Remembering Ken Beachler

 

When I think of Ken Beachler, I come up with a single image.

Upon entering Wharton Center on Michigan State University’s campus to attend a concert, Ken was at the door to the Cobb Great Hall. He was always impeccably dressed, had a wide gracious smile and welcomed one-and-all into “his” house.  Because he felt the Wharton Center was, indeed, his house.

He knew most by name and greeted each person as if he or she was the most important person he had seen that day.

Beachler spent his entire life supporting, nurturing, performing, and selling the arts. At age 87, he died recently in his home. Ken was one of the greatest shapers of cultural life in the greater Lansing area.

Why is Michigan Packed Solid With Symphony Orchestras?

 

A version of this article appeared in the Lansing State Journal 

MORE ORCHESTRAS THAN YOU THINK

When Michigan State University flute professor Richard Sherman first came to East Lansing 30 years ago, he said to himself, “Boy there sure are a lot of orchestras around here”.  And he was right.

Take a 90-minute drive from Lansing and you will find professional symphony orchestras in Jackson, Battle Creek, Kalamazoo, Adrian, Flint, Grand Rapids, Saginaw, Bay City, Midland, Ann Arbor, Detroit, Dearborn, Rochester, Warren and Plymouth – an amazing 15 orchestras.

And that doesn’t count several more in other parts of Michigan.

The question is: why are there so many orchestras in mid-Michigan? 

Imani Winds Creates a New World

Over the years chamber music has occupied a very definite niche. And that niche, for the most part, is filled with string quartets. 

Sometimes you’ll hear a piano trio (piano, violin, cello) and maybe a violin/viola duet at a chamber music concert. There are other variations, but you can usually bet that string instruments will play the dominant role.

And for good reason.  String instruments blend seamlessly together and the constant motion of the bow arm and the hands on the fingerboard is always interesting to watch. Also, the music played in chamber music concerts are usually 18^th and 19th century pieces written by the great masters.

In the last 20 years, however, the Imani Winds has re-written the chamber music dance card. Here is a chamber ensemble that has created a unique world for themselves, their ensemble, and their audiences.

First off, the woodwind quintet is the most troublesome chamber ensemble to prefect.  Unlike a string quartet, each of the five woodwind instruments is totally different from one another. For a woodwind quintet to develop a homogeneous blend is a difficult challenge.

A Jagged Musical Comes to Wharton

 

“Jagged Little Pill”, now playing as East Lansing’s Wharton Center, is a jukebox musical based on the songs of singer/songwriter superstar, Alanis Morrisette.

The original album of the same name was released in the 90s and sold tens of millions of copies.

Writing a compelling musical play from a record album is a challenging task. In this case, Academy Award winning screenwriter Diablo Cody was responsible for the story.

Although “Jagged” is clearly a rock show, it is also a serious play.  One person warned me, “It’s deep”.  I wouldn’t quite agree with the words he chose, but the show has a subject matter which demands our attention: rape, drug use, family dysfunction, me-too, adoption, race, gender, sex – I think I’ve got it all.  

VIBRATING AIR: Remove the Mic for Great, Real Sounds

 

VIBRATING AIR: Remove the Mic for Great, Real Sounds

The holiday season is a time when acoustic music makes a valiant revival. It’s the one time during the year when screaming guitars and pounding drums take a rest.

Recently I was at a concert of the Lange Vocal Ensemble at Lansing’s St. Paul’s Church.  Along with this excellent vocal group were handbells, pipe organ, brass quartet, piano and oboe/English horn.  All acoustical instruments and there wasn’t a microphone in sight.

All the sounds of that concert were natural and unadulterated. The voices and the organ especially, blended smoothly together like the ingredients of your favorite cake.  One could almost imagine the sound waves and the air all mixing together to produce a beautiful, melded cloud of music.

WOW, Sure Is Condfusing to Watch TV These Days

 

As I sit in front of my 50-inch television with surround sound and access to an infinite number of channels and programs, you may wonder: what could he possibly complain about?

After all, I clearly remember the TV watching experience of my youth. The high-tech equipment we owned was a 12-inch black and white TV loaded to the gills with three channels – ABC, CBS and NBC.

All of the shows available were from those networks and were only presented once during the season, with some sporadic reruns appearing during the summer. After hours (midnight to 8am or so) the TV offered only a weird graphic that was called a Test Pattern.

TV viewing was simpler back then and very regimented.

40 Years at the LSJ - From Tickertapes to Email

 

A version of this article appeared in the Lansing State Journal

As Michigan State’s Wharton Center celebrate its 40^th anniversary season, it reminds me how closely my arts and music writing history at the Lansing State Journal is linked to the opening of that great performing arts center.

It was in July of 1982 that I approached Mike Hughes, arts editor at the LSJ, to see if I could have a stab at writing music criticism for the paper.

Hughes, always the exuberant and positive observer of the world said, “Sure. Wharton Center is opening in September, and we don’t have anybody to cover them.  You’re hired!”

I was shocked and surprised.  I approached the LSJ a couple of years earlier but that editor pronounced my writing far too high brow for Lansing audiences.

What I didn’t understand by Hughes hiring me so quickly was that I would be hired as a stringer, a free lance writer.  I would be paid by the article without any long-term contract. This translated to the reality that any time, if Hughes or the LSJ in general, did not like my writing, all they had to do was not call me. There was no real commitment on the newspaper’s part – just an opportunity for me.

STRATFORD: The Plays and the Place

 

After a two year, COVID-imposed respite, Ontario’s world-famous Stratford Festival is back. And it’s better than ever.

It’s better because in an addition to the stunningly produced plays, the festival just opened their newest theater, The Tom Patterson Theatre.

For many years, the festival had rented a city recreational center located along the banks of the Avon River and built a 500-seat theater inside that was deconstructed each year to make room for badminton courts in the winter.

They finally bought the building, razed it and built a magnificent structure that is artistic, high tech, beautiful and functional. Completed in 2020, the new Tom Patterson has been waiting for two years for enthusiastic audiences to fill up the glittering space with laughter, conversation and applause.

A trip to Stratford is always more than seeing top quality theater, It is also for taking in the charming city itself; its lovely gardens, good restaurants, European-looking downtown area and a picturesque river to walk beside. 

It’s about the plays and the place.

Fun Home, Comes To Life at Peppermint Creek

 

The two-year pandemic that we are now slowly emerging from, has been stressful to many segments of society.  But one of the hardest hit has been the arts – especially theater and classical concerts.

For that reason, we must take our hats off in congratulations to a Lansing community theater company, Peppermint Creek, for presenting their current production of the challenging musical, “Fun Home”.

Even though season schedules have been upended through Covid, artistic director Chad Badgero was determined to hold on to “Fun Home” and present this important show to Lansing audiences.

“Fun Home“ is the Tony Award winning show written by Lansing native Lisa Kron (book and lyrics) and Jeanine Tesori (music).

I have seen “Fun Home” performed by seasoned pros on Broadway and the national touring company at Wharton Center. But there is something very special about watching local amateurs bringing this show to life in a church auditorium.

Evan Hansen: Real and Compelling

 

After many schedule changes and cancellations due to Covid, “Dear Evan Hansen”, by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, is finally at East Lansing’s Wharton Center. When the musical opened on Broadway in 2016 it was a monster hit and still is.

Last night I understood its strong appeal, especially among teenagers. First off, I must say that I approached the show knowing very little about the story and musical style. Except for the hit song “For Forever,” I was unfamiliar with much of the music.

In many ways “Dear Evan Hansen” is the anti-Broadway musical, musical. It's a small show (eight characters) with no production numbers, very little dancing and no over-wrought love songs.

LSO: Youth and Excitement

 

                                                                            Patrick Harlin

One didn’t really know what to expect when attending the Lansing Symphony Orchestra’s final concert on their Masterworks series Saturday night. 

From reading the program (printed last year) we knew that composer-in-residence, Patrick Harlin, would premiere a new piece but we didn’t know the name. The piano soloist was yet to be announced because he or she had not been named as the Gilmore Young Artist for 2022. But we thought, at least, that we knew what the winner would be playing - Beethoven’s 1^st Piano Concerto.

But even that wasn’t accurate. As it turned out, the only thing that remained constant in the program was the last piece of the evening, Brahms Symphony No. 2.

With all of these unknowns, who would have predicted that Saturday’s concert was probably the most stimulating concert of the entire LSO season?