  Joshua Bell will perform at the Maison Symphonique de Montreal on Tuesday, February 25 at 8pm.

Joshua Bell is a Grammy Award-winning violinist and conductor whose work can be heard on many Sony Classical CDs, and movie soundtracks, including the hauntingly beautiful The Red Violin, which was made, in part, in Montreal.

SUPER STAR SUPER DIVA AT THE SUPER BOWL!

Opera meets football!

Opera superstar Renée Fleming will sing the National Anthem before Super Bowl XLVIII at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J. on February 2.

She is the first opera singer to receive this honor.

I am thrilled for her!  I had the pleasure of interviewing her three years ago.  You'll find the Spotlight segment at this address:   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XmBWvOsho_g