Arts reporter and critic Rosemary Ponnekanti keeps you in touch with the arts and culture scene with the help of other News Tribune writers, critics and editors.
Rosemary Ponnekanti is the arts reporter at The News Tribune, and has been a classical music nerd nearly all her life. Besides spending way too much time in galleries, museums and concert halls, she occasionally brings a whistle or double bass to Celtic jam sessions, and insists on singing "Happy Birthday" in four-part harmony.
Other contributors include:
> Arts & entertainment editor Craig Sailor
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Prithee, sirs and gentle ladies, if ye would but hear musick divine, get ye to the Tacoma Arte Museum this Saturday night for godly English harmonies.
Okay, enough of that. The Tudors are coming: the Tudor monarchs, that is, and the Tudor Choir. The Seattle a cappella choir is singing an all-Tallis concert at TAM to honor Thomas Tallis, the English Renaissance composer whose forty-part motet "Spem in Alium" is the aural soundscape for Welsh artist Janet Cardiff's stunning installation in TAM's upstairs gallery.
Don't tell me. Please don't tell me. You haven't heard of Tallis? Omigosh.
Okay, crash course. Thomas Tallis (c. 1505-1585) was not only a composer of divinely beautiful polyphonic choral music, he was also possibly one of the most politically astute composers ever. He survived five English monarchs: Henry VIII, Edward VI, Jane I, Mary I and Elizabeth I. A (possibly) closet Catholic, he survived brutal beheadings and violent swings from Catholicism to Protestantism and back and forth again. Through all this he not only kept his head but his cushy position as court composer.
And his music? Complex, simple, serene, heartbreaking, otherworldly. The sound installation of "Spem" (an amazingly complicated work) can be heard over and over at TAM through September 7. (And also, in part, alongside my review of the exhibit here.) As one of my readers called in to say, "if any music is life-changing, this is it."
But when you hear Tallis live, it's even better. The Tudor Choir will be singing his music written under each of the four Tudor monarchs (we're not counting Jane here, as she only ruled for nine days and probably wasn't thinking about commissioning music at the time. Then she was beheaded, and couldn't commission anything.) Director Doug Fullington says they might even sing ranged around the balcony, sounding even more angelic.
Be there or be Stuart. (Get it?)
6:30 p.m. July 12. $5 members/$12 nonmembers, includes reception for The Saint John's Bible. 1701 Pacific Ave, Tacoma. 253-272-4258, www.tacomaartmuseum.org
William Burden will sing Nadir in Seattle Opera's "The Pearl Fishers" in January 2009. Photo: Boyd Ostroff
Seattle Opera has launched a new program that designates one Friday performance of three upcoming operas as an LGBT Night.
The press release says it’s for “Seattle’s Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual/Transgender community” but I know they’d welcome wayward Pierce County gays. And straights.
The first LGBT night will be the August 22 performance of “Aida” followed by “The Pearl Fishers” on January 23, 2009 and “The Marriage of Figaro” on May 15, 2009.
The kickoff event on August 22 will be hosted by Seattle Opera Board of Trustees member and noted Man about Town JJ McKay and Washington State Senator Ed Murray. These events are priced at $100 per ticket and include discounted main floor orchestra seating, private intermission receptions including complimentary wine and hors d’oeuvres during the first intermission and coffee and dessert during the second intermission, and free admission to “Overtures to the Opera” (regularly priced at $7.00), an informative and fast-paced pre-opera lecture.
Tickets may be purchased in two ways—online by going to seattleopera.org/tickets or via mobile phone by going to mobile.seattleopera.org. Use the Promotion code: LGBT to purchase tickets.
Gay or straight, get up to Seattle Opera or save gas and catch a performance of our own Tacoma Opera.
Here’s a shot of yours truly from my last Seattle Opera gig “Der Rosenkavalier.” It doesn’t get any gayer than this.
