The Juneau Jazz and Classics festival will celebrate its 30th season next month with its signature mix of musical styles. The two-week event opens on May 6 with Austin blues queen Carolyn Wonderland and close on May 21 with R&B veteran Mavis Staples. In between you'll find everything from Mozart and Brahms to Scott Joplin and Bela Fleck, with some fabulous music-themed parties and dinner cruises thrown in.
We were particularly interested to see that John Luther Adams' "Inuksuit" will be performed on May 21. Adams, who now lives in New York, wrote "Inuksuit" in 2009, when he was a long-time resident of Fairbanks. In 2014 he won the Pulitzer Prize for music. Music from the prize-winning piece "Become Ocean" and his earlier "Earth and the Great Weather" was used in the Oscar-winning film "The Revenant."
[Longtime Alaskan wins Pulitzer Prize]
The 75-minute "Inuksuit" is a sprawling work, physically as well as sonically. It is usually performed outdoors by anywhere from nine to 99 percussionists and musicians playing organic instruments like conch shells. After the west coast premiere at the Ojai Music Festival, the New York Times called it "the ultimate environmental piece."
Musicians spread out over a large area, in a sense turning the landscape into a part of the music. Adams writes, "rehearsal and performance may require topographic maps, GPS units, two-way radios, cellular telephones, backpacks, tents and camping gear, off-road vehicles and other such tools."
Previous venues have included the Canadian Rockies, Rice University campus and New York's Central Park. It has also been presented in the large indoor setting of the New York Armory.
"Inuksuit" has become perhaps Adams' most performed work, sometimes tied to Earth Day observances. The upcoming Juneau performance appears to be the first time the work will be heard in Alaska. An Anchorage performance was attempted some years ago but fell through.
More information about the Juneau festival is at jazzandclassics.org.
Anchorage teen recites in Billings
Seventeen-year-old Anna Lance of Anchorage was one of five young poets selected as an ambassador for the 2015 National Student Poets Program. She joined other recipients of the honor at a White House reception last October. This month, National Poetry Month, she's been travelling to Montana, where she read her own work in Missoula and Billings, participated in an area student showcase and took part in readings and discussions featuring Pulitzer Prize-winning poets Vijay Seshadri and Greg Pardlo.
Lance, a student at West High School, came to be part of the National Student Poets Class of 2015 via the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards program. She was selected from all students in the Western U.S. who had received national medals in the program. You can see her in action at artandwriting.org/the-awards/national-student-poets-program.
Find out more about the program at artandwriting.org/NSPP.
New acting director at state council
Andrea Noble-Pelant has been named Acting Executive Director for the Alaska State Council on the Arts. She'll be stepping in for Shannon Daut, who leaves the post of Executive Director for a job in Santa Monica, California on May 2. She has headed up the state agency since January, 2012.
Noble-Pelant, the Director of the council's Visual and Literary Arts Program, will serve while a search for a new Executive Director is conducted.
Legislature approves contest for art license plates
Senate Bill 154, which passed the legislature in April and as of this writing is awaiting transmission to the Governor, authorizes two sets of special license plates. One honors the Blood Bank of Alaska, the other celebrates the arts. With regard to the latter, the law says the design will be determined by a contest. The winner will be determined by a panel of judges selected by the Alaska State Council on the Arts. The first contest will be held within one year of the time when the law becomes effective and subsequent contests will be held every four years. As new designs come on, the old ones will be discontinued, suggesting that some might become collectors items. The price for both the blood donation and arts boosting plates will be $50 on issuance in addition to the normal vehicle licensing fees.
Musical happenings
It's well worth reminding readers that pianist Edvinas Minkstimas will present what looks like a remarkable concert at 7:30 p.m. Friday in the University of Alaska Anchorage Fine Arts recital hall. Among other things on the dazzling program we see Schumann's "Davidsbundlerdanze," which I don't think I've encountered in an Anchorage recital before now.
Also on the schedule is "Anchorage Divas Live," a fundraiser for Alaska Dance Theatre featuring five strong local singers in five distinct styles of music. They include Paige Genise ("country diva"), who turned in a fine performance as Audrey in the recent production of "Little Shop of Horrors" at Mad Myrna's; Christine Renee Keene ("opera diva"); Charlotte Kopp Fischbach ("pop diva"); Regina Catherine MacDonald ("Broadway diva"); and Monica Lettner ("blues diva").
The gala evening will be hosted by KTUU's Steve MacDonald and will feature appetizers and goodies from Sacks Café and SteamDot Coffee Company, beer from Midnight Sun Brewing Company, wine and more. It takes place at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, April 30, at ADT studios, 550 E. 33rd Ave. Tickets and information are available by calling 907-277-9591.
The Alaska Youth Orchestras will give their final performance of the season at 7 p.m. Saturday in the Discovery Theatre. The program features work by Schubert, Copland and Mussorgsky and the winners of the 2015-2016 Concerto Competition, cellist Sarah Souders and flutist Isabelle Libbrecht. Tickets are available at centertix.net.
Arts included in Rasmuson grants
The Rasmuson Foundation this week announced its Tier 1 grants for the first quarter of the year. The grants for "capital projects, technology upgrades, program expansion and creative works" went to 64 Alaska organizations and totaled $1,338.739. Recipients include groups connected to health care, community activities and conservancy. Among those with a clear connection to arts and culture are:
Alaska Children's Institute for the Performing Arts (Kenai), $25,000
Homer Public Library, $23,691
Alaska Aviation Heritage Museum (Anchorage), $24,302
Hmong Center for Alaska (Anchorage), $10,000
Juneau-Douglas City Museum, $25,000
Alaska Historical Society, $10,000
Friends of the Palmer Library, Togiak Public Library and Cultural Center and Chilkat Indian Village/Klukwan Community Library each received $15,000 to improve library services, catalogue and enhance collections.