By Barb Van Atta
I said it last year; I’ll say it again: From February to May, there are no better places to get the most out of your entertainment buck than the auditoriums of local high schools. Despite budget cutbacks, talented students, dedicated teachers and hard-working volunteers in every district continue to put their hearts into presenting musicals every spring. The 2013 season begins this weekend with Fame at Owego-Apalachin, and continues into spring with offerings both classic (South Pacific) and contemporary (The Wedding Singer).
In 2012, I called around to schools to compile a list of performances. A big shout-out and thank you to Rich Ives of Oweo who did all the legwork this year, put it into this nifty graphic and made it available to BAMirror.
The BInghamton Theatre Organ Society’s benefit, postponed from last Saturday (Dec. 29), will be this Sunday (Jan. 6) at The Forum in downtown Binghamton. For details about the performance, see George Basler’s article below.
Heidi Kelley has been named executive director of the Binghamton Philharmonic, succeeding Stephen Wilson. Kelley, appointed following what was described as “an extensive national search,” will join the Philharmonic on March 1. Currently she is executive director of the Abilene (Texas) Philharmonic. Read the rest of this entry »
By George Basler
The six plays to be performed this weekend and next at KNOW Theatre in downtown Binghamton range from a love story set inside an informational technology office to an intense confrontation between a wife and her unfaithful husband. Read the rest of this entry »
BAMirror contributors will be walking the walk as well as talking the talk over the next couple of weekends. Three of our regular reviewers (Lee Shepherd, Julian Shepherd and Tony Villecco) and Broome County Arts Council Executive Director Sharon Ball are all donning their performance hats.
Villecco, a tenor, will be featured in Nov. 17 in “Basically Baroque,” billed as “an evening of rare and not so rare vocal and musical selections from the 17th and 18thcenturies. Also performing will be Jeffrey Wahl, recorder; Madeleine Iannone, harpsichord, and Emily Creo, bass continuo.
The concert will begin at 8 p.m. at the Unitarian Church 183 Riverside Drive, Binghamton.
Cost at the door: $10 (senior citizens and students, $8). Information: (607) 727-3894. Read the rest of this entry »
EDITOR’s NOTE: This fall, BAMirror is chatting with recently appointed leaders of local arts organizations. Today we talk with Rebecca Sheriff, the new executive director of the Art Mission and Theater in downtown Binghamton. Sheriff, it should be noted, is a former reviewer for BAMirror.
By George Basler
With gas prices being the way they are, film enthusiasts should tip their hats to the Art Mission and Theater in downtown Binghamton.
Located at 61 Prospect Ave., the small, two-screen theater — with a total of 78 seats — shows independent, specialized and foreign films that normally don’t show up at the AMC Loews and Regal multiplexes. “It’s a great organization because it means people don’t have to travel to Ithaca or New York City to see films that otherwise might not be shown here,” said Rebecca Sheriff, the theater’s new executive director. Read the rest of this entry »
Feeling bad that you missed SRO Productions’ run of the musical version of Little Women? Well, cheer up. SRO will be presenting two encore performances at 8 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 10, and at 2 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 11, at the Roberson Museum and Science Center, 30 Front St., Binghamton.
For tickets, call the Roberson box office at 772-0660, ext. 223, or reserve online at www.Roberson.org.
By Barb Van Atta
This weekend’s Tri-Cities Opera performances of Puccini’s La Bohème will be dedicated to three former members of the company who passed away in recent months: tenors Alan Crabb and Pasquale “Pat” Arcodia and soprano Rosalie (De Felice) Julian. Read the rest of this entry »
By Barb Van Atta
To be at the heart of the arts does not necessarily mean you are a creator of art. You also can be a person who brings artistic creations to your community. Winners of the ninth annual Broome County Arts Council’s Heart of the Arts and Lifetime Achievement Awards spend at least part of their time behind the scenes, helping make those essential connections between artists and their audiences. Read the rest of this entry »
Following up on last year’s announcement:
“James Levine is making a comeback.”
“Defying opera world doubters who thought he was too ill, weak or disengaged, the longtime and much loved music director of the Metropolitan Opera plans to return to the podium for the first time in two years, for a May 19 performance by the Met Orchestra at Carnegie Hall and for three productions at the opera house next season.”
Read more about this at Arts Beat, The New York Times Arts section.
Heidi Weeks, Jim Hull
By George Basler
The night of Jan. 12, 1955, was one that changed Rod Serling’s life.
On that night, his teleplay, “Patterns,” appeared on the Kraft Television Theatre during what is now called “the Golden Age” of live television. The play, which focuses on psychological bloodletting in the corporate boardroom, was an immediate smash hit and won Serling the first of his six Emmy Awards, said Larry Kassan, director of special projects for the Binghamton City School District and founder and director of the Rod Serling Video Festival.
Almost overnight, Serling, who grew up in Binghamton, went from being a struggling writer to a hot commodity in the television world. He would follow up the success a year later with another Emmy Award-winning drama, “Requiem for the Heavyweight,” and would be on his way to a stellar, two decade-long writing career, tragically cut shot by a heart attack in 1975.
Audiences will get a chance to view Serling’s early success this Thursday and Friday (Oct. 11 and 12) when the Rod Serling Video Festival and Southern Tier Actors Read present a staged reading of “Patterns” in Binghamton High School’s Black Box Theatre. Both performances will begin at 7:30 p.m. Read the rest of this entry »
EDITOR’s NOTE: This fall, BAMirror is chatting with recently appointed leaders of local arts organizations. Today we talk with the interim executive director of the Binghamton Philharmonic, which opens its 2012-2013 season this weekend (Saturday, Oct. 6).
By George Basler
Jon Mosbo is quick to list the many strengths of the Binghamton Philharmonic, now in its 57th year of serving music lovers across central New York.
Those attributes include the high quality of the orchestra for an area of this size, the strong artistic leadership of music director and conductor José Luis-Novo, the work of a committed board and the support of the community, the new interim executive director said. Read the rest of this entry »
A quick reminder that WSKG is taping new segments of the “Expressions” series (for airing later), on several Thursdays in October, and you can be part of the studio audience.
This Thursday (Oct. 4) is the Dave Eggar Quartet; Oct. 18 is tenor Steve Nanni and pianist Pej Reitz; Oct. 25 is young pianist, Gretchen Hull. All are at WSKG studios on Gates Road in Vestal, generally starting with a reception (good food!) at 6:45 p.m.; taping begins at 7:30 p.m.
Visit http://wskg.org/expressions-classical-series-2012 to RSVP. Although you can watch the shows on WSKG later, there’s nothing like live performance!
— Lee Shepherd
broomecountyarts
Barb Van Atta
Sharon Ball
Broome Arts Mirror 