Philip Glass

This probably wasn’t the point Glass wanted to get across in Orphée, presented this weekend by the Virginia Opera at George Mason University’s Center for the Arts. Glass wrote the 1993 opera as a tribute to his late wife Candy Jennings. But the story comes from Jean Cocteau’s film Orphée, one of many adaptations of the Greek myth, along with Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice and Marcel Camus’s Orfeu Negro, which placed the doomed pair in Rio during Carnaval. (Oh, and let’s not forget the Bible.) Cocteau’s script—slightly abridged but mostly unchanged—serves as the libretto. There are no arias, only dialogue in song form. Thus Orphée the opera feels less like an opera and more like a movie set to music.

This works well for the Virginia Opera, which puts on an enjoyably peculiar production. The last time the company swung through Fairfax, it bit off more than it could chew, with an underwhelming take on the larger-than-life Aida. Glass’ simple, two-act opera is better suited to the company’s strengths. The orchestration and staging are nice, nothing fancy—one might even say minimalist. But we know the shaggy-haired maestro hates that word, so we’ll go with Glass’ preferred term: “music with repetitive structures.”

The music is certainly repetitive, though not atonal and easier on the the ears than Glass’ earlier operas; think his film scores for The Illusionist and The Fog of War more than Einstein on the Beach. It cycles through four basic chords in a manner that is supposed to be meditative, I guess, but instead evokes a feeling of confusion. Which is appropriate for a story that is often confusing: What’s with the radio? Why is Death wearing a fur coat and camisole? How does a poet afford such a swank apartment?

That poet is Orphée, French for Orpheus, who lives with his wife Eurydice in what looks like a loft condominium they furnished with beige everything sometime in the 1970s. He’s hosting a poetry reading there when a younger poet, Cégeste, is hit by a motorcycle and dies, only to be brought back to life by his patron, “the Princess.” Orphée is a little freaked out but also becomes infatuated with the mystery woman, who turns out to be, surprise, Death herself. Death’s valet, Heurtebise, gives Orphée a radio. He listens to it obsessively to the neglect of his wife, until she dies in—you guessed it—a motorcycle hit-and-run. Orphée then has to follow Heurtebise into the underworld, where things start to get weird.

Orphée could be interpreted any number of ways, most obviously as an allegory for artistic immortality and artists’ willingness to sacrifice everything to achieve it. But it doesn’t come across as autobiographical. The mood is light enough to suggest that Glass and Cocteau are not blind to the sillier pretensions of the world they inhabit. In one early exchange, Orphée’s editor presents him with Princess’ arts journal: “The pages are blank.” “It’s called Nudism.” “That’s ridiculous.”

Director Sam Helfrich keeps things light, even trippy. Body doubles wander eerily across both sides of the stage, reflections in the mirrors that serve as portals between this life and the next. Indeed, baritone Matthew Worth, as Orphée, appears to be in a half-daze for much of the opera. But his stout voice, matched by soprano Heather Buck as Princess Death, does the music justice. Others leave something to be desired—soprano Sara Jakubiak’s Eurydice could be less shrill; tenor Jeffrey Lentz’s Heurtebise could try not to sound like he has peanut butter stuck in his mouth. Mezzo-soprano Marta Wryk is great in the supporting role of Eurydice’s friend Aglaonice.

Orphée isn’t like most operas, and many in the audience Friday didn’t seem to quite know what to make of it. It’s based on a movie, but why should that be strange? Most operas are, after all, adaptations of some older novel or play. It makes sense that modern opera would pull from a rich trove of 20th century film. What might be next? Just think of the straight-to-YouTube lip dubs and Rebecca Black music videos that will serve as our next generation’s operatic muses.

Orphée closes on Sunday, February 12 at George Mason University’s Center for the Arts. In French, with English surtitles. $48-$98. (888) 945-2468.

Photo by David A. Beloff

At a time when early music is a hot ticket for chamber groups (in D.C., see Bach Sinfonia and Opera Lafayette), it’s nice to know there are ensembles that are as devoted to new music. Around here, no one is more devoted than the 21st Century Consort. Since its 1975 founding, the group has cherry-picked the best local talent—starting with its leader, Folger Consort founder and former UMD Music School director Christopher Kendall—to perform its often risky repertoire: largely untested works by living composers, balanced with the occasional 20th Century crowd-pleaser like Copland.

You won’t find much in the way of familiar crowd-pleasers in their program today at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, where they serve as the resident ensemble. Instead, you’ll get a bold selection of pieces for strings, piano, winds and voice, all written since 1980 and exhibiting a variety of approaches ranging from noise-rocker and "steampunk" (his words, not mine) synth-maker Mark Kuss to new tonalist Robert Beaser.

The 21st Century Consort understands this kind of stuff can be hard for audiences to grasp. Their concerts are frequently multimedia, with visual flair to lend the music some additional point of reference. Today’s program will open with a debut of local filmmaker Paul Moon’s Simple Machines, an eight-minute film about the world's largest diesel engine. Moon has collaborated the Consort since last season, beginning with his documentary on American composer Samuel Barber, and continuing with a time-lapse film, Time Crunch. The film was tightly synchronized to a recorded performance which the Consort mimicked live, which according to Moon “wasn't a walk in the park for the musicians.” So for Simple Machines, Moon went for a looser format and recorded score by Luke DuBois.

DuBois, in turn, completes the circle between the program and its venue. Multiplicity Multiplicity is meant to be a musical accompaniment to SAAM’s ongoing exhibition, Multiplicity. DuBois, in addition to being a composer, is a visual artist, and his series of eye charts “Hindsight is Always 20/20” is one of the works featured in the exhibit.

The 21st Century Consort performs at the Smithsonian American Art Museum’s Nan Tucker McEvoy Auditorium at 8th and G streets NW today at 5 p.m., with a preconcert discussion at 4 p.m. $20.

photo: still from Simple Machines

Opera Lafayette is a top-notch historical ensemble from D.C., specializing in baroque and classical operas performed with period instruments. Its current production is a modern debut of a by-now-forgotten opéra-comique from the debauched final decades of the Bourbon monarchy. Le Roi et le Fermier (The King and the Farmer) is the company's first fully staged opera—with props, lighting design and everything, said conductor Ryan Brown—and it’s generated sufficient interest that they even snagged an invite to perform at the royal theater of Versailles, using the same sets as when Marie Antoinette starred in it in 1780. Not bad for a bunch of hometown kids.

However this raises the bar in a few respects, language being one. Opera Lafayette has traditionally focused more on the the music side of things and less on the theatrics. And unlike most operas, opéras-comiques tend to have a fair amount of spoken dialogue. In the past, Opera Lafayette delivered dialogue and narration in English while singing in the original French. For Le Roi, the troupe gets around the language issue by trotting out a couple of real life French people to deliver the spoken parts while the singers mime between arias. It works, more or less.

Le Roi is a historical curiosity: It was one of the first comic operas to feature the king as a character. To do so in absolutist France might have been considered sacrilege; however the English, even before Charles and Camilla, were light years ahead of the French in not taking their royal family seriously. So Michel-Jean Sedaine, basing his libretto on Robert Dodsley’s play The King and the Miller of Mansfield, made all the characters English and thereby got to keep his head.

The plot, such as it is, hinges on that favorite trope of everyone from the ancient Greeks to Audrey Hepburn in Roman Holiday, the undercover boss. Richard, royal inspector of Sherwood Forest, is distressed by the abduction of his fiancée Jenny by the wicked Lord Lurewel. Then Jenny shows up, having escaped. Then the king shows up, but Richard doesn’t recognize him. But Richard is nice to him and invites him over for dinner. Then Lord Lurewel shows up, and the king, now revealed, scolds Lurewel and magnanimously pays Jenny’s dowry.

It’s light stuff, but at its Kennedy Center debut Saturday, Opera Lafayette’s cast did a terrific job drawing out Le Roi’s simple charms. Sopranos Dominique Labelle, as Jenny, and Yulia Van Doren, as Richard’s sister Betsy, have a wonderful dynamic; in their duets, Van Doren’s plucky voice dances over and under Labelle’s steady intonation. Baritone William Sharp, as Richard, is conspicuously old to play the part of the naïve young lover. This happens a lot in opera, and is explained away as a need for singers to mature into their voices. But when Opera Lafayette has Thomas Dolié, a younger baritone with a richer timbre, stuck in a minor role, that’s really no excuse. The orchestra, for its part, gives its all to Pierre-Alexandre Monsigny’s score on their outmoded instruments. The valveless horns at times sound like strangled geese but, by the looks of them, you can’t blame the musicians.

She should have stuck with opera

It’s sometimes unclear how much of the opera’s humor derives from the original libretto and how much is from the anachronisms: the excessive simpering, the Raggedy-Ann makeup and powdered wigs. True to their mission, Opera Lafayette plays it straight, although the narration winks at Le Roi’s lesson in deference. We may love to see the boss put on overalls and get his nails dirty, but the message is clear: He’s always watching, so you better be on your best behavior. It’s a joke even a despot could love.

Opera Lafayette will present Le Roi et le Fermier at Lincoln Center in New York on Thursday and the Royal Opera in Versailles on Saturday, Feb. 4 and Sunday, Feb. 5. Tickets $25-$65 for New York; 45€–120€ for Versailles.

Photo: Louis Forget

Joshua Bell knows this. He’s perfected his nice-guy image for years now. He dresses down, smiles a lot, goes by Josh. He plays pranks: In D.C., he will always be known as The Guy Who Played the Violin in the Metro. He probably even is a nice guy. And it works. He’s been on several movie soundtracks, including The Red Violin, Angels and Demons, and most recently the Chinese epic Flowers of War. He’s been called the best violinist in the world, but what does that really mean? There are probably hundreds of people who are technically as good as Bell at the violin. Some may be better. But they don’t hang out in Hollywood with Sting. Bell spoke with Arts Desk ahead of his performance tonight at the Kennedy Center.

“There are so many factors that go into being a successful soloist,” says Bell. “You have to be good at playing your instrument, of course. It takes hard work and discipline. But there are so many ‘X’ factors that go into what makes an audience want to come back.”

Like what?

“You have to hone a certain temperament and personality. You have to put your heart on your sleeve and put yourself out there.” For Bell at least, this comes naturally: “I was a shy kid growing up, but as a performer, I was never shy.”

What about the work?

“You have to endure a grueling schedule, and thrive on that kind of pressure to want to have a long career as a musician. I just happen to love it.”

Washington Performing Arts Society presents Joshua Bell with pianist Sam Haywood at 8 p.m. tonight at the Kennedy Center, 2700 F St. NW, performing sonatas for violin and piano by Mendelssohn, Brahms, Ravel, and Ysaye and preludes by Gershwin. $45-$115. (800) 444-1324.

Photo courtesy Washington Performing Arts Society

Ask your average American, even Latin American, what they think of Uruguay, and you’ll mostly get blank stares. Over the last century of political turmoil that plagued the rest of the continent, Uruguay was blessed with the reputation as South America’s most stable and boring democracy. Even their guerrillas were more snarky than revolutionary: The Tupamaros, of whom current President José Mujica was a member, would dress up as garbagemen and root through the trash at courthouses, kidnap government officials and present them with evidence of their corruption before letting them go. It’s unclear what exactly this accomplished.

But Uruguay does produce great soccer players, fine wool, and pretty good movies to boot. So this year’s Ibero-American Film Festival, which opens tonight, kicks off with Gigante (Giant). It’s a multinational production, with Spanish and German money and an Argentinean director, Adrián Biniez. But its setting is the cramped apartments and antiseptic supermarkets of Montevideo, its protagonist a bored security guard who inhabits both. Jara (Horacio Camadule) is a shy, overweight metalhead who hates his job until he notices a pretty janitor, Julia (Leonor Svarcas) and commences spying on her through the store’s security cameras. If Julia is a mysterious beauty, Jara is something of a cipher; his sweet disposition and occasional violent outbursts create an uneasy tension such that it’s unclear for most of the film if Gigante is a cute romantic comedy or dark tale of obsession. It’s ultimately a satisfying experience to learn what makes the two characters tick.

Gigante shows at the Inter American Development Bank’s Enrique Iglesias auditorium today at 6:30 p.m. Free. Doors open at 6.

The Ibero-American Film Festival continues Friday, Jan. 20 through Thursday, Feb. 23 with free screenings at various embassies. Schedule and film summaries below:

ARGENTINA

JUNTOS PARA SIEMPRE (Together Forever)

Pablo Solarz

Comedy / 2010 / 101 min

There is no room for real life in Gross’ head, an screenwriter looking for a new story. In a permanent state of denial, he doesn’t even hear his wife confessing cheating on him. When she finally leaves him, he doesn’t flinch, and immediately finds a replacement girlfriend, who is not very bright but is more willing to endure his abuse. Gross’ mother, a guilt-ridden woman, confesses to him that his father is not really his father in an absurd and ridiculous scene. Gross also minimizes this confession and plunges into the writing of his script: a family tragedy that we see in action and ends in the worst way, becoming a metaphor for the fate of Gross.

UN FUEGUITO (A Little Fire)

Ana Fraile

Documentary / 2010 / 70 min

Nobel Prize Winner César Milstein was the kind of person that leaves a trace and goes beyond as a consequence of his work, his concentration, his obstinacy and tenancy. His achievements along all these years of research produced countless benefits and practical application in medicine, biology and immunology; and they meant an advance in the developing of scientific knowledge. However, his spirit of joy, adventure and questioning not only brought challenges to science, but also filled the family in Argentina and friends around the world with the most exquisite and unforgettable experiences in life. With debate after the screening.

LEONERA (Lion's Den)

Pablo Trapero

Drama / 2008 / 113 min

Julia, a 25 year-old university student, two weeks pregnant, with no criminal record, is sent to prison. Julia murdered the father of her child. This story addresses maternity, jail and Justice; confinement, guilt and solitude; but above all it deals with Julia and her son, Tomas, born inside an Argentinean prison.

EL LADO OSCURO DEL CORAZÓN (The dark side of the heart)

Eliseo Subiela

Drama / 1992 / 127 min

Oliverio is a young poet living in Buenos Aires where sometimes he has to sell his ideas to an advertising agency to make a living or exchange his poems for a steak. In Montevideo, he meets a prostitute, Ana, with whom he falls in love. Back in Buenos Aires, he accepts a contract with a publicity agency to get the money for three days of love with her. After the screening the artist Marcelo Novo will conduct a debate and a tour through his exhibit, “Parallel Worlds”, inspired in some elements of this film.

MUJERES DE LA SHOÁ (Women of the Shoah)

Universidad de La Matanza

Documentary / 2006-2007 / 45 min

It is a testimonial film that revives and reconstructs the persecution and the atrocity that Jewish women went through during the Holocaust. This documentary films shows, by means of survivors’ testimonies, the fundamental role that those women played fighting and resisting oppression, mistreatment, degradation, and death.

 

BRAZIL

THE SOUND OF RIO: BRASILEIRINHO

Mika Kaurismäki

Documentary / 2005 / 90 min

The Sound of Rio: Brasileirinho is a musical documentary film about choro, the first genuinely Brazilian urban music, which has evolved over the last century into a fascinating modern tropical sound.  Blending European melodies, Afro-Brazilian rhythms, and the melancholic music of Brazilian Indians, choro was the first musical expression of Brazil's melting pot.  Its sound fused with the country's burgeoning cultural identity, influencing every Brazilian composer for generations, and leading directly to popular musical styles such as Samba and Bossa Nova.

The film explores the fascinating history of choro but focuses on its vitality today, as Brazil's younger generation rediscovers and reinterprets this classic style.  Directed by Mika Kaurismäki, The Sound of Rio: Brasileirinho features performances by Trio Madeira Brasil, Paulo Moura, Yamandú Costa, Marcos Suzano, Elza Soares, Teresa Cristina, Zezé Gonzaga, and many more.

THE HOUSE OF SAND

Andrucha Waddington

Drama / 2005 / 115 min

Filmed entirely on the magnificent, sandy coast of northern Brazil, Áurea's saga begins in 1910, in Maranhão, where her fanatical husband has relocated his family to start a farm.  Desperate and pregnant, Áurea longs to return to the city, but cannot traverse the dunes with her aging mother, Maria in tow.  When calamity strikes, the two women find themselves stranded.  Eventually, they settle among the shifting sands and Áurea finds peace.  But her passionate daughter, Maria, longs to explore the world beyond the dunes.  This profund portrait of passing generations has established Andrucha Waddignton as one of the most exciting directors in Brazil today.

 

CHILE

A UN METRO DE TI (A METER AWAY FROM YOU)

No info available

NAVIDAD (Christmas)

No info available

THE LIFE OF FISH (La Vida de los Peces)

Matías Bize

Drama / 2010 / 84min

At a house party, a handsome man wanders around catching up with friends he has not seen for some years. A travel writer now based in Berlin, Andre appears to be living an exciting international life, and yet... something has drawn him back home to Santiago. As the night goes on, we realize that a tragedy binds this group – an event that was also the impetus for Andre's departure from Chile years ago. Moreover, there is someone at the party he goes to great lengths to avoid. But she is the very person he most needs to see.

 

COSTA RICA

CIELO ROJO (Red Sky)

Miguel Alejandro Gómez

Drama / 2008 / 85 min.

Bernie, Manuel, and Nestor just graduated from high school, and have no plans for the future. Unsatisfied with the opportunities Costa Rica presents, the boys decide to concentrate on mundane activities. However, over the course of a few days, key events in the boys' personal lives conspire to make a disinterested lifestyle difficult. After a break-up with his girlfriend, Bernie reconsiders going to college, in hopes of repairing his relationship. In the midst of an identity crisis brought on by concerned adults, Manuel tries to survive mental confusion.

Bound by revolutionary spirit, the friends must handle their internal conflicts individually and as a group.

A OJOS CERRADOS

Hernán Jiménez

Drama / 2010 / 65 min.

This piece centers on the relationships within one Costa Rican family, largely between a young woman and her elderly grandparents. When life brings both granddaughter and grandfather to a crossroads, they must each choose a new path to follow; together, they travel to the eastern Caribbean coast seeking healing and renewal. This story is told with compassion, and a unique insight into bonds of love.

 

CUBA

HABANASTATION

Ian Padrón

Drama / 2011 / 96 min.

Two distinct faces, from the everyday life of a couple of kids. Habanastation tells the story of two children from different social backgrounds that contrast in an adventure that unites them, and was filmed in the working-class neighborhood of Marianao, Havana, Cuba. Starring Andy Fornaris and Ernesto Escalona and featuring a cast of children from the “La Colmenita” National Children's Theater Group. This is Cuba’s official submission to the Best Foreign Language Film category of the 84th Academy Awards 2012). In July 2011, it received the Founders Prize Best of Fest award —shared with France’s ‘Romantics Anonymous’ by Jean-Pierre Améris — of the Traverse City Film Festival (TCFF), in Michigan.

SOY TATA NGANGA (I Am Tata Nganga)

Roberto Chile

Documentary / 2011 / 22 min.

It tells about the life of a 93-year-old priest of Afro-Cuban religions- and, in particular, the mystical, magical world of the Palo Monte tradition. It is homage to the faith and spirituality of a man who has dedicated close to 60 years of his life to helping others. It includes scenes in he, his godchildren and others take part in various religious rituals in La Hata, Guanabacoa, Havana, Cuba, and features a procession honoring Saint Lazarus the Miraculous. This documentary will be of great interest to students and faculty, health care professionals, anthropologists, filmmakers, and all those interested in spiritual and cultural traditions and the African diaspora. It was made in the occasion of the Year of Afro-descendants, designated by UNESCO.

MAESTRA (Teacher)

Catherine Murphy

Documentary / 2011 / 33 min.

It is about the 1961 Cuban Literacy Campaign, two years after the Revolution, when 100,000 youth were recruited to go to the countryside to teach peasants how to read and write. Within one year, these teachers, the majority of them young women and teenage girls, taught 707,000 Cubans to read and write, eradicating illiteracy, according to UNESCO standards, in one of the most successful literacy campaigns ever in the world. Cuba’s model of achieving Literacy is currently being adopted in over 50 nations. Maestra celebrates this amazing story on the 50th anniversary of the literacy campaign through original film footage of the period, photographs and personal interviews of the teachers who are now in their 60′s, 70′s and 80′s. As they tell their stories, the Cuban women reflect on the transformation of their own lives and the whole of Cuban society as a result of the literacy campaign. For most, it was the first time these women experienced independence and realized their power.

ESO QUE ANDA (Van Van Fever)

Ian Padrón

Documentary / 2010 / 75 min.

Since 1969, Juan Formell and The Van Van have been, without any doubt, the most popular Orquestra in Cuba. Throughout their national tour, in 2006, more than 1 million dancers vibrated with their music, it tells their story in their first 40 years.

This documentary has received many awardas such as the – Special Award of the Jury – Fest. of New Filmmakers (2010), Best Documentary 1st Award – Int. Fest.Santiago Alvarez (2010), – Sound Design Award- Int. Fest. Santiago Alvarez Best Award(2010), Matamoros Center Award- Int. Fest. Santiago Alvarez Award(2010) , Elvira Cape Award – Int. Fest. Santiago Alvarez Award (2010), International Fair -Cubadisco- Best Documentary Award (2010).

 

ECUADOR

YASUNÍ: DOS SEGUNDOS DE VIDA (Yasuní: Two seconds of Life)

Leonardo Wild

Documentary / 2010 / 90 min.

Yasuní – two seconds of life is about Ecuador’s unique suggestion to leave the oil found in Yasuní national park untouched. The documentary sheds light on an exceptional offer to the world and lets every party involved have a say, be it politicians, scientists, representatives of oil companies or indigenous people. This extensive, partly disturbing picture is rounded out by a musical journey through Ecuador.

 

EL SALVADOR

AUSENTES (The Missing Ones)

Tomás Guevara

Documentary / 2009 / 36 min.

AUSENTES is an intimate look at the emotional relationships between mothers and children separated by distance because of immigration, and the physical and legal barriers that prevent them from reuniting.

Three women, on the threshold of hope for a better life in the United States, face the challenges of daily living in a new country, while trying to maintain the love for the children they left behind in El Salvador and Honduras, in order to forge a better future for their families. Fragile memories, deep emotions and feelings mark the lives of these women: Esmeralda, Mary and Rossmery, and their sons: Esau, Walter and Leonel, now teenagers, trying to create with their illusions a fragmented family portrait, with many pieces lost by time and absence.

This documentary explores family life in both the villages of Central America and the urban settings of the United States, in search of an intimate perspective of family relations. The audiovisual production takes us on a journey to the villages where the immigrants came from and where their children still live, and to the American cities where their integration to their new lives takes place in increasingly challenging environments.

 

SPAIN

CELDA 211 (Cell 211)

Daniel Monzón

Thriller / 2009 / 113 min.

A novice prison official has the back luck of starting a new job on the same day the prisoners organize a mutiny. Entangled by the capricious and tragic circumstances, he must make the most of his own greatest resource: his intelligence. Discovering e is far from the shy, weak an even good man he has long considered himself, he finds he is a born survivor on the edge of an abyss. Goya Award for Best Feature Film 2010.

LA MUJER SIN PIANO (Woman without Piano)

Javier Rebollo

Drama / 2009 / 94 min.

Woman without piano is the portrait of an anonymous housewife at the turn of the XXI century in Madrid. The main character is a married woman. For her, nothing compares to the intimate satisfaction of watching a piping hot dish served, on time, for lunch. The movie shows 24 hours in her domestic, professional and sexual everyday life – a life she flees from one night. The film is the tale of what happens during that night. Some might say this movie reflects the alienation of a housewife, but the story is really about a woman on the brink of menopause, a woman with no friends and no social life. She has devoted her life to her family, she doesn’t think she is pretty, she hates her hair... and just slips into the strangeness of the night. Because when night falls, a fun, dark and absurd new world rises. Best Director San Sebastian Film Festival 2009.

LOS CONDENADOS (The Condemned)

Isaki Lacuesta

Drama / 2009 /  min.

Two ex-guerrillas reunite at an illegal excavation site to look for the body of a third colleague who disappeared 30 years ago. But they are no longer the same people they used to be. The tension builds and secrets kept for so long gradually come to light as they progress in the search for their friend. FIPRESCI-Critics Award / San Sebastian Film Festival 2009.

LA VERGÜENZA (Shame)

David Planell

Drama / 2009 / min.

Pepe and Lucia can’t do anything with Manu. They have tried everything, but it is useless: the child they adopted barely a year ago it just too much for them and they have decided to send him back. However, they soon realize the price they will have to pay if they go on with their plan. Best Feature Film and Screenplay / Málaga Spanish Film Festival 2009.

 

GUATEMALA

CAPSULAS (Capsules)

Verónica Riedel

Drama / 2011 / 103 min.

Fonsi is a twelve year-old child with an apparently privileged life. As we get to know his dysfunctional family, we watch his world crumble in a matter of hours. Due to a series of unexpected events the destiny of the characters changes drastically as they're confronted with a crude reality.

LA VACA (The Cow)

Mendel Samayoa

Comedy / 2011 / 97 min.

A simple misunderstanding triggers the funniest scenario imaginable around the town cow. An inheritance hangs on the balance as two ladies must grant their beloved's last wish: Get the cow pregnant. Without the slightest clue as to how to get the task done, the two women decide to "take the cow by the horns" and prepare the bovine for the bull that someone has offered to effect the act.

Apparently everything goes according to plan as the two women manage to get the town cow in the same room with a 3 ton bull. All the effort has been in vain, however, as the town lawyer and best friend of the deceased reveals that a faulty translation of the defunct's last wish has caused the misunderstanding.

 

HONDURAS

ALMAS DE MEDIA NOCHE (Midnight Souls)

Juan Carlos Fanconi

Terror/ 2001 / 120 min.

“Midnight Souls” is a story based on religious beliefs on the afterlife. A journalist (Mario Jaen), who was investigating the mysterious death of locals from a town named “White Cross of Yojoa”, was murdered. Alex (Juan Fernando Lobo) and five of his friends, all from the upper class, organize a trip to cover a research paper for their Journalism class, and thinking it was all just a game, they open the doors to hell and discover the truth hidden for more than 200 years by the indian Lencas. They play a game of legends, where secrets are revealed and where a misstep can lead you to death. The six friends are classmates and students to the ruthless professor Guillermo Zola. Their lives gain significance after enduring a great experience, where no one believed in God’s existence or salvation. A Lenca Priest (Felipe Acosta) opens their eyes, and in a midnight stigmata, they each starting repenting inside theirs sins’ purgatory.

 

MEXICO

SILVESTRE PANTALEÓN (Silvestre Pantaleon)

Roberto Olivares Ruiz

Documentary / 2011 / 65 min.

The story of an elderly man from the Nahuatl-speaking village of San Agustin Oapan, Guerrero, Mexico. Silvestre Pantaleon follows the protagonist as he struggles to pay for a curing ceremony and provide for his family. He dedicates himself to the only remunerative activities he knows: handcrafting rope for religious ceremonies and building seldom-used household objects that he alone still has the skills to produce. Silvestre Pantaleon is a simple though universal tale of aging, told with a lyrical combination of lingering imagery and detail.

Best feature length documentary, Morelia International Film Festival , México, 2011.

LA MALETA MEXICANA (The Mexican Suitcase)

Trisha Ziff

Documentary / 2011 / 86 min.

The story of three lost boxes, found in a closet in Mexico City in 2007, that disappeared in the chaos of Europe at the beginning of World War II. Contained in the titular suitcase were 4,500 photo negatives, the work of three young European photographers: Robert Capa, David “Chim” Seymour and Gerda Taro. Exiles from different places (Hungary, Poland, Germany), they had become friends in Paris, then traveled to Spain together to fight fascism with their cameras. This fascinating documentary from Trisha Ziff (CHEVOLUTION, 2008 Silverdocs) explores not only the historical mystery of how this photographic treasure trove came to be stashed—and nearly forgotten—in a modest Mexico City apartment, but also the living history of people affected by the Spanish Civil War: in Spain, the contemporary descendants of the defeated Republicans; in Mexico, the refugee children—now senior citizens—who fled war-torn Spain for the safety of a new home. Official Selection, 2011 Karlovy Vary, Los Angeles Latino and San Sebastian Film Festivals.

 

PARAGUAY

KARAI NORTE (The Man from the North)

Marcelo Martinessi

Short  / 2009 / 20min.

In just 20 minutes the director through his black and white images describes solitude, poverty, and human feelings in our continent. A Paraguayan tale that reminds us to Juan Rulfo.

LOS PARAGUAYOS (The Paraguayans)

Marcelo Martinessi

Documentary  /2007/ 53min.

The Paraguayan  a documentary that covers key moments in the formation of  Paraguayan identity, from the Guarani Nation, to our days. In 53 minutes, this documentary  unleashes enigmatic knots,  a reality full of contrasts, a country that has both real and imaginary.

 

PORTUGAL

Estranho Caso de Angélica (The Strange Case of Angelica)

Manoel de Oliveira

Fiction / 2010 / 94 min

Isaac is a young photographer living in a boarding house in Régua. In the middle of the night, he receives an urgent call from a wealthy family to come and take the last photograph of their daughter, Angelica, who died just a few days after her wedding. Arriving at the house of mourning, Isaac gets his first glimpse of Angelica and is overwhelmed by her beauty. As soon as he looks at her through the lens of his camera, the young woman appears to come back to life just for him. Isaac instantly falls in love with her. From that moment on, Angélica will haunt him night and day, until exhaustion.

 

PERÚ

OCTUBRE (October)

Daniel and Diego Vega

Comedy / 2010 / 83 min

OCTUBRE, the first feature film from brothers Daniel and Diego Vega, is a deadpan dark comedy incorporating influences ranging from Jim Jarmusch and Aki Kaurismaki to Robert Bresson, and winner of the Jury Prize at Cannes Film Festival-Un Certain Regard.

Clemente is a moneylender in Lima, Peru and all of his personal relationships are qualified by money.  Money is his guiding compass and determines the people he lends to and the prostitutes he frequents. It's a lonely existence that is turned upside down when he returns home to discover an abandoned baby left in his charge.  Clemente tries to care for the baby himself; but Sofia, one of his clients, goes in search of the birth mother –a prostitute he once visited. Sofia, lonely for companionship, attempts to bring this unlikely family together. The film is set in Lima during the month of October when thousands join processions celebrating the Lord of Miracles, as purple-smocked devotees carry Peru's unique image of Christ.

 

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC

LA SOGA (The Rope)

Joshua Crook

Action / 2009 / 103 min.

Writer-producer-star Manny Perez's hard-hitting crime story pulls no punches in its tale of a government enforcer/hit man whose personal code of honor causes him to question the morality of the people he works for. Perez plays Luisito, "La Soga" ("The Rope"), who, along with his partner, Tavo (Hemky Madera), administers rough justice to drug dealers at the direction of General Colon (Juan Fernandez), chief of the secret police. A budding romance with Jenny (former Miss Universe Denise Quiñones) makes Luisíto consider getting out of the game, just as drug kingpin Rafa (Paul Calderon), the man who murdered Luisíto's father, returns to the Dominican Republic after years away in New York. Official Selection, 2009 Toronto Film Festival.

LA HIJA NATURAL (Love Child)

Leticia Tonos

Drama / 2011 / 96min.

After her mother dies in an accident, 18 year old Maria decides to look for the father she never met. As a child, this simple and sensitive young girl picked up the strange habit of putting ladybugs in her mouth. Maria travels to a nearby town taking what few belongings she has and a puzzling red dress her mother kept mysteriously hidden under her bed. Maria finds her father Joaquin living in a dark old house located in the middle of an abandoned banana plantation, which the locals claim to be haunted by spirits. He lives there alone, with an enigmatic Haitian called Montifa as his only company.

 

URUGUAY

ALMA MATER

Alvaro Buela

Drama / 2005 / 100 min.

Pamela (Roxana Blanco) is a small and shy woman. She works in a supermarket, attends a religious temple and periodically visits her autistic mother. An anonymous character, a meaningless life. Suddenly, a miracle occurs. Messages of a marvelous destiny start to reach Pamela in unusual ways: a client, a transvestite, her own mother, dreams, barcodes, real and imaginary signals.

RUIDO (Noise)

Marcelo Bertalmio

Drama / 2005 / 100 min.

Basilio (Jorge Visca)  is a kindhearted person. Dominated by his wife (Mariana Olazabal), humiliated by his colleagues, despised by the man who walks his dog. Basi can’t bear it anymore and falls apart. In the middle of his suicide Irene (Lucia Carlevari) appears and his life changes.

GIGANTE (Giant)

Adrian Biniez

Romance / 2009 / 90 min.

Jara (Horacio Camandule), a big and shy supermarket security guard, discovers a cleaning woman (Leonor Svarcas) through the surveillance cameras and falls in love with her. Soon, Jara’s life starts to turn into a series of rituals and routines around the woman and the desire to get to know her.

EL BAÑO DEL PAPA (The Pope’s Toilet)

Enrique Fernandez & César Charlone

Drama / 2007 / 97 min.

In Melo, a poor Uruguayan country town near the Brazilian border, several men earn their living from contraband, mostly transported on bicycles. One of them, Beto (Cesar Troncoso), is getting too old for heavy freights but hopes to earn enough to buy a motorbike. The announced Pope’s visit to Uruguay and his passing by near the town to be cheered by hordes of catholic Brazilians made Beto to think about building  a proper lavatory and charge for its use.

ARTIGAS LA REDOTA

César Charlone

Histórica / 2011 / 118 min.

In 1884, the famous painter Juan Manuel Blanes received the order to recover the image of a legend.

His sources are the notes of Guzmán Larra, the Spanish spy who, 70 years earlier, had tried to assassinate the leader José Artigas.

This is the same leader who, harassed by two empires and accused by the people of Buenos Aires, emigrated with a group of migrant fugitives, camping along the banks of the Ayuí Stream.

In the face of adversity, and searching for their destinies, these three men arrived at the same crossroads: the passage has no point of arrival but only a point of departure.

 

VENEZUELA

DUDAMEL: EL SONIDO DE LOS NIÑOS (Dudamel: Let the Children Play)

Alberto Arvelo Torrealba

Documentary / 2010 / 84 min

Children's and youth orchestras are emerging in many countries of the world, inspired by the Venezuelan musical and educational program "  El Sistema", which immerses children in the world of music, art, team work, discipline, cooperation, fun, learning, creativity, and high values.

Gustavo Dudamel, the amazingly gifted Venezuelan conductor, entirely educated in "   El Sistema", leads this journey through the stories of some of the young people who are experiencing the joy of music in the most diverse and contrasting corners of the world. These children are bringing a simple message to all of us: art is a universal right.

Filmed in seven different countries, "DUDAMEL: Let the Children Play" is an opportunity to glimpse the world of orchestras, conducting, and the importance of art as a hopeful path to face the educational crisis worldwide. "DUDAMEL: Let the Children Play" is a story of hope for the future unfolding right now.

ZAMORA, TIERRA Y HOMBRES LIBRES ( Zamora, Free Land and Men)

Román Chalbaud

Historical Fiction / 2009 / 128 min

Venezuela, middle of 19th century. Polarization between Liberals and Conservatives in Venezuela marked the political agenda of the period. The inequalities of colonial society kept farmers and slaves under the oligarchy's yoke. Ezequiel Zamora a hero of his time, took it upon himself to fight for the equal rights of peasants and farmers afflicted by the class struggle that was caused by wealthy landowners.

TAITA BOVES (Taita Boves)

Luis Alberto Lamata

Historical Fiction / 2010 / 100 min

Taita Boves chronicles a thirst for revenge that devastated a country. It tells the true story of Jose Tomás Boves, a cruel man who became a legend during the Venezuelan War of Independence, the most violent in the Americas. He went from seafarer to pirate, horse smuggler to prosperous merchant, prisoner to military chief. Spanish by birth, he spearheaded a grass roots troop of slaves, mulattoes, Indians and mestizos that crushed Simón Bolívar and his patriot army. Respectfully referred to as "Taita" by them, he fought for the underprivileged and the poorest of the poor, and curtailed three centuries of order in this colonial region. This film is about his passions and power, his loves and misadventures, and a bloody saga that rocked Venezuela.

TAMBORES DE AGUA , UN ENCUENTRO ANCESTRAL (Water Drums, an ancestral encounter)

Clarissa Duque

Documentary / 2009 / 75 min

Framed in a contemporary cultural discourse of resistance, this documentary -shot in both Venezuela and Cameroon- research the traditions of Venezuelan black communities descendants from the Maroons. Through the ringing sound of water, the Water Drum claims the collective memory and becomes binding for the encounter between Africa and their descendants in Venezuela.

Now, the dividends of the WNO’s merger with the Kennedy Center are paying off in the form of a $10 million budget boost in 2016, when the company announced today it will finally put on the complete series. Francesca Zambello, the creator of the “American Ring” concept and longtime WNO collaborator, has been named the company’s artistic advisor, an ambiguous position that suggests a transition to a permanent one. She’s committed to direct the four part cycle as well as at least one production per year going forward.

Perhaps more interesting is the New American Works project the company has also unveiled: a commissioning program to develop shorter new operas written by emerging composers and librettists. The idea is to give young artists the backing to develop grander productions than they might not otherwise get to do straight out of conservatory. The new works, which will be just 20 minutes long and focus on a contemporary American theme, will be presented at the Kennedy Center’s Terrace Theater. Hour-long and full-length new operas are envisioned for the future. Additionally, the WNO says it will stage one family-friendly holiday opera each year.

For all the hype leading up to its non-realization, the Ring Cycle had become emblematic of the troubled state of the WNO in the Plácido Domingo era: big ambitions without the resources to match them. Finally putting on this very expensive series will give the WNO some sort of closure. But it also doesn’t quite jibe with the WNO’s supposedly leaner and humbler post-bailout mission. Will it all be worth it in the end? We’ll have a while to find out.

Judging by Wednesday’s capacity crowds, it’s already a hit. The other concert that night, at Busboys and Poets, was also standing room only. A totally unscientific poll of two audience members found that everyone had come specifically for the music; 50 percent came after seeing an announcement on Busboys’ Facebook page, and the other 50 percent because their brother was related to one of the musicians.

The selections throughout the week are pretty eclectic, so check the schedule before heading out. Busboy’s customers were treated to a fairly conventional program of a string quartet and quintet by Beethoven and Dvořák. Acre 121’s was all over the map, including a pair of jarring modern works by David Anderson and NSO cellist David Teie, bookended by baroque pieces by J.S. Bach and Michael Haydn. But the highlight was a Celtic reel and a Norwegian “devil’s tune” played by Glenn Donnellan on a garish eight-string Norwegian fiddle. (He also owns a baseball bat he’s converted to a violin.)

“NSO in your Neighborhood” is an expansion of a couple pre-existing community performance models, one with THEARC in Southeast, and the other with the Columbia Heights Educational Campus. But it’s the first of its kind held at multiple sites throughout a residential neighborhood. The NSO had asked participating venues what kind of performance they wanted, then sent around a sign-up sheet to orchestra members, leaving it up to them to form ensembles and pick their programs. Cellist Rachel Young says musicians jumped at the opportunity. It’s something they’ve done regularly as part of their American Residency Program, in which the orchestra hits the road and plays at schools, rec centers, and nursing homes throughout a designated state (this year’s is Kentucky, in February). But so far, it hasn’t happened nearly enough in D.C. itself.

If the Columbia Heights location is a bid by the NSO to reach out to new demographics—i.e. black, Latino, and hipster audiences—Wednesday’s concerts showed mixed results. The Acre 121 crowd was just as overwhelmingly white as a typical NSO performance, and the dress code was more Brooks Brothers than A.P.C.; Busboys’ crowd was much more diverse. Both were on average younger than 40, which is a good sign for those of us who worry about classical music’s long-term prospects. In any case, breaking out of the marble mausoleum that is the Kennedy Center and playing to people where they live is exactly the kind of thing the NSO need to do more of. Plus, violinist Joel Fuller remarked, “We don’t usually get to have drinks on stage.”

All performances free and open to the public; some require prior registration. Schedule online and below:

Wednesday, January 4

7:00-9:00pm
Acre 121, 1400 Irving St., NW
CHAMBER MUSIC

NSO musicians Glenn Donnellan, violin; Ruth Wicker Schaaf, viola; David Teie, cello; and Jeffrey Weisner, bass, play works featuring a variety of classical composers, eras of music and styles.

7:00-9:00pm
Busboys and Poets, 2021 14th St., NW
CHAMBER MUSIC

NSO musicians Alexandra Osborne and Joel Fuller, violins; Mahoko Eguchi, viola; Rachel Young, cello; and Anthony Manzo, bass perform classical works.

Thursday, January 5

10:00-11:30am
Sitar Arts Center, 1700 Kalorama Rd., NW
ROUNDTABLE DISCUSSION

Professional arts administrators from the greater Washington region participate in a roundtable discussion addressing the topic of fundraising for arts education. To register, visit the Sitar Arts Center site or call (202) 797-2145.

Friday, January 6

4:00-5:00pm
Sitar Arts Center, 1700 Kalorama Rd., NW
ENSEMBLE PERFORMANCE: Viva Violins

NSO violinists Elisabeth Adkins, Holly Hamilton, Jane Bowyer Stewart and Linda Schroeder, perform classical works for children, youth and families.

7:00-9:00pm
Columbia Heights Educational Campus, 3101 16th St., NW
FULL ORCHESTRA CONCERT: A World of Music

The National Symphony Orchestra performs classical works highlighting artistic and cultural influences from around the world.

This event is free but tickets are required.

To reserve tickets, e-mail us , call (202) 416-8112, or visit EventBrite.

National Symphony Orchestra
Ankush Kumar Bahl, conductor

Program to include:

DVORÁK: Carnival Overture
DEBUSSY: Clair de lune
COPLAND: El salón México
VIVALDI: "Winter" from The Four Seasons
BRAHMS: Tragic Overture
WALKER: Lyric for Strings
MÁRQUEZ: Danzón No.2
GRIEG: Peer Gynt Suite No.1

This event is free but tickets are required. To reserve tickets, email us or call (202) 416-8112.

Sunday, January 8

10:15-11:00am
BloomBars, 3222 11th St., NW
KINDERKONZERT: Follow That Fiddle!

Almost anything can become a musical instrument, when you look at it the right way. In this special Kinderkonzert, NSO member Glenn Donnellan plays multiple fiddles including his Electric Slugger™ — a violin made from a baseball bat! This performance is designed for ages 4 & up.

1:00-3:00pm
All Souls Church, 2835 16th St., NW
CHAMBER MUSIC

NSO musicians Heather LeDoux Green, violin; Daniel Foster, viola; and Lisa Emenheiser, piano, play classical works.

This event is free but tickets are required. To reserve tickets, e-mail us or call (202) 416-8112.

2:00-3:30pm
GALA Hispanic Theatre, 3333 14th St., NW
ENSEMBLE PERFORMANCE

At 2pm, NSO members will kick off GALA Hispanic Theatre's traditional community celebration, Fiesta de los tres reyes magos/Three Kings Day, the most popular holiday event in the Latino community.

2:00-3:30pm
The Wonderland Ballroom, 1101 Kenyon St., NW
DANCE AND MUSIC COLLABORATION

NSO violinist Glenn Donnellan and additional NSO colleagues perform with dancers Kelly Moss Southall, Maura Gahan and Gregg Corbino.

3:00-4:00pm
St. Stephen's and the Incarnation Episcopal Church, 1525 Newton St., NW
ENSEMBLE PERFORMANCE

NSO trombonists Craig Mulcahy and Barry Hearn, and guest trombonists Dave Murray play classical works.

7:00-8:00pm
BloomBars, 3222 11th St., NW
HIP-HOP AND CLASSICAL MUSIC COLLABORATION

An artistic exchange with NSO musicians Alexandra Osborne and Joel Fuller, violins; Mahoko Eguchi, viola; Rachel Young, cello, and Peabody Award-winning Hip Hop artist Asheru and rising jazz/R&B vocalist Tamika Love Jones. The collaboration will celebrate the music of Afro-French composer and violin virtuoso Chevalier de Saint-Georges, also referred to as "The Black Mozart".

Monday, January 9

5:30-6:30pm
Washington DC Jewish Community Center, 1529 16th St., NW
CHAMBER MUSIC

NSO musicians Natasha Bogachek, violin; Zino Bogachek, violin; Eric DeWaardt, viola; and Yvonne Caruthers, cello, play classical works. This event is a part of the Washington DC Jewish Community Center's Open House and Locally Grown Festival.

5:30-6:30pm
The Dance Institute of Washington, 3400 14th St., NW
DANCE AND MUSIC COLLABORATION

Performances by students from the Dance Institute of Washington and NSO musicians Glenn Donnellan, violin; Ruth Wicker Schaaf, viola; David Teie, cello; and Jeffrey Weisner, bass, followed by a question and answer session.

DIRECTOR: In terms of animal magnetism, 41-year-old TWC director Julian Wachner has a slight advantage over 75-year-old CAS director Norman Scribner. Not that Scribner is without his own allure; his awkward conducting style—knees bent, hips wildly gyrating—can be vaguely erotic. Wachner’s proven himself willing to be risqué, throwing a sex scene into his last composed choral work, Come My Dark Eyed One. So it wasn’t surprising that the evening started out with some inappropriate touching: Wachner instructed the audience to stand up and give each other backrubs. This is all part of his hammy routine, which he uses to great effect to elicit audience participation in the sing-a-longs. (Yes, there are sing-a-longs. You’ve been warned.) But while Wachner is cheerfully dictatorial, Scribner is just dictatorial, demanding the audience sing “Silent Night”—in Russian!—and then do it twice more so that soloist Irina Shishkova can correct their pronunciation. Point: TWC

PROGRAM: The Washington Chorus adheres to a standard pops formula. Wachner put together a good mix of fast and slow, familiar and obscure carols, and he spaced out the singalongs. The Choral Arts Society is more hamstrung in its selection. Each year CAS highlights music from a different country. This year it’s Russia because...it’s more Christmasy? Because it’s cold? Whatever the reasoning, this leaves the program with a lot of minor-key dirges that are a lot less merry than, say, “Holly Jolly Christmas,” and the more upbeat carols, thrown in at random, feel disjointed. Point: TWC

CHORUS: Both choruses are all-volunteer, and they’re both quite good. But the Choral Arts Society sings with their noses buried in their songbooks, whereas the Washington Chorus makes more of an effort to make eye contact. It’s little things like this that make all the difference in keeping an audience engaged—particularly one made up of children in itchy sweaters who don’t want to be there. TWC is also joined by two choral groups from area high schools. Saturday’s Langley Madrigals handled their unfortunately named French carols (“Here, Mid the Ass and Oxen Mild” and “Touro-Louro-Louro!”) with remarkable grace, despite looking like extras from Robin Hood: Men in Tights. I’m guessing those puffy shirts don’t make them the coolest kids at Langley High, much as they deserve to be. Point: TWC

ORCHESTRA: CAS is accompanied by the Ural Philharmonic Orchestra (Sverdlovsk’s finest), which flew in for its first U.S. performance. They’re not the most famous symphonic group in Russia but they sound nice and boisterous, and play a rollicking Tchaikovsky’s “Jester’s Dance.” TWC is accompanied by a brass ensemble made up of players from the National Symphony Orchestra’s horn section—which, if you were to pick any NSO section to feature, wouldn’t normally be in your top 10. Point: CAS

SOLOIST: TWC’s featured soloist, tenor Carl Tanner, is a bonafide opera star, and strikes all the diva poses to prove it: eyes closed, hands outstretched, nose pointed skyward. He does a soulful “Mary Had a Baby,” although “O Holy Night,” one of the prettiest Christmas songs, in my opinion sounds better with a female vocalist. But after only two short pieces, he’s gone. At least CAS’s soloist, mezzo-soprano Irina Shishkova, sticks around for four, including a beautiful “Ave Maria” in which she out-projects the entire chorus put together. Point: CAS

BONUS POINT: TWC for handing out candy canes after the concert

Overall, the Washington Chorus puts on the more spirited holiday program, and one with broader family appeal. You could see it in their respective opening-night audiences: The Washington Chorus had a lot more kids, whereas the Choral Arts Society had a lot more congressmen (or, at least, white guys with silver hair and little American flag lapel pins who look like congressmen). Choral Arts’ version of Christmas is more majestic but also a bit bloodless. Both get points off for forcing audiences to sing that plague canticle, Handel’s Messiah. But a couple in the front row at TWC’s Saturday concert got engaged in the middle of it, providing a bit of relief.

WINNER: The Washington Chorus

The Washington Chorus’s A Candlelight Christmas continues Tuesday, Dec. 20 at 7 p.m. and Thursday, Dec. 22 at 7 p.m. at the Kennedy Center, and Wednesday, Dec. 21 at 7:30 p.m. at Strathmore. The Choral Arts Society’s Holiday Treasures from Russia continues Wednesday, Dec. 21 at 7 pm and Saturday, Dec. 24 at 1 p.m. at the Kennedy Center. Saturday's concert includes an additional performance of Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade. All concerts $15 – $65.

If Terrence Jones wants to be remembered as anything, it's probably Treehugger-in-Chief of the arts. The president and CEO of the Wolf Trap Foundation, who recently announced that he will retire after 16 years, is a crusader for carbon neutrality, and he showcases Wolf Trap as a model for sustainable business practices.

But the foundation's board of directors isn't exactly leafy green: along with a handful of schmaltzy performers, including Tony Bennett and the Smothers Brothers, it comprises a coterie of suits from the likes of ExxonMobil, Boeing, AES, and the National Association of Manufacturers. Appropriately, Jones' philosophy on environmentalism, on which he elaborated in a 2007 speech at the National Press Club, has a nice libertarian ring to it:

The arts seek to raise mankind's collective level of consciousness, challenge convention and inspire societal change. Some of the arts might still question, "Shouldn't we really leave the heavy lifting and substantial environmental work to the government, to big business or to the large environmental advocates? Aren't they ultimately better equipped to share research and technologies and work together to mitigate the global environmental change?" Well, while these entities are certainly a critical part of the big picture solution, we must realize that every citizen has a voice, has the ability to promote awareness and become a better steward of our environment. I believe there's no better example of the power of the individual than what we see in the arts. The arts are truly a testament of what I like to call the power of one. One person alone can compose a symphony that changes the way the world sees itself. And one person, through the arts, can encourage harmony within the natural world and inspire others to change. It all begins with that person that you see in the mirror each morning. It begins with you and it begins with me.

All of this must be reassuring to corporate donors that Jones is the kind of eco-activist who expects them to be self-actualizing agents of change rather than, you know, clean up their oil spills.  But even if Jones' commitment to Mother Earth isn't shared by the whole of Wolf Trap's leadership, one thing is clear: Under Jones, Wolf Trap has stayed afloat—even thrived—during tough economic times.

As with all arts organizations, Wolf Trap’s fortunes have seesawed through booms and busts, and most of Jones’ term fell squarely in the category of busts. 9/11 pummeled ticket purchases, exacerbated by budget cuts by the Virginia state legislature in 2001, which caused Wolf Trap to ax its collaborative arts program with Virginia public schools for at-risk kids. But ticket sales rose again, and Wolf Trap completed construction of its delayed Center for Education in 2003.

Jones also tweaked the foundation’s development strategies. In 2009, Wolf Trap cut both its opening night gala and annual luncheon, and focused on raising more money with fewer fundraisers—which it did, pulling in more than $1 million with this year's Wolf Trap Ball. Jones also introduced new efforts to attract what he calls “special audiences,” telling the Washington Post in 2004, “We have reached the Latin and black audience through programming and targeted marketing," such as distributing fliers at local clubs.

Wolf Trap’s programming isn’t cutting edge, but that’s exactly the point. It’s the place you go to see what you already like, something Jones understands. Over the years, orchestras and operas have taken a back seat to, say, Riverdance, and the remaining classical offerings tend to be middlebrow, as critics here and elsewhere have noted. Not that Wolf Trap doesn’t do opera anymore—in fact, while most arts organizations ride out recessions by falling back on familiar crowd-pleasers, Wolf Trap has stood out by commissioning 72 new works under Jones, including 2004’s Volpone, which got a Grammy nomination, and this year’s The Inspector, which I didn’t like. But kudos to them for trying.

Jones' love of the outdoors appears to be genuine enough. He is a soon-to-be published photographer with a book of photos taken at 88 national parks due out next March. So while Wolf Trap's LEED-certified buildings will remain long after Jones' 2012 departure, let's hope its commitment to new art will stick around, too.

Pianist Jeremy Denk is an increasingly hot commodity on the classical music circuit. He’s performed as a soloist with orchestras from London to San Francisco, played alongside violinist Joshua Bell and under the baton of composer John Adams. He also maintains a blog that's become one of the most widely read in the online classical world (such as it is), in which he muses on topics ranging from ear hair trimmers to fending off the advances of female fans. In his music selection, Denk has cultivated a uniquely broad range, from the baroque to the postmodern; his first solo recording was of the experimental American composer Charles Ives. So he was the obvious choice to headline Strathmore’s three-day festival, The Ives Project, which begins today. He spoke with Washington City Paper by phone from New York.

So…Charles Ives. That’s kind of a ballsy choice for a first recording. Why not someone safer like Chopin, Mozart, even Barber?

Well, there’s already a tremendous number of recordings floating around of those guys. I’ve played Ives a lot, he’s a composer I believe in a great deal and I hope the way I play him is distinctive. He is an unconventional composer. A lot of people dislike him.  Some people are even scared of him.

Why?

He’s dissonant, he can be wild. His music pushes the boundaries of classical music, which he fused with jazz. He tried to rewrite the whole paradigm of what music should be, rather than “ride the cliché” as someone once said. [Note: it was actually Stone Temple Pilots, but I don't think Denk was trying to quote them.]

He was the first American composer to escape from under the European curtain. Even Copland, Barber, and all them went to Paris, and there’s a certain slick Parisian sheen to what they wrote. Ives wasn’t perfect. He was messy. He basically said “screw everybody else” and did his own thing. No one else did that until maybe John Cage.

You’re on Twitter and have a popular blog. Were you surprised that classical listeners read blogs and know how to use Twitter?

The classical audience is moving in that direction—the Internet, the blogosphere. I like it because I can write what really interests me without adhering to any format. In other outlets, like pre-concert lectures, my time is restricted and I can’t say certain improper things. But I get scared sometimes. I was backstage at Carnegie Hall and the artistic director startled me when he said, “I liked your blog post yesterday.”

You’re not constrained at all? As a performer, don’t you get any pushback from agents or industry people saying, “Don’t write that, it’s not professional”?

So far I haven’t gotten any pushback. But I definitely feel constrained, by my own choice. I don’t write about certain things; for example, I don’t review other people’s performances. But I can criticize other aspects of classical music. For example program notes. I feel there are a number of recurring issues with them that only exacerbate the age problem with classical music. They can make the music seem deader than it already is.

You had a popular post where you “interviewed” Sarah Palin about Beethoven (“trill baby trill”). You’ve also commented on Newt Gingrich’s novels. Do you have an interest in politics that overlaps with music?

I admit that politics is a rich mine of idiocy. There’s a lot of ridiculousness in that world that makes for good comedy, which I guess is why that Sarah Palin post got linked everywhere. For that, there’s a real particular lingo with classical music just as there is for politics, and it was fun mashing that up with right-wing talking points.

Why did you quit Twitter?

I was just joking about that, I didn’t really. But I often turn on Twitter and find it exhausting. There’s this huge stream of people saying, “I liked your performance last night.”

Don’t you like the ego boost?

I’m just saying, there’s a lot of happy tweeting.

What’s wrong with that?

Listen…I was just trying to express feeling overwhelmed.

Does the process of going through a conservatory and becoming a professional classical musician give you a kind of tunnel vision about the music that you play?

There’s certainly a perfectionist element that goes into performing. You become fixated on details, and constantly trying to improve your playing. It can be a very narcissistic activity, which is a problem.

What’s your remedy?

I’m working on that. Massage is one of them. I like to change up the period of the music I play, from the 1780s to the 1990s. I’m looking for some place far away to travel to for vacation.

Massages and vacations huh? Sounds rough.

Yeah, well those are just remedies. The problem’s still there.

Tonight, Denk plays Ives’ chamber pieces with the Post-Classical Ensemble and baritone William Sharp. Tickets $15 – $25.  On Friday, November 4, he plays Ives’ Concord Sonata and Beethoven’s Hammerklavier Sonata, accompanied by readings of Emerson, Hawthorne and Thoreau. Tickets $13.50 – $40.50.  Both are at 8 pm at the Strathmore Music Center, 5401 Tuckerman Lane, Bethesda.

Photo by Samantha West