Santa Fe New Music presents "Pahayokee: A Plea for Life"

I would love to hear this concert on Thursday, February 25th, when Santa Fe New Music presents Pahayokee: A Plea for Life. The music is a dramatic environmental oratorio describing the current plight of the "River of Grass," the Florida Everglades. Composed by Jack Tamul, the work is a fervent plea to save one of the Earth's most unique environments. It combines traditional and sacred sound forms, the singing of baritone John Boehr, and ambient recordings of birds, frogs, and insects. The natural sounds are an integral part of the structure and impact of the piece, with the vocalist singing in and with the soundscapes of the Everglades.

You can hear some of the music at this link, learning more about efforts to save the "Foreverglades." .

John Boehr has sung leading baritone roles with many opera companies, including Austin Lyric Opera, the Minnesota Opera, and the Santa Fe Opera, where he sang a lead role in the 2007 Opera Trinity, written by SFNM's John Kennedy (my brother).

In 2008 Boehr performed Dandini in La Cenerentola with both Austin Lyric Opera and Opera Fairbanks. He  is currently working with the New York City Opera, covering the title role in Don Giovanni, and in 2010 will be performing the role of Tapioca in the Austin Lyric Opera production of L'Étoile.



Pahayokee: A Plea for Life is presented in association with the Santa Fe Art Institute; it is a benefit for the Santa Fe Conservation Trust. I know that my young nieces Jasmine and Jade (lovers of toads, frogs, and all forms of wildlife) will enjoy this; I'll look forward to hearing their impressions.


Pahayokee: A Plea for Life
An Environmental Oratorio
A Benefit for the Santa Fe Conservation Trust
Thursday, February 25, 7 pm
Tipton Hall, Santa Fe Art Institute
Santa Fe Art Institute on the campus of the College of Santa Fe
1600 St. Michael's Drive. Tickets: $25 at the door or through the Santa Fe Conservation Trust

Happy Birthday, John!

It's the birthday of my brother John Kennedy, of Santa Fe New Music, father of Jasmine and Jade, husband of Rozella, sister to Kathy in Australia, and only son of Joyce and Wally. Here he is on the North Shore of Lake Superior, swimming in the Temperance River.

Does your head swim? That's one of my favorite questions, perhaps because mine so often does, swimming or cascading with memories, images, sounds, and ideas. Cascades: it's a word for a musician like John, someone who hears things.

1. A waterfall or a series of small waterfalls over steep rocks.
2. Something, such as lace, thought to resemble a waterfall or series of small waterfalls, especially an arrangement or fall of material.
3. A succession of stages, processes, operations, or units.
4. Electronics: A series of components or networks, the output of each of which serves as the input for the next.
5. A chemical or physiological process that occurs in successive stages, each of which is dependent on the preceding one, and often producing a cumulative effect: an enzymatic cascade.

John has done many remarkable things, not least of which is the pulling-out-of-thin-air of musical concerts and compositions year after year, first with Essential Music in New York City, and now with Santa Fe New Music in New Mexico. He also organizes and conducts the Music in Time series at the Spoleto Music Festival in Charleston, South Carolina.

If you are new to the sounds of New Music (not to be confused with New Age Music), the Santa Fe New Music site is a good place to learn: you'll find archives, a page with links to the composers featured over their first seven concert series, and a "listen up" list of recommended CDs. John has been influenced by the aleatoric or "chance" music of John Cage, whose memorial service he organized as a musical tribute (with Merce Cunningham, Yoko Ono, and others) in New York City.

You can hear clips from John's own One Body here (click on "Listen to Samples" under the CD cover): it's a composition featuring poetry by Joy Harjo, Gary Snyder, Kenneth Patchen, Walt Whitman, and others, set for the unique voice of countertenor/baritone Bruce Rameker. (Amazon has Rameker incorrectly listed as composer.) Here is more information about One Body, and the libretto. The beautiful CD cover is by painter Nancy Ortenstone, of Taos, New Mexico.

I can't listen to One Body without it bringing tears to my eyes, recalling the way my brother helped "conduct" the recovery of our father, Wally, when he ended up (almost by chance) in an intensive care unit a few years ago. John came to spend days and nights in the unit, watching the machines with intense sensitivity and intelligence, talking quietly with the night nurses. He was adept at tuning us into those moments when Dad needed us to talk to him, and he lead us in the reiki that helped prep him for the surgical procedure that saved his life. At night, in the background, this music played, providing comfort and connection for Wally. Listen to One Body, especially if you are in need of healing: it has great spiritual power.

Much love and gratitude to John on this day!

The Outer Reaches of New Mexico...and Outer Space

My brother John and his family finished the Santa Fe New Music production of The Language of Birds, to standing ovations (here is a pre-show report from the Santa Fe Reporter's John Stege). Then they traveled to one of the more remote parts of New Mexico, near Datil, on the edge of the Cibola National Forest, near the Very Large Array.

Before I looked that up, I was imagining a very large array of rock formations: instead, this is a radio astronomy observatory that studies radio galaxies, hydrogen gas, quasars, pulsars, supernova remnants, gamma ray bursts, radio-emitting stars, the sun and planets, astrophysical masers, and black holes. Oh.

Our friends Cheryl Walsh Bellville and Don Hastings are building a house there. Cheryl is a photographer with a studio in nearby Magdalena. For years they've lived in western Wisconsin, where Don still maintains a business hauling hay and Cheryl documents life in the midwest and beyond (from a studio in St. Paul), often creating remarkable photographic children's books.

Cheryl just send me these wonderful photos of my family. She says "Your dad is looking through binoculars at the small mountain that rises behind our house. John and his girls have climbed to the top. They'd just walked out of range when I took this picture."

Santa Fe New Music Presents "The Language of Birds"

Rehearsals are in high gear for the Santa Fe youth opera The Language of Birds, written by my brother, composer John Kennedy, artistic director of Santa Fe New Music.

This two-act opera premiered in 2004 with the Sarasota Opera in Florida; it was showcased at the 2004 “Opera America” convention.

The Santa Fe production features a cast of some 70 young people from pre-kindergarten to age 19, working with a production and artistic team of international quality, and supported musically by a professional chamber orchestra. The cast is culturally, economically, and developmentally diverse, representing 17 schools and some homeschooled youth from seven New Mexico cities and towns, within four counties.

There are three performances this March 27 and 28 at the Lensic Performing Arts Center in Santa Fe. I so wish I was there! I'm grateful that my parents, Joyce and Wally, are going to see the show. Jasmine and Jade, my nieces, are among the cast members: that's Jasmine, above, with the gold headband, in the blue sweater; and Jade in turquoise. Their mom, Rozella Kennedy, is general manager of Santa Fe New Music.

The team effort, discipline, excitement, and validation offered to young people by an experience like this one are so valuable, with many potential ripple effects for their futures. The fact that their voices are taken seriously, that they work across a range of ages, and that they anticipate the ephemeral thrill of real theater is something they won't soon forget. It helps them integrate and coordinate many skills, from song and dance to memorization, presentation, set design and production values. And it's so much better than just watching endless reruns of High School Musical, in its various incarnations! Here, the kids are up off the couch and in their own opera. How often do they have an opportunity like that?

"I Am Lonely: The Solitary Frog's Lament": Toads for Jade

My brother John Kennedy, of Santa Fe New Music, was just in town to audition musicians at the IU Jacobs School of Music for the Spoleto Music Festival held in Charleston, South Carolina. His visit here once a year gives us a rare chance to have dinner together and share stories.

This year John carried letters from his daughters Jasmine and Jade. Jade is an artist, and I really need to scan and upload her handwritten letter to convey its beauty. (There are many subtle colors in the round organic forms living behind the lines and words.) She had this to say:

On Sunday we got toads! They are so cute! One of our toads is named Sandy. Today me and mom were playing with Sandy and she hopped out of the cage and I couldn't find her because she was behind the cage. Jazzie's frog is Kermit. Mine is Carrot. I might change it later, Well bye!

Jade and Jasmine might like playing a computer game designed by Elena Bertozzi, "I Am Lonely: The Solitary Frog's Lament", available at the Ardea Arts website:

This game was created over the summer of 2008 with an Undergraduate Research grant from UWW. Biologist Jeff McKinnon wanted a game that would interest high school students in Wisconsin frogs. The game teaches players how to identify 12 frogs by their calls, habitats and markings. We are very proud to have made it to the finalist round of the Serious Games Showcase in Orlando Florida. Make sure your speakers are on.

I just played the game and I'm happy to say that I found my solitary female toad a mate. They have exchanged gametes, and more Wisconsin toads should result. Oops, played again and left my toad in a very dangerous place, near a turtle! Must go back and try to get it right. There are wonderful frog and toad sounds in this game.

The Church of Beethoven...or Berryman

My brother John Kennedy, of Santa Fe New Music, called my attention to this NPR story about the Church of Beethoven, in Albuquerque, New Mexico, founded by cellist Felix Wurman, who sometimes performs with Santa Fe New Music. Housed in an abandoned gas station along old Route 66, the Church of Beethoven offers an experience of music that goes beyond entertainment and the concert. It provides community, a spiritual experience, and "church for people who don't go to church." (I love the repurposed canoe that serves as signboard.)

The Santa Fe New Music site also explores community and the conceptual dimensions of music. It includes audio and video clips; if you head over there, you can catch a glimpse of what's new in New Music, filling your ears with beautiful sounds. John has been giving a lecture series at the Georgia O'Keefe Museum called "Beyond the Noise: Listening to Modern Music." The course is inspired in part by 2008 MacArthur “Genius” Award-laureate Alex Ross’ recent book: The Rest Is Noise: Listening to the Twentieth Century.

John suggests that writers could start a church of Berryman, and I've been wondering about that. I turned last night to my copy of John Berryman's unfinished novel, Recovery, in its 1993 Thunder Mouth Press edition. This book includes the 1973 introduction by Saul Bellow mentioned by Lewis Hyde, a spur for his argument that alcohol destroyed Berryman, dismantling his gift. Bellow claimed "Now came the poems. They were killing him." I think Hyde was very insightful to contest that.

Philip Levine's essay "Mine Own John Berryman", written in 1993, is a wonderful supplement to the novel, and to Bellow's picture of Berryman as his colleague at the University of Minnesota in the 50s. Levine describes in vivid detail the experience of being a student of Berryman the one time he taught a poetry writing class, at the Iowa Writers' Workshop in 1954. The portrait is of a man who "gave all he had to us and asked no special thanks. He did it for the love of poetry."