Make a tax deductible contribution

Main Menu Home About Us Contact Us MHS eNewsletter Composers Conductors Instrumentalists Vocalists Featured Artists & Groups Reviews Donors Search Site for... Links Newsflash Fun Stuff Hot Topic! Bibliography Events Myrtle on the Web Guestbook Finding the truth is not enough. What we also have to find is justice.                                ~Rigoberta Menchu Classical Cross-dressing: Holland's Naomi in the Living Room Monday, 03 August 2009 The National Association of Negro Musicians, Inc. composer Jonathan Bailey Holland Composer Jonathan Bailey Holland's thoughtful scoring of Christopher Durang's 1995 one-act play features a self-described psychotic mother, Naomi, entertaining her son, John, and his wife, Johnna during the Christmas holiday season. Presented for the first time at the NANM conference in Chicago, audiences stared captivated during the 20-minute work while the music navigated the uneasy waves of the laugh-out-loud lunacy and cringe-worthy events happening on stage. Introducing the piece, Holland apologized for the character's use of profanity and lightheartedly placed blame on those NANM committee members who elected to present the piece at the conference. Calling it a "dark comedy," he warned the audience that we would get a "glimpse into a very dysfunctional family." Written during his college years, Holland composed the opera as a libretto, where the words are set to music, instead of as separate arias, or individual songs. This gave the dialogue more of a conversational feel rather than a series of tracks on a CD playing one after the other. A master of his craft, Holland's sensitivity to the oftentimes dense dialogue allowed for the music to be sparse enough in places, which granted listeners the opportunity to really hear what was being said on stage. And much was said. For example, Naomi, the mother with "Tourettes-like outbursts," asks Johnna whether or not she and her son, John, have any children. Johnna explains that they did, but their children died tragically in a car accident ... the result of a drunken babysitter. It doesn't get much darker than that, folks. Naomi, in response, replies with perfect comic timing, "Uh huh ... Do you like sitting on the couch?" Quips like these add to the overall feel of this play -- maddeningly sad and yet awkwardly funny. Holland's score accompanies both the manic-depressive emotions of the characters as well as the ebbs and flows of their dialogue. During the course of the visit, John excuses himself from the two women to change his clothes into something more comfortable ... which for him, is the same exact outfit as his wife! Mimicking her gestures, he follows her around the room melodramatically, soliciting whoops from the audience. Holland acquiesces, "there should be more comic operas."Indeed. Minimally set for two sopranos, baritone and piano, the piece has become a favorite among the college and conservatory crowd. "I'm going to bring this piece back to school!" exclaims Celeste Lea Bembry, member of the George Walker Society at the University of Northern Iowa, a vocal ensemble who recently returned from a collaborative engagement with the Costa Rican Young Artists Program. The George Walker Society is a college branch of NANM. "This would be perfect for the students. It's fun, poignant, functional and dysfunctional ... a perfect piece to challenge young artists and explore the realms of reality. It really takes the artist to a place they need to be."   < Prev   Next > [ Back ]       © 2012 myrtlehart.org Joomla! is Free Software released under the GNU/GPL License.

1
SELECT folder, element, published, params
 FROM jos_mambots
 WHERE published >= 1
 AND access <= 0
 AND folder = 'system'
 ORDER BY ordering
2
SELECT template
 FROM jos_templates_menu
 WHERE client_id = 0
 AND ( menuid = 0  OR menuid = 166 )
 ORDER BY menuid DESC
LIMIT 1
3
DELETE FROM jos_session
 WHERE (
 ( time < '1328746119' )
 AND guest = 0
 AND gid > 0
 ) OR (
 ( time < '1328746119' )
 AND guest = 1
 AND userid = 0
 )
4
SELECT *
 FROM jos_session
 WHERE session_id = '74b0bc6f37e944072a2d045d89bd8e3b'
5
SELECT session_id
 FROM jos_session
 WHERE session_id = '5ce545d1cd4035899fbb97805f89a6d3'
6
INSERT INTO jos_session ( `session_id`,`time`,`username`,`gid`,`guest` ) VALUES ( '5ce545d1cd4035899fbb97805f89a6d3','1328747019','','0','1' )
7
SELECT `params` FROM `jos_mambots` WHERE `element`='azrul.system'
8
SELECT COUNT(*)
 FROM jos_stats_agents
 WHERE agent = 'Unknown'
 AND type = 0
9
UPDATE jos_stats_agents
 SET hits = ( hits + 1 )
 WHERE agent = 'Unknown'
 AND type = 0
10
SELECT COUNT(*)
 FROM jos_stats_agents
 WHERE agent = 'Unknown'
 AND type = 1
11
UPDATE jos_stats_agents
 SET hits = ( hits + 1 )
 WHERE agent = 'Unknown'
 AND type = 1
12
SELECT COUNT(*)
 FROM jos_stats_agents
 WHERE agent = 'Unknown'
 AND type = 2
13
UPDATE jos_stats_agents
 SET hits = ( hits + 1 )
 WHERE agent = 'Unknown'
 AND type = 2
14
SELECT *
 FROM jos_menu
 WHERE id = 166
15
SELECT a.*, u.name AS author, u.usertype, cc.name AS category, s.name AS section, g.name AS groups,
 s.published AS sec_pub, cc.published AS cat_pub, s.access AS sec_access, cc.access AS cat_access,
 s.id AS sec_id, cc.id as cat_id
 FROM jos_content AS a
 LEFT JOIN jos_categories AS cc ON cc.id = a.catid
 LEFT JOIN jos_sections AS s ON s.id = cc.section AND s.scope = 'content'
 LEFT JOIN jos_users AS u ON u.id = a.created_by
 LEFT JOIN jos_groups AS g ON a.access = g.id
 WHERE a.id = 299 AND ( a.state = 1 OR a.state = -1 )
 AND ( a.publish_up = '0000-00-00 00:00:00' OR a.publish_up <= '2012-02-08 17:23' )
 AND ( a.publish_down = '0000-00-00 00:00:00' OR a.publish_down >= '2012-02-08 17:23' )
 AND a.access <= 0
16
SELECT a.id
 FROM jos_content AS a
 WHERE a.catid = 51
 AND a.state = 1
 AND a.access <= 0 AND ( a.state = 1 OR a.state = -1 )
 AND ( a.publish_up = '0000-00-00 00:00:00' OR a.publish_up <= '2012-02-08 17:23' )
 AND ( a.publish_down = '0000-00-00 00:00:00' OR a.publish_down >= '2012-02-08 17:23' )
 ORDER BY a.ordering
17
UPDATE jos_content
 SET hits = ( hits + 1 )
 WHERE id = '299'
18
SELECT folder, element, published, params
 FROM jos_mambots
 WHERE access <= 0
 AND folder = 'content'
 ORDER BY ordering
19
SELECT params
 FROM jos_mambots
 WHERE element = 'mosimage'
 AND folder = 'content'
20
SELECT * FROM jos_jreactConfig LIMIT 1
21
SELECT a.*
 FROM jos_components AS a
 WHERE ( a.admin_menu_link = 'option=com_syndicate' OR a.admin_menu_link = 'option=com_syndicate&hidemainmenu=1' )
 AND a.option = 'com_syndicate'
22
SELECT id, title, module, position, content, showtitle, params
 FROM jos_modules AS m
 INNER JOIN jos_modules_menu AS mm ON mm.moduleid = m.id
 WHERE m.published = 1
 AND m.access <= 0
 AND m.client_id != 1
 AND ( mm.menuid = 0 OR mm.menuid = 166 )
 ORDER BY ordering
23
SELECT m.*
 FROM jos_menu AS m
 WHERE menutype = 'mainmenu'
 AND published = 1
 AND access <= 0
 ORDER BY parent, ordering
24
select published from jos_categories where id=3
25
select s.published from jos_sections s, jos_categories c where c.id=3 and c.section=s.id
26
SELECT * FROM jos_content
 WHERE catid=3
 AND ( publish_up = '0000-00-00 00:00:00' OR publish_up <= now() )
            AND ( publish_down = '0000-00-00 00:00:00' OR publish_down >= now() )
            AND state = 1
 ORDER BY created DESC
 LIMIT 100
27
select published from jos_categories where id=22
28
select s.published from jos_sections s, jos_categories c where c.id=22 and c.section=s.id
29
SELECT * FROM jos_content
 WHERE catid=22
 AND ( publish_up = '0000-00-00 00:00:00' OR publish_up <= now() )
            AND ( publish_down = '0000-00-00 00:00:00' OR publish_down >= now() )
            AND state = 1
 ORDER BY created DESC
 LIMIT 100
30
select published from jos_categories where id=39
31
select s.published from jos_sections s, jos_categories c where c.id=39 and c.section=s.id
32
SELECT * FROM jos_content
 WHERE catid=39
 AND ( publish_up = '0000-00-00 00:00:00' OR publish_up <= now() )
            AND ( publish_down = '0000-00-00 00:00:00' OR publish_down >= now() )
            AND state = 1
 ORDER BY created DESC
 LIMIT 100
33
SELECT m.*
 FROM jos_menu AS m
 WHERE menutype = 'funstuff'
 AND published = 1
 AND access <= 0
 ORDER BY parent, ordering
34
SELECT * FROM jos_jreactConfig LIMIT 1