March 14 João Junqueira @ Broomfield Auditorium

The CU in Broomfield World Music series continues this Wednesday, March 14 with João Junqueira and the CU Brazilian Ensemble. The show starts at 7:00 at the Broomfield Auditorium.

Guitarist, performer, composer, arranger, and CU lecturer, João Junqueira, brings his unique style of improvisational music-weaving guitar, voice, and percussive sounds influenced by Brazilian, Jazz, and World Music. Join him and the CU Brazilian Ensemble for an evening that transcends the boundaries between beings, spirits, and cultures.

March 8 is International Women's Day

Although art that is purely agenda-driven doesn't usually do it for me, I believe that the arts do have tremendous power to impact society at large. I like to think that sometimes just hearing diverse voices telling diverse stories will help us all see things in new ways, which may in turn help us see each other in new ways, which may someday lead to global, everlasting peace. I appreciated Forest Whitaker's Oscar acceptance speech, and think his sentiment can be applied to any creative effort:

Because when I first started acting, it was because of my desire to connect to everyone. To that thing inside each of us. That light that I believe exists in all of us. Because acting for me is about believing in that connection and it's a connection so strong, it's a connection so deep, that we feel it. And through our combined belief, we can create a new reality.

Hey, a chicksinger can dream, can't she?

So today, in honor of International Women's Day, I'm going to blog against sexism and highlight some women's artistic ventures in the Denver and Boulder area. And also, because the personal is political, I just might be engaging in some self-promotion with this post.

If you -- that is, if there is a "you" out there reading this -- know of something I overlooked that you think should be included in this list, please leave a comment for me. Thanks.

Vox Feminista is a "multi-media, multi-passionate performance tribe of womyn" that is presenting an event this Saturday, March 10. From their website:

VOX RISING! proudly presents their first show "Closet Traumas" Saturday, March 10 @ Nomad Theater1410 Quince Ave, North Boulder at 8:00 pm --- $5-$500 sliding scale --- no one turned away
VOX RISING! is a safe-space theater for passionate youth to speak out on political issues. Through music, spoken-word, and group skits, young people will create dialogue on issues meaningful to them and their future. "Closet Traumas" is more than young people deciding what to wear. It is an exploration into the many dilemmas youth face in their possible futures.

Marin Alsop, Conductor Laureate of the Colorado Symphony Orchestra, founded the Taki Concordia Conducting Fellowship to "foster and encourage women who are studying or training to be orchestral conductors in orchestras or ensembles.” Rei Hotoda, the 2006 fellowship recipient, will be appearing with the CSO and Maestra Alsop in concerts March 9-11.

The Denver Women's Chorus is a lesbian community choir that will be presenting a joint concert with the Denver Gay Men's Chorus on April 13 entitled "A Night of Dark Music" at St. John's Cathedral.

The chorale Safonia is a "women's ensemble dedicated to the synergy of music, passion and excellence." They have concerts coming up April 14 & 15 in Denver based on the theme "The Poet Sings," featuring many works by women composers.

The ASTER Women's Chamber Choir is also presenting a spring concert entitled "The Poet Sings" (April is National Poetry Month) on April 14 & 21 in Broomfield and Boulder. Donations accepted, but tickets are free.

The Denver Center for the Performing Arts has created the Women’s Voices Fund, an endowment fund "designed to foster the work of women playwrights in the American theatre." There don't seem to be any upcoming events scheduled in the immediate future, but keep your eye on the website for premieres and receptions.

March 11 Kids for Bach concert @ BPL

From the Boulder Bach Fest website:

Sunday, March 11, 2007 — 2:00 & 4:00 PM
Kids for Bach — A Concert for Children, by Children
Boulder Public Library
FREE!

“Kids for Bach” gives students of all ages an opportunity to perform in an excellent small concert hall, the auditorium at the Boulder Public Library. The two concerts, free and open to the public, take place Sunday, March 11, 2007 at 2:00 and 4:00 pm at the Boulder Public Library Auditorium, 1000 Canyon Boulevard. Student performers are selected from taped auditions submitted in January.
Each program includes a mix of ages from 6-18 years old, with some 30 soloists and small ensembles performing on a variety of instruments, such as piano, violin, cello, guitar, voice and recorders. Children’s choirs and string groups often appear as well. All the pieces performed are works of J.S. Bach or one of his sons, most in the range of 2-4 minutes. The student participants are residents of Boulder County.

Feb. 26 Jazz concert @ DU

Monday night events aren't all that common, but Feb. 26 brings us this jazz concert from University of Denver:

JAZZ Night. Lamont Ensemble Concert Series.
Monday, February 26, 2007
7:30 p.m. - 9 p.m.
Contact: Victoria Brandys

Featuring three large jazz ensembles: University Jazz Ensemble, Jeff Uban, director; Lamont Jazz Ensemble, Alan Hood, director; Lamont Jazz Orchestra, Malcolm Lynn Baker, director. Gates Concert Hall, Newman Center for the Performing Arts, 2344 E. Iliff Ave., Denver. Free admission. Lamont concert Line (303) 871 6412. Free parking at the Newman Center parking garage.

Feb. 25 The Sweet Life/Brazilian Jazz @ BPL

From the Boulder Public Library website:

Sunday, February 25
Time: 3 p.m.
MEADOWS CONCERT
The Sweet Life/Brazilian Jazz Band

Jazz singer Molly Greacen, who currently lives in Boulder, brings her own bittersweet and sensual individuality to spicy, enticing Brazilian jazz when the Sweet Life/Brazilian Jazz Band performs.

For adults and older children.
Reservations required: call Meadows Branch Library at 303-441-4390 to sign up.

Location: Meadows Branch Library, 4800 Baseline Rd. (behind Safeway)
Phone: Meadows Branch Library at 303-441-4390
Meadows e-mail: klopfd@boulder.lib.co.us
Molly Greacen e-mail: m.greacen@worldnet.att.net
Molly Greacen Web site: http://www.mollygreacen.com/

Cost: Free

Feb. 25 Charles Eakin concert @ CU Boulder

CU Boulder Music Faculty Series

Sunday, February 25, 4:30 p.m.

The Music of Charles Eakin – 80th Birthday Celebration

Every 5 years friends gather to celebrate Professor Emeritus of Composition Charles Eakin’s legacy by performing his music. The first half of this year’s event features Eakin’s Unaccompanied Violin Sonata performed by Professor Oswald Lehnert and his String Quartet No. 4 performed by the Veronika Quartet. The second half of the program features selected jazz compositions by Professor Eakin. Please join Professor Eakin, faculty and other friends for this special musical celebration!

Faculty Series recitals showcase CU-Boulder College of Music faculty performances. Faculty Series recitals are held in Grusin Music Hall in the Imig Music Building. Recitals are free and open to the public.

Feb. 25 Chamber ensembles @ DU

From the DU website:

String and Wind Chamber Ensembles.
Lamont Ensemble Concert Series
Sunday, February 25, 2007
7:30 p.m. - 9 p.m.
Contact: Victoria Brandys


Lamont String and Wind Chamber Ensembles. Richard Slavich and Joseph Martin, directors. Lamont Ensemble Concert Series. Free admission. Hamilton Recital Hall, Newman Center for the Performing Arts, 2344 E. Iliff Ave., Denver. Lamont Concert Line (303) 871 6412

Feb. 25 String Quartet family concert @ BPL

From the Boulder Public Library website:

Sunday, February 25, 4 p.m.
The Boulder Philharmonic String Quartet Family Concert

Children, grandchildren (and grownups) can learn about music and the instruments of the Boulder Philharmonic Orchestra’s string section in this free Boulder Philharmonic Family Concert.

The showcase, a part of the orchestra’s ongoing youth and education outreach, is designed to appeal especially to children.

Visit the Boulder Philharmonic Web site.

Feb. 18 Colo. Singer Songwriters @ Boulder Library

From the Boulder Public Library website:

Sunday, February 18, 4 p.m.

Colorado Singer Songwriters
Rebecca Folsom, Danny Shafer, Dan Sheridan, Ray Smith & Cari Minor

With this program, the Library Concert Series kicks off its first Local Colorado Musicians Songwriters on the Round program. Featured songwriters are Dan Sheridan (Aspen), Danny Shafer, Rebecca Folsom, Cari Minor (all from Boulder) and Ray Smith (Rollinsville).

The kick-off of the program inaugurates a special “local Colorado” CD music section at the Boulder Public Library, which has been built up with significant donations from Albums on the Hill, 1128 13th Street, and Bart’s CD Cellar, 1015 Pearl Street.

Feb. 18 Paul Erhard/Atmic Vision @ CU Boulder

CU Boulder Music Faculty Series

Sunday, February 18, 4:30 p.m.
Paul Erhard, double bass with Atmic Vision

The acclaimed Indian music trio Atmic Vision returns by popular demand for a concert as part of a two-week Indian music residency in the College of Music. CU professor of double bass, Dr. Paul Erhard, Bansuri master Annada Prasanna Pattanaik, and tabla drum wizard Muthu Kumar (both from Bangalore, India) invite you to enjoy their exciting and heartfelt musical blending of East and West. In the words of a 20-year member of Metropolitan Opera Chorus in New York City, “each musician of Atmic Vision is stunning in his virtuosity. This is only the beginning of an even more profound capacity to touch audience members with a pureness of joy I no longer thought was possible.”

Faculty Series recitals showcase CU-Boulder College of Music faculty performances. Faculty Series recitals are held in Grusin Music Hall in the Imig Music Building. Recitals are free and open to the public.

Feb. 14 Paul Erhard/Atmic Vision @ Broomfield

The CU in Broomfield World Music Series continues on Wednesday, Feb. 14 with a concert featuring a fusion of Indian classical music.

February 14: Paul Erhard and ATMIC Vision present “Across the Seas”

Paul Erhard, Associate Professor of Double Bass at CU-Boulder, performs internationally as a soloist and is one of the world’s only double bass soloists exploring the use of the bowed double bass in Indian Classical music. Join him and his double bass-flute-tabla group, ATMIC VISION, for an exotic musical journey across the seas.

Feb. 13 Rachmaninoff recital @ CU Boulder

CU Boulder Music Faculty Series
Tuesday, February 13, 7:30 p.m.

Big Hands to Fill: The Music of Rachmaninoff
Margaret McDonald, piano and Friends

Get yourself into a romantic mood just in time for Valentine’s Day. Margaret McDonald will be joined by CU faculty members Judith Glyde, Margaret Lattimore, and Christopher Zemliauskas for an evening of works by Rachmaninoff. The program will include his famous Vocalise, Suite No. 2 for Two Pianos, and Sonata Op. 19 for Cello and Piano.

Visit the CU Boulder Music Faculty Series webpage for details on location, free admission, etc.

Feb. 6 Patrick Mason recital @ CU Boulder

Tuesday, February 6, 7:30 p.m.

Crossing the Pond
Patrick Mason, baritone

When Associate Professor of Voice Patrick Mason was nominated for a Grammy this December, the honor came as no surprise to his many Colorado fans. In the past he has been a soloist with the Waverly Consort, the Boston Camarata and Schola Antiqua. As a recitalist he has appeared in London’s Wigmore Hall, the Cairo Opera House, at festivals in Luxembourg, Holland and throughout the United States. Crossing the Pond features British and American songs by Roger Quilter, Noel Coward, John Harbison and John Musto. Pianists Mutsumi Moteki, Robert Spillman, Margaret McDonald and Charles Koslowske will also be featured on the program. Please join us in cheering Patrick Mason on before the Grammy Award ceremony!

Visit the CU Boulder Music Faculty Series webpage for details on location, free admission, etc.

Jan. 31 Highlife African Ensemble @ CU Boulder

There is a concert tonight, Jan. 31, at 7:30 p.m. as part of CU Boulder's Pendulum: New Music series. There's not much detail on the website, but it does look interesting. Will it be a fusion of African percussion with Western classical traditions? Can't really tell what can be expected, which I guess would be part of the fun.

Wednesday, January 31
CU musicians, & audience participation project with African Ensemble

All concerts are Wednesdays at 7:30 p.m. at Grusin Music Hall, Imig Music Building unless otherwise noted. Admission is free and a reception follows every performance. For more concert information, call the College of Music Box Office at 303-492-8008.

Jan. 31 Jazz Ensemble Concert @ DU

JAZZ Night. Lamont Ensemble Concert Series

Date: Wednesday, January 31, 2007

Time: 7:30 p.m. - 9 p.m.

Contact:
Victoria Brandys
Complete Description
Featuring three large jazz ensembles: University Jazz Ensemble, Jeff Uban, director; Lamont Jazz Ensemble, Alan Hood, director; Lamont Jazz Orchestra, Malcolm Lynn Baker, director. Gates Concert Hall, Newman Center for the Performing Arts, 2344 E. Iliff Ave., Denver. Free admission. Lamont concert Line (303) 871 6412. Free parking at the Newman Center parking garage

Jan. 23 Concert: Mostly Douglas @ CU Boulder

Tuesday, January 23, 7:30 p.m.
Mostly Douglas: A Musical Feast
Clarinetist Daniel Silver joins Boulder’s own pianist/composer/master-musician Bill Douglas, with colleagues Yoshiyuki Ishikawa, bassoon, and Christina Jennings, flute. Bill Douglas has continued to enrich the chamber music literature with works for winds and piano, lending his distinctive jazz and world music influenced voice to the genre. Some of his signature tunes (Feast and Begin Sweet World) are mixed in with some Schumann, Mozart and Debussy.

Faculty Series recitals showcase CU-Boulder College of Music faculty performances. Faculty Series recitals are held at 7:30 p.m. on most Tuesdays and at 4 p.m. on selected Sundays in Grusin Music Hall in the Imig Music Building. Recitals are free and open to the public.

recap of Jan. 10 Broomfield: Early New Mexican Folk Songs

I attended my first free event of 2007 on Wednesday the 10th (no, I didn't make it to 365 Days/365 Plays last week as I'd planned), the first concert in the CU in Broomfield series: Early New Mexican Folk Songs presented by Brenda M. Romero. As the Chair of Musicology at CU and a native of New Mexico, Dr. Romero was able to introduce each song with some historical background and comments on the style of the music.

Despite how relatively close I live to the Broomfield Auditorium, I arrived late. My drive home from work had taken 95 minutes -- mind you, in clear, dry, accident-free conditions -- bringing my grand total for time spent in my car that day to 2 hours 45 minutes. I walked into the house ready to break something or someone; even the good radio stations sound old after that much time spent in traffic. With only minutes to go before the concert was to begin, I decided I wasn't going to let the The Man keep me down, so I quickly ate a PB&J and jumped back in my car.

I could hear an a cappella solo as I entered the auditorium, Dr. Romero's first number, "Bandita sea Diós!" She was gradually joined on stage over the course of the next couple of songs by guitarist Steve Mullins, cellist Carmen Olguín-Taylor, and violinist Alejandro Gómez-Guíllen, each of whom were given the spotlight to perform a solo at different points in the concert.

The first half of the program focused on Spanish songs that had been handed down over the centuries in New Mexico. Dr. Romero described the performance of folk songs in isolated villages essentially as a "private tradition" up until the mid-20th century, in some cases resulting in the preservation of ancient Iberian lyrics and musical forms. This fact was borne out over the weekend when I was watching a PBS program on Alan Lomax in which an old Spanish woman was filmed trying to remember all the words to "Gerineldo," a ballad that Romero also performed.

The PBS connection worked backward in time as well during Romero's comments in the second half regarding inditas. Translated as a diminutive of "Indian woman," indita is now also a term applied to a song form that developed in New Mexico around the same time as the corrido, about which I had just happened to watch a different PBS program the previous weekend. The indita is considered to be more feminine and less agressive, but still concerned mainly with serious subjects and arising out of a troubadour tradition.

Romero apologized early in the concert for her energy level, explaining that she had just returned from research in Colombia the day before and the quartet had really only that day to rehearse. They did seem to have their heads deep in their sheet music for most of the concert, which Romero attributed to their classical approach and which was most notable by its absence in moments when they relied more on eye contact to stay together, such as when providing hand clap percussion during Mullins's muscular flamenco solo. Romero's singing voice is a folk voice, well-suited to the repertoire and on best display when the ensemble worked together more as a folk group. In fact, my favorite part of the 90-minute concert occurred after I thought the whole thing was already over. After performing the final number printed in the program, the ensemble took their bows and left the stage as the audience of about 100+ applauded. I was pulling my gloves on in the lobby when I heard more applause and the beginning of the encores. And this is where the folk sensibility took over, as these were numbers they apparently hadn't had a chance to rehearse yet. Having to rely more on eye contact and a sense of exploring the music together, the players were able to relax and actually started to swing (if that's possible with folk music). I didn't catch the titles of the songs, but in the last one I thought I caught a refrain of "suspirando por tu amor." Now I don't speak Spanish, having done the practical thing as a girl growing up 1980s Los Angeles by studying French for four years, but that seems to be a damn romantic thing to say to someone.

All in all, the best 90 minutes I spent that day.

Jan. 10 World Music Series in Broomfield

This is up near my neck of the woods, in an area I consider to be pretty... how do I put this... white. Very, very white overall. So it's nice to have the opportunity to hear some world/folk music so close to home. This month's free concert is at 7:00 on Wednesday, Jan. 10.

January 10: Brenda Romero and Friends, “New Mexican Folk Music”Join Brenda M. Romero, Associate Professor of Ethnomusicology and Chair of Musicology at CU-Boulder, and guests for an evening of pantomimed Matachines music and dance, and other New Mexican folk music genres that reflect Spanish and Indian origins including the older folk music of New Mexico and southern Colorado.

For more information and directions, call the ARTSLINE at 303-469-3301 x7999 or visit: http://www.broomfieldauditorium.com/

One more in the name of love

A heads-up for next week:

Martin Luther King Concert Thu Jan 11 · 7:00 p.m.

Honoring the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and his achievements, the Colorado Symphony Orchestra - in collaboration with the Martin Luther King Holiday Commission and the MLK Humanitarian Awards Committee - presents the Humanitarian Awards Presentation and Concert at Boettcher Concert Hall. The annual event - recognized as one of the area's leading cultural commemorations surrounding Martin Luther King, Jr. Day - is free to the public and will feature The Spirituals Project Choir, the Greater Metropolitan Denver Ministerial Alliance and Summit Choir of the Rocky Mountain Children's Chior.

For tickets call (303) MAESTRO (303) 623-7876.
http://coloradosymphony.org/default.asp