Jim Panttaja

We are in Jackson Hole, Wyoming for a long weekend for a management retreat for Rebelvox. A year ago we met here for a week to kick off our company, and have returned to spend some time on strategy and planning, and to have some fun.\r\n\r\nThe fun has included floats down Flat Creek, walks, good food, and a bar-b-que. But one evening we went to the Grand Teton Music Festival as guests of Tom\’s friend (and now our friend) Pete Selkowitz.\r\n\r\nLast year we had been here during the festival - but hadn\’t managed to schedule a concert. This year when Pete learned we were going to be in town, he made the arrangements.\r\n\r\nThe Festival\’s music director is Donald Runnicles, the current music director and principal conductor of the San Francisco Opera.\r\n\r\nThe program included a piece by Oliver Messiaen, and Gustav Holst\’s most well known piece, The Planets.\r\n\r\nThe Messiaen featured the women of the San Francisco Festival Chorale, and a variety of keyboard instruments, including a Celeste, and an Ondes Martenot. The Ondes Martenot is an early electronic instrument which sounds a lot like a Theremin.\r\n\r\nThe Messiaen was more texture than melody. The various keyboard instruments, and the choir, adding to that texture. It was beautiful\r\n\r\nWe were talking with a couple of the musicians before the concert - one of the violist was saying how interesting it is that their don\’t seem to be that many pieces by Holst - pretty much limited to The Planets, and Saint Paul Suite. I mentioned a couple of band pieces (he wrote  two suites for band). The violist laughed - because of course band pieces wouldn\’t be on the top of his mind. There are other pieces - but these four pieces are by far the best known.\r\n\r\nA special treat with this performance was a video show that was displayed as the orchestra performed - produced by Jet Propulsion Lab, with images from various space missions. I loved the performance of the orchestra. I was giddy during the better known movements (Jupiter and Mars), but enjoyed it all. The orchestra is made of wonderful musicians from around the US. They come in for one to six weeks of the festial. They feel like an orchestra that has played together for a long time - and many of these musicians come back year after year - so there is some truth to that.\r\n\r\nThe rest of my party particularly enjoyed the images. They are incredible - and the very fact that we could send probes in to space to get the picture of a volcano eruption on the moon of one of the planets (among other images) is phenomenal.  But for me - it was about the music.\r\n\r\nI want to come back next year - and attend more concerts.

Over our years of coming to the festival, we have seen five or six of August Wilson\’s play. He wrote a cycle of plays, one for each decade of the 20th century. They have always been a highlight of our week. Fences is set in the 50s. The acting was perfect. The set incredible. The story is somewhat difficult. As you watch the lead mistreat one of his children, and mistreat his wife, you have a hard time at the end accepting his wife\’s observation that he was doing the best that he could. But as his son came around to this observation, so did I. I was intrigued that though he had an affair, and that affair was important in showing his faults, it wasn\’t what the story was about. It in some ways wasn\’t important to the story.\r\n\r\nOn the same day we saw The Clay Cart. This is an Indian play. The new artistic director wants to present new traditions to his audience, including world theater. The production is beautiful (and as always, the actors wonderful). The story is not elaborate, and fits with Shakespeare\’s comedies with mistaken identify, and one person who is killed - but isn\’t really dead. I wish I had more context for the play. I am thinking back to my comments on Our Town, and realizing that I need to make sure that I don\’t believe that with this play I now understand Indian culture. I have gotten some small glimpse - but don\’t know nearly enough to understand how to extrapolate my knowledge.\r\n\r\nIt was interesting that on the same day that I saw Fences, this is another play where there is what we would view as infidelity (it is mostly a love story - but it turns out the man is married). But again, that infidelity is not really essential to the plot.\r\n\r\nFriday was also the opening of the outdoor theater season. We had viewed all of the outdoor plays earlier int he week in their last preview. But there is an extra buzz around the festival, and for dinner, the Feast of Will. This is a benefit dinner put on by the local Lion\’s Club. We enjoyed a chicken dinner sitting in the park, with bagpipes and a choir.\r\n\r\nAnd after dinner, the Green Show included the renaissance dancing and musicians that we used to watch when we first started attending the festival 20 years ago. It was still enjoyable. Along with much of the rest of the audience - I had missed this music and dancing.

We have met a man several days in our hotel breakfast room. He is a grandfather, and was surprised that we had our grandchildren with us. He views this as a place for adults. Thursday was one of our days for the kids. There are lot’s of things for our kids to do, but the highlight is taking them to my sister-in-law’s ranch.

We take turns babysitting the girls during the plays. The time may be spent swimming (difficult this year because the 19 month old is not big on swimming), swinging and climbing at the playground, walking the labyrinth, having ice cream, and sleeping. And they certainly enjoy meals with us (often lunch in the park with everyone picking up their favorites on the way. If there are bits of rice - or whatever - dropped on the lawn, it doesn’t matter). And in the evening the green show. With the green show, they get a feeling of performance. If the music is lively, they may dance. And there is usually some snack while sitting on the lawn.

In the morning there is a breakfast room at our Inn. That allows us to slowly gather as different waves of people wake up, and have something available for the girls as soon as they need something. Sometimes they are early risers, other times, the last (ok - almost the last) to arrive. All in all, the girls are entertained, and throughout the week get quality time with aunts and uncles, grandparents and cousins. It is fun watching the different way that they interact with familiar people other than their parents (and for that matter fun to watch how they interact with their parents).

Ah - but back to the ranch. Melinda has horses, dogs, cats, goats, cows, deer, chickens, turkeys, doves and a camel (I am sure I missing something). There is always a walking tour - this year we arrived at feeding time (perhaps it is always feeding time), and my older granddaughter got to ride on Hank. Hank is 30, and used to be my horse.

But we did come here for the theater. We only had one play on Thursday. We saw Comedy of Errors. I view Comedy of Errors as  a diversion. It is about two sets of twins, separated soon after birth, searching for each other. They end up in the same far off town (in this case, in the old west).There is confusion as they are taken for each other. In the end it all works out (I hope I didn’t ruin that for you).

This is a great company of actors. I have mentioned this before, but having the depth of actors to populate an entire play with actors of this caliber is incredible. This acting was good, the physical bits were brilliant (sliding down stairs, use of a lariat, well timed chases). Though the placement of this is the old west was entertaining, it wasn’t totally satisfying. Some of the humor was not amusing. I have never been a fan of fat jokes, and this production was full of them. But the play is a diversion, and this production filled that role.

I remember very well reading and studying Our Town when I was in high school. I hated it. Nothing happened. There was this narrator on stage telling me the story. The speeches didn’t feel like anything people would actually say. So, I was not looking forward to this production. Then I read the director’s (Chay Yew) comments on the production. He also wasn’t impressed with it when he read it in high school. But was excited to be directing it. So I went in open minded (mostly).There were many things that helped me to like this production. I now have a better sense of theater history (The play was written in 1937 and won a Pulitzer). The use of a ‘chorus’ has been a tradition in the theater forever, but this chorus is a bit different. The stage manager is creating the play, not just commenting on it. I now understand that distinction. The company provides an incredible pool of actors, which allowed the town drunk to be played by Dan Donohoe, who was Iago the night before. The cast in this production was phenomenal. And Anthony Heald was great as the stage manager.I now have a better sense of Thornton Wilder (I haven’t read all of his writings, but have read a couple of his books). I think Our Town was not a great introduction for a high school student to Wilder - but two of his books were written after I studied Our Town in high school. I now know about New England. When I was in high school, I had once been out of California to Nevada. I have now been to New England many times on business and vacation, and lived close by in Poughkeepsie New York for three years. The sense of history - especially in the graveyard - is hard (though not impossible) to find in California. That New England sense of history is important to the details (though not the substance) of this play.We went to a talk by one of the actors before the play. The actor who was supposed to be there forgot, and they literally dragged in an actor off the street. Dan Haley is in his second year at the festival. He is from Idaho (and knows my cousin Dean Panttaja who is chairman of the theatre department at University of Idaho). In response to a question about a previous years play, he observed that the director has to be careful with their decisions. They certainly need to be creative - and present their message (within the context of the playwrights message). But the director also has to be aware of the impact on the audience. In this production, the two lead children didn’t work for me. I am sure that they presented what the director was looking for, but I was taken out of the play by their performances.  The young woman spoke with a lilting indian accent. The young man seemed much older than the character (though of course they were in a ‘play’ directed by the stage manager).  The performances were fine - but for a moment, I was taken out of the play.I won’t claim to ‘understand’ Our Town, but I did understand enough to have enjoyed some conversations with my family afterward. 

We have again traveled to Ashland for our annual visit to the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. We arrived Tuesday and saw our first two plays: Othello and Coriolanus. The first day notwithstanding, the Oregon Shakespeare Festival is not ONLY about Shakespeare. Of our 9 plays this year (yes, 9), four are Shakespeare. It is opening week (for the summer season) this week, so there is extra buzz in Ashland. The Green Show has changed this year - last night was an enthusiastic group playing Marimbas, with music of Zimbabwe.  Later this week the schedule says that the period dancers and musicians that were here until about eight years ago are returning (some of the musicians have been here all along - but no longer playing period instruments). I am looking forward to that. Coriolanus is a timely play of a man groomed to be a soldier, who is unable to transform in to a politician. Reviews of the play often characterize him as being unsympathetic to readers or reviewers, but this production did give me a connection to, and sympathy for Coriolanus. It was staged in the New Theatre, in the round. The stage was spare - but the features they had (including a couple of trap doors) were used effectively. Coriolanus was clearly shaped by his mother to be a soldier (she made it clear that the honor might be greater if he failed to return from battle. But ultimately it was her appeal that led him to pardon Rome, and ultimately led to his death. I was in the action - literally. I was on an aisle - several times there were soldiers or townspeople on the steps next to me. We had coffee with one of the actors (who in fact had been standing next to me on the stairs), and he said that they had trouble with some of the student groups reaching out and touching actors.The scene changes were quite effective. There was little to move around - and several of them took the lights down, and immediately brought them up in another section of the theatre. There was not time to relax, you were instantly taken to the next scene. It brought more life to the action of mob scenes and battle scenes. Coriolanus is killed in the last scene (I hope I didn’t ruin that for you).   As the lights come up and the actors gather themselves for the curtain call (with no curtain to allow a delay to gather yourself), the actress who played Coriolanus’ mother (Robynn Rodriquez) checks on the actor who played Coriolanus (Danforth Comins). It feels like a quick look to make sure the actor is ok. He takes an extra second, then looks up and winks at her. Coriolanus is gone for the day, and he is back.Coriolanus focused on the manipulator (Coriolanus who was created by his mother, and plays out his role). Othello is about the manipulator, Iago.It is his play, and the play unfolds exactly to his plan. Again, a spare stage used effectively.I was realizing how much the festival has shaped my view of the theatre. Over the last 20 years I have seen about 120 plays here. Although I have seen plays in other venues (six years at Cal with Mary a theatre major, living in Poughkeepsie, and getting to Broadway on occasion, our daughter’s high school years with her in several plays, several years of Mary being on the Sixth Street Playhouse board of directors…), this does represent a huge percentage of my theatre experience. It has created my expectations of theater. It makes it easy to bring our family back year after year.

This week we got closer to the opera - no longer AT&T Park with a hot dog and a beer - but in the Opera House with Appomattox the new Philip Glass opera.

The ambiance is different - we had walked to AT&T Park, but arrived at the Opera House by cab (the driver didn’t know where the opera house was - but fortunately, we did). We didn’t have a hot dog, but there was coffee. The opera started at the civilized time of 7:30 (we aren’t night people).

As in Samson and Delilah, the presentation of this opera is often about textures, and Philip Glass’ music added to those textures. There are layers in his music - sometimes repetitive, sometimes supporting the lyrics, other times across the lyrics. The sets added texture, and the chorus added texture. The fall of Richmond was a great ensemble scene with subtle jestures and vignettes - it was one of the strongest scenes. And many of the other vignettes - the late scene with Edgar Ray Killen, the civil rights marchers scene, and many of the chorus scenes were strong. They couldn’t stand by themselves - but added to the texture of the evening.

Our seats were great - but we didn’t have a good view of the orchestra - I did watch the basses who had some great sections where they in unison did a repetive motion to the top frets - and then back down on the neck of the bass. It was a great dance. And the sounds of the bass saxophone (I assume that is what it was) were incredible - deep - almost human sounds.

As with all composers, Philip Glass has a vocabulary that he uses - and you could recognize snippets that were familiar from having heard Kundun, The Hours, and having played his Melodies for Saxophone - and listened to other music from this album.

We are getting more comfortable at getting around San Francisco

In keeping with my ’see it live’ theme (Live Performances, Live Performers), we saw the San Francisco Opera performance of Samson and Delilah last friday - at AT&T Park. It was live - but the performers were across town at the Opera House.

It was great. A different ambiance than the Opera House to be sure. There was the good (a hot dog, a beer and popcorn) and the bad (four adults pirouetting around the base paths during a beautiful aria). We will be able to contrast this next week when we attend the new Opera by Phillip Glass: Appomattox, at the Opera House.

This opera was more about texture than story. Several scenes are all chorus - with texture in the voices - texture in the acting - texture in the scenery and costumes. The visual aspect was better presented on the big screen in the ball park.

I have written a couple of time about the thrill, joy, might I say imperative, of attending live performances (Live Performances, Live Performers). This last weekend, we saw Dave Brubeck and his quartet in an event sponsored by the Healdsburg Jazz Festival.

What a treat. In his 80’s, Mr. Brubeck walks slowly - and when other musicians are featured, he leans back, relaxed, in his seat. But when his hands hit the keys, he shows that he’s still got it.

He is of course a writer as well as performer - and the unfamiliar rhythms (unsquared was in 7/8 I think - and of course the closing number “Take Five”) confused the brain a bit - but in a good way. How do you tap your foot to “Take Five”? But pieces featured each member of his quartet.

The saxophonist, Bobby Millitelo, was a surprise treat.  His fingers could fly - sometimes to follow Mr. Brubeck’s writing (including one piece where he brought out the music), and sometimes in improvisation. And his flute playing on a ballad was inspired. On sax, he played an incredible dynamic and articulation range. In a single line the sax was popping and flowing smoothly, and barely audible up to a strong fortissimo.

Mr. Brubeck’s stories were entertaining - and I found myself hoping for more. Comments about recent reviews (referring the age and grey hair of his quartet - and how they ’stole the show’) were funny - and we only learned how apt as they got in to their groove.

We will remember the performances for a few quirks as well - the sprinklers that were coming on as we arrived - hitting both of us as we walked to the door, the closed bathroom - creating a long line of women at the one open bathroom before the concert and at intermission, and the 80 degree temperature, the pause while they tried to get one of the microphones to work at the beginning of the concert . The Jazz Festival and the Jackson Theater can both do better.

But a great evening. When they finished “Take Five” - it took a few minutes to realize that of course that was the finale - and they were done for the night. They had played a long evening (two long sets) - but we weren’t ready to go home. As they say - “always leave them wanting more”. I can’t imagine Dave Brubeck will ever end an evening any other way.

I have enjoyed the National Flute Association convention in Albuquerque, but have had not time to post. I am now on the way home (Mary is driving - so it is ok). Here are a few random notes - a few on playing (both my playing - and advice from others on playing), on composers, and on outstanding players:

• Although the convention really starts Thursday, we arrived Wednesday so I could play three hours of rehearsal on Wednesday, and another Thursday morning, and perform with the 240 piece Fiesta Flute Orchestra. So after being in town about 18 hours, I had already played my flute for almost five hours. What a treat. Some of the pieces were written for flute choir (anywhere from four to eight parts for flute, alto flute, bass flute, and sometimes piccolo), others were written specifically for a larger group like this (maybe not quite like this) and include parts for contra bass flute. It is a great sound - and fun to be in the middle of it (see my earlier post on this).
• Attending this convention is also a humbling experience - many of these musicians started playing at an early age (I started at 8 - but playing in a small group at the Thompson Elementary School isn’t really the same as some of these people’s beginnings)
• The opening night concert was phenomenal. It was devoted to music with origins in the southwest - or South America. Robert Mirabel, with roots in Taos led off. He set the tone for the evening as a musician, a showman - but in particular someone who plays from the heart - with enthusiasm. I bought some of his sheet music, and hope to work on some of his pieces. Carlos Nakai talked, and played briefly. He was interrupted by a cell phone ringing in the audience - and was both not pleased - and thrown - by the occurrence. But his comments about playing from the heart rang (no pun intended) true. And it was something that is often missing in the rendition of ‘classical’ flute music - we all work hard to play the notes - but forget (or perhaps just haven’t gotten to) the feel.
• I met a composer named Edie Hill. When we first saw her in her booth - she looked uncomfortable and perhaps bored in this environment. After hearing one of her pieces played I chatted with her. The piece was beautiful - and beautifully played. I looked at the sheet music - a bit beyond my skills. But we did talk. Not surprisingly, she knows my cousin Lisa Bielawa, and her father, Herb Bielawa - both composers.
• Linda Chatterton played the piece by Edie Hill. She commissioned the piece. Many of the artists at the convention commission pieces, and the NFA also pays for some commissions. This is obviously a great way to extent the repertoire (The Liebermann Piccolo Concerto which I practice was a commission - more on this a later), but also supports and encourages composers. There were many composers at the convention (Katherine Hoover, Gary Schocker, Daniel Dorff, Martin Amlin, Christopher Caliendo, Phyllis Louke, Nancy Nourse,  Todd Malicoate - in addition to Edie Hill). Some with a reputation and following (I attended Katherine Hoover’s 70th birthday tribute), othersless well known - but looking for a following. Linda also played a second piece, Tarantella by Vladimir Tsybin. This piece she heard when a Chinese student visited her school. He had a bootleg copy - and she worked from a copy of that copy. She finally found a Russian printing of it. It was a lively, interesting taratella - certainly worthy of being ‘found’ in this way.
• I attended several sessions on jazz, including two master classes (Holly Hoffman and Bradley Leighton), two recitals (Holly Hoffman and Ali Ryerson), and a performance of Ali Ryerson’s Flute Big Band, put together for the convention. Imagine a big band composed of 22 flutes, and an incredible rhythm section. Holly and Ali have played together with Frank Wess as Flutology - a sextet featuring three flutes. Great sounds, great solos - although at one point hearing at least six of the group ’solo’ simultaneously didn’t really work.
• One of the observations from the master classes is exactly the advice that George Nichols, who heads the Healdsburg Saxophone Trio, keeps giving to Bruce and me: listen to recordings of the pieces, know the tune (the head), and know the words. Then you can play the tune. And (echoing Carlos Nakai) - play from the heart. It made me want to go right to my room and practice again…
• I ran in to Walfrid Kujala several times during the convention (I actually never said hello to him - and he absolutely would not know who I am). Wally was the piccoloist of the Chicago Symphony for almost 50 years. His son, Steve plays flute in LA (currently in Wicked among other things). Wally gave a master class. Both students did a credible job to start with - and Wally was incredibly supportive. What I found particularly interesting is that he had premiered the first piece (called Three Pieces, by Katherine Hoover), and was able to pass on comments from Katherine Hoover that he had gotten when he performed it for her. The Liebermann he had played - and he was able to offer detailed comments on when he took breaths, and where he used alternate fingerings. At a previous convention, I sat in on a master class at which Jan Gippo (Piccoloist for the St. Loius Symphony - who had premiered this work) offered his comments. What great experience - handing thoughts, experiences and suggestions to the next generation.
• I ran in to Wally Kujala again in two sessions where his son Steve was performing works with audience participation. One was a work that he had created for his father’s retirement from the Chicago Symphony. Steve handed out parts - and Steve, his dad, and his dad’s wife played ’solo’ parts with audience members participation. Another session was a reconstruction of Steve’s Tutti Flutti - which is now 25 years old. Again he handed out parts (I played bass flute), led a rehearsal, and then we performed the piece (for ourselves) with Steve and Wally playing lead parts.
• I also bought a new booklet by Jan Gippo, in which he says that when he started out - he felt that playing techniques and tricks (like alternate fingerings) were well guarded secrets - his new booklet - and actually his whole career - have been focused on turning that around.
• My primary purchases were of sheet music. I was tempted by a case from Wiseman Cases. This case would allow me to have my bass, alto, C flutes and piccolo all in a single case. I have a bag that is big enough - but it is awkward. On this trip I left my alto and piccolo at home - and wish I had brought them. So maybe I will pop for the Wiseman case this year. It is well designed, compact and light.

Another time I will write more about some of the performances that I attended, and some of the pieces that I purchased.

There is a lot that is special about live performances. We recently attended the Oregon Shakespeare Festival for a week. We saw seven plays over the course of five days. It is so much better than watching a movie that I am reluctant to make the comparison. You feel the risk that the performers are taking, and the success that they are achieving. And you get to make a connection with the performer. At the Oregon Shakespeare festival, some of that connection is achieved by seeing the same actor in multiple roles, and some is achieved because you see the actors around town. Last Sunday, I attended a masterclass put on by Sir James Galway, and his wife Lady Jeanne Galway. I have been lucky enough to attend a concert with Sir James in San Francisco, and a duo concert with the two of them in Santa Rosa in the last couple of years. Being in the room with them is such a different experience from listening to a CD - or even viewing a concert on TV. At one point, late in the afternoon, they played a duet. Although it was clearly planned - there was time only for each to pick up a flute from the table, and start to play. You get a different level of appreciation of their art - seeing them - just play. Lady Jeanne made the comment that you have to be ready before you walk in the room - and Sir James had walked in several hours before.

Last week, we attended an evening of Jazz sponsored by the Healdsburg Jazz Festival - and saw a local favorite, Julian Lage with his trio. After a couple of numbers, Julian introduced his drummer, Lorca Hart and bassist, John Shifflet - and them introduced them to each other - they had never met before. That added to the magic of the evening as they listened to each other - found common ground - and then found new ground.

I think about the musician who were alive in my lifetime - that I never took the opportunity to hear/see live. There are always legends (Dave Brubeck will play in Santa Rosa in August - sponsored by the Healdsburg Jazz Festival), and wonderful young musicians like Julian Lage, playing locally. I need to make sure that I spend more time seeing them, hearing them, learning more about them than I might learn watching them on TV, or listening to a CD.