Were you art-full this past week?

In between the picnics and the parades, the fireworks and the thunderstorms, did you find time for the arts this past week? If so, please share your experiences (favorable or not so much). Remember: You don’t have to register with WordPress to leave a comment.

Were the arts part of your week?

Please share your adventures in the arts. Remember: You no longer have to register with WordPress to make a comment.

Swingle Singers bring snap, crackle, pop … and siss, boom, bah

Reviewed by David L. Schriber 

Their style is a little hard to describe. It’s vocal, but often wordless. It’s instrumental, but uses the human voice to mimic an orchestra. It’s partly described by various terms such as “instrumental singing,” “vocalese,” “scat singing,” and “vocal percussion.”

The Swingle Singers, a London-based octet with French roots and an American creator, joined the Binghamton Philharmonic Saturday, May 14, in a program of popular and classical music. Though most of its current members (five Brits, one German, one Canadian, one American) have been with the group five years or less, the group itself is nearly 50years old, the 1962 Paris creation (Les Double Six) of Mobile, Ala.-born Ward Swingle.

Freeman exhibit offers unusual gallery experience

Submitted by Bill Gorman

If you haven’t already seen the exhibit at the Cooperative Gallery this month — “Art, Money, Love: Jane Freeman 1871-1963 Paintings and Ephemera of a Working Artist” — don’t miss it!

Were you ‘art-full’ this past week?

Did you swing with the Swingle Singers? Get in touch with your inner folkie at the Cobblestone Crossing show? Support the musicians of tomorrow at the Binghamton Youth Sympphony’s spring concert? Maybe you preferred gallery exhibits, children’s theater, chamber music, movies or a good bar band.
Or perhaps you were busy preparing for an audition or rehearsing for an upcoming performance of you own.
Why not share whatever ways the arts touched your life this past week? Remember: You no longer have to register with WordPress to make a comment.

An appeal to parents and patrons

I’m wearing many hats as I write this editorial: Editor of BAMirror, arts patron and parent. On Tuesday, you will be voting on the budget for your local school district. This has been a rough year for school boards, trying to cut budgets yet maintain programs. Doubtless, some of you will be looking strictly at the bottom line and casting your vote to reflect your opinion of your tax rate. I understand that; I’m a taxpayer, too. Others of you may be casting protest votes against a budget that reduced or eliminated your favorite program. Again, I understand your frustration. I only ask you to consider a more reasoned approach as outlined by the Union-Endicott PTSA president in Friday’s Press & Sun-Bulletin (May 13) — http://tinyurl.com/634vsp5 — and keep in mind that any subsequent versions of a budget won’t restore any cuts.
For that reason, I appeal now to parents, artists and arts organizations to start thinking about ways to compensate for losses such as field trips and enrichment programs. When BAMirror began, Sharon Ball and I expressed our hope that the blog would serve as an online salon, a place where artists and those who love the arts could exchange ideas. Here’s the perfect opportunity. Let’s start a dialogue on how we can continue to bring arts to students (the next generation of arts patrons) and bring students to the arts.

Barb Van Atta

Food for thought

Check out the May 8 article in The Charlotte (N.C.) Observer about Americans’ relationship with opera. Visit The odd story of American opera fans.

Guitarist little-known treasure in the Binghamton area

Reviewed by Rebecca Sheriff

I had the pleasure of seeing guitarist Jamie Willard Saturday, April 30, at the Blind Tiger Pub in Johnson City. Willard has performed with a variety of bands for more than 30 years in the area; however he is now focusing on his fingerpicked style solo work. His solo material can be heard on radio throughout Europe, Canada and Australia, but you have the opportunity to hear him live the first Friday of every month at The Potter’s House  Coffee & Gift Shop in Windsor and subsequent Fridays at the Blind Tiger.

Full performance week planned at BU

Submitted by Sarah Kuras

Hello, readers! It has been a busy few weeks for me while the semester is wrapping up. I just wanted to quickly write about a few performances this week at Binghamton University that I hope you will attend.

Were the arts part of your week?

BAMirror reviewer Tony Villecco attended Tri-Cities Opera’s The Tales of Hoffmann (as did I); Sarah Roche had A Date With Fate at BCC. You can check out their reviews below. I also saw a new Broadway show, Wonderland, which was much better than the reviews had led me to believe.

How about you? What drew you into the arts this past week?

‘A Date With Fate’ leaves something to be desired

Reviewed by Sarah Roche

I really wanted to love this play. It was right up my alley — a local playwright, a local premiere with the college theater group, an intimate setting in BCC’s Little Theatre, a $3 ticket fee and a comedy based on Internet dating. I had been looking forward to this show all week.