Mobility documentary is as endearing as it is informative

Reviewed by Lory Martinez

Monteith McCollum’s visually affecting 2010 documentary, A Different Path, is a stunning combination of animated work and cinematography. The film, screened this past weekend at Binghamton University as a part of  the Harpur Cinema series “Forces of Nature,” takes its audiences into the lives of several ordinary people who have come up with some fairly creative ways to communicate their transportation troubles.

As someone who isn’t a fan of the documentary genre, I expected to be bored by preachy commentary on people who are against cars as a primary mode of transportation, but McCollum does a brilliant job of making his point indirectly.

What did you do in the arts this weekend?

I attended all three performances of Union-Endicott High School’s amazing production of Godspell. How were the arts a part of your week and weekend?

New Orford scores big on Super Bowl Sunday

Reviewed by Lee Shepherd

For most of the country, Super Bowl Sunday (Feb. 3) was all about competition. For the select crowd at Binghamton University’s Anderson Center Chamber Hall for the “pregame show” on Sunday afternoon, it was all about collaboration.
And what a fine demonstration of perfect coordination it was, as the New Orford String Quartet played Mozart’s Quartet in C Major (the “Dissonant”), Brahms’ Quartet in A minor, Op. 51, No. 2 and Quebecois composer Jacques Hétu’s Quartet No. 2, Op. 50.

The pipes, the pipes were calling at BU

Reviewed by Nancy McKenzie Oliveri

Last Thursday (Jan. 31), nearly 1,200 people came to Binghamton University to see the Pipes, Drums and Highland Dancers of the Black Watch 3rd Battalion, and the Band of the Scots Guards.  Throughout the night, the crowd was brought to its feet, and to tears. Repeatedly.

Clarinet soloist teams with BPO for concert filled with serenity and joy

Reviewed by Lee Shepherd

A funny thing happened at the Binghamton Philharmonic concert yesterday afternoon (Jan. 20). The clarinet soloist, Pascual Martinez Forteza, came out from behind the curtain at Binghamton University and almost turned left toward the woodwind section. He quickly turned right and took his rightful place in front of the orchestra, where he proved that the rarely-featured clarinet is indeed a very fine solo instrument.

Binghamton Philharmonic presents masterful performance

Reviewed by Tony Villecco
The Binghamton Philharmonic, under the direction of Maestro Jose-Luis Novo, executed a powerful and emotionally charged presentation of Giuseppe Verdi’s monumental Requiem Sunday afternoon (Nov. 11) at Binghamton University’s Anderson Center.

New Art Mission director wants to increase theater’s profile

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.

Endicott native Paglia ponders the future of fine arts; what’s your view?

In a recent Wall Street Journal article, American author, teacher and social critic Camille Paglia wrote  that “too many artists have lost touch with the general audience and have retreated to an airless echo chamber…

“For the arts to revive in the U.S., young artists must be rescued from their sanitized middle-class backgrounds. We need a revalorization of the trades that would allow students to enter those fields without social prejudice (which often emanates from parents eager for the false cachet of an Ivy League sticker on the car). Among my students at art schools, for example, have been virtuoso woodworkers who were already earning income as craft furniture-makers. Artists should learn to see themselves as entrepreneurs.”

Paglia, a self-described dissident feminist, was born in Endicott and was valedictorian of her 1968 Harpur College (Binghamton University) class. She is a professor at The University of the Arts in Philadelphia.

Here is a link to the article, which we at BAMirror hope will inspire some comments from you: http://tinyurl.com/94c7az9.

Biggers’ concert bountiful and beautiful

Reviewed by Lee Shepherd

A couple of dozen lucky people sat in Binghamton’s United Presbyterian Church at dusk yesterday (Sept. 11) to hear a reprise of Jonathan Biggers’ July 11 concert at Atlanta’s Peachtree Road United Methodist Church.

‘Songs From the Land of Morning Calm’ are unexpected delight

Reviewed by Lee Shepherd

So what if PBS has The Three Tenors. We’ve got The Tenor, The Baritone and The Fabulous Piano Accompanist.
In a stellar concert Saturday evening at the Anderson Center at Binghamton University, Tri-Cities Opera artists Mario Eun Hwan Bae (tenor) and Robert Heep-Young Oh (baritone) treated their audience to an evening of romantic Korean classical songs.

Marvin Hamlisch: An appreciation

Award-winning composer Marvin Hamlisch was scheduled to conduct a performance of his music with the Binghamton Philharmonic late last month.  The show would have taken place at the Anderson Center for the Performing Arts on the Binghamton University campus.  But about a week before the much-anticipated show, word came that Mr. Hamlisch could not travel due to a fall.  Today (August 7) came the news that Mr. Hamlisch has died.  He leaves a singular legacy of glorious music.  Read more and listen to NPR’s appreciation at:

http://www.npr.org/blogs/therecord/2012/08/07/158364635/marvin-hamlisch-movie-and-broadway-composer-has-died

BU spring: A senior recital and final goodbyes

By Sarah Kuras

This past Saturday (May 12) I had the great pleasure of attending Mark Rossnagel’s senior recital at the United Presbyterian Church (formerly First Presbyterian) in Binghamton. Although I have heard him play the organ numerous times throughout our years of friendship, I was truly blown away by his performance at this recital and by his dedication to his craft. All attendees had the great gift of watching this masterful, expressive musician perform.

BU students bring ‘Wonderland’ to life

Reviewed by Sarah Kuras

Throughout my years as a student, both undergraduate and graduate, I have seen many Binghamton University theater productions. Never have I seen such a creative, whimsical and hysterical show as the current  presentation of Alice in Wonderland.

Music lovers: Don’t miss out on BU spring concerts

By Lee Shepherd

It occurs to me that the community doesn’t take full advantage of the many free or very low-cost concerts offered by the Binghamton University Music Department. Take the weekly Mid-Day Thursday (1:20 p.m.) Concerts during the school year, all in Casadesus Recital Hall in the Fine Arts Building. They’re free and feature up-and-coming student musicians and/or faculty. A special treat will be the May 3 Jazz Mid-Day with guest artist Mark Buselli, who also will perform that evening with the Harpur Jazz Ensemble in the Osterhout Concert Theatre of the Anderson Center.

Africanaise at BU blends musical worlds

Reviewed by Sarah Kuras

An incredible collaboration between Binghamton University’s Nukporfe African Dance-Drumming Ensemble and the BU Music Department’s string faculty lit the Anderson Center Chamber Hall stage this past Sunday (April 15). In a mix of worlds, culture and music, Professors James Burns, Stephen Stalker and Janey Choi created a new musical world for the audience. Blending classical and traditional African music, the collaborators created an entirely new delight.