When James Francies took the Kalamazoo Civic stage yesterday afternoon — arriving directly from the airport — he noted he liked the energy in the place. For the next hour, he, with the James Francies Trio, fed on, ran with, and cultivated that energy with wildly imaginative and kinetic original jazz.
The New York-based Emmet Cohen Trio kicked off the Gilmore Festival’s noon series Monday at the Kalamazoo Civic auditorium, delighting the crowd with their take on a variety of classic jazz tunes, paying homage to some of the jazz greats.
In the fourth and final Sunday evening Jazz Club of the Gilmore Festival at WMU’s Williams Theatre, Dr. Lonnie Smith got funky, churchy and just a little bit nasty, showing his unparalleled mastery and improvisational stylings with the Hammond B3 electric organ and more in a delightful performance full of fun surprises.
During a recent radio interview, Elliot Wuu said he was “shell-shocked” to learn that he was the winner of a 2018 Gilmore Young Artist Award. Modesty aside, the 18-year-old’s Sunday performance at the 2018 Irving S. Gilmore International Keyboard Festival made it very clear why he was deserving of the honor. Undaunted by a challenging program, Wuu brought finesse, fervor and heart to every piece, much to the delight of the Vicksburg Performing Arts Center audience.
Perhaps what’s most striking about Tony Kushner’s Pulitzer Prize- and Tony Award-winning play “Angels In America” is how quickly it has become an American classic.
2018 Gilmore Young Artist Award winner Wei Luo impressed yet another Gilmore audience on Saturday night, this time accompanied by the Battle Creek Symphony Orchestra at W.K. Kellogg Auditorium in downtown Battle Creek.
In Oscar Wilde’s triumphant Victorian novel "The Picture of Dorian Gray," the character Basil Hallward offers the critique that “(w)e live in an age when men treat art as if it were meant to be a form of autobiography.” It was, no doubt, a jab at his critics, who couldn’t help but see his own story emerging in many of his literary works. Wilde also offered that “(t)he true artist is known by the use he makes of what he annexes, and he annexes everything.”
After finally seeing Into the Woods — it’s been on my bucket list for a while now — it both met and exceeded my expectations. The play honors the classic fairy tale stories like Cinderella and Little Red Riding Hood, but also gives each character a more modern take on their traditional outfit, speech and general personality.
Along with a list of staggering credentials (including the 2010 Gilmore Artist Award), Kirill Gerstein has a reputation as an illuminating interpreter. The Jewish-American/Russian pianist made his second appearance at the 2018 Irving S. Gilmore International Keyboard Festival recital on Friday night.
At most classical concerts, there are program notes with information about the works and composers to give background and insight into the music.
The brilliance of an artist often shines brightest when they do the unexpected.
When a stage is set with just two pianos, it’s often for a duel. But Tuesday night’s performance from Ingrid Fliter and Katherine Chi was a delicate, and at times forceful, dance between equally matched partners.
On Monday night, 1998 Gilmore Artist Award winner Leif Ove Andsnes astonished and delighted a modest crowd among the gilded trim and glittering chandeliers of Kalamazoo's Chenery Auditorium.
Celebrated conductor, humanitarian, educator, and the first American-born composer to receive worldwide fame, Leonard Bernstein was the inspiration for Sunday evening’s Gilmore Festival performance from the Bill Charlap Trio at Western Michigan University’s Williams Theatre, which was transformed into a jazz club with candlelit tables set up cabaret style while the exceptional musicians played a lovely 75-minute set of original jazz variations of Bernstein’s gorgeous and often dramatic works.
