Arts Writers: Let's Do Play-by-Plays

It’s no surprise that newspapers throughout the US are drastically cutting arts coverage of any kind.  Even though audience numbers are up, reviews of concerts and plays are sparse and feature stories are rarer still.

Being a long time arts writer, I have been thinking how to combat this trend, and I think I’ve found the answer.

I have noticed that as the arts coverage is disappearing, the sports articles continue to expand.  Instead of being a “sports page” it is now a “sports section” - sometimes two - covering high school, college and pro sports in excruciating detail.  Pages and pages are filled with analyses, graphs, standings, and features. Why can’t the arts do that?

Instead of blaming the sports writers for gobbling up all of the available white space in local papers, I think that arts writers should learn from the sports writing colleagues.  We should be more like them and take their lead. 

Absolutely Right

                                   Photo: Jim Zacks

Flutist Richard Sherman has found the secret recipe for improving the concert experience for modern classical music lovers. Begin with alcohol, add a dab of discussion, chose the best musicians available, avoid stuffiness and throw in a dollop of education.

Sherman’s Absolute Music Chamber Series started out giving small chamber concerts in the Absolute Art Gallery in Lansing’s Old Town. He wanted to re-create the audience friendly environment that he’s been enjoying at the Chautauqua Institution during the summers in New York State for the last 25 years.

In the beginning, in 2009, the setting was charming, but the acoustics were not perfect and the setting was cramped.

A few years later they retained the Absolute name but changed location and moved a block down the street.  They now perform at the Urban Beat Event Center – a hip looking place with exposed old brick walls, a small bar and tons of character.

French Program with Clarinet Soloist Highlights LSO

If you’ve been frustrated by not hearing a Lansing Symphony concert in the past couple of months, you can thank “Aladdin” for taking up residency at Wharton Center for four weeks.

In any case, they’ll be back on Saturday, January 18^th for a fascinating program of French music.

To a large degree, that program was put together to take advantage of Guy Yehuda, the brilliant principal clarinetist with the LSO playing the virtuosic clarinet concerto by French composer Jean Francaix. It’s always a joy to hear talented soloists from within the ranks of the orchestra.

Two Concerts: Biss plays Beethoven

Jonathan Biss began his lifelong love affair with Beethoven at age eleven.  The 39-year-old international piano star shared a memory on our phone interview, “I heard a recording with Rudolf Serkin playing the Beethoven “Appassionata” (No. 23) piano sonata and that was it for me",  he said in a phone interview,

“First, Serkin and Beethoven were such a match.  In the performance you felt the sheer force of Beethoven’s personality in his music.  It was like a tidal wave.  And Serkin had such an intensity in his playing – such a need to communicate.”

Two years later, the 13-year-old Biss soloed with the Indianapolis Symphony. And his career hasn’t stopped surging.