A view of Allen’s ‘Town.’

As a part of the 3CarPileUp exhibition, local film and video artist Perry Allen (a periodic contributor to DPJ) will premiere his new animated work, “Town of Product.”  In 2012, Allen was awarded an Artist Project Grant Distinguished Merit Award (that’s a serious mouthful!) from the Arizona Commission on the Arts to create this piece, which premieres tonight.

“Town of Product” is an animated installation using still image advertising from the 80s to create 24 hours of life in a suburban town, complete with people that move down streets, peek in windows, and shop; breezes that ruffle trees, in world that interacts. Perry Allen digitally animated the project to reflect this 24-hour cycle then sped it up to screen in 24 minutes.

“There was kind of an interesting documentary element to the project,” said Allen. “I put out a call to my network of friends and contacts looking for examples of print advertising and people started sending me all these magazines from the 80s. I didn’t start with a focus on that time period, that’s just what happened.” The ads that Allen used came from the leading mainstream, pop culture magazines of the time – such as Vanity Fair, Rolling Stone, Vogue and Cosmopolitan, to name a few.

Every element of the town comes from the ads Allen discovered in the magazines: houses, trees, people, cars, and buildings. “There’s no storyline,” says Allen. “It’s more of a meditation on time and place, on our consumer culture and suburban lifestyle as it looked thirty years ago.”

To make it even more interesting, Allen was inspired by a conversation with Kimber Lanning to project the video onto the windows of Modified instead of an interior wall. In this way, the installation will be visible from both inside the gallery and to the people passing by on Roosevelt Street. Should be pretty cool!

The exhibition runs through June 7.

If You Go

Where: Modified Arts, 407 E. Roosevelt

When: Friday, May 16 through Friday, June 7

For more info: 602-462-5516 or Facebook

2012 Intel Fair winners

If you’re feeling the Thursday mental fatigue that comes near the end of the work week, give your tired synapses a pick-me-up at the world’s largest international pre-college science competition, and take a look at cutting-edge student research.

The Intel^® International Science and Engineering Fair^® (Intel ISEF) is a program of Society for Science & the Public, wrapping up this year’s event at the Phoenix Convention Center through Friday. Celebrate the joys of science at Thursday’s Public Outreach Day with hands-on interactive exhibits, and meet talented young finalists creating groundbreaking research in chemistry, computer science, engineering, and other disciplines.

Approximately 1,600 high school scientists competed from around the world, coming from 433 affiliate fairs and resulting in over 400 award-winning finalists and 17 “Best of Category” winners in fields including animal and plant sciences, cellular and molecular biology, behavioral and social sciences, medicine and health, bioengineering, and physics and astronomy.

The Special Awards Ceremony takes place Thursday evening, while the Grand Awards Ceremony starts Friday at 9AM. It’s intriguing to speculate on the prize-winning topics of research — finalists are competing for more than $4 million in awards.

Last year’s first-place winner was 15-year-old Jack Andraka of Maryland, who created a simple dip-stick sensor to test for pancreatic cancer. Astonishingly, Andraka’s study resulted in greater than 90% accuracy, and showed his sensor to be 28 times faster, far less expensive, and more than 100 times more sensitive than current tests.

Winners of Young Scientist Awards in 2012 included 17-year-old Canadian Nicholas Schiefer, who studies “microsearch,” developing ways to search tweets and Facebook status updates by improving the capabilities of search engines. Another winner, 18-year-old Ari Dyckovsky of Virginia, investigated the science of quantum teleportation, “entangling” atoms to transfer information.

Curious? Learn more about past projects through the abstract search, or stop by the Fair and see for yourself — you might find research exploring new drugs made from spiderweb silk, or discover an internal combustion engine with only four moving parts…or you just might meet the next great scientific mind in a teenager.

17-year-old Angela Wang of Latham, NY demonstrates her auditory brain-computer interface

If you go:

• The Intel^® International Science and Engineering Fair^® (Intel ISEF): at the Phoenix Convention Center through Friday, May 17.
• Society for Science & the Public is a non-profit organization promoting the understanding and appreciation of science.
• The Intel ISEF Public Outreach Day features hands-on interactive exhibits and the opportunity to meet top young scientists.
• Check out highlights from last year’s Fair on YouTube.

Years ago, it used to be that once May rolled around, all of the art spaces in downtown Phoenix that didn’t have functioning A/C or swamp coolers would shut down for the summertime and stay closed until re-emerging in October. Now, considering the vast amounts of Facebook event invitations I’ve been getting, this tactic is no longer the case. Either art spaces have suddenly come across a windfall of cash or people in town are more willing to brave sweating together in a small room for the sake of seeing art.

While venues like Lawn Gnome, The Trunk Space, Frontal Lobe and Crescent Ballroom seem to have plans scheduled deep into the beast that is high summer in Phoenix, I see this time of year as having an additional advantage.

All good work needs time and focus to develop. With a self-imposed sun and heat quarantine, the summertime in Phoenix is the perfect time to think, read, write, develop, plan and scheme all of the ideas there was no time to focus on while friends were luring you out the door for beers on a patio or a hike in the mountains. The winter weather here can be blissful but is really not conducive to hours of concentration. I find myself staring longingly out the window and cursing our American workaholic existence.

When staring out the window means being blinded by a high noon reflection of the sun or witnessing a sweaty individual finding a sliver of shade to wait for the bus, the prospect of hiding indoors seems much more inviting. Living in such a unique environment, we must take advantage of the odd variances of this place.

Maybe living in a cave for five months isn’t so bad?

Starting right now, you have five months to work on your grand plan. Instead of going stir crazy and disgusted with the sight of four walls, an entirely new project could be born. Most of the time, people don’t discover the benefits of focus and development. It can be ugly. Starting off is always a struggle of the conscious as it battles to defeat the beginnings of any idea. But this time, with fewer distractions, instead of saying no to the idea, you can say yes.

Philosopher Hannah Arendt wrote that philosophy is useless in the practical world without action that could take the form of writing or spoken words. Simply by stepping forth with the ideas in your head and putting them in to reality, we change the make-up of our world and begin participating in life.

So, although you might be sitting in your dark cave space, blinds closed, fan on, a/c set at 82 degrees so you don’t break the bank, and limiting contact with the “outside” world, you may ultimately be taking a greater part in it.

Once September or October approaches, emerge from your cool dark place and share your results with the city. If all works out, we should see some pretty amazing and weird work and maybe even some projects that expand on the conceptual groundwork that was created the previous year. Summer is the time to hibernate, develop and grow. Take this time to walk around in your underwear and see what’s possible.

Frontal Lobe, Go Joe show, May 24

Lawn Gnome Publishing, Sole: No Wising Up, No Settling Down Tour, June 18,

The Trunk Space, event calendar for June

Crescent Ballroom: Sea Wolf, June 17, Melvins, July 12

Name: Jet Dispo

Occupation: Server at Federal Pizza

His neighborhood: Coronado

Favorite thing about Downtown Phoenix: You don’t have the hustle and bustle of a big city or the weird, closed in vibe of a small town. It’s the best of both worlds.

Favorite places to hang out in Downtown: Windsor, Lost Leaf and Lux.

Favorite places to shop Downtown: Retro Ranch and Grow Op.

How do you get involved? I volunteer with Devour.

What’s your typical biking ensemble: I’m typically wearing my work clothes or what I’m going out in for the night. If I am going for a ride to ride then I’ll just wear shorts and a t-shirt.

Where do you get your style inspiration? I piece outfits together from things I find and get ideas from what I see people wearing.

Biking Essentials:

• Tora Randonneurs tires
• Brooks Saddle
• A good lock

What he’s wearing:

• Shirt – Coto
• Hat – Brookstone
• Levi Khakis
• Shoes – Sperry high top siders

“Serenade,” choreography George Balanchine ©The George Balanchine Trust. Photo ©Rosalie O’Connor.

The authenticity and accuracy of Ballet Arizona’s All Balanchine program this weekend relies on the invaluable knowledge of Artistic Director Ib Andersen, himself a Balanchine protégé for whom the great choreographer created major roles in Ballade, Robert Schumann’s ‘Davidsbündlertänze,’ and Mozartiana. With a distinguished background in the Royal Danish Ballet and the New York City Ballet, Andersen now serves as one of only a few répétiteurs authorized to stage George Balanchine’s works.

Natalia Magnicaballi in “Serenade,” choreography George Balanchine ©The George Balanchine Trust. Photo ©Rosalie O’Connor.

The program includes Serenade, set to music by Peter Tchaikovsky and the first work Balanchine choreographed for American dancers. The Balanchine Trust describes it as “a ballet of patterns that…explores academic ballet technique…the choreography, as the music, has overtones of love, loss, yearning.” Serenade’s glorious lighting, long translucent skirts, and stark staging are quite literally breathtaking when the curtain rises.

Ballet Arizona dancer Natalia Magnicaballi explains that Serenade’s unusual combination of classicism and drama began as exercises. “Balanchine started choreographing in class…and this girl came late, and he put that in the choreography.” The role continues with a waltz and later an elegy, where a relatively small movement provides striking visual contrast: the dancer unpins her hair.

Canova’s “Cupid and Psyche”

Magnicaballi demonstrates another position from a section of the elegy known as “Dark Angel,” sweeping her arms behind her head and extending them like outstretched wings. The pose was inspired by Antonio Canova’s 18^th-century sculpture of Cupid and Psyche, according to Balanchine expert Suzanne Farrell, for whom Magnicaballi has danced since 1999.

“It’s very interesting for me,” says Magnicaballi, “because [Farrell and Andersen] both worked for Balanchine [in the 1980s], so I have the female…and the male…so it makes sense how they ask for things.” She pauses thoughtfully. “They’re very different in personality, but I think that they complement each other.”

Magnicaballi joined Ballet Arizona in 2002 after working with the Italian company Aterballetto and Julio Bocca’s Ballet Argentino in her home country. She’s particularly beloved by Arizona audiences from lead roles in La Sonnambula (The Sleepwalker), Coppélia, and Swan Lake as well as Ib Andersen’s creations.

The dancer tore her anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in January 2011 — “it totally went tukk,” she describes, accompanying the sound with a twisting, tearing motion. She spent nearly a year recovering and retraining herself. “You have to teach yourself…how to walk again,” she continues. “But I always say things happen for a reason, because I came back stronger. I’m training different — I go to the gym, I lift weights, I do cross-training. It helped like a thousand percent.”

Magnicaballi’s recovery means a return to her signature roles. “I’m so happy to be dancing Movements again,” she exclaims. “It’s my favorite, favorite, favorite.” She’s referring to Movements for Piano and Orchestra, which is paired with Monumentum pro Gesualdo. Igor Stravinsky composed Movements and orchestrated Don Carlo Gesualdo’s madrigals for Monumentum, and pianist William Wolfram provides live music with conductor Timothy Russell and The Phoenix Symphony.

“I had the privilege to work with Suzanne [Farrell] on that,” continues Magnicaballi. “It was created for Diana Adams, and [she] found out that she was pregnant, so she had to rest and stay in bed. So Diana taught Suzanne the ballet in her living room…and she passed it to me, one-on-one…” She nods emphatically. “It’s very special for her, that ballet, and it is for me…I feel like home when I do it.”

“The Four Temperaments,” choreography George Balanchine.

She describes Movements as “super-precise…you are constantly moving, and it has to have a certain connection in the way you partner, too. It’s very interesting how the tempo also changes.” Keeping track of the beats in Stravinsky’s music can also be challenging because of meter changes. “When the ballet’s very precise it makes so much sense…it’s like seeing music through the movement,” she says.

Magnicaballi’s perspective on Monumentum was influenced by the composer’s history. In 1590 Gesualdo arranged for the murder of his wife and her lover. “I know that,” says the dancer, “because Suzanne actually came with the story and said, ‘Can you believe this music is so beautiful, and so serene and calm?’”

She continues, “So all those ingredients make you think about how you want to feel and portray the ballet.” Magnicaballi explains that Balanchine’s choreography encourages a natural progression of movement from one balance point to the next. “It’s very rich,” she says, “and the language is very interesting.”

“The Four Temperaments,” choreography George Balanchine ©The George Balanchine Trust. Photo ©Rosalie O’Connor.

The final work on the All Balanchine program, The Four Temperaments, offers a refreshing contrast. Paul Hindemith was commissioned to write the music by Balanchine in 1940, and it features a theme and variations named after the four personality characteristics of medieval cosmology: melancholic, sanguinic, phlegmatic, and choleric.

“I think what I like about Balanchine is…every single ballet is like you’re stepping into a completely different world,” says Magnicaballi. “We’re doing three different ballets, and I feel like a totally different person in each of them.” She smiles. “It’s so great to have that in a program as a dancer — it’s very fulfilling.”

After Ballet Arizona’s All-Balanchine performances end on May 5, the company moves to an outdoor stage at Desert Botanical Garden for three weeks of Topia, a work choreographed by Andersen using Beethoven’s “Pastoral” Symphony No. 6.

“Topia,” choreography Ib Andersen. Photo ©Rosalie O’Connor.

If you go:

• Ballet Arizona — All Balanchine
  through May 5
  Symphony Hall

• Ballet Arizona — Topia
  May 14 – June 1
  Desert Botanical Garden

***********************************************

Read on for a Q&A with these Historic Heritage Square neighbors Chris Bianco, of Pizzeria Bianco, and Nobuo Fukuda, of Nobuo at Teeter House, originally published in the Aug/Sept 2011 edition of DPJ Magazine.

This Sunday, they will be joined by Chef Christopher Gross in Eight’s Check, Please! Arizona Festival’s James Beard Award winners panel moderated by “Check, Please! Arizona” host Robert McGrath. (See festival details here.)

Chris Bianco

James Beard Award Winner Chris Bianco is known the world over for his creations. Pizzeria Bianco is critically, and tastefully, the country’s best pizza. And, he’s been a part of Phoenix for some time now, growing and changing in concert with his environment. Bianco is passionate about food, Downtown and the building that houses his baby, Pizzeria Bianco, and he’s flexible and ready for what the future may hold.

DPJ: When you decided on this building for Pizzeria Bianco, was it because of the demographic of the area?

CB: It wasn’t as much the demographic as the uniqueness. The synergy. The juxtaposition of something of this genre of the late 1920s, utilitarian machine shop that we could build and use with an intention that was uncompromising of the space. It wasn’t me coming and spray painting it black. This was something that demands to be celebrated. It was about bringing something back in a way but not necessarily denying the history of the journey itself.

DPJ: Were you nervous about the decision to plant yourself in Downtown Phoenix, when at the time, it wasn’t nearly as alive as it is now?

CB: Not really. I always use the analysis of four friends. Ask four friends if they would and you kind of build your demographic around that. It’s maybe a small study. You can’t essentially serve the world. If you can serve a part of it and serve them well with clear intention and the opportunity to build a relationship. I have a relationship with my clientele. I have a relationship with this building. I have a relationship with my staff. I have a relationship with my farmers and artisans. It’s very relationship built. These spaces represent something really specific in the human experience.

DPJ: What does it mean for you to be housed in a historic building?

CB: These buildings are really special, so I love being in here. I love the experience. We had to be as good as the space, essentially. You want it to be a place where…all the stars align. For us, it’s been a wonderful journey but a journey that’s ongoing. There’s an accountability. We’re continuing to remodel, internally and in some ways externally, we’re continuing to be relevant.

DPJ: What brought you Downtown?

CB: I wasn’t really driven to Downtown, as much as I was driven to the opportunity to help, and be maybe a raindrop and not the flood, you know what I’m saying? You don’t open up lofts, or grocery stores and then build lofts. You build lofts and you let people live there and it dictates a need for a barber shop, a flower shop or a grocery. Part of what we were trying to do was this size. What I was trying to achieve, was not feed 3,000 people a day.

DPJ: What do you think of how Phoenix has evolved over the years?

CB: It’s evolved nicely. We try to support…Nobuo actually having a chef of his caliber is unbelievable, but also Matt’s Big Breakfast. There’s a lot of things Downtown from a culinary point, and just as a point as a city, we’re getting there. When we say we’re not there yet, it shouldn’t be a negative. It should be a positive. Look at the opportunity. There’s a wonderful opportunity. We’ve continued to be a part of the growth itself.

Nobuo Fukuda

Nobuo Fukuda may be the new kid in town, but he’s not new to the Valley’s culinary scene. He is a James Beard Award winner and is ever evolving, still tinkering with presentation and preparation, on a micro scale (in his kitchen) to a global scale (following the nuclear disaster in Japan).

DPJ: How is your Phoenix location different from Sea Saw in Scottsdale?

NF: The energy level is totally different. The place in Scottsdale, the dining room is our kitchen. We have a grill and we make everything on counters. When you’re in the restaurant we have a U-shaped counter. Anybody can sit down and watch me cook. [It’s a] totally different kind of atmosphere. Here we started out a little more casual, street-type food. Small bites. Here, it’s more of a casual, sit-down dining.

DPJ: Has the downtown area accepted your casual dining idea?  Do you have regulars?

NF: We do have a few regulars who are coming here or have business here. And they’ll keep coming back for us, which is very, very nice. As more people start to live in downtown, a lot of people [including] my employees, have moved downtown. We have a very good feel for the future in Downtown Phoenix. Nice energy.

DPJ: Have you run into any challenges at Teeter House?

NF: We’re still trying to adjust the kitchen size. It’s challenging. And when it’s crazy busy, we don’t have enough space. It’s a small space to work with. We’re going to see what we can do, so we’re still working every moment. Our food is not going to be different but the style of how we serve, we still like a tasting, paired wines, but we have to be careful how we do it.

DPJ: How have you had to adjust?

NF: My vision will be a lot of organic, local, and high-end Japanese fish. It’s very difficult for me to get Japanese fish right now because of the nuclear disaster. Eventually we’ll be able to do it again, [with] interesting Japanese fish and an interesting local vegetable. It’s a mix of different ingredients, one way with the casual style and the other will be more high end. We do get Japanese fish from southern Japan, which is not affected by the radiation. It’s not easy, but still those fish are available. The northern Japanese fish is not available. We do a lot of local vegetable and we use a fish as an accent. But main character is a garden vegetable. That’s what I’ve been doing for a little bit.

DPJ: What do you think about your new space?

NF: The building, compared to other restaurants in Scottsdale, they’re just buildings, minimum designs. Just buildings. We were going to move across the street, but there was a brand new designer building, but that was not my intention. I feel very moved to the old buildings because they have history and give us more ambiance and warmness. It makes me more special.

Lisa Nicita and Justin Lee contributed to this article.

Photography by Jack London.

#Water Writes, a global public arts initiative spearheaded by the Estria Foundation, has enlisted community artists to paint the tenth of 12 water-themed murals on the south- facing wall of Valley Youth Theatre, located on the corner of Fillmore and First Street in Downtown Phoenix.

Each of the locations selected for #WaterWrites murals—California, Honolulu, Palestine, Philippines, El Salvador, Colombia, South Africa, British Columbia and Phoenix— are facing critical water issues. The Downtown Phoenix mural, “Water Is Life,” will incorporate imagery designed to inspire and educate—on the way in which water is delivered into Phoenix, the impacts of wasteful water policies, and sustainable energy alternatives.

Local community organizations, Black Mesa Water Coalition, Tonatierra, PUENTE, and the Phoenix Revitalization Corporation have worked together with a team of community artists, including Jeff Slim, Angel Diaz, and Averian Chee to create the mural image. Painting will begin on Sunday, April 28 at 2 p.m. and the finished wall will be unveiled during First Friday on May 3 at 4 p.m.

“To get a mural of this caliber, with such a great story, is a big win for Downtown,” said Downtown Phoenix Partnership Vice President Terry Madeksza. “To have community artists using Valley Youth Theatre as their canvas makes the effort all the more special.”

Everyone is invited to attend the mural’s kickoff “paint party” on site at Valley Youth Theatre at 2 p.m. on Sunday, April 28. The paint party will feature complimentary food and refreshments by Squash Blossom, live music, and an opportunity for attendees to paint a portion of the wall.

To help support, or get more information on the #WaterWrites Mural series visit www.estria.org or visit http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nAeYOrZbJtA to watch videos of the completed mural projects.

About The Downtown Phoenix Partnership
The Downtown Phoenix Partnership is a nonprofit organization made up of property owners located in Arizona’s Urban Heart, between Fillmore to south of Jackson Streets and Third Avenue to Seventh Street. The Partnership provides enhanced municipal services within this area including the management and marketing of Downtown Phoenix. For more information, visit DowntownPhoenix.com. The Partnership can be reached at (602) 254-8696.

About Black Mesa Water Coalition
Black Mesa Water Coalition is dedicated to preserving and protecting Mother Earth and the integrity of Indigenous Peoples’ cultures, with the vision of building sustainable and healthy communities. BMWC strives to empower young people while building sustainable communities. www.blackmesawatercoalition.org

About The Estria Foundation
Founded in 2010 by graffiti legend Estria Miyashiro, the Estria Foundation creates art in public spaces locally and globally with artists, educators, and activists in an effort to raise awareness and inspire action in the movement to resolve human and environmental issues. For more information visit www.estria.org

The most popular locally produced TV show on Eight, Arizona PBS is taking its show on the road, and bringing dozens of restaurants and James Beard Award winners along for the ride.

Eight’s Check, Please! Arizona Festival will take place at CityScape on Sunday, April 28, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

The event will feature cooking demonstrations, panel discussions, wine & craft beer sessions, and the chance to audition for a spot on Check, Please! Arizona. Producers are seeking “congenial fans who are passionate about their favorite local restaurant, articulate about food and honest about their dining-out experiences.” Cameras will be present to tape the auditions.

A highlight of the schedule is a panel discussion led by Check, Please! Arizona host and James Beard Award winner, Robert McGrath. McGrath will be joined by fellow James Beard Award winners Christopher Gross, Nobuo Fukuda and Chris Bianco. The discussion will be about Phoenix emerging as a culinary destination, each chef’s unique culinary journey and the experience of receiving the James Beard honor.

Tickets please! DPJ readers: get a $10 discount off your tickets by entering the promo code “Check.”

THE FEST FACTS
Eight’s Check, Please! Arizona Festival takes over CityScape for a live food event exploring its show-inspired lineup of independently owned, Arizona restaurants. From five-star dining establishments to tucked away cafes, the event showcases Eight’s Check, Please! Arizona favorites.

Get a $10 discount off tickets!
Click the image above and enter the promo code “Check” when buying tickets.

WHERE
CityScape, 1 E. Washington St.
Get light rail/parking info

WHEN
Sunday, April 28, 2013, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

PARTICIPANTS
America’s Taco Shop
Amuse Bouche Gourmet Bistro & Catering
Betty’s Nosh
Cornish Pasty Co.
Coup Des Tartes
Durant’s
Eddie’s House
Flancer’s
Four Peaks Brewery
Frasher’s Steakhouse & Lounge
Haus Murphy’s German Restaurant
Hob Nobs Café & Spirits
LON’s at the Hermosa
MacAlpine’s Soda Fountain
Mrs. White’s Golden Rule Café
Petite Maison
Phoenix City Grille
Pittsburgh Willy’s Gourmet Hot Dogs
Shugrue’s Hillside Grill
Tarbell’s
Thee Pitts Again
Vogue Bistro

SAMPLING OF RESTAURANT MENUS
America’s Taco Shop. Grilled meat tacos
Durant’s.  Brioche crostini & horseradish cream; roast sirloin and basil pesto; chocolate indulgence cake
Amuse Bouche Bistro. Meatloaf sliders w/tomato glaze; smoked bacon & onion aioli; chocolate éclair cake
Betty’s Nosh. Mushroom soup; stuffed mushrooms
Eddie’s House.  Israeli Fattoush couscous
Frasher’s. BBQ pulled pork; gooey butter cake
Haus Murphy’s. Beefy Bratwurst w/sauerkraut
Hob Nobs Cafe & Spirits.  Gourmet pizza
MacAlpine’s Soda Fountain. Velvet Elvis Ice Cream soda; pulled pork sandwiches & potato salad
Pittsburgh Willy’s.  2 of their gourmet hot dogs: Freddie G. and Wing Ding Willy
Shugrue’s. Seafood gumbo
Thee Pitts “Again.”  Pulled pork

SCHEDULE

Chow Bella Stage
Noon.  John Cavanagh of Tuck Shop – The Art of the Perfect Mixer
1pm.  Andy Ingram of Four Peaks Brewery – Craft Beer Seminar
2pm. JAMES BEARD AWARD WINNERS DISCUSSION PANEL
Four of Arizona’s James Beard Award Winning chefs will participate in a panel discussion about Phoenix as a culinary destination, each chef’s unique culinary journey and what the James Beard honor has meant to them.

• Chef Robert McGrath.  Check, Please! Arizona show host will lead this panel.  Executive Chef of Market Street Kitchen, McGrath was awarded Best Chef Southwest in 2001.
• Chef Christopher Gross. Gross, of Christopher’s & Crush Lounge, was awarded Best Chef Southwest in 1995. Gross will host an exclusive wine seminar for VIP guests.
• Chef Nobuo Fukuda. Recently acclaimed for Nobuo at Teeter House, Fukuda won Best Chef Southwest in 2007. Chef Fukuda will serve exclusive VIP samples.
• Chef Chris Bianco. Best known for his world-famous pizza at Pizzeria Bianco, earned Best Chef Southwest in 2003.

3pm.  Exclusive Wine Seminar with Mark Tarbell, Tarbell’s

SubZero/Wolf Chef Demonstration Stage
Noon.  James Porter – Petite Maison
1:30pm. Eddie Matney – Eddie’s House
3pm. Jeremy Pacheco – LON’S at the Hermosa

VIP Area
1pm. Private Wine Seminar with Christopher Gross
Select tastes by Chef Nobuo Fukuda

Safeway Grill Master Stage
11:45am: Brett Hoffman, Haus Murphy’s German Restaurant
12:30pm: Robert McGrath, Host of Check, Please! Arizona and Executive Chef, Market Street Kitchen
2:45pm: George Frasher, Frasher’s Steakhouse & Lounge

‘Check Please! Arizona’ Audition Stage
12pm- 4pm Opportunity for guests to try out as a ‘people’s critic’ for the popular Channel 8 TV sho

TICKETS
Purchase tickets at www.azpbs.org/checkplease

• General admission is $60. Tickets include food, wine and beer sampling.
• VIP tickets are $100.  VIP ticketholders will enjoy exclusive wine tastings; 30-minute early entry (10:30am) to the festival (before general admission); and VIP Valet Parking.
• DPJ readers: get a $10 discount! Enter the promo code “Check” when buying tickets.

MusicaNova Orchestra in rehearsal at Central United Methodist Church
(credit: Elizabeth McKinnon)

Music protesting war and violence takes many forms — from 20^th century songs like Metallica’s hit “One” and Sting’s “Russians” to earlier expressions by Bob Dylan, Peter Paul and Mary, and Joan Baez. And long before John Lennon and Pete Seeger made their mark, classical composers were objecting to conflict; for example, Benjamin Britten with his War Requiem and Krzysztof Penderecki with his Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima.

Composer Ralph Vaughan Williams

English composer, teacher, writer, and conductor Ralph Vaughan Williams brought his own style of protest and commentary to his interpretation of the Roman Catholic Mass, Dona nobis pacem (“Give us peace”). Written in 1936 and 1937, the cantata uses text from the Bible, a parliamentary speech by British statesman John Bright, and verse by Walt Whitman.

“Dona nobis pacem was written in the dark days of the late 1930s as another European war loomed,” explains MusicaNova Music Director Warren Cohen. “Although the last section ends hopefully, the quiet ending suggests that perhaps he [Vaughan Williams] saw that things were not so hopeful in 1936.”

The six-part work includes martial drums and bugles followed by the mourning of a movement titled “Dirge for Two Veterans,” and through it all a solo soprano voice rises in entreaty. “This plea for peace is emotionally direct…[and] can be seen as a plea for sanity,” says Cohen.

This evening, he leads MusicaNova Orchestra in a performance of Dona nobis pacem and other vocal works in a program called And Open to All: Opera, Oratorio, and Song at Central United Methodist Church. The combined choirs of Arizona School for the Arts and Central United Methodist Church join the orchestra (full disclosure: I’m one of the musicians).

Soprano Joyce Yin with MusicaNova Orchestra
(credit: Elizabeth McKinnon)

Soloists include singers from a newly-formed Valley organization called Opera Revolution, an offshoot of the music advocacy group Classical Revolution Phoenix, which offers casual, free performances in non-traditional venues as well as the annual Classical Revolution Phoestival. The performers include Karen Hendricks Crawford, Daniel Kurek, Susan Hurley, Andrew Briggs, Joyce Yin, John Cleveland, and Robert Altizer.

“This concert is an exploration of diversity within vocal music,” says Cohen, who has a very personal interest in song since he’s married to a soprano. He chose not only the large, introspective work by Ralph Vaughan Williams but also an assortment of art songs from the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries as well as a classic operatic scene.

“The songs represent five separate and distinct visions of the subject of desire and love,” he continues, describing works by Richard Strauss, Hugo Wolf, and Aldo Finzi. “From the expression of lost love in ‘Allerseelen (All Souls’ Eve)’ through the psychopathic manipulation of ‘Der Rattenfänger (The Rat-Catcher)’ –  based on the Pied Piper of Hamelin — to the glow of ‘Morgen (Tomorrow),’ the anxious puppy love of ‘Cäcilie,’ and the longing of ‘Catharine,’ each song represents a radically different take on the subject.”

MusicaNova in rehearsal (credit: Rogerio G. Araujo)

The program’s operatic excerpt is an ensemble scene from Mozart’s Don Giovanni, set at a party hosted by Giovanni himself, who hopes to seduce the country girl Zerlina in the course of the evening. They’re joined by Zerlina’s fiancé, Giovanni’s servant, and three masked strangers who secretly seek revenge against the seducer.

Musically, the scene features multiple voices and three instrumental ensembles, and at one point three different dances — a waltz, a quadrille, and a minuet — overlap in carefully engineered chaos “as Mozart anticipates the experiments of Charles Ives by 125 years,” says Cohen, whose adventurous programming has won him an award from the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) and the American Symphony Orchestra League (ASOL).

“[It’s] a tour-de-force of complexity,” he concludes. “The seven voices appear in the guise of soloist, duet and trio partners, and ensembles, sometimes tripping over each other as the various operatic conventions run almost simultaneously.”

If you go:

Event: And Open to All: Opera, Oratorio, and Song

When: Thursday, April 25, 7:30PM

Where: Central United Methodist Church sanctuary, 1875 N. Central Ave.

For some of us in grade school, they were even taught at the same time and maybe even by the same teacher. If you were good at one, there was a good chance you might have been good at the other.

Then maybe you go to college, or maybe you don’t, but either way a person ends up traveling down a path that is predominantly music OR art. Somewhere in this process, a person might keep ties to both and some people even manage to integrate it seamlessly with the work they do, but most lean to one side or the other.

The artist stares longingly at the violinist, remembering what it used to feel like to labor over a solo. The violinist attends art openings to vicariously sense the feeling of creating a new body of work.

How did we become so separate?

I will admit that I am one of those people. I used to play flute and bass guitar and believed that I could really be amazing at both music and art but at some point, I felt I had to choose to make one or the other better or risk being mediocre at both. The word “dilettante” kept jumping to mind.

Should there really be such a grand canyon between us? Graphic by Jen Urso

Maybe this explains a phenomena I have troubling understanding in our sunny city: the Grand Canyon of a divide between the art and music communities. I discovered this after meeting my partner who came from a music background into multi-media artwork. It seemed like a natural progression. I assumed we would have a lot of friends in common. But, it turned out that we knew virtually none of the same people. How could this be?

Artists and musicians share a lot of the same struggles: attempting to make a living while doing the thing you’re good at; fitting in time to practice while managing the making a living part and all of life’s other sundries; determining whether to go the more commercial or more independent route; and fielding all of the inquiries from family members/friends/acquaintances about what you really do. It seems we’d have a lot to talk about with each other.

It also seems as though we’d have a lot to collaborate on. While we’re working at putting together new multi-media pieces and staging impromptu events in vacant lots, members of both communities could step outside of their familiar zones and try something that lands in the middle. In the process of brainstorming, we might even realize that our creative processes are very much the same. John Cage, Merce Cunningham and Robert Rauschenberg collaborated often in the 1950s to 1970s, generating multi-faceted pieces that would have been very different had they been coming from a solo perspective.

Mingling of these worlds surely occurs from time to time but, as both communities struggle for audiences, respectability and a place in the cultural landscape of Phoenix, we could benefit from joining forces more often. Each group brings its own audience that is likely unknown to the other’s. By intertwining mediums and people, we broaden the artistic landscape for both. Downtown Chamber Series has managed this successfully with their performances that take place at various art spaces downtown. They can promote the show and their own concert—promising their audience a dynamic experience that they may not have sought out alone. Before long, both audiences could potentially double while also adding something new to our experience of culture here.

Closing the gap between these two worlds doesn’t have to mean jumping to the other side. It could simply mean acknowledging that we’re both really after the same things. We’re not so different, after all.