Friday, November 30, 2007

Youssou N’Dour: Senegalese Superstar!

As Youssou N’Dour’s performance at Wisconsin Union Theater draws closer, he continues to receive rave reviews for his shows. Making his way around the United States, N’Dour has already impressed New Orleans, Miami, Washington DC, New York City, Philadelphia and more.

“A slim, middle-aged man with a quiet demeanor, clad in loose silver-blue shirt and pants, N’Dour seemed an unlikely global music star when he walked casually onstage.

But as soon as he started to sing, his soul and charisma transcended any cultural preconceptions. N’Dour may sing mostly in Wolof but the power, joy and humanity of his music need no translation. By the second song, the whole theater was clapping along. ”It doesn’t matter that we don’t know what he’s saying,” said one woman. “Because I feel like we do.’”

Jordan Levin, Miami Herald

More reviews

http://blogs.miaminewtimes.com/crossfade/2007/11/last_night_youssou_ndour_at_th.php
http://www.philly.com/philly/entertainment/music/20071122_Vibrant_NDour_enchants_Kimmel.html
http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/story/312389.html

See you Thursday!
Emily

Posted by Wisconsin Union Theater Committee at 22:01:08 | Permalink | No Comments »

Tuesday, November 27, 2007

It’s winter and you know what that means….Russian Rebels!!!

While writing my latest article for the upcoming Jeffrey Siegel Keyboard Conversations (Russia: Rebels on the Red Carpet) I found some very interesting facts about Rachmaninoff, Prokofiev, and Shostakovich. Sure, many of us have played or heard their compositions (anyone who attended last year’s Finckel and Wu concert may remember their love of Rachmaninoff), but did you know:

Shostakovich was denounced. Twice.
Rachmaninoff was 6′ 6″ tall and could play the interval of a 13th on the piano (12-inch hand span).
Rachmaninoff wrote a choral piece based off of Edgar Allan Poe’s The Bells.
Prokofiev wrote Peter and the Wolf (op. 67).
Prokofiev did not like playing the black keys as a child.

In other news, the WUT and Four Seasons Theatre have an article in playbill: read it here!

It’s been a very enlightening day indeed!  

until next time,
Sarah

Posted by Wisconsin Union Theater Committee at 21:54:54 | Permalink | No Comments »

Wednesday, November 21, 2007

If you like our blog, you’ll love our photo blog!

Check out our photo blog here:

http://flickr.com/photos/wutheater/

A little preview…

Happy Thanksgiving!

Gobble gobble gobble.

-Emily

Posted by Wisconsin Union Theater Committee at 16:03:42 | Permalink | No Comments »

Saturday, November 17, 2007

So, do they call you “Pa” for short?

So as not to pull an ‘Andrew Bird’ (as I’ll now refer to it…), what questions does one ask a Grammy winning Latin Jazz artist extrordinaire? I’d imagine matching shoes will not be a consideration this time around…
- Courtney
Posted by Wisconsin Union Theater Committee at 02:18:53 | Permalink | No Comments »

Monday, November 12, 2007

kalman balogh…toe tapping good fun

the best part about this whole theater committee director thing, is that you never do the same thing twice. Every performance is totally different, totally new, and has a whole new set of challenges associated with it. Come time for the performance however, this leaves you with a rather bewildered sense of what I’ve decided should be called ‘cultural whiplash’.
In the last two weeks we’ve fancied ‘tart derriere eau chocolat’ at the la belle france travel film, had a near run-in with a flesh exchange at the Merchant of Venice, applauded the concertos of Hilary Hahn, rocked out to Idan Raichel and his snazzy water drum, and contemplated how in the heck one travels with a cimbalom at tonight’s Kalman Balogh concert. Add to this the usual spondee cheers of “eat shit” at badger football games, a host of english lectures on a smattering of british literature topics, and my usual daily struggles at learning the serbo-croatian language… you get one slightly disoriented person.
I’m well aware that this is really nothing to complain about, and in the larger scheme of things, its really quite incredible to see so many diverse things parade before your eyes… but as I sat in the audience tonight, I had to take a minute to stop and remember what it was, exactly, that I was watching. Not that it wasn’t totally unique - the cimbalom (wikipedia if you’re so inclined - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cimbalom) provided a noise unlike anything I’ve ever heard( as well as some downright amazing mallet-ing - malleting? playing? not sure how you’d say that). The band was one of those where you could totally tell they absolutely loved every minute of their performance. My favorite though, hands down, were the audience members that got up and danced at the front of the house- mental note to self on that one to, at some point in life, learn how to do that!

cheers to quadruple whammy week!

- courtne y

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Thursday, November 8, 2007

water drum=coolest thing ever

best comment of the night…

“hey! did you hear he hasn’t cut his hair since the nineties?!”

- passerby of the merch table, on Idan Raichel.

Posted by Wisconsin Union Theater Committee at 06:12:32 | Permalink | No Comments »

Tuesday, November 6, 2007

“I want to break free…. ”

Each time we have a new artist perform in the theater, I’m always boggled by the incredible musical talent they possess. What gets me more though, is that they’re people too. People who are incredibly dedicated to the music that they play, and to the audiences that they play for. While complete and utter dedication to ones craft is always a quality I find admirable, sometimes I worry at what cost this comes. Hilary Hahn’s concert this weekend provided our audience with incredible music…and in hearing her talk in the Q and A session this morning, you could tell she loved every minute of playing it, and presenting it in the best way she possibly could for the audience…but I guess I found this to be slightly bittersweet. While at times I find myself to be more busy than I ever thought possible, my brand of busy always seems to include some sort of semi-crazed 4am dancing to Queen’s greatest hits, or laughing to the point of tears over the latest of my roommates’ antics. Hilary Hahn however, doesn’t seem as though she ever got to have those kinds of moments. During the Q and A today, Hahn talked at length about her menagerie of pets she’s had over the course of her concert career. Her impressions of mice and guinea pigs, while really quite hysterical, offered another look at the life of a concert violinist, one that seemed to me at least, to be a little bit lonely. Our concerts always offer some sort of new perspective for me, generally in ways I never see coming. While at this point in the semester, I might be a bit overwhelmed with everything to do, I’m glad to be doing it, and living the life that I am. I wouldn’t pass up the 4am dancing or the laughing for anything.

on another note, it was absolutely great to see our former marketing maven, Lauren, this weekend. Its exciting to hear about her new life in Tennessee and all the great things shes doing and learning there. While I’m fairly certain I can speak for everyone in saying we miss having her around, I really admire her for going for it, and gracefully rising to the challenge of a totally new place. I look forward to hearing more about her adventures.
- Courtney

Posted by Wisconsin Union Theater Committee at 06:29:22 | Permalink | No Comments »

Thursday, November 1, 2007

“The apple does not fall far from… Hilary Hahn.”

Just some fun facts or “Hilary Hahnisms” about Hilary brought to you by her craziest fans…

Hilary Hahn…

…only blinks when she wants to.

…can sight-read by memory.

…has unchanging body temperature.

…created the one ring to rule them all in the Knight Fine Arts Center at Encore.

…invented chess.

… learned The Last Rose of Summer for fun one day between classes.

…created a time-machine as her 4th grade project.

…wrote all of the works by “Shakespeare”- her nickname in elementary school.

…knows violin concertos before they are written.

…can walk up and down stairs at the same time.

…practices in ballet positions: “Just in case.”

…hit her head on a gong. *true* Before she did it, it was just a piece of metal, but then it became known as an instrument.

…has two right ears because she cannot hear something wrong.

…doesn’t yell because she would have to alter her voice away from perfect pitch.

…doesn’t have a middle name because she is always first.

…can play the violin better than Chuck Norris.

See you on Sunday!!

Emily

For more “Hilary Hahnisms” see http://wisc.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2205070512.

Posted by Wisconsin Union Theater Committee at 20:16:47 | Permalink | No Comments »