When you've seen a band a few times, as often happens when the Center brings performers back for their local fans, it's engaging to see the band evolve and grow artistically. These changes are particularly evident with Cherryholmes, a few of whom have literally grown up before our eyes. Since their 2005 breakout, the Cherryholmes children have evolved from child prodigies to strong musicians and complex songwriters in their own rights. And, it appears Jere has trimmed a few inches off his beard since last year.
April 22, 2010
Cherryholmes: Y'all Come Back Now
When you've seen a band a few times, as often happens when the Center brings performers back for their local fans, it's engaging to see the band evolve and grow artistically. These changes are particularly evident with Cherryholmes, a few of whom have literally grown up before our eyes. Since their 2005 breakout, the Cherryholmes children have evolved from child prodigies to strong musicians and complex songwriters in their own rights. And, it appears Jere has trimmed a few inches off his beard since last year.
April 07, 2010
Buddy Guy with Tom Hambridge
We had some coverage from Forever Young about Buddy Guy leading up to the concert tonight:
http://foreveryoungwny.com/current/0410buddyguy.html
Opener Tom Hambridge is originally from Western New York, and happened to be touring with Buddy Guy:
And, the man himself:
The sold-out audience gave a standing ovation as he walked out on stage. Thanks for coming out everyone!
March 30, 2010
March 23, 2010
Moscow Festival Ballet: A Sight to Behold
From tonight's performance of Swan Lake:
Act I: The Garden of Prince Siegried's Castle
Happy 20th Anniversary to the Moscow Festival Ballet!
Behind the Scenes: Boone Enser
Daniel “Boone” Enser believes
he could not have chosen a better
time to join the staff at
Center for the Arts. When he
helped create the Video
Production group two years
ago, UB and its leadership were
seeking more visibility on the
national and international
stage, and there was a growing
need to tell the UB story. As
Director of Media, Enser and
his team develop university
marketing videos, television
programs, documentaries, and
athletics programming, all
designed to help UB take its
message to a wider audience.
“When I first arrived six years ago, Executive Director Tom Burrows had a vision to fill a need for video production at the University as well as produce television directly out of the Center” Enser explained. “The first project we wanted to do was an informational video about the Center. It wasn’t cost effective to have an outside agency produce it, so the Center invested in video gear and we produced it ourselves. After that project, we developed a television series called “Music Is Art” producing almost 50 episodes and winning multiple Telly awards. The series still runs statewide on Thinkbright-TV. When the Dalai Lama came to campus, thirty thousand people came to hear his speech at the football stadium and we ran the video projection on the big screens. We also videotaped his entire three-day visit – 53 – and produced a documentary on the Tibetan monks who were in residence at the Center during his visit. At that point we brought producer Regina Ticco onboard. Anyone can operate a camera and anyone can jump on a computer. The difference is that our staff brings a professional background and an ability to tell stories.”
For Enser, known since childhood as “Boone,” there is not a pool of experience to draw from but more of a wellspring. After high school, he worked as an intern at WGRZ Channel 2 before moving into a part time position at the station. Boone’s first big break came when his boss had a break of his own - unfortunately his femur. In a pinch, the station called upon the 19- year-old to direct and Boone did his first live newscast. After that he worked at numerous broadcast outlets including the Golf Channel, ESPN, CBS Sports, USA Network, Disney Channel, ABC, ABC Family and Nickelodeon. After living in several warm weather cities, Boone and his wife Jamie decided to come back to Buffalo and raise their two little girls.
In his six years at the Center for the Arts, Boone and his staff have created projects for many departments and groups on campus, and partnered with university leadership in communicating the UB 2020 message. “We produce videos for the President’s annual address and other events that reach out to the community. We produced a highlight film for UB’s champion football team, editing down two hundred hours of footage from our “Bullseye” television series, and it turned out fantastic. Last year, the Center for the Arts started a great new program training artists to work in local hospitals, and our videos have helped with promotion and funding. We also do commercials for UB groups, and completed marketing videos for the pharmacy and engineering schools as well as the College of Arts and Sciences.”
Several projects have also had a national impact. “We recently completed a school safety video for the Secret Service where we staged and recorded an incident of school violence. It’s something that might help saves lives,” Enser explained.
While Boone has found great individual success in the industry as well as at the Center for the Arts, he still embraces the collaborative, creative process. “I’m just one member of a team,” Enser said. “You need people with different talents working together to create success. That’s what I see happening at UB. It’s not often that a university seeks to change the landscape of an entire region. Whether it’s Tom Burrows or President Simpson, leaders with vision are few and far between. Working at the Center gives me a chance to contribute to that vision.”
March 20, 2010
Jazz at Lincoln Center at the Center for the Arts
Tonight's concert was all about the art of jazz. The first piece was inspired by a painting, as Mr. Marsalis explained, and each song following would also be connected to the concept of "art."
I often make the point that live performance offers so much more of an experience than a recording, and the point is so evident in jazz music. On the heels of last night's improv/vocal-rhythm-driven Jump Rhythm Jazz Project, tonight's concert featured another facet of the jazz genre. Live jazz is an ephemeral experience, a song is never really played the same way twice. Though the large ensemble builds on a common theme, that theme is taken in a variety of directions by the many talented players and soloists. With this concert, the audience got to experience the best of the human art of jazz, in a room with lots of other people, the human qualities of the music really shine - the unexpected, the uncensored, and the fine quality of real individual talent. No Auto-Tune, no CGI, and no advertisements interrupting the best parts.
March 19, 2010
Jump Rhythm Jazz Project: A busy week in WNY
This week, Chicago-based dance pioneer Billy Siegenfeld and his dancers spent time with the Western New York community teaching master classes to UB dance students, performing at area schools, and bringing their high energy joy to patients, families, and caregivers at Roswell Park Cancer Institute. Luckily, he already had a connection - dancer Amanda Benzin is an Orchard Park native and a UB dance alumna.
Amanda
attended Holy Angels Academy and danced and taught at Mary Alice’s
Dance Studio in Orchard Park. She graduated summa cum laude as a
Renaissance Scholar from the University at Buffalo with a Bachelor of
Fine Arts and a minor in Business Administration. During her time at UB,
she performed with the celebrated Zodiaque Dance Company and the
Zodiaque Studio Dance Ensemble. Throughout her career,
Amanda has studied all forms of dance under many renowned teachers and
choreographers, but after her first exposure to JRJP in their annual
Chicago intensive, she was hooked. She is now in her fifth year as a
performing and teaching artist with the company. As a company member
with JRJP, she has performed and taught the renowned Jump Rhythm
Technique at universities, schools and dance studios nationally and
internationally. She received an Emmy Award as “Outstanding Achievement
for Individual Excellence On Camera: Performer” for her work in the
multiple Emmy-Award-winning documentary Jump Rhythm Jazz Project:
Getting There, produced by HMS Media and aired on PBS.
The company also spent some time performing at Amherst Middle School and Roswell Park Cancer Institute. Here is a video of part of the performance from RPCI's atrium:
The real icing on the cake for this week was the performance this evening, which began with Mr. Siegenfeld himself engaging the audience in a little rhythmic scat-singing and improvised noises.
The company then joined him onstage for the first piece "I Hear Music."
The entire dance series has been made possible by a major sponsorship from M&T Bank. This week's residency activities have been funded in part by the UB Dance Alumni Concert and a grant from the Amherst Arts and Culture in Public Places Board.
March 07, 2010
Fiddles of Love
Natalie MacMaster and Donnell Leahy have each performed at the Center for the Arts but tonight was the first time we've had them billed together. When this couple plays together, you can feel the synergy and the joy, the familiarity in the air. Unlike when each plays with a full band, this concert spotlights their fiddles with only piano accompaniment.
Married seven years, MacMaster and Leahy have three children, the youngest only a year old. Natalie says she's grateful to be able to be what she calls a stay-at-home-mom-on-the-road when her kids aren't traveling with their dad. When they're not touring together, MacMaster and Leahy each tour with their own bands, who have performed at the Center for the Arts many times over the years.
January 29, 2010
The Redcoats were here
Buckingham palace guards in big black fur hats and bright red coats, some with swords, greeted patrons at the front doors last night. No, Britain hasn't started an invasion in Western New York. The guards were here to perform music.
And perform, they did - marching in unison while playing military marches, national anthems, and traditional songs from the "green and pleasant" land of England, the valleys of Wales, the highlands of Scotland and the Emerald Isle.
Each group of 4-5 songs was preceded by a shout of marching orders from off-stage, reminding the audience that these were serious military men. These military men are manly enough to wear no pants. While the Irish Guards wore the red coats and black pants, the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders of the Royal Regiment of Scotland of course wear the traditional kilt and all the symbolic accessories that reflect a vast history spanning thousands of years. It's quite something to consider that each element of the uniform is like a souvenir - from ancient tribal highland times, from golden years of the British Empire, or from more modern periods in the Regiment's history.
The grandeur of the Irish Guards' horns and the magic of the Highland pipes and drums came together to honor the national anthems of England and the USA, and perform the title song of the tour, "Hands Across the Sea" by John Philip Sousa. The UB state police color guard even participated by bringing out a pair of flags for the national anthems.
Once again, the mainstage proved its superlative acoustic quality as I could almost isolate each instrument, each precise movement of the players, and appreciate the texture of the fine musicianship on stage. It was an immersive experience in as the evening continued with lively highland dance in military-unison performed by four kilt-clad soldiers, and players who moved through the house, and the booming voice of the narrator described what would come next.
thecenter
The Center for the Arts at the University at Buffalo
Recent Comments